On Friday, December 16, 2016, JESIE ran their third staff meeting  for the 15 teachers stationed in Nanjing.    

As usual, we started the meeting with teachers sharing their experiences at work and in their daily lives.  Our newest teachers, Josh and Brian, were asked to share their impressions of their first month on the job.  Along with the comments from the other teachers, classroom management was again a key issue of discussion, followed by a brief discussion on how to handle speaking tests in a primary school environment.  To a lesser degree, how to be more included in school activities was again a topic as some teachers expressed concern over being excluded, and others celebrated being more included.

Lyra touched on the need to use the office phone number if there is an emergency, not just staff members’ cell phone numbers, as Chinese staff members may be available due to meetings and other work-related tasks. However, there is usually an intern or other staff member in the office to answer the phone, and they may be able to assist.  The need to be patient if the required staff member is not immediately at hand was also explained – it might take some time to reply to a message, but it would be replied to as soon as possible.   Teachers were also requested to be careful on what they posted on the JESIE WeChat group, as questions and remarks might confuse other teachers.   Especially important was contacting staff members directly about specific issues or concerns, both for the sake of privacy, but also to be assisted in a timely fashion.   Lyra and Val also mentioned the need to be especially professional on school campuses, particularly after the departure of a certain teacher in the last week.

Val reminded teachers of the deadlines for the submission of testimonials (from new teachers) and essays to be posted on the JESIE website.  Everyone was also informed that the January staff meeting would actually be moved to December 30th, since teachers would be on holiday for the Spring Festival Break at that time.  (Incidentally, the start date of the foreign teacher break is now January 10th, not January 14th.   Please remember to let Luna know your travel plans!) The confusion between the Nanjing Christmas Eve banquet for Foreign Experts and the JPDE Spring Festival gala and banquet was cleared up, although we still don’t have a date or time for the latter.    

The final part of the staff meeting was a rehearsal of the song Lean on Me for the JESIE staff performance, where the Nanjing side will support the Wuxi side as a back-up chorus.  It is amazing how difficult “oohing” in a group can be…   After a few run-throughs, the meeting broke up on a positive note.