I gave two classes at the Happy Tree kindergarten in the morning then I went home for lunch.In the afternoon I met Miss Shi by the yard gate and we got a taxi to another school.I gave a one hour demo class to just 5 children.The parents were watching and I couldn't really do my usual games that I do with twenty or thirty children.I did the best I could anyway and I guess it was enough as I was asked to teach afternoon class at Wanhuatong Kindergarten every Satu...

Before the start of my class, two children were fighting over the same chair.Children are so funny, the classroom is full of lots identical chairs, but for some reason they both wanted this one.The classroom assistant had not noticed the fight, so I stepped up to them, gently prised the chair from both of their grips (four year old children are surprisingly strong!) and quickly grabbed two other chairs and put on in each of their hands.They both just stared at ...

I was definite today that there was heating- it was too hot!However I now had no water at all.I asked Miss Wang to top up my water card and the water came back, but still at the ridiculous low pressure it's been since the beginning of the week. My lunch was unusual today, the soup I was served can only be described as vinegar soup.It was basically like eating warm vinegar!Yummy! (not)Well at least the dumplings weren't filled with leeks. Every Thursday seems t...

I thought I was doing well, as for the entire lesson with Punch-kid, he didn't punch me.I'd made a special effort to listen to him and give him lots of praise when he said a word correctly.I hoped that going down the positive-reinforcement route might surprise him into not being Punch-kid anymore.It's not the approach taken by the Chinese teachers that's for sure.If kid punches the teacher, then teacher punches the kid (well, punches, kicks, throws a chair, thr...

My grandparents have been asking what it is like in my apartment, so this is dedicated to them…The apartment is being sub-let to the school by an old lady who had to leave Liaocheng for a year.She left a lot of things behind but I'm not allowed to use most of it. As you walk through the yard, my building is number 35.You have to walk through some doors to get to the stairway and then climb five flights of stairs.There are two apartments on each floor.My fron...