Cantonese Class and a Crazy Day
Well last night was my first Cantonese class. It is fun to be learning but it will also be a lot. We learned a lot of vocabulary last night and I know that if I don't practice a lot I will be behind quickly and will not be able to learn as much. It's good though to have something besides school to work on.
Tad and Christine are two other teachers from my class taking this course. Tad took it last year (he said he remembered 50% so he hopes to retain the other 50% this time around) and is very good with the pronunciation. Pronunciation is by far the hardest part. Cantonese has nine tones. Luckily we are only dealing with tones with we absolutely have to and usually only 4 tones. Funny enough the hardest word so far is "I". The pronunciation is very hard for me. It is supposed to have an "n" sound but not really either. It really hard. I think if I can get that than I can conquer all the other vocabulary words as well from last week.
We do vocabulary and short sentences in each lesson. I basically know how to ask what your name is and how are you. Oh and I know how to ask if you want something to drink. I could respond to that question in that I want coffee, tea, milk, or water. That's the only beverages I know. I'm glad that we are not also learning characters because I know they are very hard but I still want to learn some characters before I leave. I'll have to find another way to do that.
The classes are every Sunday afternoon for three hours. There are 17 classes for a total of 50 hours. It will be great to have some basic Cantonese by January. It is also a great deal because it is subsidized by the government we only had to pay $100HKD.
Well Sunday was a good day and then I went to school this morning after not being in all weekend. I had a few copies to make but I found out that students were coming directly to our rooms this morning and that devotions had been cancelled. A water pipe had burst in the boy's bathroom and the ceiling fell in. There was water everywhere. It had soaked the floor and even flooded into the nearby MPR (multi-purpose room). It was a wild morning not only because kids came directly to the room but that we could only send girls to the bathroom for the first half hour of every hour and the boys the second half hour of every hour. We had to do this because we only had one bathroom to use. As Keith said the other day, "We can't get into our new building soon enough." At last count I think we have seven weeks left until we leave Fo Tan and head over to Shek Mun to our own building! It will be a crazy time but also exciting.
As far as teaching and getting things done, the day went well. The students were a little talkative but they are doing well in getting work done and working in groups. Today's math lesson went well as they learned to draw circles with a compass. There were students at all different parts of the lesson but it really did go well. Once we get their talking a little more managed then it will be great.
After school, Tina, Jerry, Jenn, and I all made our way down to Wanchai to apply for our new China visas. I also had to pick up Kathie's passport (she applied last week) and apply for Janet's and her three kids' visas. Applying for Janet's was an adventure. She had to fill out two forms because we didn't know which one was correct (unfortunately neither were but they at least they accepted one of them). She also had left some boxes blank that I had to fill in. Luckily most of it was what school the kids went to or what last name was Montana's. However, she did leave her birthday blank but that was in the passport! Whew! I was a little worried there for a little bit but we made it. They are probably getting a six-month multiple but they are going to try and get me a one year multiple!!!! I hope the one year goes through because it will save me about $800HKD.
On the way home, I unfortunately realized that I had left my house keys at school and had to go all the way back to school instead of going home. No big deal just frustrating. Other than those few crazy experiences the day has been going well. Hopefully the week will continue to go just as well.
Have a great day!
Tad and Christine are two other teachers from my class taking this course. Tad took it last year (he said he remembered 50% so he hopes to retain the other 50% this time around) and is very good with the pronunciation. Pronunciation is by far the hardest part. Cantonese has nine tones. Luckily we are only dealing with tones with we absolutely have to and usually only 4 tones. Funny enough the hardest word so far is "I". The pronunciation is very hard for me. It is supposed to have an "n" sound but not really either. It really hard. I think if I can get that than I can conquer all the other vocabulary words as well from last week.
We do vocabulary and short sentences in each lesson. I basically know how to ask what your name is and how are you. Oh and I know how to ask if you want something to drink. I could respond to that question in that I want coffee, tea, milk, or water. That's the only beverages I know. I'm glad that we are not also learning characters because I know they are very hard but I still want to learn some characters before I leave. I'll have to find another way to do that.
The classes are every Sunday afternoon for three hours. There are 17 classes for a total of 50 hours. It will be great to have some basic Cantonese by January. It is also a great deal because it is subsidized by the government we only had to pay $100HKD.
Well Sunday was a good day and then I went to school this morning after not being in all weekend. I had a few copies to make but I found out that students were coming directly to our rooms this morning and that devotions had been cancelled. A water pipe had burst in the boy's bathroom and the ceiling fell in. There was water everywhere. It had soaked the floor and even flooded into the nearby MPR (multi-purpose room). It was a wild morning not only because kids came directly to the room but that we could only send girls to the bathroom for the first half hour of every hour and the boys the second half hour of every hour. We had to do this because we only had one bathroom to use. As Keith said the other day, "We can't get into our new building soon enough." At last count I think we have seven weeks left until we leave Fo Tan and head over to Shek Mun to our own building! It will be a crazy time but also exciting.
As far as teaching and getting things done, the day went well. The students were a little talkative but they are doing well in getting work done and working in groups. Today's math lesson went well as they learned to draw circles with a compass. There were students at all different parts of the lesson but it really did go well. Once we get their talking a little more managed then it will be great.
After school, Tina, Jerry, Jenn, and I all made our way down to Wanchai to apply for our new China visas. I also had to pick up Kathie's passport (she applied last week) and apply for Janet's and her three kids' visas. Applying for Janet's was an adventure. She had to fill out two forms because we didn't know which one was correct (unfortunately neither were but they at least they accepted one of them). She also had left some boxes blank that I had to fill in. Luckily most of it was what school the kids went to or what last name was Montana's. However, she did leave her birthday blank but that was in the passport! Whew! I was a little worried there for a little bit but we made it. They are probably getting a six-month multiple but they are going to try and get me a one year multiple!!!! I hope the one year goes through because it will save me about $800HKD.
On the way home, I unfortunately realized that I had left my house keys at school and had to go all the way back to school instead of going home. No big deal just frustrating. Other than those few crazy experiences the day has been going well. Hopefully the week will continue to go just as well.
Have a great day!
posted by Caroline at
8:03 PM
1 Comments:
Sounds busy and fun.
It is kind of nice to be able to see in my mind the places you are going. Hong Kong wasn't really high on my list of places to go, but thanks for getting me over there.
Now, we do miss you being here though.
Dad
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Anonymous, at 4:48 AM
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