Baotou, Inner Mongolia: Photos: Daily Life in China: Teaching English in Private Schools in China: Violence in Private Schools in China:For those who regularly follow my adventures in China, it may come as a surprise to know that I have returned to work in Baotou in Inner Mongolia. For those who don't follow my adventures, the reason that some people would be surprised to hear that I have returned to Baotou is related to the rather serious events that occurred last May.
When all the doors are closed - It's Back to Baotou.
Photographs shown here were taken between June 2009 and May 2010 and are in no particular order.
For those who regularly follow my adventures in China, it may come as a surprise to know that I have returned to work in Baotou in Inner Mongolia. For those who don't follow my adventures, the reason that some people would be surprised to hear that I have returned to Baotou is related to the rather serious events that occurred last May.
View from my first apartment in 2009 on Tuanjie Dajie in Qingshan District Baotou
I returned to Australia on June 1st, 2010 and spent some time relaxing, but by August I was a little despondent because I was failing to find a position in those cities in which I preferred to work.
Then a friend suggested that I return to Baotou and work for a private school, the owner of which I knew personally. I sent a tentative show of interest, although I really did not want to return to Baotou, and nor did I wish to return to a private school.
Over the following 6 weeks as I methodically provided document after document that was being requested of me, I received many invitations to apply for positions, all of them in private schools. I really didn't know what to do, but I figured that it is better to go to the devil you know than the one you don't. And I had already had a shocking time with one private school devil.
Taken by Chiara Braccagni at the Grasslands Park in Baotou - Mongolian Yurts
During those weeks, nothing was certain, and I never knew if or when I would return to China. One of the new initiatives of the Chinese Education Department was impeding my dreams of returning to a public school. Some bright spark in the government decided that China needs 'young foreigners' to come teach here, not old ones, and they have actually directed that once foreign teachers reach 60 years of age, that they can no longer teach in China.
Although I am not yet 60 years old, there are abundant stories on the internet of 60 year old foreign teachers, who, after years of working in China, have been told they must leave. The strange thing about this is that one of the complaints that the Chinese make about the foreign teachers, is that they 'don't understand Chinese Culture'.
It takes a couple of years to learn how to teach Chinese students effectively, and one wonders how many 'young foreign teachers' are prepared to stay and work here for that long.
I would love to talk about this issue a bit more, but I could write forever on the ways that foreigners fail to deliver what students need.
Taken at Linhe - a few hours West of Baotou: Some people live their lives on the Yellow River
Looking North from Baotou. A Catchment / Tributary of the Yellow River is Frozen
So there I was faced with the fact that I might not be able to get another job in China, and all the positions that I was being offered (bar one) involved working for private schools.
That one public school with whom I corresponded, was somehow connected with a private institution, and at the time that they wanted to hire me, they needed permission from the head of that institution, but he was out of the country.
Finally the Heng Rui Private School in Baotou had put together all that was needed to satisfy all the new procedures for hiring foreigners, and submitted it to the government. By this time it was mid-September. Then, as Murphy's Law would have it, a former school contacted me and asked me where I was and what I was doing, because an American teacher had simply quit and left the school that day, and they were inviting me to drop everything and come teach. Alas! That I could not do! I was now committed to finishing the legal process with the Heng Rui School.
Finally I got my paperwork from the Chinese government; applied for and received my visa, and then I boarded a flight for Baotou.
Taken on Gantie Dajie in Kunqu District of Baotou at Lantern Festival
I flew from Brisbane at 11pm, arrived in Hong Kong at 6am and flew up to Beijing at 8am. I booked into the Beijing Aulympic Hotel again, and the following morning flew to Baotou. I arrived on Thursday 7th October, and started working the next day.
To me it seemed that God or destiny if you prefer, had closed all but one door to me. Because I was destined to return to the city, all those other doors had to be closed because destiny knew only too well that I would never have willingly chosen to return to this city.
But of course there is always good with the bad, and one of the good things about returning to Baotou is that I have been able to meet up with Miss Mae (the lady who was beaten up in May.)
She suffered some damage to her vertebrae during that beating, and has suffered pain since. From a legal perspective, nothing has been done about her assailant, the office manager of my former private school. The franchiser is snug as a bug back in Shanghai and the franchisee seems to have disappeared off the scene.
Yep! One of those Things out at the Grasslands Park
My life has a certain routine to it here, what with my dieting, walking, writing, and learning to read and write Chinese, and of course going to my teaching classes.
I live above a busy and noisy main road in a one room apartment about 8 metres long and 4 metres wide, and have available to me a rather large digital TV that lets me watch as much of the CCTV 9 English channel as I want, but nothing else.
But I am losing weight and getting fitter, and I am making progress in learning how to read Chinese.
I am also learning how to teach little children. Well - that's not quite true, for I already knew how to teach the little ones, and that I do owe to my former private school, but only because they were so disorganized for the 3 months that I was there, that they had no teaching materials and I had to create all of my own lessons.
Laodong Park in Qingshan District Baotou in Winter
What I meant to say was that as I am now committed to working a full year within a school with which I am familiar, and in which I have begun to use techniques that I self-learned at that other private school, I have learned to set boundaries for the children so that they see me as a serious teacher rather than a foreigner who is just there for the salary.
On that point I must digress for a moment. I work 6 days a week. That is to say that I work 4 mid-week nights plus classes on Saturdays and Sundays. Foreigners who simply want to earn money could do this job quite happily, but those foreigners who might think to take a job in this town so that they can travel in Inner Mongolia, would be sorely disappointed.
Baotou city itself has little 'tourist appeal' despite being billed as the No. 1 tourist destination in Inner Mongolia. Everything that you might want to visit in Inner Mongolia, would require at a minimum, an overnight stay in another part of the province, and since one only has 1 day a week off, it really is not possible to travel far and wide. If you wanted to come to Baotou to teach English and travel, you had better work for the state schools who at least give you the weekends off.
Yours Truly in a Local Muslim Restaurant.
Now when I say that I am a serious teacher, I mean only that I see my job as being something akin to being either a surgeon or a miracle worker. There are plenty of doctors who can tell you that you have a leaking heart valve, but it takes a surgeon to fix it. Likewise, there are many 'faith healers' who will tell you that if you have enough faith that you will be healed, but there are not many who can lay hands on you and actually heal you.
I do not approach my job from the perspective of one whose purpose is to teach 'grammar' or 'vocabulary', but from the perspective of one who is intent on teaching students how to learn and use a language.
For example: Last week I was teaching students to say 'This is my book! - This is your book!' Once they had the hang of that, I began to teach them to say: 'This is his book! - This is her book!'
Their regular teacher interjected saying: 'They haven't learned these words yet!'
I smiled and said: 'They can just learn them now!'
In another class of little ones, I wrote the words I was teaching [read - reviewing], and she said: 'Excuse me! There is no point writing on the blackboard because these children can't read or write!'
I picked up a flash card and said: 'What is the purpose of using a flash card with a word written on it, if not to teach children to identify the word as a picture.'
She was confused. So I began to show the flash cards around the room and asked students to identify them. And of course they did. Then I covered the pictures and revealed only the words. They could not identify the words. I then spent 10 minutes challenging the children to find the word in their books. It didn't take long for them to begin associating the 'printed words' with the spoken words. I then explained to the teacher that by writing the words on the blackboard, I was beginning to teach them to 'see the word', rather than see just the picture. She was delighted with my "novel" approach.
I actually have one class of kids who cannot write, but who can read what I write on the blackboard. Clever little things they are.
Government initiative to teach good farming techniques to the locals - Wonderful Strawberries
Miss Mae took this last year when we had lunch at the Grasslands Park
In two classes the other night I discovered a rather interesting thing. On the first page of the student book, there are a number of 'ink blots' - for want of a better description, and underneath them is printed the name of the color represented.
When I pointed to any given color and asked: 'What color is it?', they answered correctly.
When I pointed to a picture of a bag and asked: 'What is it?', they correctly answered. But when I followed that question with: 'What color is it?' they hadn't a clue what I was saying.
They had learned to pass the question-answer test without understanding the question.
Since my 'serious' purpose is to teach these children the language, as opposed to learning thousands of words, phrases and sentences that they don't really relate to, I set the tone of all future lessons on the first day that I appeared in class.
I would walk into a classroom and in Chinese say: 'Hello! We are going to do a test!' (No 'waste of time' games from this old foreigner.)
Last New Years Eve Gala at the Entertainment Centre: Pre-recorded
These last two weeks, I have taught 36 different classes of students, for a total of 47 lessons, and each lesson lasts 45 minutes. My contractual maximum number of classes is 25 per week or 20 working hours. Since I am a 'serious' teacher, I do at the end of each class, write notes about that class, and later type them up for future reference.
I teach in three different districts of this city.
In Week 'A' I teach on 4 weeknights and Saturday in the Kunqu School and teach in the Donghe school all day Sunday
In Week 'B' I teach 2 week nights at Kunqu, 2 weeknights at Qingshan School, plus Saturday night and All day Sunday at Qingshan.
(When I originally sat down to write this I was just teaching in two districts. After changing the article to include the new change to three districts, I was informed that everything is going to change again. So in fact I don't know what I am doing or where I am going or how many different classes I will end up with but at last count it was 43.)
On the banks of the Yellow River at Linhe - Locals were required to move
The highlight of the week last week, was entering a classroom of 15 year olds, most of whom had not returned from their break. I entered the room, saw that most weren't present, and walked out again. I went and sat in the office for 10 minutes. When all but 2 students had returned, I entered the classroom and informed the students that we would have a spelling test, and that they should get out one piece of paper and a pen.
Well some laughed and others complained, but no one took out their paper and pen. Then the last two students entered the classroom and sat down. I repeated my instruction to get out paper and pen, and they simply wouldn't. Then I opened my mouth and let fly in Chinese; loud enough for everyone on that floor to hear me, and that included a number of parents.
Their regular teacher came in and stood with arms folded glaring at them. Finally they were ready for the test. At each word they heard enunciated, they groaned and complained that they didn't know that word; that they hadn't learned that word; that this test was too difficult.
The City looks great at Lantern Festival Time. Taken up near the Government Offices
At Linhe: Local Mongolian Living room / bedroom
When it was over, I turned to their teacher and asked a question, the answer to which I already knew.
'What page in this text book are you up to in your teaching Jennifer?'
'Page 130' she replied.
I turned to the students and said: 'All of these words came from the first 10 pages!'
Oh the joy of seeing their faces! This foreigner was not going to be one of those foreigners whose class amounts to little more than a good 'goof off' time.
So there you have it. That's my life at the moment! This is the door that fate, destiny or God ordained that I enter!
North End of Town bordering Kunqu where the catchment is.
It has its ups and downs, but come hell or high water, I just have to remind myself that working in this city in a private school was not of my choosing, and that there must be some purpose to it. Maybe one day I might even discover what that purpose is!
Wish me luck! I know I will be wishing all the best of luck to the town of Millinocket in Maine when it starts to receive its Chinese Students!
The training center for farmers north of the City.
With the official greetings over, we were presented with a variety of performances from local artists and international guests, including an American man and his family. This family presented a narrative from a Gospel about the birth of Jesus, and then went on to present some musical renditions of Christmas Carols. Another foreigner, who performed a Chinese fan dance, was Helen, a Ukrainian with an American Accent. She is also an English teacher in Dong He District Baotou. We chatted for a little while at the end of the night. The other performances included an Arabian - Chinese dance performed by a group of girls balancing rice bowls while they gyrated around the place. They were all young and beautiful and adept in their craft
My 'less than trusting' Chinese friends (currently scattered far and wide throughout China), are not so excited. They tell me that not only are private schools well known for their abuse of and cheating both foreign and National teachers, but one should not trust a Chinese boss to keep his word. While in fact no one has actually informed me that I will be paid overtime, the provision is in my contract and I don't see how it can be 'forgotten'. I doubt that the franchisee could ever have become such an illustrious business woman (She has businesses in China and in Canada) had she not been an ethical manager
Parks and Gardens in Inner Mongolia: Expats Watering Hole: International Visitors to Baotou have a lot to see within the city. Ba Yi Park is Located in Kunqu District Baotou City Inner Mongolia which is in the west of the City. It occupies a block in the middle of Minzu Xi Lu (East), Gangtie Dajie (North), Linyin Lu (West), and Qingnian Lu (South). In the West it is located on the last intersection (Gangtie Dajie and Linyin Lu - Northwest Entry) before the Underground Mall, the Walking Street and the Baobai and Victory Hall Shopping Plazas.
Expats in Baotou City: Where to Eat in Baotou: The Seven Pizza bar is located on the 1st floor (western description). It is located just one block from the Main Road Gangtie Dajie and LinYin Road. That intersection also forms the North West Gate to Ba Yi Park. It's not an Up market Joint, and nor is it one of those places where the Chinese stare at the foreigner like he is a monkey in a zoo. It's a 'home away from home' place for foreigners.
Nanhai Park is in Dong He in Baotou. Dong He is just one part of Baotou and lies to the east. It can be reached from Qingshan and Kunqu Districts by cathing the No. 10 or No. 5 bus. It's about a 30 minute fast trip from Qingshan and a little longer from Kunqu.Now although we don't know and don't care why this dragon was in the water, we were interested to travel over to this little island you see in the next photo. We were only interested until we saw the boat ride prices! We live here and earn Chinese rmb. We are too poor to spend that sort of money. As I am often heard to say to Chinese who want me to spend up big' 'Hey! I am a foreigner. I am not Chinese! I am not rich!'
I have spent most Chinese New Years in the villages of Heng Ji and Fengkou in Hong Hu city in Hubei. Last New Year I was in Australia and now I am in Baotou. I have to admit that I prefer to watch the fireworks in the dark countryside, but it has nevertheless been an interesting experience tonight.
For those who regularly follow my adventures in China, it may come as a surprise to know that I have returned to work in Baotou in Inner Mongolia. For those who don't follow my adventures, the reason that some people would be surprised to hear that I have returned to Baotou is related to the rather serious events that occurred last May.
Not long before I left Baotou in early 2010, my friend Arnold (Chaolu) took me for a visit to his home village and gave me a look at some local scenery. I could probably tell a story about our trip, but it would mainly involve the difficulties encountered with Chinese Transport. Therefore there is no real story here, just a glimpse of the area out past Lin He, northwest of Baotou. Chaolu has for years taken foreigners on private tours of the grasslands but is now in the process of establishing a tour company called "Tournmg" (Tour Nei Menggu)
As I skirted Mr. Gao to assist Miss Mae, Mr. Wu the EET Baotou office manager - he's tall, powerful and huge - began powerfully kicking Mae in the ribs and stomach, all the while screaming obscenities at her in Chinese. The Female American Teacher threw herself onto Mr. Wu and I grabbed Miss Mae and rushed her outside away from the commotion.
Such is the game playing that goes on in China, but in this case, the games are being played my a Norwegian and a Taiwanese. When you the foreigner, are having fun in Shanghai this year, please remember that while Hu Jintao is making great strides to make China a harmonious society, with government officials doing their work honestly and with transparency, there are always those people in China, who, because of their money or some personal power, seek not only to control Chinese and foreigner alike, but to punish them if they do not willingly agree to be slaves.
Although EET Baotou is not legally entitled to have foreign teachers, schools 'legally' require release papers and letters of recommendation from unregistered schools. Perhaps M/S Cui's claims to have influential friends in the police and education departments is no simple boast.
11pm, I was sitting in my little room updating articles for my website. My door was open, (to allow ventilation), and I could hear someone in the hallway jabbering away on their mobile phone. Then I heard a noise at my door, and looked up. Standing in the doorway was a middle-aged Chinese woman, in pink flannel pajamas staring at me. I looked at her; she looked at me. Before I could say anything, she said: 'Oh! You are a foreigner!'
Within an hour of arrival in Baotou, I was off to work for EET. At the time I arrived at EET, we had 3 staff - Sabrina, myself, and Mae (a lovely lady who speaks no English - we do have fun communicating when no one else is around). From June 26th (my contract started July 1st) I was waking up everyday at my usual time of 6:30am. I would leave for the office at 8:50am; return to my room for an hour at lunchtime, and return to the office for the afternoon. After work, (although I was never sure when work actually finished) we would go to all manner of hotels to meet all manner of people that were either personal friends of Sabrina's or people that we as a business are going to be doing business with. Most nights I got home around 10pm and 'worse for wear'.
It is quite amazing to see how such young children are already programmed to study and learn, but the frustrating thing has been their reluctance to actually speak English.When they ask me questions in Chinese, I tell them to ask in English. It doesn't matter how many times I give them the English translation, they persist in speaking Chinese
The interesting thing about the ride is that as the train leaves each station, a uniformed attendant salutes the departing train. At night, people dance, talk, roller scate etc. An Island blocks the view to the ocean. The sculpture of the boy is urinating
Arriving at the Hotel at 7 pm, we booked in to once again find ourselves faced with a room with one queen sized bed in it. Again we insisted and received a twin room. We stayed at the JinHui hotel which you can find listed at www.ctrip.com. It is located at LuoHu (lor - who) and is 2 minutes walk from the cargo vehicle border crossing into Xiang Gang (Hong Kong).
The Hong Kong Hotel was located in a back street, about 10 minutes from the Bund. We spent two days in the area before taking the train to HangZhou, where we spent a couple of days exploring 'West Lake'; and visiting "Shaoxing" about which I have already written at Magic City. The photos contained in this file are nothing spectacular, but for those who have never been to Shanghai, or never been to China, they might offer some insights.
After years of living in China, I finally got around to organizing a trip to Tibet. I was due to pay for the trip at the End of June and I was to go in October during the Chinese National Holiday. If you have been wondering why the Chinese Government put a ban on foreigners going to Tibet, then now you know the reason. It was to stop me! Alleyways and Streets are more narrow than the canals in Xitang Town ZheJiang. Once we cleared the bars it quieted down. Now this is where I point out why the title of this article has 'Clown' in it.
Mingxing's company had booked him into the upmarket Kempinski Hotel in Wuxi and he organized and paid for one extra day so that we could go sightseeing. There are two photos in Part one that relate to the Kempinski Hotel Room, but this photo is of the lavish foyer of the Hotel as taken from the first floor landing above the coffee shop. Whilst the Big Buddha is the 'centerpiece' so to speak, the real spectacular is to be found in the Cultural Museum. This place is one helluva spectacular place inside. It sits directly opposite the replica of the Potala Palace, and when you enter you are required to put coverings over your shoes. I suspect that the real reason is to cut down on the cleaning bill. This place was crowded and all those people shuffling along wearing shoe protectors gave the marble floor a really high sheen.
The Fairy Island on the Lake Taihu. which used to be called the Three-Mount Island, is a group of well-known islands and islets in the famou s scenic spot of Lake Taihu.it lies in the lake, and is 2. 0 kilometers away from the Turtle Head Peninsual, which is in the northeast shore. The entire islands are made up of the islets such as Daji, Xiaoji, Dongya, Xiya, with a total area of 12 hectares. (From a Sign at Taihu.)
Beijing
(Note: Chiara Braccagni's articles are in both English and Italian)
A una di queste chiamate, ci fermiamo a fianco a una coppia di giovani. Non solo i due incauti avevano diversi sacchetti, ma portavano con sé anche una torta. Dopo varie discussioni con la bigliettaia perché la torta nel pulmino proprio non ci stava, provano ad aprire il finestrino e a passarla alla ragazza seduta di fronte a Justine. Visto che non riuscivano a spostare il vetro, sporgendomi, faccio alla bigliettaia: "Lo faccia passare da qui" (okkei, va bene, ho detto solo "da qui", il resto della frase era sottinteso!). Io, anima ingenua, credevo che una volta saliti i due giovani avrebbero trovato il modo di riprendersi la torta. E invece no! Mi sono fatta una decina di chilometri di strada sterrata con una torta gelato sulle ginocchia! E giusto per renderla ancora più precaria, era una torta a due piani con complesse decorazioni, tra cui un drago giallo con occhi e baffi di cioccolata. Avevo il terrore di spetasciarla. A questo punto, però, ridevamo da non riuscire più a respirare.
Storie dalla Cina in italiano: Dal momento che Shijiazhuang non è proprio il paradiso del turista, una volta cambiato il biglietto e anticipata la partenza (per andare sul sicuro avevo comprato un biglietto sul tardino, non si sa mai di aspettare un bus una vita e mezza, perdersi nella campagna e rimanere bloccati a Shijiazhuang!), l'unica attività a mia disposizione era il sopralluogo a uno dei centri commerciali della piazza della stazione (unico negozio degno di nota il supermercato, ho preso certe cialde al sesamo buonissime da sgranocchiare al rientro)
Sabato sera, in un locale di Pechino, ho conosciuto una ragazza cinese, Sophie. Lei e un amico scattavano alcune fotografie al gruppo live. Era molto gentile e dopo un po' di conversazione ha invitato me e le due ragazze che mi accompagnavano a visitare un nuovo quartiere artistico di Pechino. Abbiamo subito accettato con piacere
Built in 1406-1420, The Imperial Palace, popularly known as the Forbidden City, was the permanent residence of the Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It's buildings are divided into two parts. The front part, or the 'outer court', consists of Tai He Dian Hall, Zhong He Dian Hall and Bao He Dian Hall, which are taken as it's main body, plus Wen Hua Dian Hall and Wu Ying Dian Hall, which are taken as it's two wings, Where the Emperor held important ceremonies
From the airport one may take the fast train into Hong Kong, or as the Chinese say, 'You can just......'. The trouble with that is, unless you can read Chinese, or have someone with you to guide you, you can't just do anything. I found it very confusing and wasted a lot of time trying to find my way OUT of the airport and onto the train, but having finally accomplished that, when I arrived at the final destination, I had no idea where I was, or where to go, or who to speak to, for, although Hong Kong was under the control of the British for so long, no one seemed to be able to speak English
Built in 1406, The Imperial Palace, popularly known as the Forbidden City, was the permanent residence of the Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It's buildings are divided into two parts
Definition: King's Calendar Chronological Research
The Premise: Between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE (but continuing down to at least 104 BCE), Sectarian redactors transcribed the legitimate 'solar year' chronological records of Israel and Judah, into an artificial form, with listed years as each comprised of 12 months of 4 weeks of 7 days, or 336 days per year, thus creating a 13th artificial year where 12 solar years existed.
When the Synchronous Chronological Data provided in the Books of Kings and Chronicles for the Divided Kingdom Period are measured in years of 336 days, the synchronisms actually align. [Refer to Appendix 5. to see how it synchronises the Divided Kingdom Period]
About the KingsCalendar Publisher
R.P.BenDedek is the owner and Editor of KingsCalendar.com which was originally set up to publicize his research results into the Chronology of Ancient Israel. Those results were published under the title: 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran'.
Whilst there have been many attempts to solve the chronological riddle of the Bible's synchronisms of reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah and their synchronism with other Ancient Near Eastern Nations, no other research is based on a simple mathematical formula which could, if it is incorrect, be disproved easily. To date, no one has been able to dismiss the mathematical results of this research.
Free to air Academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
During the current economic downturn, this book has been drastically reduced in price but will eventually rise as the economy improves.
Check the Chapter Precis Page to see details of each chapter and to gain access to the Four Free to Air Chapters
R.P. BenDedek writes social commentaries and photographic 'Stories from China' both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing columnist at Magic City Morning Star News in Maine USA.
(He has been teaching Conversational English in China since 2003 and currently (2013) is teaching in Suzhou City Jiangsu Province.)
