Today, I became a teacher.
Part of me doesn't know what else to say because it has been such a whirlwind of a day and I have been through an emotional somersault. I started my first class (grade 2) at 9:10am. We then had to attend a school ceremony. I had to stand up on a platform (with the rest of the foreign teachers and administration) in front of over 2000 students and staff and give a speech. In English AND Chinese. Talk about nerve racking. I then had two more classes back to back (grade 4 and grade 1), a break for lunch, and then finished my day with one more grade 1 and grade 2 class. Five classes total.
And I drew the short stick in that the other three teachers had already received their teaching material books. I did not. I had to attempt to hold the attention of children who didn't understand what I was saying. First I talked to fast. Then too slow. I wasn't animated enough. Then I was animation overload. Too many pictures, not enough. Good golly by my third class I was about to burst. But during my break, I adjusted my game plan and had a lot more success with my classes. I'm still not entirely sure how it will all work out, but I've been told I'm beautiful by more little chinese girls than I can count. I have about 75 new boyfriends. My hand is raw and numb from all the high fives.
I had to completely change my game plan in the middle of the day. My afternoon classes worked a lot better. Adding more pictures, more repetition, and going verrrrry verrrrrrry slow helped the students a lot. I'm guessing my powerpoint skills will get significantly better.
Most of my kids are adorable. Some of them seem like little demons. But, it is only day one and I'm guessing they won't remember a thing that happened today (let's hope they don't remember when I tripped over a water bottle...)
Now don't forget kids. K is for Kangaroo. And kangaroos Jump!
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