First week of teaching
Trip Start
Sep 18, 2007
1
11
28
Trip End
Apr 17, 2009
Taoyuan,
Taiwan
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Well, I show up for my first class and I am informed that were are teaching a completely different lesson by my co-teacher (the co-teacher is a Taiwanese teacher. The co-teacher teaches them alone for 2 hours and then assists during the 2 hours a week the foreign teachers get them). Then there were all the procedures and routines the class went through that I didn't know about. I mostly stood there while my co-teacher just took over and went through all the stuff they needed to cover. My second class was an older kid class and the story was very similar. First day down...5 more to go.
Thursday I taught my first Kindy (Kindergarten) class and Beginner class. Man, I have never had so much fun! The lessons are very cut and dry and there are flashcards ready to go. It's all about the games and the energy with the Kindy and Beginners...something I have a lot of. Also, I can be the biggest goof on the planet and they just eat it up! We have to sing songs...and they don't even really care how well (or badly) I sing...they just wanna sing. The sillier the better. I had this one kid that just loved the word PAPAYA. Maybe he loves the fruit a lot...I don't know...but every question I asked, the answer was always PAPAYA! LOL! Mel, if you are reading this...I definitely know now why you liked the Kindies so much! I wish all my classes were Kindy and beginner.
Friday I had one beginner class and one level 2 class. They were ok. My one class was a bunch of punks who were just too good to be at school taking English and were disruptive and annoying in general.
I taught one class on Saturday...a Jr. Elite class. These kids are a bit older and are supposedly very advanced. It went very well. One of our new vocabulary words was 'doughnut' and I asked them if they knew Homer Simpson. I was met with a bunch of blank stares. I tried drawing Homer on the board...but with hillarious results. The kids were just rolling on the floor with laughter. LOL.
Monday I had this one class that was just terrible. They were not cooperative at all and everything I did was just met with blank stares and total lack of cooperation. I am gonna have to really work hard at that one class to draw them out. My second class was much better.
Tuesday's first class was a Beginner's class and was the most rewarding. I had this one kid...Baron...who just put his head down on his desk and refused to participate. The co-teacher even had to physically drag him out to the front of the class for a game. Much goofing off and silliness later...his hand was shooting up with every question I asked. I was so happy with that...my co-teacher told me that he hadn't said a single word the previous class. My secret weapon is the 'high five'. Kids just love slappin' your hand! They can't get enough of it! I even give out 'high tens' when I am really happy with their work. My second class was a bunch of rowdy punks...although I think I managed to win them over before the two hours were up. We played hangman...and one of the words was argument. I asked if anyone knew what 'argument' was and no one put up their hand. I slowly walked up to this one kid that wasn't paying attention and screamed "BLUE!" at him. He was quite startled and stared blankly at me for a few seconds. I told him to say "YELLOW!". He quietly said yellow. I screamed at him again. By the third time we were in a full-blown shouting match. "I said blue!", "I said yellow!" It was great :)
Today I came full circle with the class I first taught last week. It went a bit better...but the kids are just outta control and hard to reel in sometimes. By the end of the lesson I was 'crazy Teacher'. I am not sure if that is a compliment or not. LOL. I taught them how to play hopscotch (it was a new vocabulary word for them) and how to order food at McDonald's. They just had a big test. Apparently after a big test they get to go to McDonald's. Hey, I don't mind. One day I don't have to plan a lesson for.
Student names are super funny here. In the class I taught today I had 2 Mikes, 2 Cindys and 2 Jerrys (they were twins too). In my other classes I have 'Bright', 'Smile', 'Apple' and 'Baron' (previously mentioned). I also have some old school names like 'Doris' and 'York'. Parents I think just randomly chose English sounding names for their kids or translate directly from a Chinese word that they really like. Just one more thing to get used to! LOL!
Anyway, that is all for now. I imagine the flow of class will improve with time and experience. This is my first time teaching kids. So far, so good!
