Teaching in China: Going from Yuncheng to Yongji.  

The advert had said I would be working in Yuncheng this is a middle sized city in the Shaanxi province in northern china.  It has a large foreign teacher community.

When I arrived in yungcheng I was completely out of it due to a sleepless night on the train. So I was hoping to be taken to my apartment. No such luck there. They took me straight to the office where they interviewed me. When they finished I was given me a lesson plan worksheet for a demo lesson I was to give after lunch.

For lunch I was taken out to a Hot pot (Chinese: 火鍋; pinyin: huǒ guō) restaurant. Hot pot is where you have a metal pot of simmering stock at the table, which you use to the food you want to eat. Each person has one so they can choose anything they want e.g. mushrooms, tofu, pieces of pork etc. I thought the hotpot was really nice!

After lunch we had some time to do lesson planning. This topic I was given to do the demo on was differences between American and British English. I was given the book they use in the school. However lesson planning was really difficult because I couldn’t teach to from the book. (Students are already taught the book by Chinese teachers). Also I am not expert on American English. However I remembered words used in Montana when I was there studying in 2007.

My lesson plan was to focus on teaching a few vocabulary words in English and American that had the same meaning. The delivery of lesson didn’t go well. I was very nervous because of the pressure I felt and feeling very tired so my voice wasn’t very loud. They thought I might be too shy for the job，which is hilarious since I’ve never been accused of that before. They kindly give me a chance to teach.

They take me back to my apartment. I got a shock the next because suddenly they tell me to bring my clothes so I quickly repack my suitcase and we were off another town. The drive was a 40-50 minute drive to Yongji. This is a very isolated small city a couple of hours away from yuncheng.

The school we arrived at is Subei middle school 12-17 year olds，which is in the cities farming district. You get a good view of the mountains on a clear day. The school consists of hundreds of class rooms and dorm rooms. Both teachers and students sleep on campus. 

The campus is quite nice the front is very presentable with well kept bushes.  Also the back of the school there is a large playground. There is table tennis， a tarmac running track and a concrete basketball court.

When we arrived my new assistant Sophia（her English name） is waiting outside of the dormitory for us. We walked up three flights of stairs to the apartment. My apartment has two medium sized bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and a large living room space. All the rooms in the house are tiled.

The company shows me where things are and unpacks new kitchen equipment and bedding. I have a rice cooker and hot plate with a steamer on it.  So I’m now getting settled in.