KBAS (Karamay Bilingual and Arts School)

We have received quite a few requests to put up pictures of the school where we work, so here we go! The area where the school is located used to be a college campus, so it is enclosed, guarded by security, and full of many buildings and gardens. Walking around the campus is actually quite pleasant - you may even run into our resident sheep or bunny! This first picture you see to the left is the main entrance to the school. I believe it is about 4-5 stories high and houses everything from 1st grade through high school. This is where my classroom is located. The Chinese education system works a bit different from America in that the students stay in the same room while the teachers specializing in different subjects rotate to the different classes. The only exception to this rule is when they go to Oral English class with me - they actually come to my classroom.

Tiff spends most of her time in the kindergarten building which is pictured here to the right. This building is a renovated library from the days back when this campus was a college. In the front of the building you can see our friendly sheep. They always stay together and are unfortunately very un-social. We're not sure exactly why they are there, but wouldn't be surprised to one day find them missing only to see ourselves eating wonderfully fresh meat in the cafeteria. Oh how we wait so very patiently for that day. Anyway, this building houses all of the Pre-K and Kindergarten classes which Tiff teaches most of the time. She has her desk here shared with a couple of the other teachers including Susan.

This very last picture is a glimpse into our lives as teachers. Tiff is much better at teaching than I am, but I find that if I just exude enough energy, the kids can't help but be excited (and hopefully then I can teach). This room has been used by many of the foreign English teachers for the past few years and has been nicely decorated with English months, days, numbers, pictures, etc. The kids are usually very excited about the oral English class according to what we are told, although many times I think that is just because we do not give homework for them. Each class has a Chinese English teacher who helps us translate any instructions for games or activities and makes sure that the students behave (the most important part of their job I believe). In this picture here you can see them hard at work making a name tag with their English name on them (their Chinese names are stinkin' hard!).

Well, we are in the process of making a decision about traveling during our October week-long holiday, and we hope to give you some news about that soon. Tomorrow we will be shopping for plants to liven up the very white walls in our apartment, so hopefully soon we can post some pictures of the apartment - other than the bathroom, of course! We miss you all and thanks for your support!