To distract me from my pain, my classes have been really making me laugh.
Remember that old Ricky Martin song, "Shake your bon-bon"? I didn't either, until one of my little TreeHouse kids starting singing "shake your bum-bum, shake your bum-bum, bum-bum" while shaking his little bum-bum.
Then my cute evening class- first there was a dead cockroach in the classroom but of course the kids said "Teacher! Cockroach!" and I shreeked and one of the boys said, "only cockroach body!" But my fear kind of set the tone for mirth in the class.
We're reading this book called "Making a Mark" about people who did great things, but I can't remember what all these books are called, so I called it "Make Your Mark." Whatever. The kids thought I said, "Make your mom," and kept saying, "make your mom!" and I had no idea what they were talking about. Then the CT pipes in: "No! You can make a baby, but you can't make a mom!" I cracked up. The kids were like "Teacher! Your face is an apple!" (so red)
Then, our story was about Jesse Owens. So I have to teach them how to say Hitler, blonde, Germany, Europeans. And elementary students the world over delight in how that word sounds like you're-a-peein'. I don't find it that funny but when there are 17 kids laughing I start to laugh.
Then I try to explain why Hitler hated Jesse Owens, among other people. (Keep in mind I'm walking like a gimp.) "So would Hitler like you?" "No." "Would Hitler like this guy? (aryan guy in the picture)" "Yes." "Would Hitler like me?" "No." "Why not?"
"Because, Teacher, your walk is so bad!" (ie, you walk so badly). Yes. Exactly.
Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Too Stinky
So my TreeHouse kids- they are the ones I teach 3x a week, so I am closer to them. They are in 2nd grade now and very cute.
This unit we learned the word "stinky" as in "stinky tofu," the national dish of Taiwan.
Then in class yesterday one of the boys, Jason, let rip some extremely foul gas. The kids were like, "So stinky!" Later on he let one rip again and even I had to breathe through my mouth for a while. I didn't want to embarass him more than necessary so I took him to the classroom and asked him, in Chinese, if he was sick or had to go to the bathroom. No, he said. OK, I said, then you can't do that anymore, or I will have to write a note to your mom and maybe you will have to take some medicine.
So much for saving him embarassment. When he went back to his seat all the other kids were like, "What did she say?"
Jason: "Ta shuo, 'Nide fangpi tai chou!" which translates as "she said, 'Your fart is too stinky!'"
This unit we learned the word "stinky" as in "stinky tofu," the national dish of Taiwan.
Then in class yesterday one of the boys, Jason, let rip some extremely foul gas. The kids were like, "So stinky!" Later on he let one rip again and even I had to breathe through my mouth for a while. I didn't want to embarass him more than necessary so I took him to the classroom and asked him, in Chinese, if he was sick or had to go to the bathroom. No, he said. OK, I said, then you can't do that anymore, or I will have to write a note to your mom and maybe you will have to take some medicine.
So much for saving him embarassment. When he went back to his seat all the other kids were like, "What did she say?"
Jason: "Ta shuo, 'Nide fangpi tai chou!" which translates as "she said, 'Your fart is too stinky!'"
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Losin' my cool
So I really like most of my classes, and feel indifferent to a couple. And one just drives me crazy. They've gotten gradually worse which I think is not so much a result of my teaching (no, no!) as that they've gotten older, and the class has gotten harder which means we have to spend less time rolling dice and more time rolling with our Patterns books, and there are:
- a few boys who are really smart but have decided to use their smarts to drive me crazy instead of learning English
- a few boys who are really dumb and use their "dumbs" similarly
- a bunch of boys and girls who are nice but not smart so I'm always having to teach them instead of controlling the mis-fits.
For example, one boy occasionally drops the f-bomb and gives me the finger. (He's in 4th grade.) So I make him write new words many times, have the CT write notes to his mom, act cool with him when he is nice and answers questions (which is often), but not much else I can do.
Usually it goes OK- some days better than others- and when the CT is there, she usually hits kids who misbehave. I do all the stuff I know to make kids have fun and control unruly kids- which has turned 3 other crazy classes into classes I like- but it just doesn't work very often with these guys.
So today the CT wasn't there. But the kids were being so good. Except a couple of them were speaking Chinese to each other, but whatever. I noticed messages kept floating between these 3 kids- Jess (finger kid), Michael and Howard (both of whom do great in class but challenge me more to impress each other than to challenge me). Then Michael says in Chinese, something to the effect of "Do we do it before Student Book or after Student Book?" And student book is right after the book we're doing now. I punish Michael's team for speaking Chinese and move on. At one point Jess says, in Chinese, "after student book." And I'm starting to feel kinda scared- like, if they totally make me lose my authority in front of the whole class, that's bad. Also I find myself doing my regular calculus in my head: I outweigh one Taiwanese guy but not 2, so I don't have to be scared if only one looks like trouble. (Not that that happens much.) Then I think, I don't think I could take 3 12-year-old boys; also, I don't want to have to beat them up. (I realize this is crazy but it's my thoughts.) I finally decided that if crazy stuff starts to go down I'll just leave the classroom and make someone else clean it up. Sure I will look like a schmuck but I don't care.
We play a game and the boys in question behave pretty well. OK. I start to think of alternative strategies to running away or beating up kids. Then I hear Michael say, "Howard. I think before student book" (in Chinese). I told him to speak English and he says it in English. I let us finish the game. Then I gave the class something to do and took the 3 boys outside. Right away they looked guilty and then said, "Teacher, why?"
I asked them in English what they were planning, and they acted like they didn't understand. And who knows if they did. So I asked them in Chinese- What do you want to do? Nothing, they said. One more time, what do you want to do? They don't say anything. You think I can't hear? You think I can't understand Chinese? (Total bluff, as I couldn't understand their plan, only when it would occur.)
Finally Jess says, in Chinese, "I don't undertand your Chinese." (Which was not true, but I could call that bluff.) So I went to get a CT to translate. Of course I couldn't pull one out of actually teaching, so I went down the classrooms looking for one who wasn't teaching. (Worse-case, Jasmine was teaching but I figured I could pull her.) Last classroom I found an NST teaching so I went in and got the CT and quickly explained to her.
Man, she let the kids have it! They looked about ready to cry. They kept insisting they weren't planning anything but she was like "Teacher Christina speaks Chinese! Why is she angry if you don't want to do anything?" She made them apologize sincerly- if they just mumbled she was like "Again. Again."
I didn't really care if they told me what they were going to do (an in retrospect it was probably nothing too terrible- probably like throw their pencils or something, as these kids are really nothing compared to US kids); my goal was more to convince them that the time for them pulling crazy stunts with me was over.
We'll see if it works next week!
- a few boys who are really smart but have decided to use their smarts to drive me crazy instead of learning English
- a few boys who are really dumb and use their "dumbs" similarly
- a bunch of boys and girls who are nice but not smart so I'm always having to teach them instead of controlling the mis-fits.
For example, one boy occasionally drops the f-bomb and gives me the finger. (He's in 4th grade.) So I make him write new words many times, have the CT write notes to his mom, act cool with him when he is nice and answers questions (which is often), but not much else I can do.
Usually it goes OK- some days better than others- and when the CT is there, she usually hits kids who misbehave. I do all the stuff I know to make kids have fun and control unruly kids- which has turned 3 other crazy classes into classes I like- but it just doesn't work very often with these guys.
So today the CT wasn't there. But the kids were being so good. Except a couple of them were speaking Chinese to each other, but whatever. I noticed messages kept floating between these 3 kids- Jess (finger kid), Michael and Howard (both of whom do great in class but challenge me more to impress each other than to challenge me). Then Michael says in Chinese, something to the effect of "Do we do it before Student Book or after Student Book?" And student book is right after the book we're doing now. I punish Michael's team for speaking Chinese and move on. At one point Jess says, in Chinese, "after student book." And I'm starting to feel kinda scared- like, if they totally make me lose my authority in front of the whole class, that's bad. Also I find myself doing my regular calculus in my head: I outweigh one Taiwanese guy but not 2, so I don't have to be scared if only one looks like trouble. (Not that that happens much.) Then I think, I don't think I could take 3 12-year-old boys; also, I don't want to have to beat them up. (I realize this is crazy but it's my thoughts.) I finally decided that if crazy stuff starts to go down I'll just leave the classroom and make someone else clean it up. Sure I will look like a schmuck but I don't care.
We play a game and the boys in question behave pretty well. OK. I start to think of alternative strategies to running away or beating up kids. Then I hear Michael say, "Howard. I think before student book" (in Chinese). I told him to speak English and he says it in English. I let us finish the game. Then I gave the class something to do and took the 3 boys outside. Right away they looked guilty and then said, "Teacher, why?"
I asked them in English what they were planning, and they acted like they didn't understand. And who knows if they did. So I asked them in Chinese- What do you want to do? Nothing, they said. One more time, what do you want to do? They don't say anything. You think I can't hear? You think I can't understand Chinese? (Total bluff, as I couldn't understand their plan, only when it would occur.)
Finally Jess says, in Chinese, "I don't undertand your Chinese." (Which was not true, but I could call that bluff.) So I went to get a CT to translate. Of course I couldn't pull one out of actually teaching, so I went down the classrooms looking for one who wasn't teaching. (Worse-case, Jasmine was teaching but I figured I could pull her.) Last classroom I found an NST teaching so I went in and got the CT and quickly explained to her.
Man, she let the kids have it! They looked about ready to cry. They kept insisting they weren't planning anything but she was like "Teacher Christina speaks Chinese! Why is she angry if you don't want to do anything?" She made them apologize sincerly- if they just mumbled she was like "Again. Again."
I didn't really care if they told me what they were going to do (an in retrospect it was probably nothing too terrible- probably like throw their pencils or something, as these kids are really nothing compared to US kids); my goal was more to convince them that the time for them pulling crazy stunts with me was over.
We'll see if it works next week!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Classic homework
I will never get tired of the sentences these kids make.
For "realize": I realize my sister is fat, because my mom says it so much.
Also, listening comprehension (they heard "favorite" as "fever"):
What is your fever place in Taiwan?
No, my fever place isn't in Taiwan.
For "realize": I realize my sister is fat, because my mom says it so much.
Also, listening comprehension (they heard "favorite" as "fever"):
What is your fever place in Taiwan?
No, my fever place isn't in Taiwan.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Cram School
So cram school is where they try to cram your head full of stuff. They have it for adults and kids (but more for kids). So you go to English cram school if you want to learn English (and I teach you!) You go to rollerblading cram school if you want to learn to rollerblade. There's math cram school (where little kids learn to use an abascus but don't seem to learn much math, as I see when I give them a simple math problem); history and science cram school; flight attendant cram school... you get the idea.
So I'm teaching this conversation class at the kindy. But I start teaching right after they've woken up from their naps so usually I do a little exercise so they don't just stare at my sleepily for the first half hour. Sometimes I feel like I need to stretch myself so I lead them in some running stretches- yes, I'm shameless. Today I threw on a put-your-foot on your knee-and-balance thing.
These 2 girls were balancing so well so I asked if they took dance classes. "Yes, we go to dance school, and math school, and art school, and learn-to-play-Go school."
Yup- a Go bu-xi-ban. Maybe I will open a Monopoly cram school....
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Only in Taiwan part 37
I know I've mentioned Taiwan's obsession with white skin before. It's one of those weird things- they seem to accept black westerners but there's for sure sometimes (for some people) some prejudice at work against Asians with dark(er) skin (ie aboriginal Taiwanese and guest workers from other Asian countries).
The thing that makes it trickier is that the words black and white in Chinese encompass a lot more than they do in English- they kind of mean darkness and lightness, so that you can say "White days are getting shorter" when you mean the daylight is less, and when I start to get a little tan people exclaim about how black (hei-heide) I'm getting. It's not so much being born black or white, as wasting your naturally white skin, that they don't like.
So today I was grading homework where the kids had to make a sentence with one of their new words, skin. There was plenty of randomness ("He has no skin, so he is dead") but a few gems like these:
"My sister is beautiful because her skin is very white."
"My mom says to my dad, 'Your skin is black! It's too bad!"
The thing that makes it trickier is that the words black and white in Chinese encompass a lot more than they do in English- they kind of mean darkness and lightness, so that you can say "White days are getting shorter" when you mean the daylight is less, and when I start to get a little tan people exclaim about how black (hei-heide) I'm getting. It's not so much being born black or white, as wasting your naturally white skin, that they don't like.
So today I was grading homework where the kids had to make a sentence with one of their new words, skin. There was plenty of randomness ("He has no skin, so he is dead") but a few gems like these:
"My sister is beautiful because her skin is very white."
"My mom says to my dad, 'Your skin is black! It's too bad!"
Friday, January 19, 2007
Another good day
Today was a good day. Maybe it will show you what I do in a typical day. I woke up practiced writing characters for a little bit, then met someone for a Bible study- it was good, I got to read the paragraphs. I am getting better at making small talk. There are two questions people always ask me and I still can't tell the difference between them- How long have you been here, and how long will you stay? I've just started to stay, I came in November and I'll stay until next December. Much easier that way.
After that I ran on the treadmill in the gym in our building, for just over an hour. I'm really pleased with how quickly I've gotten back into shape. I defininitely want to run a marathon while I'm here- there is one on April 15th and then not another one until November. I think I might be able to do the April one. If not I will do a half-marathon then. If I'll do it in April I need to get on a training schedule now, so maybe I will try to train for a few weeks and see if I have enough energy and time. Finding the time is tough because the gym is only open from 9 am to 10 pm, so I can only really run on mornings I'm not doing anything, or in the afternoon if I'm not doing anything. Also I would like to be able to run outside but it's hard because you just can't safely run on the streets here; I should check out a few of the bigger parks. Another concern is that even when I was training for the half-marathon that I ran very slowly, I was an eating machine. And that wasn't too bad in America where I could but Power Bars and bake chickens for dinner. Here eating is still a bit of task... I can fill myself up now but getting the right mix of healthy stuff, and enough of it to support marathon calorie burning, might be hard. You would think I would lose a lot of weight this way, right? No, I will just eat a lot more. Maybe lose a few pounds.
Whew! After that I ate some popcorn (I found a Chinese brand of Jiffy Pop- we don't have a microwave yet) and drank some chocolate milk (they have it here!) and showered, then it was around 2:30. I packed up some stuff for the weekend. I will be staying with Jasmine and I wanted to take some stuff to Fong Yuan because today I rode my bike but tomorrow I won't. I figured I would get food to eat on the way to work.
I looked kind of crazy- well, crazy for America; nothing is crazy for Taiwan. I had my backpack full of weekend clothes on the back of my bike, and a bag of homework and a purse in my bike basket, and a plastic bag with my rain gear hanging off my handlebar. I went to this place that sells chicken and you have your choice of 3 vegetables- kind of set up like Boston Market. It's another one of those places where you can point at everything so you would think if you would say "I want that" it wouldn't require a lot of Chinese conversation, and sometimes it doesn't but sometimes it does. They just ask all these questions I don't understand. Today I saw the guy from the papaya milkshake stand who speaks English. He was there with his girlfriend. I introduced myself and she said "He is so happy when you buy from him!" in English. So cute.
After that I rode a different way to the train station and passed a fruit stand. I wanted to buy a couple of oranges to eat for snacks at work so I went to the counter and the guy weighed them and said "Three dollars" in Chinese. Which is like 10 cents. So I said "30?" and he said "No, 3". I said "So cheap!" and he laughed. I guess oranges are in season. Then the owner came over and gave me an orange and a couple of pieces of fruit that don't have an English name for free! Crazy, eh?
By the time I got to the train I really looked crazy- I had all the original stuff on my bike, plus my meal, a cup of green tea, and the fruit hanging off my handelbars. I love Taiwan sometimes- where else can you wear a black skirt, navy jacket, and baseball cap for a formal occasion? Nowhere.
Classes went pretty well. First I had my Kids Club class- these are really little kids, like 6, and the idea of the class is to make them like English and think it's fun, while teaching them a little bit. But they learn crazy words like jellyfish and squid. Darned if I can tell the difference but they all can.
Then I had my Level 4 class who are crazy- they are so good at coming up with English sentences that aren't written in the book. Usually they are about poo-poo or bathrooms but so it goes. We had a quiz, and there is one kid, Oscar, who does so bad. He already failed this level once, and he has these enormous ears and always pulls his pants up under his armpits and tucks his shirt into them. He got an 85 which made me happy. Then we were going over the homework they will do, and one of the things was that they had to fill in the blanks for a paragraph so we were having them fill in the blanks in class and go write the whole thing at home. So it was like "I go to ___ Elementary School and I'm in Grade ____" blah blah blah "My ______ teacher is great, and I really like _____". So we go over everything orally and the end part is, they're supposed to say like "My math teacher is great, and I really like her." But this one little kid, Rex, who doesn't do so good either, comes up and his says "My happy teacher is great, and I really like my mom." It cracked me up because, you know, it's technically correct.
Then graded some homework and home on the train. It wasn't raining, yay! Tomorrow will be a long day- I have to observe a class in the morning in Taichung, then make it to Fong Yuan to teach my afternoon class and then have a Performance Day for another class. Then go to some congregation gathering with Fong Yuan where I will have to speak Chinese :{.
Today was a good day. Maybe it will show you what I do in a typical day. I woke up practiced writing characters for a little bit, then met someone for a Bible study- it was good, I got to read the paragraphs. I am getting better at making small talk. There are two questions people always ask me and I still can't tell the difference between them- How long have you been here, and how long will you stay? I've just started to stay, I came in November and I'll stay until next December. Much easier that way.
After that I ran on the treadmill in the gym in our building, for just over an hour. I'm really pleased with how quickly I've gotten back into shape. I defininitely want to run a marathon while I'm here- there is one on April 15th and then not another one until November. I think I might be able to do the April one. If not I will do a half-marathon then. If I'll do it in April I need to get on a training schedule now, so maybe I will try to train for a few weeks and see if I have enough energy and time. Finding the time is tough because the gym is only open from 9 am to 10 pm, so I can only really run on mornings I'm not doing anything, or in the afternoon if I'm not doing anything. Also I would like to be able to run outside but it's hard because you just can't safely run on the streets here; I should check out a few of the bigger parks. Another concern is that even when I was training for the half-marathon that I ran very slowly, I was an eating machine. And that wasn't too bad in America where I could but Power Bars and bake chickens for dinner. Here eating is still a bit of task... I can fill myself up now but getting the right mix of healthy stuff, and enough of it to support marathon calorie burning, might be hard. You would think I would lose a lot of weight this way, right? No, I will just eat a lot more. Maybe lose a few pounds.
Whew! After that I ate some popcorn (I found a Chinese brand of Jiffy Pop- we don't have a microwave yet) and drank some chocolate milk (they have it here!) and showered, then it was around 2:30. I packed up some stuff for the weekend. I will be staying with Jasmine and I wanted to take some stuff to Fong Yuan because today I rode my bike but tomorrow I won't. I figured I would get food to eat on the way to work.
I looked kind of crazy- well, crazy for America; nothing is crazy for Taiwan. I had my backpack full of weekend clothes on the back of my bike, and a bag of homework and a purse in my bike basket, and a plastic bag with my rain gear hanging off my handlebar. I went to this place that sells chicken and you have your choice of 3 vegetables- kind of set up like Boston Market. It's another one of those places where you can point at everything so you would think if you would say "I want that" it wouldn't require a lot of Chinese conversation, and sometimes it doesn't but sometimes it does. They just ask all these questions I don't understand. Today I saw the guy from the papaya milkshake stand who speaks English. He was there with his girlfriend. I introduced myself and she said "He is so happy when you buy from him!" in English. So cute.
After that I rode a different way to the train station and passed a fruit stand. I wanted to buy a couple of oranges to eat for snacks at work so I went to the counter and the guy weighed them and said "Three dollars" in Chinese. Which is like 10 cents. So I said "30?" and he said "No, 3". I said "So cheap!" and he laughed. I guess oranges are in season. Then the owner came over and gave me an orange and a couple of pieces of fruit that don't have an English name for free! Crazy, eh?
By the time I got to the train I really looked crazy- I had all the original stuff on my bike, plus my meal, a cup of green tea, and the fruit hanging off my handelbars. I love Taiwan sometimes- where else can you wear a black skirt, navy jacket, and baseball cap for a formal occasion? Nowhere.
Classes went pretty well. First I had my Kids Club class- these are really little kids, like 6, and the idea of the class is to make them like English and think it's fun, while teaching them a little bit. But they learn crazy words like jellyfish and squid. Darned if I can tell the difference but they all can.
Then I had my Level 4 class who are crazy- they are so good at coming up with English sentences that aren't written in the book. Usually they are about poo-poo or bathrooms but so it goes. We had a quiz, and there is one kid, Oscar, who does so bad. He already failed this level once, and he has these enormous ears and always pulls his pants up under his armpits and tucks his shirt into them. He got an 85 which made me happy. Then we were going over the homework they will do, and one of the things was that they had to fill in the blanks for a paragraph so we were having them fill in the blanks in class and go write the whole thing at home. So it was like "I go to ___ Elementary School and I'm in Grade ____" blah blah blah "My ______ teacher is great, and I really like _____". So we go over everything orally and the end part is, they're supposed to say like "My math teacher is great, and I really like her." But this one little kid, Rex, who doesn't do so good either, comes up and his says "My happy teacher is great, and I really like my mom." It cracked me up because, you know, it's technically correct.
Then graded some homework and home on the train. It wasn't raining, yay! Tomorrow will be a long day- I have to observe a class in the morning in Taichung, then make it to Fong Yuan to teach my afternoon class and then have a Performance Day for another class. Then go to some congregation gathering with Fong Yuan where I will have to speak Chinese :{.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
My wild class
Wednesday night is my most crazy class- there are 20 of them which is a lot, and they have only been learning English for about 6 months. The first night I taught them of course I didn't know anything about them, and the second time I didn't remember, so I went in with all kinds of energy and a game that involved throwing a puppet around. Not good ideas. These kids beat on each other anyways so the game became, who can whale the puppet the hardest at their friend? Then we played a Go Fish game with pictures that represented vocab words (like robot, pencil box, etc). It is hard to explain a game in English to kids who don't speak much English. Some of them got it, but it quickly devolved into either wrestling each other for cards, or taking the whole deck and stacking them into piles of robots, etc, and then saying "Teacher, look!" But the point was to get them to practice sentence patterns ("Do you have any erasers?" etc).We had a quiz and when the kids are done with their quizzes they can just draw on the back of the test, and they were like "We want to draw the teacher!" and I was like fine. There is one older bad kid in the back and he started drawing the CT, Ben, and the face looked a lot like him so I said "Great job!" to encourage him. When I walked back a few minutes later he had kept the face but drawn this animal body with claws and hair and a big tail and fart lines coming out- it was really well-done but also really horrifying, it looked like one of the beasts of Revelation or something. Also really unexpected so of course I started cracking up. I had to leave the room to compose myself.
Later that night we did songs & chants and I had the kids stand up to sing. I was walking around to encourage the quieter kids to sing and as I did, all these kids started standing on the tables and kind of putting their hands on my shoulders and using me as a launching point to jump really high and try to touch the ceiling, then land on the floor. It's amazing how crazy these kids are, also how they can do stuff like that without injuring themselves.
Anyways, on Friday we had a training day and talked a lot about classroom management. Some things that I learned were to put things in positive versus negative terms- ie, say "Speak English!" instead of "No Chinese!" Also usually the class is split down the middle into 2 teams, and you give stars for random things- does this team have their books open? or if someone gives an answer- and instead of erasing a star as punishment for the bad team, give a star to the good team for being good, and tell them what they did well. And if a class is being too loud/ crazy, don't try to yell over them, just count to 3 and they will stop. And if the big bad kid wants to keep saying "Teacher Pigtina" but everyone is ignoring him, you can ignore him to0. Anyways, all of these things totally worked and made a world of difference.
Also, I thought about the games I played and realized they all had the kids interacting with each other instead of me, so I made some new games that were more teacher-centered and it really helped. They were still pretty crazy but in a more controlled way, and definitely learned more.
Finally, tonight I realized that at least 10 of the kids are really good. And so cute! We did this one exercise where you were supposed to survey people about what they eat for breakfast, lunch, etc, and what is their favorite food. It's a good exercise but hard for them not to speak Chinese because they don't necessarily know all the words. I was asking this one kid what he eats for breakfast and he was like "I eat... I eat..." and then pressed his lips together so he didn't say Chinese. Then he made this super-detailed drawing of a breakfast sandwich- first a top view, then bread + bacon + egg, all drawn out. He just really wanted to communicate. I know how he feels!
Wednesday night is my most crazy class- there are 20 of them which is a lot, and they have only been learning English for about 6 months. The first night I taught them of course I didn't know anything about them, and the second time I didn't remember, so I went in with all kinds of energy and a game that involved throwing a puppet around. Not good ideas. These kids beat on each other anyways so the game became, who can whale the puppet the hardest at their friend? Then we played a Go Fish game with pictures that represented vocab words (like robot, pencil box, etc). It is hard to explain a game in English to kids who don't speak much English. Some of them got it, but it quickly devolved into either wrestling each other for cards, or taking the whole deck and stacking them into piles of robots, etc, and then saying "Teacher, look!" But the point was to get them to practice sentence patterns ("Do you have any erasers?" etc).We had a quiz and when the kids are done with their quizzes they can just draw on the back of the test, and they were like "We want to draw the teacher!" and I was like fine. There is one older bad kid in the back and he started drawing the CT, Ben, and the face looked a lot like him so I said "Great job!" to encourage him. When I walked back a few minutes later he had kept the face but drawn this animal body with claws and hair and a big tail and fart lines coming out- it was really well-done but also really horrifying, it looked like one of the beasts of Revelation or something. Also really unexpected so of course I started cracking up. I had to leave the room to compose myself.
Later that night we did songs & chants and I had the kids stand up to sing. I was walking around to encourage the quieter kids to sing and as I did, all these kids started standing on the tables and kind of putting their hands on my shoulders and using me as a launching point to jump really high and try to touch the ceiling, then land on the floor. It's amazing how crazy these kids are, also how they can do stuff like that without injuring themselves.
Anyways, on Friday we had a training day and talked a lot about classroom management. Some things that I learned were to put things in positive versus negative terms- ie, say "Speak English!" instead of "No Chinese!" Also usually the class is split down the middle into 2 teams, and you give stars for random things- does this team have their books open? or if someone gives an answer- and instead of erasing a star as punishment for the bad team, give a star to the good team for being good, and tell them what they did well. And if a class is being too loud/ crazy, don't try to yell over them, just count to 3 and they will stop. And if the big bad kid wants to keep saying "Teacher Pigtina" but everyone is ignoring him, you can ignore him to0. Anyways, all of these things totally worked and made a world of difference.
Also, I thought about the games I played and realized they all had the kids interacting with each other instead of me, so I made some new games that were more teacher-centered and it really helped. They were still pretty crazy but in a more controlled way, and definitely learned more.
Finally, tonight I realized that at least 10 of the kids are really good. And so cute! We did this one exercise where you were supposed to survey people about what they eat for breakfast, lunch, etc, and what is their favorite food. It's a good exercise but hard for them not to speak Chinese because they don't necessarily know all the words. I was asking this one kid what he eats for breakfast and he was like "I eat... I eat..." and then pressed his lips together so he didn't say Chinese. Then he made this super-detailed drawing of a breakfast sandwich- first a top view, then bread + bacon + egg, all drawn out. He just really wanted to communicate. I know how he feels!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
What teaching is like
So, some basic information about the classes I teach:
Each class meets twice a week. Once a week I teach it and a Chinese teacher is in the room to grade things and help out a little; once a week just the Chinese teacher teaches. So I only see each class once a week. Some of the Chinese teachers are really helpful and others just sit there and grade things, so it really depends. They definitely bear the brunt of the responsibility for the class, though. They are all supposed to speak excellent English and most do but the level varies. A lot of them make the same idiomatic mistakes you hear all non-native speakers make.
The class size varies- my smallest class has 9 students, and the biggest has about 22. That makes a big difference. The bigger ones get pretty wild.
The kids range in age from 6 to about 14 (in American years). But, for example, in my Level 1 (beginning) class today, there is one girl who is 6 and one who is 11. But they all get along well together. The younger kids tend to be a little more fun to work with. I have one higher-level class where the kids are older and they just sit there. But another higher-level class has younger kids and they have lots of fun.
Yes, the kids are all really cute! Especially the younger ones. But I kind of had this vision of little robot kids who would just automatically learn, and it is not that way at all. They all have strong little personalities and can get really wild- during the breaks especially, they will be banging into walls, jumping off tables, kicking each other, etc. But no one else seems to mind so I try not to. They make me nervous though.
Basically they go to normal school 9-10 hrs per day, then have cram school for 2 hrs in the evening, so they're either bouncing off walls or falling asleep. So we do lots of activities- play games, do chants, sing songs, etc. But sometimes there is just dull stuff to do.
During each 2-hr class we typically read 3 pages of a story and discuss vocab and grammar from each page; do a few pages of a patterns book where you learn a sentence pattern and substitute stuff in; some phonics; a spelling quiz; a conversation; a song; sometimes a grammar book. Then explain homework. And you figure in each of those things you need to do group and individual practice and usually play a game, plus explain things clearly in a second language. It is called a cram school because you cram as much as you can into 2 hrs. Also the kids are crammed into little rooms! It is a little tought to get used to. It makes the SAT classes I taught for Kaplan seem real low-key and slow.
I have to grade homework after each class, and they have a few quizzes & tests each class.
So, some basic information about the classes I teach:
Each class meets twice a week. Once a week I teach it and a Chinese teacher is in the room to grade things and help out a little; once a week just the Chinese teacher teaches. So I only see each class once a week. Some of the Chinese teachers are really helpful and others just sit there and grade things, so it really depends. They definitely bear the brunt of the responsibility for the class, though. They are all supposed to speak excellent English and most do but the level varies. A lot of them make the same idiomatic mistakes you hear all non-native speakers make.
The class size varies- my smallest class has 9 students, and the biggest has about 22. That makes a big difference. The bigger ones get pretty wild.
The kids range in age from 6 to about 14 (in American years). But, for example, in my Level 1 (beginning) class today, there is one girl who is 6 and one who is 11. But they all get along well together. The younger kids tend to be a little more fun to work with. I have one higher-level class where the kids are older and they just sit there. But another higher-level class has younger kids and they have lots of fun.
Yes, the kids are all really cute! Especially the younger ones. But I kind of had this vision of little robot kids who would just automatically learn, and it is not that way at all. They all have strong little personalities and can get really wild- during the breaks especially, they will be banging into walls, jumping off tables, kicking each other, etc. But no one else seems to mind so I try not to. They make me nervous though.
Basically they go to normal school 9-10 hrs per day, then have cram school for 2 hrs in the evening, so they're either bouncing off walls or falling asleep. So we do lots of activities- play games, do chants, sing songs, etc. But sometimes there is just dull stuff to do.
During each 2-hr class we typically read 3 pages of a story and discuss vocab and grammar from each page; do a few pages of a patterns book where you learn a sentence pattern and substitute stuff in; some phonics; a spelling quiz; a conversation; a song; sometimes a grammar book. Then explain homework. And you figure in each of those things you need to do group and individual practice and usually play a game, plus explain things clearly in a second language. It is called a cram school because you cram as much as you can into 2 hrs. Also the kids are crammed into little rooms! It is a little tought to get used to. It makes the SAT classes I taught for Kaplan seem real low-key and slow.
I have to grade homework after each class, and they have a few quizzes & tests each class.
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