Keith O’Hare

　　A day in the life of the Ginger-haired Professor: Oh Yang Wen from England

　　Keith O’Hare, Academic Coordinator, English First Qinhuangdao

　　When I lived in Manchester, England, I woke up to the sound of birds and my dog barking (1). Breakfast was cereal (2), some toast, and a cup of tea. Today in Qinhuangdao, I wake up to the sound of students arriving at the school near my house. On my plate I have some dumplings from last night’s dinner, some rice and spicy (3) chicken.

　　7.30 A.M. (4)

　　I usually get up around 7:30 in the mornings, not six o’clock, like most Chinese people. My body and I are still following the English clock (at least that is my excuse). To wake up, I turn on the goggle box (5) and listen to some Chinese. I’m learning Mandarin Chinese and take every opportunity to listen to the language, even though I don’t understand everything.

　　8.15 A.M.

　　After breakfast, I ride my bike to work. I’m lucky – I live five minutes away from the school I teach at. I greet my neighbours, who I sometime play chess with. “oh-yang-wen, hello!” they say. They smile when I reply “ni hao”. Oh-yang-wen is my Chinese name. My English name is Keith, and hard to pronounce for most people.

　　The toddlers (6) in the park stop and stare (7) as I go past. Almost everybody, from the young children to the elderly folk, is very curious about me. Who is that ginger-haired man in a suit, riding a bike to work?

　　8.30 A.M.

　　Today my first task (8) is oral tests for new students who are interested in learning English at EF. It’s my job to find out their spoken ability (9) in English. After this I check my e-mails and then prepare the classes for the afternoon: How to teach the simple past? What games to play? Which song to sing? Hmm…What am I going to have for lunch? The day is full of difficult decisions!

　　12.00

　　At noon (10), I go to a restaurant for lunch. Eating out in Qinhuangdao is a lot cheaper than Manchester and the food is excellent.

　　1.00 P.M. (11)

　　This afternoon I have a special class. My “Trailblazer” group, with thirteen and fourteen-year-olds, are giving a performance for their parents. They have written dialogues based on a trip to McDonald’s. The children perform well, except Philip, the youngest, who was so nervous he forgot everything. Not to worry, we all clap (12) and cheer him on. Everyone is happy.

　　6.00 P.M.

　　In the evening, I write a letter to my brother in Manchester, telling him I miss the family, English television, and fish and chips (14), but here in Qinhuangdao I’m happy and well looked after.

　　WORD KEY

　　1 barking (to bark) verb (狗等)吠

　　2 cereal noun谷类食物

　　3 spicy adjective辣的

　　4 A.M. acronym上午

　　5 goggle box informal expression (英国) 电视

　　6 toddlers noun初学走路的孩子

　　7 stare verb盯着看

　　8 task noun任务

　　9 ability noun才能

　　10 noon noun正午, 中午十二点

　　12 P.M. acronym下午

　　13 clap verb拍手

　　14 fish and chips noun 炸鱼加洋芋片