Learning

Teaching, for me, is a mixed bag. On the one hand it comes naturally--what is there to complicate standing up before a group of kids and spouting off information?--but on the other hand it's a massive shot in the dark, something over which I have absolutely no control over, and the outcome of which may or may not be a direct result of what I do.

So I co-taught today. Maggie (one of my co-teachers from Hanmin) and I planned out a beautiful lesson on farm animals; I wrote up a story that incorporated the vocabulary--pig, goat, horse, cow, hen, duck; she printed and cut out pictures of each animal times 10 for learning sentence patterns (How many _____ are there? There is one _____. OR There are (#) ________s.); we set out a couple games and a couple exercises; we drew out the difficult words from my story on the board; we gathered the students. It looked to go great.

But it wasn't the right lesson.

Last week I taught a group of exuberant 4th graders; today, when we entered the room, we found a room full of stony-faced 6th graders. True, in Taiwan 6th grade is still primary school, but 6th graders are 6th graders across the globe and arbitrary educational divides: too cool for you, and definitely too cool for whatever you planned for them. You may pique their interest at first by being a foreigner, but good luck holding it once you start trying to teach them!

"What's my name?"

Last week, that question would rouse a huge roar in response: "TEACHER BEKAH!" This week, I could hear maybe three or four voices above the general murmur. To top it off, my 4th graders from last week were next door, and I could hear their excited screams throughout the day, and during my lesson itself. Several of them waved and said 'hi' to me in the hallway. But where were Vincent and Johnny and Victor and Tina and Coco when I needed them? Back in their own classroom, of course, enjoying themselves, while my new students sat in silent contemplation.

The contrast is enough to make me wish I was teaching lower grades, rather than the 5th- and 6th-graders I actually will be teaching.

But, despite my lesson's inability to excite the students, my story's too-complicated plotline and cast of characters, and our miscalculation of what we could do in our short (20 minute!) class period which resulted in our not even making it to the sentence patterns, let alone the most fun games, the day went pretty well.

We had story time in the morning, which I greatly enjoyed; I read them Bill Peet's "Zella, Zack and Zodiac," and the wonderful "My Life With the Wave," which they seemed to like, though the words were over their heads. And I enjoyed it! Here are some pictures Maggie took of story time:

With some fun effects, of course :)

ENTHUSIASM! Trying to pass it on...

Other key points of today...our kitchen/dining room area is clean! I can't even begin to take credit for it--Brittany and Rachel worked on it for hours while I was gone today, at scooter practice and then getting food. But I did at least manage to sweep and mop (by the old foot-and-rag-and-ammonia method--not the best in an ill-ventilated kitchen) the kitchen floor, and make the long journey down to the trash can with arm-fulls of stuff.

And that's about it! Hopefully tomorrow my learning will help my students' learning, and their enjoyment of the lesson, to improve.