Something unusual has happened in my class: for the first time in four years teaching this age group, my best behaved student is a boy and the major troublemaker is a girl. The little boy doing the teapot pose (his idea) I call Moon-Face, because his face is big and round and makes me smile. He doesn't speak much English yet, but he's completely attentive during class, so it's only a matter of time. He dances and sings along to everything with a huge smile on h...

Here we go with China blogging, round two. It's been an eventful 3 weeks since I arrived, as you'd expect. Certainly a lot easier this time around, since I know how to do my job, know what I can find in this city, and most importantly, know what people are saying to me most of the time. On that note, my ability to comprehend Mandarin has gotten well ahead of my ability to speak it. Despite several frustrating sessions with taxi drivers, I seem totally unable ...