At the start of this, Luke and I were excitedly looking forward to "an easy year" of work. We would work between the hours of 9-4 and 9-4 only. We would have plenty of time to relax, get out and enjoy ourselves here. And while we have been able to do that, had we asked any teacher how many hours they actually work, they would probably most definitely have said they don't only fall into the hours of 9-4.
Originally, we were planning on both teaching a morning and afternoon kindergarten class, five days a week. Our school asked us to also take on a class of older kids (8-11 yr. olds) in the evenings, three days a week. Between getting to the school early to get materials together, lesson planning and meetings, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are very long days. Usually by the time we clock out we've worked 10-11 hours. Tuesdays and Thursdays are better but we have been subbing for another evening class, thus another long day thrown into the mix.
Even though we are working far more hours than we anticipated, I have to say that teaching has been much more fun and rewarding than I had thought. The hours fly by and are never boring. The kindergarten kids are so adorable and they just love you and are always yelling, "Teacher Katie!" or "Teacher Luke!" when you walk by. They say the funniest things, like one of my kids, Alen, saying, "My house is a toy store!" Or, another good one from Alen, "I am a 7-11!" What?! Who even knows what he's actually trying to say. Point is, they're hilarious. Or, one of Luke's kids, Kai, whose superpower is that "he can eat snaaaaAKKE?!!
I have a small class which consists of mostly three and four year-olds. In my opinion, very young to be in school and learning a different language but if you can believe it, there is another class even younger than this. There are 20 of them and they are a handful. It's taking some time for them to adjust to school and any number of funny/frustrating things happen every day. Crying, taking off pants and running around, spilling food...normal things for any 3 year-old but when there's 20 of them...Well, thankfully we have Chinese teachers in the classroom who deal with most of the dirty stuff during English time. This class has been challenging because the kids are so young but I've also heard that it's the most rewarding because of how much they grow and how much progress they make in a year.
The other day we went to the dentist for a field trip. Here are some of them getting ready to go. Notice the one in the center, giving the peace sign (in case you didn't know, this is pretty much what EVERY Asian does when taking a picture). I wouldn't be surprised if they had pictures of them as newborns doing this. This is Yuki, or maybe it's Ayato. Sitting down just behind him and to the right is his twin brother. Don't let the cuteness fool you...
They are a handful....
Here they are at the dentist, listening attentively to a demonstration of how to correctly brush your teeth. Why can't they be that attentive when I'm teaching?! Maybe I need to start incorporating props like an over-sized set of plastic teeth and a toothbrush into my lectures...
This is sweet, little Patty...
And, Dora...see what I mean about the peace sign thing?
And, crazy David...
I teach another class of older kindy kids (4-6 year-olds) in the afternoon and that class is a lot of fun most days. They are more under control, can speak a little more English and we interact a lot more. They are definitely my favorites right now. I only have pictures of a few of them since Friday afternoons tend to be busy getting them ready to go home. Here is Gemma, a real sweetheart...
And one of Ting-Ting, Gemma and Alen. Remember, Alen is the quotable one. He also loves having his picture taken. In fact, this one and the one before of Gemma are the only ones where he wasn't less than a foot away from the camera (which also made taking pictures of other kids difficult).
See what I mean? ; )
That kid in the back is Eric, another great kid. There are a bunch of them in that class.Once Luke has some pictures of his kids, he will do a post. He teaches a middle class (4-6 year olds) and a big class (5-7 year olds).
2 comments:
OH MY GAWWWWDD!!
I know it's long hours, but ASIAN BABIES!! There are no cuter babies. It's interesting that so many of them have English names, any reason why? And Yuki is a pretty common Japanese name.
In hindsight I am not too surprised at the long hours. My stepdad teaches elementary school and has a similar schedule.
You're right! Yuki and Ayato are from Japan and as far as all the English names go...their parents will often give them one in addition to their Chinese name when they go to an English school. Or sometimes the school will assign them a name.
Luke used to tell me about he and his brother giving kids horrendous names when they taught random English classes back when they were in high school...
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