Tag Archives: reading

I can feel the wrinkles already…

I was tutoring a teenage student last night, and we did a reading about finding jobs in America. The passage talked about looking in the paper to find a new, and I mentioned that it’s a bit out-of-date, and people … Continue reading

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Illiterate At Best

I’ve hit a frustrating plateau with my Chinese-speaking. When I speak, I give the tones a good shot, and hope for the best. If I can’t get the tone of “glass” right, hopefully the rest of the sentence, usually “I’d … Continue reading

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Sparkly Like a Holiday

Stick went out to get that typical American gift, a dozen red roses, but in China nothing is mundane. The roses came with glitter, tinsel, rose-printed cellophane, magenta tissue paper, and purple curling ribbon. Did you ever see that part … Continue reading

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Russian Mirage

Stick and I went exploring down the Russian street between the Ritan Park Jenny Lou’s and The Place. It’s at the eastern end of Ritan Bei Lu, where it meets Dongdaqiao Lu. The last time I was at The Place, … Continue reading

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Famous in the UK! And Mental Floss…

I noticed a spike in my blog traffic after my post on our new shower, it turns out I’m getting a lot of hits from British DIY sites and home-improvement message boards… I don’t know what that says about plumbing … Continue reading

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Blog Housekeeping

Looks like the blue background makes people want to comment. Thanks! Great to hear from you! Except for the one guy who keeps telling me how to buy discount drugs from Canadian pharmacies, I don’t think he realizes I haven’t … Continue reading

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Hello Kitty Chinglish

I got a pack of Hello Kitty reward stickers at the supermarket to give to my students. (I have one class with three girls called Kitty, and that makes saying “Hello, Kitty!” hilarious.) It was an assortment of stickers, with … Continue reading

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…With Chinese Characteristics

I thought that I was familiar with the demo class as a shady recruitment policy, but my current school’s plan for a demo class might actually be a record for sketchy Chinese ESL policies. Basically, the parents are going to … Continue reading

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No Spitting On The Paintings!

Stick and I went to the Capital Museum to see the Treasures From The Louvre: Art From Ancient Greece exhibit. Stick and I are both classicists so we were really excited to go. It was great to see statues and … Continue reading

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The Four Humors

“You should teach them to put their finger under each word when they chant, so the parents will know their children know English,” one of the TAs suggested yesterday. She went on to explain that this is not reading, and … Continue reading

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