The elementary and middle school teachers are on different campuses. So there's a bus that picks us up from the hotel and drops off the elementary teachers and then takes us to our campus.
We got to school and they had water fountains going, awesome!
Day 1 - met my morning class and they were everything I hoped for. Really cute and friendly kids. They listened and reacted to things the way I hoped for and anticipated, so that made me happy! The helping teacher, Elaine, was just sitting there frantically working on something ... She's kinda rude cause she doesn't talk or interact with me at all for some reason.
Lunch was fun, we were all talking about our classes and kids :)
Then my afternoon class has so many more boys than girls, which means its a much louder class. They were a little bit of a handful. There were a group of 5 boys that were really hard to control and I thought: THIS IS WHY I don't teach middle school!!! But I got through it.
One boy flat out told me "no" when I asked him to do something! I really didn't like that, even more so on the first day! So when the class was over, I talked to his teacher, Sally about it. She said she'd take care of it.
None of my technology worked out when I tried it the day before so I made my lesson work with no computer. And really, for squirrelly 7th graders, that is not the best option - so I decided I need to be over planned and heavy on the tech and games that are at their level. My morning class is a little more fluent than my morning class also.
That night we got back to the hotel and my roomie, Melissa, needed a VGA cable for her computer and I calculated it would cost me $46 to do the laundry I had to do ... So I went with her to buy a bucket to do laundry in and some comfort food (chocolate and Pringles) ...
Well, I felt like I was on The Amazing Race for the next 3 hours. Trying to explain what we were looking for at electronic stores. The mobile phone stores were the best cause the employees would just pull up a translator on a galaxy 4 and we could sort of communicate.
We were unsuccessful and we decided to go for dinner. We walked around and found a place that looked crowded and good. We went in and there were pictures of the food but no description so we were trying to figure it out. This guy chimes in in English and starts telling us what everything is!! We were soooo happy!!! His name was Andy and he ended up joining us at our table while we ate dinner. It was his dad's restaurant and he was from Taiwan. We asked him about the adaptor and he sent us to this electronics store that was a Nordstrom version of best buy or fry's!!!! Huge!
There, we finally got someone to understand what we needed but they didn't sell it!!! I think the guy helping us was willing to pull the adaptor off the floor model but his manager walked over and got mad at him. So Melissa left with a picture of what she needed and a description written in Chinese but no adaptor. By now I was EXHAUSTED!! I still had to come home and do laundry but it was a little but of a rush to have found what we were looking for and it was soooooo great to chat with Andy and get his help!!
Got home. Did laundry for FORTY minutes - ugh! And lesson planned till 1 am. If all the days are like this one, I'll pass out by day 8!!!
Oh. The rooms have a JOKE of an air conditioner, you only feel it if you're standing right next to it! So I sweat like pig in class when I'm teaching. It is sooo gross. And we have to use a squat bathroom and carry our own toilet paper in. But I'M IN CHINA and that's pretty amazing!!
You know you get too scared to poo in weird situations, Jeannie. It will never happen at school, ha ha.
ReplyDeleteOkay I take back what I said about you living the lush life. Only for half the day! :)
You and your roommate should make a list of weird things for the next teacher group, like: It will cost you $46 to do am average load of laundry, so buy a bucket.
You need to talk to the kids as though you "know" that they wouldn't act any less mature than your high schoolers, then compliment them on all the ways they are better than your HS classes. They will be eating out of your hand in no time. Kids always want to be treated as older than they are, so convince them that's what you're doing - you ARE after all, the expert on teenagers! - and who knows what expectations they will rise to!
Yeah that was all Tony Robbins, self-esteem, rah-rah you can do it stuff, but I'm trying to give you hope here...! :) Seriously, I know things will calm down for you.
PS You know why this comment is sooo random!
I'm not sure if I updated the bathroom status later ... but about a week after teaching, we discovered the last stall in our bathroom had a normal toilet!!!! So (TMI warning)... I actually never had to poop in a squatter :)
ReplyDeleteYour comment was a very much needed cheer session I really needed that week!!! Thanks. Now that I'm home, I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to teach there!!