Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

This week has been full of unexpected schedule changes. At this point, I should just be expecting them and I am sure that soon I will simply not be phased by them. We found out at the beginning of the week that we would have 5 days off of school this coming week because of Mid-Autumn festival. This is an important holiday in Chinese culture when families get together, share a meal, and eat mooncakes, a traditional dessert, special to this holiday. Apparently this is the first year they have taken so many days off for it. However, we also learned that making up school and work days on the weekends is not off limits here, so we will have to work this Saturday and next Saturday to make up for it. It has been a long work week but I am so thankful for the holiday next week.
This has been an encouraging week of teaching. I am beginning to see my students flourish in the routines and procedures I have put in place. I am learning how to manage a Chinese classroom and have implemented new strategies this week that have allowed me to feel more confident and in control of the class and their behavior. My students need a lot of extrinsic motivation, which in the 4th grade means giving them stickers and when they get 5 stickers, they get a bigger prize (candy and pencils galore!). I struggle with my belief that rewarding a student for everything they do is actually more harmful than good, but I feel like I am slowly but surely figuring out the balance between my teaching philosophy and that of the Chinese teachers.
One fun lesson we did this week was about animals. The students were learning the words hippo, elephant, giraffe, snake, lion, and monkey. We sang a song I remembered learning at summer camp as a kid, “Let me see your snake face…what’s that you say? I said let me see your snake face…what’s that you say? I said…ooh aah aah aah ooh aah aah aah ooh aah aah aah ooh (doing motion for that animal)” The motions and singing help the students with the vocabulary and I have heard them singing the song outside of class…it’s truly wonderful to know learning is taking place!
I also started teaching an activity class that will be once a week for an hour and a half. It is for 4th-6th graders who tested highly in their English skills. Two of my teammates and I get to teach it together and we have made it into a theatre class. This means I get to teach dance to the kids! In fact we are teaching them the song and dance “We’re All in This Together” from High School Musical. We are also working on some skits and hope to put together a little show by the end of the semester for them to perform for parents and the school. One of my 4th grade students in the class has become fond of getting to have me as his teacher for two classes now. He says in his Chinese-English accent “Ms. Katie, I love you. I want you to be my wife.”
Well, how my days off will be spent is still up in the air. One of my Chinese co-teachers had invited me to go home with her a couple of times and asked me again this week. She is from Inner Mongolia and it would be such a cool opportunity to get to know her outside of school and to see more of China. However, train tickets are proving to be hard to come by with the holiday next week so it may not work out. If the trip doesn’t happen, I will be perfectly fine resting and doing some sightseeing in Beijing. I still haven’t seen even half of this city! “Perhaps” is a word that is often used here, so perhaps I will go to Inner Mongolia on Monday…probably the most spontaneous thing I have ever said! Until next time…