Well, every day this week has produced the usual Dalian weather for this time of year: cold but blue sky and sunny - except for Tuesday when we had the first snow for the winter!
As my apartment is on the 27th floor and facing South, I have designated a small corner of my small apartment as my one-square-metre sun room.
A month ago a friend from Melbourne came for a short visit, just avoiding the onset of the cold, blustery winds which are common here. I wanted to take him on a bus tour of the popular Xinghai Square and Binhai Road (along the scenic beach road), only to find that the tours don't run as it approaches winter; however, we did make our way to Xinghai Square where we saw the newly-finished castle hotel, and later lunched at my favourite restaurant: Lenbach Beer House by the sea.
As for myself, I've rather enjoyed the freedom of not teaching, even though I have been IELTS examining most weekends in Dalian, Shenyang, Changchun, and Qingdao. This weekend I am scheduled to go to Wuhan, where my China journey commenced in 2008. I'm really looking forward to meeting up with some friends, my old university, and seeing for myself how much the city has developed.
I have also kept myself busy preparing and delivering two presentations to students at the university where I have taught for the past three years: one on IELTS Speaking and the other on Writing (where most students are still struggling). The presentations were well attended and received.
Although I have made myself available for paid private tuition, only two students have taken up the offer to date. After spending an hour (free) with a student on Speaking she then got a band 6.5, however, her Writing was only a band 5. (Note that students must get a band 6 in each of the four English skills in order to be eligible to continue their studies in Australia). Subsequently, I tutored her for 2 hours re Writing and improved her score to 5.5. I'm now working on getting her to the elusive band 6. The other student had also previously received a Writing band 5: after two hours tutoring she jumped from a 5 to a 6. She's over the moon as she is now eligible to go to Australia: I think a good combination of my tutoring and her hard work. We celebrated at the aforementioned Lenbach restaurant.
I'm now socialising less with students and more with my IELTS examiner colleagues, even to the extent of taking up regular squash games again, after a 25-year break! Happy to report that the body is still holding up, and of the five regular players I'm currently number 2. Admittedly, it's not of a high standard but the others are half my age!
Recently the British Council held an IELTS conference in Beijing where I caught up with some former colleagues, including a Chinese examiner friend who was raised in Australia and has returned to China. She has met her Chinese future husband, and is going back to Sydney for her wedding in January! Refer the stunning "figure 8" photo she sent via WeChat.
At the conference, examiners swapped a number of yarns, two rather amusing ones being:
- One examiner gave a candidate the Speaking task 2 topic: "Which place, in a country other than your own, would you like to visit and why?" After the permitted one-minute preparation time, the candidate had decided that she would like to holiday in Phuket, so she replied "The country I want to go to is Thailand, to f_ _k it".
- I have given the same topic to a candidate who enthusiastically said: "Pizza - I want to go to Italy to see pizza!". At first I thought he would be talking off topic, but then he went on to say: "Many people think that pizza is leaning at an angle to the ground (signifying with his finger) but in fact it's shaped like a banana - not many people know that!". It was then I realised he was on topic and was actually describing the Leaning Tower of Pisa - to an Italian who has been to Pisa on more than one occasion!
Until next report... 'almost Red' Renzo
