Xi'an and EF Xian

So now that you at least know a little about EF itself, and the time off, I can at least let you know some more specifics about the school location I work for. I’m at EF Xi’an school 4 which is located in the northern part of the city. Xi’an itself is a larger city of China. It’s certainly not Beijing or Shanghai, but it’s not the podunk little Chinese city either. There are about 8 million city residents, so by no means a small city. There’s a lot to Xi’an than most people are aware. It is the city with the terracotta warriors, but the warriors aren’t even in the city, they are in a suburb. There’s a lot in the city historically, and a fair amount of minority groups as well. It was the ancient capital of China, so there is a fair amount of history to the city. Xi’an was known as Chang’un prior to the Ming dynasty rule, and was the capital city under the Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang. It was also the eastern starting point for the Silk Road. Some other major historical finds here were the Lantian Man, which was found in 1963, but dates back to 500,000 BCE. Banpo Historical Site, a Neolithic village that was found on the outskirts of the city in 1954, is 6,500 years old. It’s one of the few cities that still has the ancient city wall still completely intact. Xi’an is also the capital of Shaanxi province. The capital cities of various provinces have museums, and the one here is certainly the best museum I’ve been to since I’ve been in China. They have a nice mix of everything, and for those that are going to the warriors, it gives you a solid sense of history and what was being done in China, specifically this region before and after the warriors were made. There are several city parks, and the mountains are nearby. There are a fair amount of temples, and certainly my favorite was the big wild goose pagoda, granted there are still several that I haven’t seen yet, but there’s at least a fair amount of culture in the city. China has a fair amount of minority groups that live in China, the largest being the Han Chinese, which makes up a majority of the population (about 70%) but there are a fair amount of other minority groups that make up the Chinese population. One of these minorities is the Muslims, which come from the northwestern areas of China, along the borders up near Urumqi, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. With the modernization of China, much of the minority groups are being dispersed into the larger cities, so Xi’an has a pretty big Muslim ethnic minority population, outside of Western China. There’s a big mosque, and then there’s the Muslim quarter. So, lots going in the city. EF Xi’an has 4 schools. There is one in the north, south, east, and western parts of the city. I’m at the one in the northern part of the city. It’s on the outskirts, but an easy metro ride into the city. Each school has about 10 teachers, including the DoS and ADoS. So each school is small, but there’s a pretty big network, which is nice. A majority of the students of EF are children, most of them are 7-10. We do get students as young as three though. Students that are 3-6 are put into classes according to ages, and any student over 7 is put into classes according to level. 7-10 year olds are usually put into our High Flyer courses, and then teenagers, depending on level, will go into either Trailblazer, or certain other teenager courses. Since Chinese students learn according to rote memory and English is very much a phonetic language, we also offer reading courses for the ones who are enrolled in other courses, but are struggling with reading and pronunciation. We also offer 1-1 courses and some other tailor made classes, as well as adult classes. The teachers when they get here are assigned a mentor. You work with the mentor for the first 6 months of your first contract, depending on how long you’ve been in the EF system. You set up a routine planning schedule, and some weeks you actually do plan a class with your mentor. Within the first three weeks of your teaching, your mentor observes one of your classes, and will then give you constructive criticism on it, and your weakest area, you will then spend 2 months working with your mentor to improve upon that area. I’ve been paired with Stephen, who is the DoS, who has been with EF for 7 years, 5 of which were at EF Xi’an, the other two were at the Urumqi EF. He’s been DoS for about a year and a half, senior teacher for a year, and ADoS for a little under a year. He’s Scottish, and has also lived in Tanzania working for the British Council, another English language program. He is serious, which isn’t like most other Scots I’ve come across. He does know his stuff though, and I feel like his feedback is constructive, without being in your face, or YOU MUST DO THIS type thing to completely change your style of teaching. He works with you in your comfort levels of teaching, which has certainly made keeping the mindset of things all on the professional level with him, which is exactly how I want it (at least I’m not going to make that mistake again). I’ve enjoyed working with him, and I’m still trying to get to know the other teachers I work with, but things seem to be off to a much smoother start, more than I can say for the other two schools I worked for.