English teacher in Japan

I found this video on the Courier Mail site this morning.  The story is about teaching English in Japan to small children.  I taught in China, and at high school and university, but it reminds me of the sort of classes that were conducted in the hagwans in South Korea. 

The teacher talks about the long hours - 8 classes in a day, of perhaps 45 minutes.  It wasn't clear.  In China we worked around 16 hours a week in the class room, but each contract will be different.  If one is employed in a the private language schools the hours are much longer.

Chinese Children

Little boy at the West Lake, Hangzhou

You can see and feel the love of children here. Grandparents are often the carers of little ones while their mothers work, and on weekends the father gets involved with child care too.

The babies are quite cute - and so well dressed and cared for. I like the little girls that have fancy hairstyles and clothes, and many will come up to us to say hello, as many children are learning English at school now. Even our own college has a kindergarten where the children learn English songs and words.

This little follow (above) was dressed in traditional Chinese clothing for a photo session at the West Lake at Hongzhou.

The little fellow below was on the train to Ningbo with his mother who spoke good English and little John had a short conversation with us too. He was such a lovely confident little boy. His mother helped us with our ticket etc in the Shaoxing railway station as we were looking to get on to the train to Ningbo a few weeks ago.

We have found that there are many English speakers around, and generally when we are in need one will appear. Certainly John's mother Lisa was helpful when we needed help! Thank you Lisa.

Mothers and babies at Ningbo

This little family asked that we pose for photos with them - which we did - but we wanted a photo of them too!

Back home again.

The Zebras at the Adelaide Zoo.

Well, we had five busy days in Adelaide. Including a visit to the zoo - which of course the big and little children enjoy. I love the landscaping in the animal enclosures. It does look so peaceful and mostly the animals seem at peace with it all.

Miss A took quite a lot of photos and so did I! Although I seem to be "missing" some on my camera. I'll have to check that the camera is working well BEFORE I leave for China.

I did find the trip tiring - though looking after two very active girls would have done that to me! Apart from a couple of notable events they were well behaved. I guess they get a bit spoiled on such a trip - with great grandparents, an aunt, and second cousin all happy to indulge them.

We went for a swim - actually two swims - at Brighton beach. Where I remember swimming as a child. The waters were clear - and wonderful to swim in. Quite refreshing. I wondered why there were so few people on the beach. It was school holidays and few families there. I suppose many are at swimming pools, and as there have been a few sightings of sharks in recent times, I guess that scares the parents a bit.

Funny - we learned to look out for them when we were children!

Anyway it is back to reality. It is Australia Day today - our celebrations will be on Monday, and I've bought some fun things to wear on Monday too.

I hope to hear the details of the China trip on Tuesday - apparently the tickets were purchased yesterday but I still don't have the details of the departure date etc. And I hear they are looking for two more people to go - so if any Aussie English teacher is looking for an adventure, send me a message via comments (with email address) and I will forward information.