Busy, busy, busy

Whew! I went from too little work to too much work really quickly. I just started teaching these jr. high classes, then I picked up a tutoring gig for 4.5 hrs per week, and i just got the coolest new assignment. A few months ago I saw a flier at our branch about "opportunities", and one of them was helping to write new curriculum for some classes. I replied to that one, and didn't hear anything more about it, but just a few days ago the area manager called and asked if I still want to do it, and I said sure, so I went to a meeting today.

It turns out they will be making a new class for more advanced students, and the one I will be working on is for public speaking- not just speeches but stuff like hosting an event or making a speech at a wedding. So here's the crazy thing- I will be writing the whole curriculum- materials, teachers' book, everything. We will have meetings to go over everything but it's all kind of from me. It's exciting but kind of scary- they are putting a lot of faith in me and I have given them no reason to! (no reason not to, but still....). And, the whole thing will be done- written, professionally printed, and ready to start teaching by the end of April! Taiwanese people do not mess around I guess. In the US we would be lucky to finalize the name of the course by the end of April.

I think it will be a good experience, and it is nice to have something where I feel like an adult. One of the things that has been tough about teaching here is that I'm not a particularly good teacher- I'm not bad, but I'm not really above the average of other teachers that started the same time as me. And there are some things- like, um, being fun for little kids- that I will just never be good at. So coming from years at Kaplan where I was a good tutor, then a good teacher, then a good manager, and then coming here and being a mediocre teacher, is a little hard to adjust to. And back in the US, one of the things I was good at was speaking and writing, whereas here I talk like a retarded 4-year old and write like... well, not quite that well.

So it was cool to be in the meeting today and feel like I had stuff to contribute, and even have that old feeling of business meetings where someone has a vague idea and someone else firms it up and someone else uses that as a springboard to something better. I'm surprised how much I miss that stuff.