Start 'em Young

I got to see a snapshot of socialization today - what a gem.

First, the background story: every day my class has a break-time used exclusively for drinking water. The kids all get their water bottles, sit on the blue line and drink water. Yes, simple enough, but during this brief time I usually say, "[Student's name], drink water," about ten to fifteen times.

Not today.

Today, one of the students said, "ganbei," and it was contagious. It was a loop: ganbei, tap water bottles, laugh incessantly, drink, repeat. I didn't have to remind anyone to drink more water.

Ganbei means cheers and it's mostly used for taking shots. Already, these kids, under five years old, have learned the procedure and consumption standards for drinking booze.

I hope that whomever propagated candy cigarettes got a fat bonus if they worked for big tobacco; fantastic insight.

Gingerbread Houses

Today the kids made gingerbread houses. Wilson being the exception. He just couldn't resist the delicious, delicious sugar. He spent the hour asking for more frosting to glue his house together and then licking it off his fingers. haha...

Wilson usually cracks me up - this was the icing on the cake gingerbread house.

 Notice the other kids in the background patiently holding their houses together and waiting for the frosting to dry.




As if this weren't enough, another student was singing, "He knows when you're awake. He knows when Wilson has eats his house!"

Things That Make Benson Cry

One kindergarten student starts crying all the time.

Most kids' crying is pretty standard - time outs, a super awesome block castle getting knocked over, etc. Also, the stages are really pronounced and predictable. First, there's the incident. Next, the eyes well up and a frown develops. From there, I can start a countdown until tears and screaming of a variable magnitude.

But Benson is different. One second he's fine and the next he's crying his eyes out. The progression of tear up to full on crying is practically instantaneous. Also, his triggers are numerous and unpredictable. After a while, it became kind of entertaining, and I had to start documenting. I don't think that's cruel.*

Here is the ever-expanding list of things that make Benson cry. 

Some make sense:

•  Time outs - given; time outs will break many a three year old's spirit.
• A cockroach - I don't like them much, either.
• Stepping in spilled water - crying is better than swearing or punching other kids, I guess.

Others not so much: 

• A plastic toy lobster - it's red?
• The tiny geckos that run around everywhere - glass jar, anyone?
• His Christmas costume - sure, it wasn't a matador costume, but Uncle Sam is still awesome!
• A leaf that blew into the classroom - the other students didn't think it looked threatening.

Lastly, some things leave me scratching my head:

• When kindergartners have to use they bathroom they ask in a few different ways. Some will simply tap me and say, "May I go to the bathroom?" Others are more crude and just grab their junk and pantomime "peeing all over everything." Others still, just leave the classroom and go. I'm fine with all of those. Guess which method Benson prefers? None of the above - he just starts crying. 

• Last week, a puppy wandered into the schoolyard. It was black, about the size of a shoe and frolicking all around with big 'ol puppy dog eyes. It was adorable. All the kids ran toward the dog, and I was worried it would get trampled. Basically, the epitome of childhood curiosity. Everyone was ecstatic about the little puppy. ... Except Benson. Benson started crying. 

Addendum:
*I cried when I started kindergarten. It sucked - I missed my mom, couldn't cut my own hair, and playtime wasn't all the time. My teacher let me use the computer for a little while every day. (Ms. Grace, thank you for being so patient and understanding while I adjusted to my new environment.) And adjust I did: a few days later, I stopped crying and proceeded to be hardened by public school. ;)

Anyhow, I really can't empathize with Benson's situation. I tried the first couple times, but come on, an adorable puppy...

Documenting will continue. This may turn into a series if it continues to be fresh.

Engrish Christmas

My school had a Christmas performance. The students had been practicing music and dances throughout December. Last Friday was the big day. All of the parents came to the school to watch their kids perform.

Altogether, I thought Asian Christmas was hilarious.

Mostly, the costumes. No expense was spared and everyone had a costume. By costume, I don't mean ugly sweaters. There were Indians, pink tutus, a few different dashiki and kufi combinations, Uncle Sam penguin suits, and my favorite, the matador costume.

Of course, myself and the other foreign teachers were dressed as Santa Clause. We had to break character a few times because the costume was confusing and even scary for some of the kids. About halfway through the whole thing we changed out of the Santa costumes and into our Pope costumes. I was giddy the entire time, completely enjoying the well-intended sacrilege.

Anyhow, the rest is textbook. Little kids performing dances and music is really cute and funny. Adding costumes, a few crying kids, and Engrish to the mix made everything even cuter and funnier.

I forgot my camera, and now I'm really kicking myself. I'll try to get some photos from the school or parents. Hopefully I'll get them while it's still relevant.

Teaching Update - The Good Ones

Previously, I wrote about the bad kids. It would be completely unfair to forget about the really good students who punctuate my job with fun and smiles.

Wayne, from my younger kindergarten class, is a good example. He's just the right mix of smart and rambunctious. My favorite Wayne moment happened during a lunch hour a few weeks ago. I was chowing down on some noodles when Wayne looked at me, pointed to himself and said, "Linbian." Then, he pointed to me, all wide-eyed.

Linbian is the town he lives in. I knew what he was asking and replied, "I live in Donggang."

Sure enough, Wayne lit up with a smile and exclaimed to the class, "Teacher Timmm ... ... ...   TeacherTimliveDONGGANG!"

Immediately after, Arthur said something to Wayne and Wayne responded. Then, Clare asked Wayne a question. Wayne said something to Clare, Clare smiled, and a conversation about something broke out amongst all the students.

My Chinese co-teacher explained the situation to me. Turns out, Arthur asked Wayne, in Taiwanese, about his conversation with teacher. Only Arthur and Wayne speak Taiwanese - Clare asked Wayne for the Mandarin translation.

Yeppo, Wayne asked me a question in English, explained the answer to Arthur in Taiwanese, and explained that answer to everyone in Mandarin. Wayne is four years old, fyi. 

About once a week, Wayne and I have a conversation about where we live: he points to me and says, "Donggang." I point to him and say, "Linbian."

Teaching Update

Previously, I explained that I like teaching at the kindergarten more than cram school. Well, I still do. I promised updates about the cram school. This is the first installment: the bad class. 

Candidly, one class kind of sucks. Mostly the boys - their behavior is a problem. I keep a journal/organizer. (It's titled Power Notebook! and I drew lightning bolts on the cover). Here is an excerpt about bad class:

 The boys are shitheads. Anything is a toy: socks, rocks, coins, pencils. [They are] constantly shuffling around, talking, falling, fighting, and spilling water. No focus or participation.

I can empathize because once upon a time I was the problem child. My mom could tell you about my preschool alter-ego whom I named Sassy. In high school, I was suspended for putting laxatives in a teacher's coffee. However, I'm a grown up now. (?) More importantly, a teacher who is being paid well by these kids' parents.

Classroom management is critical to teaching this class effectually.

My first method started with putting names on the board and adding X's. The students knew that three X's were bad. This was a poorly planned idea. Creating a threshold only encourages more dicking-off up until the threshold. Basically, I clarified precisely how much dicking-off was allowed: 2.9999999 X's. Also, fear was short lived - soon they were less scared and more curious about that third X. I thought about a few options that, ultimately, would have been too lax or, on the other extreme, gotten them beaten (seriously) by their parents. I didn't like either option.

Next, I tried a combination of publicity and physical punishment. I had the troublemakers stand up on their chairs and hold their arms straight out. This was too much a distraction (and dangerous).

Then, I singled out troublemakers with a barrage of reading and questions. Better, but singling out one kid gives the others free reign. Also, the problem is compounded when the girls get bored because they aren't engaged.

Lastly, I started constantly walking around and standing over their shoulders. To date, this has been the most effective tactic for keeping them under control. Obviously, not effective when I must be at the whiteboard. Also, it makes me feel like such a disciplinarian.

I'm not too worried, though, as I think my disciplinarian role will be short term. Eventually, they'll be conditioned. When that happens, I'll lighten up and start to have more fun with the class.

I'll be the pack leader:

Tsst
Tags: SOUTH
PARKmore...

Just great, South Park - much better than advice from TEFL books. You can watch the full episode here: http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s10e07-tsst

First Week of Teaching

Last week was my first full week of teaching. My schedule is kindergarten in the morning and cram school in the afternoon.

Monday to Friday, I teach kindergarten with a Taiwanese co-teacher 9-11:30am. Here, kindergarten is three years long. The youngest kids are three. I sort of feel bad for them - I was at home cutting patches out of my hair until age five.

My first two classes every day are with the youngest kids. It is a class of nine students. Small classes are easier to control. The lessons are simple: numbers, phonics, running around and pointing to colors and stuff. These kids are really really young and also really restless. If they get squirmy, then I'll have them run around. That's the gist of classroom management. These two periods are a cakewalk.

My third class is with middle age kids. This class is also easy, but I have to teach them things beyond a few words and running around. In fact, I have to discourage running around because the class is larger; misbehavior quickly crescendos.

My morning classes end at 11:30 when lunch starts. Lunch is free and usually pretty good. Today was calamari, veggies, chicken, and thick lo mein noodles. I have a two hour lunch break every day. I have been running errands during that time, but ultimately hope to fill this time with a cool activity which is TBD.

My afternoons in the cram school start at 2pm. The cram school is more difficult. More to come regarding the cram school... 

Long Day

Today was a loooonnnnggggg day.

I was up at the crack of dawn and on a bus for my new school in Donggang. In the morning, I watched a couple of the foreign teachers' lessons. Then, I taught some classes so the administrator and principle could evaluate and critique. There will be much more of that throughout the training period. Chicken curry, rice, and cabbage soup for lunch provided by the school. Free lunch = awesome.

After lunch, I had to get pictures taken for the multitude of documents that will be processed in the following week or so. The first of which was the physical examination from today. Cost: two photos, $50USD, and a test tube of precious blood and plasma. Benefit: I got to do a little scouting and was impressed with the nursing staff, mostly young and cute. I hope they live in the city.

Afterwords, more paperwork at the school.

The day ended with apartment hunting. The school administrator also helps foreign teachers find housing in Donggang. Today, we looked at two housing options.

The first was a huge apartment. Three bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, two bathrooms, and two mini-balconies. It was somewhat furnished, ie., a couch, some chairs, a bed that looked like it came straight out of a telo, drawers, a refrigerator, and cabinets. I told Vivian that it was way too big for one person.

The apartment manager mentioned three Latter-day Saints living on the 4th floor interested in another roommate. I politely said, "No fucking way!" 

Next, I looked at option two, the suite. The suite is a dorm room. It had a bed. No kitchen, no refrigerator, and a shared bathroom. This is the more economical option, but frugal as I am, I don't want to live there for a year. It was dingy, even by my exceedingly low standards. 

Ideally, I'll find a studio or one bedroom apartment with a kitchen. Unfortunately, I get the impression that housing options are one extreme or the other.

I asked Vivian to call and ask about the rental rate of the first apartment. Hopefully I can justify the higher cost to avoid the suite and Mormons.

Teaching Demonstration

My first teaching demonstration was yesterday. After the demonstration, I spoke with the school's president for a debriefing. Here are the takeaway points from both: 
 
I have an energetic, clear, well-enunciated speaking voice. This was a major selling point and a good thing to have in the "well-done" category. Because speaking style is more a characteristic than behavior, modifying it would be much more painstaking. Cool.

Speed, idioms, and phrasal verbs. Before the lesson, I consciously reminded myself to speak slowly and avoid idiomatic expressions. Easy enough, right? Not exactly. Public speaking slow and ESL slow are different. ESL slow for a newcomer like myself seems patronizing and uncomfortably slow. And idioms and phrasal verbs pepper the English language. For example, look at the second sentence in this post: "Here are the takeaway points." For my English audience, the intent is clear : the synopsis of my demonstration. However, it's actually a sports term describing a backswing in golf or change of possession in other sports and we just make the connection. In a practical sense, asking,  "Class, what is the answer?" rather than, "Class, what did you come up with?" elicits a response instead of blank stares. 

This is a biggie: my awful whiteboard writing. I hadn't thought about this prior to the demonstration but should have. I have awful handwriting and that translates to awful whiteboard writing. Markedly, it's not precise, and usually that is fine. However, these little kids are like sponges. When they see semi-cursive, mashed letters or a mid-word capital letter, they get confused and wonder why they get yelled at for doing what Teacher Tim just did.

Overall, I left the school with a sense of accomplishment. I have one demonstration under my belt and know what needs to be improved upon. I am up against five other teachers who are interviewing and demoing throughout the week. I will get an e-mail after the school has made a decision. While I'm waiting, I'll continue job hunting.

Lesson Plan

Ok, here's how the teaching demonstration works. It's a one hour presentation with a real class that the owner of the language institute will use while considering me against other candidates.  I'll have one hour to cover two pages of material, one page phonetics and one page grammar.

My interviewer gave me the following tips, things "the boss" will like to see:
     1. Energy and fast-paced teaching
     2. Clear writing and use of the whiteboard

     3. Engaging the students and eliciting answers

Incorporating those elements and the well-received advice of my friend, here is my lesson plan. Thanks, Lauren. And Chris...?

Introduction [ 10 minutes] 

Tim from the United States will explain that it's very cold in Minneapolis and that is why I moved to Kaohsiung, where the weather is beautiful. I'll open the floor for questions about me to engage the kids and get a sense of participation levels.

Then, I'll start the transition to the first lesson by telling the kids a few things they should know about me. I'll introduce one of my favorite things and bro-essential, the high five. [Goals of high five: introduce an interactive cultural element that can be used to reward correct answers, encourage participation, or simply get kids moving if they become restless. Oh yeah, and it's awesome.] Next, I'll write a few things on the board and ask students to read them.

     1. Tim is an English teacher. 

     2. Tim is a good teacher. 

Note the hard "g" in each sentence. Next, a volunteer comes to the front of the class and stands next to me. Clearly, a new sentence goes on the board. 

      3. Tim is a giant. Like a giraffe?

Again, a volunteer reads the sentence and soft "g" is introduced. 

Phonetics Lesson [ 20 minutes ]

I'll write a "G" on the board and then branch it into hard and soft. I'll ask kids what the hard g sounds like and eventually will get to writing down "gu" followed by some example words we'll practice. Next is soft g and the same process. Introduce, Rule: when e, i, or y comes after the g, the g usually stands for the soft g sound.

Then we'll do the workbook page and match words to pictures of badges, giraffes, hedges, and gems. Even generals. I'll call on kids to say what the picture is. The class will repeat things like, "It is a badge." 

Very good, class. Phonetics ends with a high five, duh.

Grammar [ 20 minutes]

The objective in this section is combining subjects and predicates. I'll start by having the kids diagram a sentence - something my generation didn't do in school because of sharing, feel-good, "creative" shit like free-journaling.

"I enjoy English class at KNS!" Will be written on the board. I like this sentence because it avoids a predicate nominative like the previous three sentences and brown-noses. High five to everyone reading. After the students diagram the sentence, I'll know how to proceed with the lesson.

Maybe we talk about subjects and predicates, I don't know. If the kids know what's going on, then we'll start combining sentences. I'll draw a diagram with a basic sentence-combining algorithm. Then we'll do a few guided examples and I'll question them about the mechanics of a correct answer. We'll finish with the workbook page.

In Sum 

Of my 60 minutes, I've used 10 for the introduction + 20 for phonetics + 20 for grammar. I'm left with 10 minutes of wiggle room. I'll use this for the closing notes : a quick and concise review of phonetics and sentence combining. If the class moves faster than I planned, then I have another page of grammar on reserve to burn time, I mean re-enforce the previous page.

NB: I am a practiced and confident presenter, but not an educator. If you are, please comment.

First Interview

Wooohoo! My first job interview went well. I learned what to expect in future interviews, gained some insight into the expatriate network here, and most importantly, received an offer for a teaching demonstration.

NB: victory, not D-bag

In sum, it was pretty relaxed. I met the school's local recruiter at a Starbucks - in the Kaohsiung Cultural Center. Yep, Cultural Center. Oolong tea cost more than my usual lunch. Ok, anyhow, me: dress pants, shirt and tie. Him: cargo shorts, polo, bowling ball in camouflage. The interview was more a conversation. I talked about why I was in Kaohsiung and interested in teaching, my experience with kids, and my comfort-level presenting in front of groups.

In the process, I learned more about the expats and English teaching scene. There's a lot of camaraderie amongst the foreigners here - we come and go so exchange housing, mopeds, and furniture. It is definitely insular but inviting - I will take up the offer to go bowling on Mondays, but only after I lock down a job.

 When the interview ended I got an offer to teach a demonstration. It felt nice. I hitched a ride on the back of my interviewer's scooter and went to the school. I looked at the books, peeked in some classrooms, and met a few of the teachers. It seems like a cool place to work and I'm excited to demo tomorrow.