A Day at Work

This is what my morning commute looks like. It's actually nice to not have to start up a car everytime you have to go somewhere. Wouldn't it be great to never have to fight for a parking space? Or all those times you wonder why someone didn't park just a few inches further up so you could fit in a space... here you can just move someone else's bike without anyone knowing. The only downside is not being able to leave something with your bike as you go from place to place. It's still very hot...about 100 degrees yesterday. Apparently this summer's heat is record breaking in Beijing. It's no surprise that students sleep through the lectures sometimes (this is a universal practice I think). After the morning lecture I try to keep the speaking class a little more active. They say they enjoy it more that the reading and writing lessons. Their typical English lessons (since middle school) have been reading and writing, but rarely do they have an opportunity to have conversations with native English speakers. Today I gave each person in class 1-2 minutes to discuss any topic of interest to them. Then I divided them into groups and gave each group 3-5 minutes to tell a story that incorporated each of the topics that the group members had discussed. Many were very creative! I don't really know what I'm doing when I make up activities like this- but they seem to have fun with it and so do I.