A lesson on frazzling the brain

I should be in a lesson right now, but only two English teachers turned up this week so the lesson was cut short. Admittedly, two students represents a 100% rise from last week's total but we agreed that an hour of chatting was sufficient. I helped them with some phrases, colloquialisms and idioms that they had come across but had not quite understood. It's only when you are asked to explain the English language, with all its exceptions and obscurities, that you realise how difficult it must be to learn!
I went to KTV last night with a large mixed group of Chinese and foreign people. Some of the Chinese assistants, including one of my teachers, came along, which was cool because they are our age. Sometimes, so I have been told, they don't feel very comfortable around foreigners in situations where we are babbling at native-speaking speed, which is totally understandable. However, last night it worked well and we all chatted (or, rather, shouted over the tuneful/tuneless noises of karaoke) together. I was so delighted when one of the girls (whose English name is Fairy- they come up with all sorts of names for themselves) announced that the assistants think my Chinese is really progressing.
I have been doing so much studying in the last two weeks, so that comment meant a lot! I currently have 3 hours on Monday, Tuesdays, Thursday and Friday mornings at Aston, plus Tao is giving Kaori (Japanese lady in our flat) and me a two-hour lesson every Tuesday and Thursday evening. It's so nice of her to do this but Tao insists that she likes to do this for her friends. On Thursday we sat in MacDonald's (the quieter one of the two in Wuhu) and drank coffee (free refills, so good for studying) whilst we studied. It frazzles your brain a bit to exercise your memory in this way, but frequent practice is the only way to learn, I'm sure. At every opportunity, I am speaking all the Chinese I can, even if the sentences come out as an odd mix of English and Chinese!
I have a lesson in 15 minutes so I must go now. The students are 7/8 year olds and they are learning about numbers and money at the moment. I am going to take in some British money, which should rouse their interest for at least 20 seconds. I also spent ages producing some cards for a card game to play with them, so I really hope it works and that they are not too young to understand.