I'm a Teacher! >.<

"Tuhan tahu, tapi menunggu"
(Leo Tolstoy)

Really, be careful with what you do, and with what you say
Because, karma does exist! Huahahaha >:D

My mother is a teacher, and i always tell her that i never want to be a teacher, or lecturer. I think those two profession require really high competence and patience. Well, it happens that i don't really have the 2nd requirement.

Moreover, i don't want to be a teacher because i'm afraid of karma hehehehe. Really, i was a bad student. I was always being so mean to the young, new teachers. Together with my friends, i teased them, and really intended to piss them off. I thought it was fun. I talked a lot during the lesson, played card, took pictures, ate, and slept. I really did, i've told you i was a bad student :p

(Me in highschool. This picture is taken during lesson and i was half- sleeping)

Since i believe in karma, i don't want to be a teacher. I don't want to meet a student like me. It would be a nightmare >.<

But through ESD Program, life brought me into Beijing no.9 High School and made me a teacher! I mean, how funny is that?? I was terrified that i would meet "another version of me" here. Being a teacher is challenging. But you know what? i like it. I have to teach 4 classes of 1st Grade High School students (aged between 15-16 years old) per week. This is my schedule:

Friday, 10.15- 11.00 Class I-1
Friday, 11.10- 11.55 Class I-5
Friday, 13.30- 14.15 Class I-10
Friday, 14.25- 15.10 Class I-9
(in average, each class has 52 students)

(One of my class. I finished the lesson too early so i took my time to have some fun ;p)

I have to teach them Sustainable Development, which is something pretty new and hard for their age. I have to do it in English, which is not their, nor my, native language. That's the 1st challenge. The 2nd challenge is that i'm a foreign teacher, i don't really understand their language, and they know that i don't have any authority to give them score. The 3rd challenge is that, i'm a petite girl with small voice, they thought i was 18 *sigh.

So, i try to be their friend. I love it, so do they (well, hope so... >.<)

There's a lot of thing that you can learn from being a teacher. I can tell you some of it:

1. Punctuality. It's a shame here if the teacher come late. So i train my self to be in the class 5 minutes before the lesson (it's hard... late is almost my habit wkwk).
   
2. Preparation. It's quite challenging to make them interested on what you're explaining, so you have to make sure that you design an interactive class, prepare a good presentation, translate some difficult words for them, etc.
   
3. Creativity. They will get bored with you as the time goes by. So, you have to prepare different strategies each week to maintain their interest in the topic.
   
4. Flexibility. I just realize that each class has different personality, habit and culture. I have to treat them differently in each class. Well, duh.
   
5. Patience. I don't have to explain more about this.
   

Actually, i find out that i learn more things from the students than they do from me. It's actually me who have 4 lessons to learn each week. They are my teachers. They make me think and evaluate my self every time. They push me to develop my self, to give better lesson each week, to be as creative as i can, to be tough and determined, and so on. I'm sure i will still learn a lot of things from them.

So, i love to be a teacher. I learn a lot from this experience. It's sometimes frustrating and tiring, but this job pulls me out of comfort zone, and i like it. I feel it because of my wonderful students. Some of them are really sweet, friendly and clever, some of them act like me when i was in their age XD. I will tell you about them in another post.

At last, be nice to your teachers and lecturers. Don't make any mess with them. You don't know what will happen to you in the future. Huahahahaha >:D

(Me and Beijing no.9 Middle School. You might not see it clearly, but that's me)

Beijing no.9 High School English Corner

I really like my school, Beijing no.9 High School.


People are super nice and friendly, the environment is great, the facilities are good. That's why i want to make a contribution for them. I want to do something more to help them, so do my trainees friend, Martyna and Slava.

We proposed a English Club to our school, and i submitted the proposal to our supervisor, Wang Lao Shi, last week. The proposal is like this:

English Public Speaking Club

Current condition:

English is widely needed nowadays. Students show high appreciation on it, and really interested to learn more about it. There are many students who really try to speak English well, and they need a platform in which they can practice English speaking actively, with correct pronunciation.

Objectives:

1. To boost students self confidence in speaking English

2. To give students a platform to speak English actively

3. To teach students how to pronounce English correctly

4. To give students platform to learn new words and use them actively

Activities:

1. Story telling

2. Simple presentation (Informative)

3. Simple presentation (educative)

4. Simple presentation (persuasive)

5. Simple presentation (to entertain)

6. Vocabulary learning

Method:

1. Practice

2. Trial and error

3. Evaluation

Schedule:

1 class/ week

(negotiable)

But it happened that Wang Lao Shi hadn't read it yet. So today, he asked three of us to meet him and an English teacher as a translator in the teacher office, in 3rd floor. So, there we went.

Finally, i could ask them if it's possible for us to make this English Club. We explained roughly about the club's purpose and what we will do there. For my surprise, they instantly say, "yes". We managed to arrange an English Corner, 3 times a week, (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) from 12.40 until 13.45. They will ask the ban zhu ren (coordinator teacher) in every class to inform this new club to the students.

I was so happy that i finally i can have more experience in working in this school. More experience= more development, rite?. Martyna, Slava and I will discuss about the material that we will give during the club activity, it will be improvised from the one i've made. We really determined to give the students a really good activity. So, Monday next week, will be our first meeting of the club! Wish us luck! ;D

The important thing that i want to tell is, if you're a trainee, you gotta be proactive. If you feel like you need something more to do, just propose the activity to the place you're working at. If you think you can do something good for them, just tell them. It's your development, so be responsible to it.

I will seriously prepare for this English Corner. I will give them my best. And I will tell you about our first meeting in another post. For now, i'm soo happy that we can do this club! :D

I like Xidan!

Ok, i will tell you about one of my fav place in Beijing. It's Xidan street!
Practically, i like a place where i can find many different things in one place. Xidan is a place like this. Let's list what Xidan has:

1. Beijing Book Building. It's known as the biggest book store in Asia. It's a 6 stories building with almost all kinds of book provided. Most of them are in Chinese, for sure, but i'm amazed that i could find some art books with pictures of famous paintings on it. I could also find a bilingual Dale Carnegie book for 25Y (and bought it). International books are in the B1 floor, but too bad i couldn't find a small Collins English-Chinese dictionary for me there. Owyah, this bookstore has the complete collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Hans Christian Anderson's, Hemingway's,, etc... all in English version, and all so cheap!
2. Street vendors. You can find a lot of street vendors in Xidan street selling many kinds of interesting foods. Chicken kebab, many kinds of barbeque, noodles, caramelized fruits, baked corn, you name it! All people just enjoying it in the sidewalk, and that was interesting for me. And, oh, seriously, don't eat that orange colored food seen in the picture. Tastes soooo awful!
3. Fruitime. Oh my... this stall sells many kinds of heavenly drink. If i have enough money, i will buy the franchise right and sell it in Indonesia. Oh, yes, sure i will. You can find many Fruitime stall in Beijing, they are pretty obvious because of the green color that they use. They sell milkshake, coffee, milk tea, green tea, smoothies, chocolate, juice, etc! the price range is between 3-5Y. My favorite is richaroma chocolate and hazelnut coffee. You got to visit this stall when you're in Beijing!
4. Cheap stores. Shopping time! First, try 77th Street, then, go to Xidan Cultural Square... but actually, you will find a lot of store in Xidan that sell cute clothes for 19-39Y! We also found boots for 60Y, bags for 35Y, and so on... You can even bargain in some stores. How good is that??
5. Stylish people. I think Xidan is also Beijing youth's fav place. Because i saw a lot of them there, dressed really fashionably. I saw a lot of girl mixed cropped jacket, skinny jeans and boots. Also hot pants, tights and scarf. Cardigans, legging, and animal printed bags. All in a really cute way! (I think they are really stylish. Well, except the one with the white shirt and grey throusers. Maap blur, maklum candid)

I was so happy when I sat in the sidewalk of this street, had Richaroma Chocolate from Fruitime, had survived from my financial crisis, and planned to try some foods sold by the street vendors. Oh man, i love this street!

Hari buka puasa ;D (Muti goes to the bank)

It was the 1st of October when suddenly i realized that i only got 240Y left in my wallet. Crap.

I still had some dollars with me, but i didn't like that i've spent almost 1300Y before my first month. I started to think what have i bought... what places i've been visited... umm...

The conclusion was that, i only got 140Y to live until the 14th of October, because i would use the other 100Y to pay for the Great Wall trip. Remember everyone, it was the 1st of October. Then i had to spend only 140Y for 14 days. I need to use not more than 10Y per day. (Oh, 1-8 Oct was the National Holiday, and the school didn't serve the food during the holiday. Double crap).

Well, actually, i managed to survive during MY financial crisis. I will give you the tips in another post. There was unexpected thing happened when my yi-ka-dong was out of credit, so I needed to refill it. I needed to pay 20Y for this. Okay, plan changed. I will save it until 12th of October. Humph.

October 12th 2009

I did it, everyone! i survived! i even still had some yuan in my wallet. But i seriously needed to go to the bank and exchange some money. So there i went. I went to Xidan because i knew there's a lot of bank there. I chose EXIT B, because it was written that Bank of Communications is somewhere nearby.

I asked two polices where the bank is, and they pointed to the wrong direction. Then i went to the Xidan street. I was going around the block while i only needed to walk few metres to reach the bank!. But it was blessing in disguise. Xidan street is now one of my favorit place in Beijing. There's a lot of interesting thing there. I will tell you in another post.

Ok, i managed to find the bank. The Bank of Communications. I've practiced some conversations that i can use to exchange money in the bank. Thank you for www.nciku.com!

Here are some phrases and words that you can use for this occation:
"Wo yao huan qian" (I want to exchange money)
"Meiyuan huancheng renminbi" (dollar to yuan)
hu jiao= passport
huilu= exchange rate

I highly recommend Bank of Communications. The employee are so nice and helpful. I didn't have long queue, and they didn't need a long process to echange my money. Huff,, now that i have money, i breath again. It feels like i was breaking the fast, heheheu. Owyah, Bank of Communications is located beside Beijing Books Building. It's pretty easy to find.

(Sbenerny pgn foto2 di dlm bankny, tp takut dtangkep... heheheu)

Beijing Subway

I really love Beijing Subway, yes i do!

I always feel convenient enough with angkot, DAMRI bus, BABON bus, ojek, and all kinds of transportation that i used to take in Indonesia. But to live in Beijing, i need more sophisticated and comfortable transportation, unless i'll get lost. Because Beijing is super huge city, and believe me, you don't want to get lost in Beijing.

Maybe for some people, Beijing subway is not really comfortable, since there always be a lot of people using it. But i have to say, I like the system. And the arrangement is easy even for foreigner like me. A foreigner who doesn't even have subway in her country (Pak SBY, mari qta bkin subway yuuk...).

I can tell you how easy to use it...
First, here is the map of Beijing Subway:


Easy, huh? the lines connect almost all areas in Beijing. They always prepare this kind of map in every subway station, and they will give it to you for free. All you need to do is ask,
"Ni you mei you ditie ditu ma?" (Do you have subway station map?)

Ok, if you need to take subway in Beijing, here are the things that you need to do:

1. Find the closest subway station from your area. You can ask, "Ditie, zai nar?" (where's subway station?). It's pretty easy to be found, since it always has this kind of sign:
2. After you get in to the station, you need to buy the ticket. It will costs you 2Y for one way ticket. But if you intent to stay for quite long time in Beijing, i highly suggest you to buy this yi-ka-dong (subscription card). You can find it in big subway station, like Pingguoyuan, Guamao, Nanlishilu, Wanfujing, etc. It'll costs you 50Y. 30Y for the credit and 20Y for deposit. You can also use it to pay the bus (it'll be cheaper). You just need to wipe it into the ticket machine to use it. It look like this:
3. Then, you just need to get into the train. Remember that the seats are reserved for seniors, children, pregnant women, the sick and the disable.
4. If you need to check the stations you've passed, there's a subway line map available inside the train. Some of them are new ones with the light. It's so comfortable for you to check. But there will be also some notofication about the station that u're arriving.
   

Sometimes, we have to stand for quite long time in the train, but if you can sit, it's pretty comfortable inside. This is the inside of the train:


Always say "Lao jia" (Excuse me) if you want to get off and there's a person in front of you... bon voyage! :D

Training ESD Program

To be eligible trainees, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) trainees were given preparation training delivered by AIESEC, Plan International and Roots and Shoots. This training held in the 11th of September until the 14th of September 2009. The training took place in B&B inn Shaoyauju Branch, where 13 trainees from 8 countries gathered and learned how to be a good trainer.

First session of the training was about the ESD Program itself; it’s aim, objective, history, and it’s method to create an impact. This session was delivered by Jose Carlos Feliciano (MCVP Project AIESEC Mainland of China), Monica (Former OCP of “Hello China” Project) etc.


The second session was delivered by Adam Lane, member of Plan International and also one of the people who first established ESD Program. Trainees learned deeper about various issues related to Sustainable Development and how to conduct a class due to the issues.

Trainees also learned about the characteristics and habit of the Chinese students, and some practical tips to be a good presenter in front of them. Moreover, there was a session delivered by Roots and Shoots, an international NGO that gave the trainee more knowledge about environmental issue.


The best thing about the training was that the trainees from 6 different countries could gather and knew each other. We shared a lot of thing and experienced working in an international environment. I started to realize that each of us has different point of view and all we could do to solve the problem was by being open minded and tolerant. We faced some communication challenges because of different accents that we had, but we managed to get along very well. We cooperated to discuss the problem given and did class activities actively. I can say that it was a really nice start for our internship. We were quite sad that the training ended and we need to go to different schools (we went to a club and had a good bye party in the last day of the training ;p)

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Program

The largest project thorough China…

With more than 2 years of experience…

Includes more than 30 international trainees from all over the world…

Create impact in more than 25 schools in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Xi’an, etc…

Develop a sustainable environment for a sustainable world!

What is Sustainable Development?

“a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserv

ing the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for future generations”

(Bruntland Commission in wikipedia)

Why do this issue in China?

· China is the most developing country in the world, at the moment

· China citizen is 60% of the world citizen

· Sustainable China will give big impact for sustainable world

ESD Program in China

Program Description:

Trainees from all over the world cooperate to spread the understanding and inspire action of sustainable development thorough Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Dalian, and other big cities in China. They teach the issue correlated with sustainable development in some middle and high schools in China, in creative designed class, upon an international working environment.

Plan International and other NGOs in China support the trainees by giving proper knowledge related to the Sustainable Development issue. Trainees receive integrated training given by the NGOs and AIESEC before they start to work with the project.

Track Record:

Round I (Spring 2007)

Held in Shanghai and Beijing. Totally 1,800 students from 6 high schools and 10 international trainees involved.

Round II (Autumn 2007)

Held in Beijing. Totally 1,000 students from 3 high schools and 4 international trainees involved.

Round III (Spring 2008)

Held in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Xian. Approximately 3000 students from 11 high schools and (?) international trainees involved.

Round IV (Autumn 2008)

Held in Beijing, Shanghai and Xian. Totally 2200 students from 6 high schools and 10 international trainees are involved.

What do they say?

“We must protect our earth, if we don't protect it, animals will die and flowers will die too. When animals and flowers die we can't stay at earth. But scientist says: 'there isn't any ball like the earth around 200 kilometers'. So we only have one earth. She is our mother. Let's take care of our mother earth”

“I think English classes are very interesting. We learn about global warming, human activity. Some people have no water.”

AND NOW…

Autumn 2009

Round V

Held in Beijing, Dalian, and Xian…

With 6 middle and high schools participated…

13 international trainees from Poland, Germany, Holland, Korea, Indonesia, Canada, Russia, Australia and Vietnam

How can we make impact?

What have we learned?

What are our challenges?

How much have we’ve been developed?

Hear our stories…

See our experience…

Keep follow up!