Intro: Honestly, not much has been happening. As weird as it is to say; China can be boring when you have to work lol.
Rain When we got back from vacation, there was about a week of monsoon-like rains here. While typical of southern China, Shijiazhuang is normally an extremely dry city. Everyone was quite shocked by the days and days of downpours. Even having lived in England and Nashville, this was rain I've only experienced a few times. Normally in Nashville, the rain would take breaks and usually in England the rain was never this heavy. It meant we were all cold all the time, but because most people use electric scooters as transport, the roads were also crazy with dripping people driving with limited vision navigating semi-flooded roads. It did mean the little kids were adorable because they all wear bight colored ponchos as raincoats and walk around like little ducklings.
Comments on 13yr olds Teaching middle school is crazy because some kids look 8 and some look 30. I've realized they seem to isolate into little friend groups based on height, which is just fascinating because it means I'll see a group of 4'2" kids walking down the hallways and then behind them a group of 5'7" kids and they don't seem to mix a ton even though they are in class together. They also do the exact same things as American kids. 91 and 78 appear to be their number obsession (as opposed to 6,7) and I have no idea why. I can't even ask the teachers who are Chinese because they're not 12 so they don't know what the slang means. The kids have been shocked I've banned the word 91, asking how I know it's naughty. Apparently, I'm supposed to be oblivious to the fact that the only kids who say it or write it on the board are the class clowns and the whole class starts laughing when they hear or see it. (Truly not difficult to figure out when middle schoolers think they're being funny. I've never met less subtle people ever.) Unfortunately, these kids also use American slurs frequently. This is a bigger problem because I have to cut that out but also explain to them (when they don't speak English) how harmful that language is. What they think is funny but mean slang is actually deeply insidiously harmful and explaining the difference in a way they understand can be hard. (Especially when I know some of them do understand but just don't care and pretend not to.)
Exams I truly do not get the exam philosophy here at all. They simultaneously place massive importance on exams and yet want me to give kids who don't speak English an oral English exam and not fail them? I can't give the advanced kids extra credit though, so I have to make the exam extremely basic, but some kids will still fail. To me, there's no point in grading a kid who is not capable of any English because it just demoralizes them, and there's no point in having a student who can fluently discuss "revolutions" graded on a test where they have to read the sentence "I have a cap." If the grades did not matter than sure I could give the exam, but if the grades DO matter and the teachers are worried some kids will fail then why have me grade at all? This feels like the "No one gets below a 50 even if they do not work rule Metro schools had a while back." The kid who knows no English knows no English. That doesn't make him dumb, but he should not be given a 50 because then he'll just go to the next class STILL knowing no English.
On the other hand, my school had a college entrance exam on site last weekend and the internet was entirely shut down on the site/nearby block for the entire exam. This is crazy, because it does seem like an effective means of preventing cheating but also has uncomfy implications for when else the internet could be shut down.
Miscellaneous Applying to law schools is fun and I actually need to find a new thing to fill my time when I'm done. Chinese lessons are helpful for making me practice speaking but pretty boring because we've started with review to shore up some grammar I've forgotten but it makes the readings easy. I forgot how much winter weather makes running less fun. Taylor Swift's album is good, idc what you say. (My students agree and they don't even know the words.) I am planning some travel so stay tuned. The kids are obsessed with signatures so I sign random pieces of paper all day like a PopStar? Words I've needed recently： 背诵 - recite 别说话 - STOP TALKING （I knew this already, but man do I have to use it a lot) 枪炮 - guns (Everyday I get asked if I have guns, shoot guns, have I shot someone etc. When I say no they respond "yes you have all Americans have")