Last Monday I briefly introduced myself to the entire school, 2700 students, plus teachers and staff. My intro was video-taped, as was my storytelling lesson that followed, and as my lessons will be in the near future. It is a unique experience being this school's first Fulbright ETA; judging their expectations and matching them to my abilities has been challenging thus far.
Storytelling for two 5th grade classes began after my introduction. I taught The Three Billy Goats, which the students claimed to like, but I found it to be a bit boring and the kids were relatively unresponsive. Things got better as the day went on...I say hello to all of the kids I see in the hallways and they are usually very excited to yell, "Kelley Laoshi! (Teacher Kelley!)," and wave to me. I feel very welcome.
The principal also welcomed me by inviting me to have tea and cookies with her in her office. It was pretty much a one on one language exchange, but we had a lot of laughs. Her English is better than my Chinese and we both attempted to speak each other's language. I asked her why she applied to have a Fulbright ETA come to Fushan and she said that she wants her students to see English as a part of their everyday life, something easy and natural. I think I can help achieve that this semester and was glad to hear some of Principal Cheng's expectations.
My classroom lesson transformed, as did I, throughout the week. I taught three classes with Firefly, two on Monday and one on Friday, and she was quick to tell me that I had improved dramatically as a teacher! I was relieved to hear that, though I had noticed myself that I gained a better sense of time management, how to relate to the kids, and what was doable in my lesson plan.
My lesson consisted of 4 parts. The kids made English nametags so I could get to know them, I introduced myself, we did some tongue twisters with the letters A through E, and finally, I taught them some colloquial American greetings and farewells. Several homeroom teachers and parents told me later in the week that their kids loved my class and had a lot of fun.
What I found to be the funniest aspect of my class was the reward that Hsiao-ping developed for successful completion of the class. I gave the kids my signature in their workbooks!!! And they were literally thrilled to receive it. Unbelievable! But so endearing. I think I am some sort of foreign princess; several students told me, "Teacher you are so beautiful!" and I respond, "You are beautiful!" They think it is hilarious.
I can already remember a handful of my kids' names, so I think I may be able to remember all 500 within the next 2 months. There are very apparent differences in students' levels of English proficiency. Many have gone to cram school and are conversational, while others had their first ever English class with me this past week. My lessons will have to include advanced and remedial level activities from now on.
I also have a few physically or mentally unique students in my classes. One boy has ADD, another seems to be autistic and shouts out uncontrollably on occasion, a third cannot walk and is thus a bit shy to participate, and one other is especially dear to my heart. Her name is Shine. She is 9 years old and in my first class on Mondays. Shine's family is also a host family for Carl, another Fulbright. You can see her in some of my photos. I wondered about Shine the first time I saw her because she appears to be 3 years old, but is in the 3rd grade. In fact, she has leukemia and is not expected to live very long. Yet she skips through the hallways, now confidentally shouting "See you later." At our host family reception, she asked when she would next attend my class and held onto my wrist throughout the evening.
I have a wonderful new family here in Kaohsiung and you can also see them in the latest photos. After a tour of some cultural exhibits at a local vocational high school, we had a reception Friday evening to meet our host families. We ate dinner in random groups, then each ETA went to the front of the room and said some of the things we knew about our families. The families were then expected to shout out, "We are family!" once they recognized that the ETA was speaking about them.
I love my family already. I have a father who is a captain in the military, a mother who is 46 and a 1st grade homeroom teacher, a 14 year old brother named Ray who is in the 9th grade, and a 17 year old sister named Tracy who is in 11th.
Ray had to leave early for a calligraphy class, which my father drove him to, so my mom, sister and I were left to complete a ridiculous task assigned to each family. We had to come up with a slogan and corresponding dance moves related to our family, then perform for the group at large. My family's last name is Bao (I am now calling myself Bao Kai Li), so I suggested that our slogan include various Chinese words that have "bao" in them. Our dance turned out like this: "We are the Bao family! (Pointing our thumbs to our chests)," "Baozi (we pretended to eat, as this word means dumpling)," "Baozhi (this means newspaper, so we pretended to read)," "Baobao (we rocked our arms as if holding a baby, since this means baby)," and "Baobao (we hugged! a different pronunciation of this word means hug!)."
Tracy just called to invite me for dinner next Saturday at my family's home. I'm off to bed since I have an early start to the week, but I am really excited to get into the swing of things and interact with my adorable kids. High hopes for a great year, though it is already flying by!
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