Week 4: Professional
15.03.12
The
past week has been our busiest so far.
We have been in class everyday with most classes lasting on average for
3 hours. I find it very difficult to
concentrate for this length of time as we only get short breaks in between.
In
most of our classes it is just Dan, Keith, Dani and myself with our
lecturer. This is completely different
to our lectures in Stranmillis. I am
enjoying these small classes as it means we can have more in depth
conversations and it ensures we all understand what we are learning.
My
favourite class so far is Chinese Culture which we study with our lecturer
Charles. He has named himself Charles
because he thinks he looks like Prince Charles. He is very funny and is
really interested in what we can teach him about Western culture. This class has taught me about the different
beliefs that the Chinese people have. In
China there are different many beliefs and religions. Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism are some of
the main ones. These beliefs influence a
huge deal of the Chinese people’s lives.
It is really interesting learning about this because it helps me
understand more why the Chinese people do different things. We often see Chinese people practising Tai
Chi in the streets. They are trying to
connect with the ‘qi’. Qi is the natural energy of the world. They believe that if they can connect with
the ‘qi’ they will be more powerful.
A Chinese man
practising Ti Chi in the park.
We
are continuing to have mandarin classes every week. I am slowly picking up the language and it
has proved extremely useful for impressing my students in school with a few Mandarin
phrases. It is much harder to write the
Chinese characteristics. We were able to
practise our calligraphy writing this week.
We
have enjoyed more time with our Chinese buddies this week. It is so good to have friendly, helpful people
looking after us during our time here in Guangzhou. We finally got to experience the famous KTV. Ever since we arrived we have been asked to
go to KTV. It is a karaoke place where
you go with a group of friends and have your own booth and you sing songs and
eat food! It was great fun and I enjoyed getting to experience what the Chinese
students normally do on their weekends.
With some
friends at KTV
I was teaching in school again this week. I taught my students about School life in
Northern Ireland. In one of my classes
there is a boy with special educational needs (SEN). I noticed him straight
away because he laughs randomly during lessons but he cannot speak and has
difficulty walking. It really saddened
me to see this boy struggling in this mainstream school class with no additional
help. It has made me really appreciate
the fantastic Special Needs Schools that we have in Northern Ireland.
After spending a week last semester in a special
needs school I can’t help but feel that China should do more to cater for the
needs of SEN children in their schools. So
far, I have not heard of any SEN schools in Guangzhou.
The experiences I am having in school and in my classes
at SCNU are helping me both professionally and personally. I am inspired by the diligent students to
take more pride in my own work and realise what a blessing it is to be a part
of such a fantastic education system in Northern Ireland.
Zaijian - Goodbye
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