TeamWaWa and their crazy adventures

Good day friends and family. Monday, January 14th was Shane English School’s annual banquet celebrating year 2018. I can’t believe this was our third banquet. Time flies. These banquets aren’t like the company parties in the US. The Chinese staff rent ball gowns and we are all required to do performances. The foreign teachers were split into two groups. One set performanced to “Another Brick in the Wall” and the other set “Evolution of Dance”.  I’ve posted the video of “Evolution of Dance” on the Shane English School FB page. It’s 8 minutes. Go check it out. These events definitely aren’t our scene. Required to attend. Required to perform. But, you do what you have to do.  It does provide a nice conclusion to 2018. Those 365 days are part of the past. The good, the bad, the remarkable memories made here in China are now part of a photo album. Wow! We are quickly working to build up our 2019 library. I hope you all stay tuned to what’s up and coming with us. Kota Kinabal...

Family and Friends, hello! Today is Teacher’s Day in China. Being a teacher is a respectable job here. Teachers work hard to prepare fun and engaging lessons, provide a safe environment for the children and please the parents. The pressure on Chinese students is high. At 9-10 years old, they take extra lessons outside their primary school. They are forced to learn English. To get into a good school, they need to score high. Grades do matter here. We never thought of teaching young learners in the States, but we do enjoy what we do here. And our students do seem to love us! #china, #teachersday

Hello friends, family, and passerby! It’s summertime! July and August are busy months for ESL teachers. Since the students are out of school, we offer more camps and classes during the week. We’ve finished round 1 of phonics, public speaking and Shane Stars (drama class). Today is the last day of our exp or demo courses. These are 6 days straight of teaching potential new students. They essentially are recruitment classes. We also had one group of students go to America. We have another camp in London. And then 3 local camps visiting places around China. These camps focus on different areas of growth for the students. But, above all, the growth of confidence is number 1. It’s been really hot these last couple of weeks. Summer in Jiangsu province has been sticky and muggy and not enjoyable. The schools only have AC units.....central air isn’t a thing here. Buses get packed and you are standing next to another sweaty person bumping elbows. That’s the biggest amenity we miss from t...

Hello friends and family!! Monday evening we had our farewell get together for Caleigh.  She's been at Shane English School in Changzhou, China for 3 years. Wow! Now that's a long time. We arrived in Changzhou on December 29, 2016. Besides, the welfare officer, Caleigh was one of the first people we met. We had Muslims for dinner with her and Pete. Caleigh is around the fifteenth foreign person we have had to say goodbye to in China. Not all of them were at Shane, but most were. She will come back to China, but has a new career in a city about 11 hours away by fast train. Congrats Caleigh! She made it out of ESL teaching and is onto a bright future! Here's some photos of her last days in Changzhou. After 3 years, she had made a lot of friends in Changzhou. I am sure she will do fine wherever and in whatever the future holds! Bye Caleigh! You will be missed by many. #nextsteps #sayinggoodbye #onedaythiswillbeus #seeyouontheflipside #ShaneEnglish #lifeofaneslteache...