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91
The Champagne Cabana / Re: What's Making Me Happy!
« Last post by Escaped Lunatic on November 28, 2023, 04:10:44 PM »
I'm doing a separate post for this.

While I was in Xiangtan, one of my favorite sponsored students FINALLY picked her wedding date.  The wedding party in her village was held on Sunday, November 26th.  My darling wife and I jumped on a train on Saturday to attend our dear niece's wedding.  By odd coincidence, it turned out that the groom is from Xiangtan.

The groom was Han, but he couldn't escape the challenges to pass the Miao red ribbon.  (Yes, there's a red ribbon between the bride and her family and the grooms family.)  He was allowed to ask his relatives to do some of the challenges, but had to do the pushups, some drinking, handing out bribes hong bao to the bridesmaids himself.  I think he borrowed one of the bride's relatives for one of the singing challenges, since she ended a song in a way I've only ever heard Miao do.  His first cousin impressed everyone by opening a beer bottle with her teeth and chugging the whole thing for one of the other challenges. 

The bulk of the women on both sides wore traditional Miao clothing (one of my niece's family had a pile of spare outfits that were made available).  Even Mrs. Lunatic dressed up.

The wedding meals (a late breakfast around 10 and a mid-afternoon meal) both featured beer and baijiu.  Those were held in another relative's courtyard.

There was another party at the groom's house on Monday, but sadly I was on a train getting back to DG.  I needed to get back to work today.  Also, His Imperial Majesty wasn't feeling well when we left and my daughter checked him into the vet's office on Saturday morning.  Happily, the vet was ready to give him back on Monday, so we grabbed him on the way back home.
92
The Champagne Cabana / Re: What's Making Me Happy!
« Last post by Escaped Lunatic on November 28, 2023, 03:52:53 PM »
About the magic chop.  My first full scale kid swarm had second graders shoving notebooks and pens at me wanting autographs.  Of course, the pens were point first, so not only did I get jabbed, but I also had ink marks all over my arms.

So, I arranged to get a self-inking chop made with my name (in English and Chinese) and a short line in Chinese telling them to study hard.

Every time I remembered to have it with me, NO ONE wanted an autograph.  But, when I didn't have it with me, I'd get at least one swarm coming in for autographs.

In Xiangtan, I forgot it on day 1, so had to sign by hand the first evening.  I put it in my pocket the next day.  Several autograph-free swarms happened and finally on the last day, I got to use the chop with some high school students.

So, for good or bad, the magic chop that prevents children from wanting autographs has lost its ability (or was just overrun by so many students).

93
The Memorial Garden / Re: Babala has Died
« Last post by El Macho on November 28, 2023, 07:49:08 AM »
Really sad to hear it, I always enjoyed her posts here. Glad to hear her pets are being taken care of.

I’ll raise a glass to you tonight, Bábala - may flights of angels sing you to your rest.
94
The Bar (ON-TOPIC) / Re: How Do Current Policies Restrict What We Can Do and Teach?
« Last post by kitano on November 25, 2023, 03:02:21 AM »
I think you can just buy them online. They don't check that hard
I would really really recommend a CELTA because it just makes you better at teaching and is lot of fun to do, but for visa purposes you can get a shady one pretty cheap
95
The Bar (ON-TOPIC) / Re: How Do Current Policies Restrict What We Can Do and Teach?
« Last post by Ivyman on November 23, 2023, 08:10:20 AM »
Thanks. I just need the teaching credential, and more of everything.
96
Le Laowai Liberation League Labor & Lifestyle Lending Library (ON-TOPIC) / Re: Essentials for 20s China
« Last post by kitano on November 21, 2023, 07:15:43 AM »
I found this brilliant VPN called Wallless for 20rmb a month that works on my android phone and PC.
That is the price paying by the month which I am doing because I imagine that it will end at some point.
97
The Bar (ON-TOPIC) / Re: Babala has Died
« Last post by kitano on November 21, 2023, 07:10:33 AM »
RIP :(

I didn't really know them but was always a nice presence back in the day
98
The Bar (ON-TOPIC) / Re: How Do Current Policies Restrict What We Can Do and Teach?
« Last post by kitano on November 21, 2023, 07:08:51 AM »
I believe that the visa requirements are just that you have a Bachelor's degree and a teaching credential and the rest is up to the discretion of the school.
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The Bar (ON-TOPIC) / Re: How Do Current Policies Restrict What We Can Do and Teach?
« Last post by Ivyman on November 21, 2023, 03:46:26 AM »
Thanks.

1. Honestly, my attention gets scattered so easily.

I should just finish TeachNow, then can do Praxis for specific areas.

Eventually, I can specialize in the areas I want. I have multiple areas of interest.

2. The real problem is not the money. Per teaching hour, ESL teaching is about the same as others.

Rather, it is I know I am stronger teaching the 9 AP Humanities-Social studies than regular ESL.

I am tired of always filling in the needed gaps for these Chinese (English), but getting no respect when there are sub-par results, etc.
100
The Bar (ON-TOPIC) / Re: How Do Current Policies Restrict What We Can Do and Teach?
« Last post by Escaped Lunatic on November 20, 2023, 05:01:18 PM »
Some classes have more than just "possess a teaching license" or "have a TFL certificate" as a requirement to be an instructor.

One thing you could try.  If California lets anyone, regarless of status, take a teacher certification exam, take those for the specific subjects.  Or, fly to Florida and take the tests.  In Florida, you need a general teaching cert and also to pass a test on your specialty.  The trick is that you can take that specialty test any time you like, even if you don't currently have a teaching cert.  Maybe California works like this, maybe not.  They have tests for so many things, including school admins as well as guidance counsellors.  They also have separate tests for Junior High and High School level of many subjects.  Visit the state Dept of Education website for California (and maybe Florida) if you want a full menu of available exams.  In Florida, these can be taken online at a number of testing centers around the state, so there's now worry about having to wait months for a test date.  I have no clue how California has them, but their Dept of Edu site should lay it out simply enough.

In China, being an existing acknowledged teacher, plus showing them that you've passed the subject-specific certification test from a US state might (or might not) be enough to meet the Chinese standards, so you should probably ask "Hey, if I've got a passing score on the cert testing for teaching this from the US, will that and my current qualifications be enough?" before you leap on an airplane.

If you can get them to agree that this makes you a subject matter expert, that's the time to look into a visa/RP change.
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