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This podcast tells the story of a year of an English teacher in China, working in an international school in Changshu, Jiangsu. It‘s also full of history and culture. We‘ll go back to the imperial days, the revolutionary days, the days of triumph and the days of humiliation. Mostly though, it‘s modern China that I‘ll focus on, as it is the most relevant to understanding China now. China is super fascinating, and it‘s also probably the most important country in the world to understand right now, so this is my contribution to that. It‘s not a chronological history; instead, it kind of matches up to the things that were occuring in my roller-coaster of a year living in Changshu. I‘ve changed the names of the people I that I met when I was in China, except Jess of course. You‘ll meet Jess later. She‘s awesome. Blog: SMKYpodcast.blogspot.com
Episodes
Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
Summer is a journalist in Taipei. We discuss journalism and press freedom in taiwan, emotional connections with China, lessons from Hong Kong, chances of war, traveling between Taiwan and China, competition between democratic and Chinese systems, voting in Taiwan
Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
1) Salaries, savings, visa requirements and a few tips for the budding ESL teacher in China.
2) Classroom discipline, getting to know students, and another tricky meeting with the management.
3) Indecent proposal.
Email: SMKYPodcast@gmx.com
Twitter: @SMKYPodcast
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
Many challenges come with teaching English abroad: language barriers, cultural differences, unusual teas... and other teachers.
Email: SMKYpodcast@gmx.com
Twitter: @SMKYPodcast
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
Conflicting personalities in the school combined with some irritating school scheduling crap led to me seeking the city lights of Shanghai. In part one of a two-part extravaganza about the great city, we visit the bars of the French Concession and track down JG Ballard's old home.
Some nice pics here: https://smkypodcast.blogspot.com
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
Part two in Shanghai, finding the city's shiny financial centre, the colonial hangover which is the Bund, and one of the city's darkest hours.
Wednesday Feb 09, 2022
Wednesday Feb 09, 2022
Back in school, we laowai suffer the stress of an open class. For those unlucky enough to be faced with such a challenge, here are some games and stuff that require minimum planning and are fairly fun too.
Thursday Feb 17, 2022
Thursday Feb 17, 2022
Penny rocks up to drag me away from the safety of my apartment, and we go back into Changshu City to find sweatshops, green tea, and an illegal swimmer.
Thursday Feb 24, 2022
Thursday Feb 24, 2022
A chat today with Manzhou from Shanghai about Confucianism. And stick around to the end for an email from Teacher Kelly, as some of the staff make a move against the school management.
Saturday Mar 05, 2022
Saturday Mar 05, 2022
Instead of a regular episode, a few reflections on the way counternarrative-inclined westerners have responded to Russia's aggression, mostly on Twitter.
My twitter @SMKYpodcast
Sunday Mar 20, 2022