Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! It didn't feel too much like Christmas here. There was Christmas stuff everywhere, but the feeling just wasn't the same. We had a good one, though, enjoying our day off and unwinding.
We've just finished our third week of teaching and are settling in to the routine. It's still extremely challenging, but going well overall. I think I mentioned in a previous post that the kids are very energetic and rambunctious. It makes sense because they come to language school after they've already gone to their regular school all day. So they are in school from probably 7am to 8 or 9pm.
The classes are a lot of fun. I've quickly realized that the only way to keep the kids' attention spans is to turn everything into a game. Games are the entire basis of teaching English here, and we are constantly having to invent some bizarre relay race on the fly. One of my classes really likes the "foam block tower" game, where if they answer a question right, they get a foam block. When I say go, the kids race to the front of the class and build up their blocks into a tower. The first team back to their seats with their tower still standing gets points. It takes a lot of cooperation and they love it. All the teachers who have been here for a while have hundreds of interesting games up their sleeves, and we're constantly getting new ideas and trying things out.
The kids have English names along with their Chinese names, and some are very interesting. You get a lot of Kevins and Annies, but there are some different ones, too. There is a kid named Popeye at John's school, and at my school we have a Tweety. I heard of a teacher who got to name his students himself, and a brother and sister ended up as Ike and Tina.
The job is a lot of fun, but it takes it out of you. Being on the active end of education is an interesting and exhausting experience! We are excited for New Years and another day off. They shoot fireworks off from Taipei 101 and I think we'll be going to a friend's house who has a great view of 101 from his balcony.
Hope everyone's doing well and we're still missing everyone so much! Talk to you soon and Happy New Year!
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Work IS exhausting, isn't it? Man I feel ya on that one. Hang in there ;) At least you get to leave work and play in TAIWON! You do get to play, right?
Well, New Years in Georgia will be strange. There's no snow. It takes adjusting, doesn't it?
I miss you two. Those kids are lucky ducks to have teachers like you!!!
XOXO...be safe.
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