First Days on Campus at Yilong Middle School

I'm settling into my new home for the next year, today taking photos of sites on and around campus. Here you see photos of the surrounding countryside, the campus gate, one of the older classroom buildings, a peaceful park for amorous students to enjoy and the school track. Athletics is an important part of campus life.

The twin high rise buildings house faculty and staff; my apartment is located in this complex. I have lots of space, furnished kitchen, hot water, a/c and internet connection. I'm sharing with the only other foreign teacher on campus. In case you missed the 2012 London Olympics, you need to know that the Chinese love "table tennis" and are highly competitive at it and every other sport. Today I grabbed a paddle and a ping pong ball and made some new friends. Although many of the students are shy and probably afraid that they'll have to speak English if they challenge me to ping pong, soon I had many partners, some challenging games and many great teachers of table tennis! They started by teaching me how to hold the paddle -- Table Tennis 101! Note the newspapers posted behind glass for reading. It makes it easy for students to keep up with the daily news.

In China Once Again

I arrived in China a few weeks ago to spend a year on "cultural exchange" and to work as an intern English-language teacher. These happy faces are of Chinese students. I was having lunch in a cafe with another EFL teacher when we were approached by a group of language students who were on an assignment to "chat up" foreigners. It's great fun to respond to their questions and give them an opportunity to practice. Learning English in China is not for the shy since the student has to take every opportunity to approach foreigners in order to practice.