Between February 1988 and March of 1991 I lived and taught in the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong. I went to China to teach and took every opportunity to teach that was offered to me - so there were many opportunities - in both formal and informal situations.
The pictures on this page are between 8K and 56K in size and load pretty fast. I will try to add others later as I get them scanned in. Your picture will be taken while you are a "foreign guest" in China. Yunnan Province has a population of about 35,000,000 Han and minority people - the number of foreign semi-long term residents was about 70 in 1989 - you may or may not be aware of your picture (18K) being taken - often your students will bring a copy after publication.
Kunming Teacher Training College did a little
article (10K)
about me in the school paper when I arrived. My
students were from the rural counties
of Yunnan. They were training to be English teachers for middle schools and
high schools located outside of the provincial capital of Kunming. Many
of the students expressed the idea that their college years would probably
be some of their best since they knew when they returned to their villages
that there might be little opportunity to travel back to the capital city.
The school had a very modern
language lab (8K) from Japan that I used much of the time.
During each school holiday, I had the opportunity to travel to rural areas and visit
the hometowns and future schools of my students. Most of my classes had
between 30 and 40 students. Many elementary classes I visited had up to
50 students.
Within Kunming, I often had a chance to visit
elementary, middle, high and
special interest schools. Every Sunday, I met with friends and we held
what is known in China as "English Corner" - ours was
"English Tea House" (38K).
Adults of all kinds came for an informal 3-4 hours session where we
exchanged ideas - and languages. Through these sessions, we were able to
make friends with Chinese English speakers in many different occupations. We
were often invited to their place of employment. Here we are visiting a
preschool that specialized in teaching young students English.
Our school was located within Kunming on
property that used to belong to a local warlord. Some of the building
were very old but beautiful and still served as classrooms. This
building was a classroom for the college night school classes. Here I am with serveral
of my night
school students (14K) - many had hopes of traveling to an English speaking
country in the future.
At one point, I convinced Mr. Young, the president of the college that I should be teaching the college English teachers. I got my picture in the Yunnan Ribao (12K picture) for my efforts. Most foreign teachers were expected to teach only 9-12 hours per week! I didn't want to "get out of shape" - become lazy about work, so I often took on extra classes. Here is a list of the classes that I taught:
Spring '88 KUNMING TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE 8 hours Speaking and Listening Level Two 2 hours Extensive Reading Level Two 2 hours Newspapers Level Three KUNMING TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE NIGHT SCHOOL 2 hours Oral English Adult 14 TOTAL HOURSFall 1988 KUNMING TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE 8 hours Speaking and Listening Level Two 2 hours Extensive Reading Level Two 2 hours American Newspapers Level Three KUNMING TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE NIGHT SCHOOL 2 hours American & British History Adult KUNMING METALLURGY COLLEGE 2 hours Speaking and Listening Level Two YUNNAN CENTER OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, KUNMING 4 hours Advanced Oral English Advanced Adults 20 TOTAL HOURS
Spring '89 KUNMING TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE 8 hours Speaking and Listening Level Two 2 hours Extensive Reading Level Two 2 hours American Magazines Level Three 4 hours Speaking and Listening Level One KUNMING TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE NIGHT SCHOOL 2 hours Composition Adult 2 hours British & American History Adult YUNNAN CENTER OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES 4 hours Advanced T.O.E.F.L. Advanced Adults 24 TOTAL HOURS
Fall 1989 KUNMING TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE 4 hours British & American History Level Three 4 hours English Literature Level Three 4 hours Composition Level Three 4 hours Oral English Level Two 4 hours Oral English Level One KUNMING TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE NIGHT SCHOOL 2 hours Oral English Adult 2 hours Composition Adult YUNNAN CENTER OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES 4 hours Advanced T.O.E.F.L. Advanced Adults 28 TOTAL HOURS
February 1990 KAIYUAN, Yunnan Province
Spring '90 KUNMING TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE 8 hours Speaking and Listening Level Two 2 hours Extensive Reading Level Two 2 hours American Magazines Level Three 4 hours Speaking and Listening Level One 16 TOTAL HOURS
June 1990 GERJIU - Tin Mining Corporation of Yunnan
The sessions at Kaiyuan and Gerjiu were special sessions that were organized by the local education authority and approved by the Yunnan Department of Education and the Foreign Affairs Office of Yunnan. We were paid about 800 yuan ($200 U.S.)for 12/14 days of teaching - during our summer vacation - but we taught at least 8 hours per day - 6 days a week.
At times the Foreign Affairs Office of Yunnan
organized events for the "foreign guests" to attend. We saw beautiful cultural events,
parades (34K picture)and
many areas of the province that had been closed to foreigners for more
than 40 years. It was a wonderful experience.
Sun Yi
(41K picture) on a trip to the boarder with Burma during the winter holiday.
Field trips,
picnics and student parties were part of the informal teaching that took
place all the time. I had a great time teaching and learning. Many things
that I learned about teaching while in China, helped me later with my teaching
of ESL students in the States. Would I go again? You bet!
Yang-En University Looking For Instructors
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William Eubank
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