I got a couple weeks of work teaching at a GED program run by the local housing authority. The funding situation hcnaged at the last minute, so my starting situation was a bit disorganized, but not so bad that someone who’s taught ESL in China would notice.
My class is held in a building with a […]

A post on the awesome OneManBandwidth blog says goodbye to many expat friends, and mentions an unexpected side effect of the inability to get and keep a legit working visa in education:
Teachers were affected about a year ago when the government stopped processing visa renewals and work permits regionally. Now, all education hires must […]

Meganlouise@gmail.com
Meg Stivison
Meg’s Teaching Experience
Spring Semester 2008 Beijing, China
21st Century Experimental School, AP Program
I taught English literature to 5 classes of high school students. My students were able to communicate in English, but needed to improve their understanding of literature, writing skills and grammar before applying to colleges in English-speaking countries.

Fall Semester 2008 Beijing, China
Yihai Primary […]

Cup of Cha’s post called Goodbye Foreign Visitors describes my feelings on the new visa regulations, only more eloquently than I’d put it. This week involved saying goodbye to expat friends, Sven from Tennessee and Christina both left on Saturday.
Any foreigner living in China now will tell you that something weird is going on. Our […]

My sister Bethie just returned from three months of sailing the high seas, so naturally when I got to talk to her tonight, I asked her all about her pirate life.
“Did you call your friends, ‘me hearties’? Do you call other people ‘landlubber’?” I asked, “Did you at least get to say ‘Aye, aye, Captain’ […]

I met Joe about a month ago when he asked me to sub for Christina’s class one day, and he’s offered me occasional tutoring and substitute gigs since then. Subbing in an American middle school looks like torture, but subbing for Chinese-middle schoolers rocks. Basically I turn up, introduce myself, giggle at a few of […]

I applied today for a quick tutoring gig, the ad said the school wanted someone to tutor some high-schoolers in a prep class for the AP English test. The interviewer told me about some problem students, and asked me how I would handle each situation. I always hate interview questions, but I thought these were […]

I’m teaching my kids the “This is the way I” song this week. I’m starting with the basic version, with simple actions like Brush My Teeth and Read My Book.
I haven’t taught them the Meg version yet… Once when I covered Ron’s class in Yantai, I taught his students “This is the way I […]

I’ve often wondered at the futility of making advance plans in China. Black And White Cat explains why.
The boss says to his secretary: I’m taking you to Beijing for a few days. Get ready to go.
The secretary phones her husband: I’ve got to go to a meeting in Beijing with the boss for a few […]

Short but awesome post on Assumed Knowledge from Teaching Game Design about being a game designer:
If you tell people you’re a game designer, one of the two typical reactions is “hey, I have this great idea for a game…” (the other reaction is “what’s a game designer?”). Basically, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Junior […]