TEFL Course

I started classes yesterday. This is not my actual English class at the university. Right now it is my training class required by China. We started our TEFL course yesterday. TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. A few weeks before we left for China, we were told that we needed to take a course about teaching. I thought it was going to be a big waste of time. I'm happy to say, I was quite wrong! Our instructor, Chuck, is a former university professor from the States. He has been in China for 14 years. He used to work in Nanjing & knows people over there! There are 6 other students from the class who are going to various universities in Nanjing. I'm so glad that there are some other people there that we already know.

We have been learning a lot about all the differences between teaching western students vs. Chinese students. Chuck has given us several great ideas for lessons and activities with our classes. He has made me excited to start teaching. I definitely feel more prepared than I did even two days ago.

We learned IPA today. IPA is the International Phonetic Alphabet. The whole time, DK and I kept thinking about Big Danielle. All the years of her silly words are starting to pay off! ;)

This class is 8 hours a day, so I am surprisingly exhausted. I'm glad we did our touring before we started class. I wouldn't have any energy left otherwise. As it is, I'm pretty worn out. I walked 4 miles today just going to and from the subway station! But, the exercise is good for us and it beats a 30 RMB taxi ride.

Bed time now! Yes, we are calling it a night early.