17th July,2000 (Monday)  Shiny

Amy and I performed the routine checking. As expected, they were a bit uneasy getting mixed with other international students as they still seemed to prefer to withdraw to their own circle. We try to ask the teacher to mix them up so that they can learn something more than the mere language - something that those senior form students did find less interesting after the first period. Anyway, they need to realise the fact that their weakness lies not so much in the amount of cognitive knowledge they have got under their belt as in their ability to speak.

They have been told not to speak in their mother tongue all the time but they have got a strong tendency to get carried away during the sightseeing tour.  We try our best to get them into shape and hopefully what they can experience in the remaining days can have a profound impact on their attitude not just towards studies but also life.  Let's keep the fingers crossed.

I did make request for permission to do a bit videotaping but was rejected by Mrs Rees. Maybe they were not ready yet or simply because I should do the videotaping only when the course gathered enough momentum.  My disappointment was very quickly compensated by the promise that I could video-tape all classes some time next week.  That's not too bad eventually as I realised that many students were still strange to one another and thus camera-shy.

Some of our students may still stick to their lifestyle in Hong Kong and they didn't realise that what they get used to doing in Hong Kong may not be acceptable here. Alex, in particular, gave six pairs of jeans in two days to his host family for washing and complaint ensued quite naturally. We talked to Alex about this and he seemed to understand the problem and he promised to improve.

Amy and I had nothing but to take a bus to the public library where we hoped we could gain access to an internet-connected computer. To our great joy, there were, but access would be granted only on payment of 3 pounds per hour.  For the first time ever, I got another feel of finding a little drip of water in a desert and I decided to stay there for at least 2 hours - in fact, I couldn't stay on any longer as I had to go back to school before lunch. Therefore we just had a walk around the library (Amy was interested in the children'ss and video corner) and  I decided to send an email-message the following day.

After lunch, we were on another sightseeing tour to Dorsal Coast and the Corfe Castle. Students showed their excitement by rolling on the grassland from high-lying ground to low-lying area.  Anyway, it was time to release oneself totally.  As we walked up to the top of the Castle, we felt like fighting an uphill battle with our enemies watching all over us from inside the Castle. The Castle did help remind students of England's past, though they were occupied by photo-taking.

The day trip was over and I, as usual, was the last one to get off the coach. On my way back to my place, I pondered and pondered over what would happen the following day. Uncertainty remains the greatest cause of fears.