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Kate's Chronicles
What a venture to get to class. I am living in the city but most of my classes are on the other campus in the new suburb....Jiangning University Town!!! This campus has only been open since 2003. Up bright and early to catch the 0650 bus out to the campus which took about an hour....not being a morning person this is going to be my challenging day each week!! I think I might take the cues from other teachers and take my travel pillow and sleep through the trip.
The campus is huge (1,000,000 m2) but fortunately the bus stops right outside the building I'm teaching in - how lucky is that?? There is still much development going on but it seems to include man-made lakes and lots of greenery.
Taught 4 lessons on Thursday and got to meet my 1st and 2nd year nursing students. I have to share with you some of their delightful English names: Apple, Egg, Lemon, Sky, Melody, Phoenix and of course my only male student appropriately named Dragon!! Some of my 2nd year students have been even more adventurous with their names: Solar, Calling and Floria.
I feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland.....I've dropped into a whole new world!! The students English is more basic than I expected so I will have my work cut out to bring them up to standard to pass the IELTS exam (this is the proficiency test used by Universities and Registration bodies for migrants to English speaking countries including Australia). I can now see why only ONE student passed last year!! Hoping I can improve on that.
With my 1st year students we concentrate on basic macro skills - English speaking, listening, reading and writing - all of which will need to be worked on if they have a chance of passing . I got them all to fill out a worksheet about personality to get an idea of where they are at.......lower than my senior high school students unfortunately. Oh well I love a challenge!!
My 2nd year students I am teaching Fundamentals of Nursing which they have already learnt in Chinese.. Theoretically they are more advanced in their English skills but I've yet to see that looking at the responses to the worksheet I gave them. I now know they have little knowledge of basic medical terminology, don't understand idioms (even after explaining) and have high expectations that I will make them "god" nurses (direct quote)!!! One answer I had a good giggle over was to the question what is a midwife - the response "The wife lives with the husband for his half life". I'm still recovering from that one.
Despite their knowledge gap they all seem to be happy students who want to learn, particularly about Australia and what its like being a nurse there. Many of them are hoping to complete their final 2 years study in Australia but of course they have to get a good grade on the IELTS as well as have an understanding of the role of nurses in the Australian health care system. A big challenge for me - YOU BET - but I'm up for it (I think, hope and pray!)
To all of you who have sent me emails I apologise for not responding as yet. I have read them and am thinking of you and will answer ASAP. Settling into a new city is very time consuming, everything takes so much time - finding where to shop when all signs are in Chinese, learning where to go on campus for different things, learning who to contact etc etc. I haven't even had time to explore past the city block I'm living in yet and as for finding a massage - well as desperately as I need one I've not even had time for that!!
Have given myself a break from trying to organise everything at once and am going exploring this afternoon. Hopefully will have some pictures to show you in my next blog.
Teach again on Tuesday and will meet my post graduate students on Tuesday evening - that should be a treat - luckily I teach them on my home campus so no travel. Woo Hoo!!
Bye for now. xx
The campus is huge (1,000,000 m2) but fortunately the bus stops right outside the building I'm teaching in - how lucky is that?? There is still much development going on but it seems to include man-made lakes and lots of greenery.
Taught 4 lessons on Thursday and got to meet my 1st and 2nd year nursing students. I have to share with you some of their delightful English names: Apple, Egg, Lemon, Sky, Melody, Phoenix and of course my only male student appropriately named Dragon!! Some of my 2nd year students have been even more adventurous with their names: Solar, Calling and Floria.
I feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland.....I've dropped into a whole new world!! The students English is more basic than I expected so I will have my work cut out to bring them up to standard to pass the IELTS exam (this is the proficiency test used by Universities and Registration bodies for migrants to English speaking countries including Australia). I can now see why only ONE student passed last year!! Hoping I can improve on that.
With my 1st year students we concentrate on basic macro skills - English speaking, listening, reading and writing - all of which will need to be worked on if they have a chance of passing . I got them all to fill out a worksheet about personality to get an idea of where they are at.......lower than my senior high school students unfortunately. Oh well I love a challenge!!
My 2nd year students I am teaching Fundamentals of Nursing which they have already learnt in Chinese.. Theoretically they are more advanced in their English skills but I've yet to see that looking at the responses to the worksheet I gave them. I now know they have little knowledge of basic medical terminology, don't understand idioms (even after explaining) and have high expectations that I will make them "god" nurses (direct quote)!!! One answer I had a good giggle over was to the question what is a midwife - the response "The wife lives with the husband for his half life". I'm still recovering from that one.
Despite their knowledge gap they all seem to be happy students who want to learn, particularly about Australia and what its like being a nurse there. Many of them are hoping to complete their final 2 years study in Australia but of course they have to get a good grade on the IELTS as well as have an understanding of the role of nurses in the Australian health care system. A big challenge for me - YOU BET - but I'm up for it (I think, hope and pray!)
To all of you who have sent me emails I apologise for not responding as yet. I have read them and am thinking of you and will answer ASAP. Settling into a new city is very time consuming, everything takes so much time - finding where to shop when all signs are in Chinese, learning where to go on campus for different things, learning who to contact etc etc. I haven't even had time to explore past the city block I'm living in yet and as for finding a massage - well as desperately as I need one I've not even had time for that!!
Have given myself a break from trying to organise everything at once and am going exploring this afternoon. Hopefully will have some pictures to show you in my next blog.
Teach again on Tuesday and will meet my post graduate students on Tuesday evening - that should be a treat - luckily I teach them on my home campus so no travel. Woo Hoo!!
Bye for now. xx
- comments
Di Happy to hear you've settled in and have started work. A few challenges ahead by the sounds of it, that's the nature of teaching!
Diane Caney So happy for you Kate!! And the campus entry looks fabulous. I love the idea of the wife living with the husband for half his life - just up to the mid-life crisis I suppose! have fun being Alice x