Culture Shock and Co-teaching

They told us, again and again, in fact, that it would come to this. At some point, they said, you will experience culture shock. I just didn't expect my first culture shock to come through our placement process.

We still don't know our schools.

What we've concluded is that we are being sacrificed to guanxi: the city-county merge happened in January; our county placements were the first project of a new head honcho; there's an election coming up in January. So, if there's a way, we're going out to county. Too many relationships would have to be broken to change it. Time to get used to the culture!

But we got to co-teach today! Since we didn't have our school assignments yet, we were all randomly assigned to a school league, and I was assigned to League C, with Hou-jing and Oil Refinery Elementary Schools. So today, I got to co-teach with Cecilia, who is absolutely amazing, and tomorrow I get to co-teach with Tracy, who is fantastic as well. There are 3 leagues in each classroom, so I was also working with Esther and Andrew, who were paired with Leagues A & B.

Our class was wonderful! We have sixteen 4th grade students, 8 boys and 8 girls, all of whom are energetic and adorable. I think my favorite part was our twin boys, Johnny and Vincent, who began the day refusing to participate and ended it with their hands shooting up with every new question: Teacher, I know, I know!

We began the day with the ETAs leading plenty of games, including a name game and hangman (Esther led), Volcano (Andrew lea), Rhythm and Bingo (I led), and Teacher Says (we all led). After that we each had 20 minute lessons which we delivered with one of our co-teachers. I went last (afternoon in the heat--yuck!); Esther and Priscilla began with a lesson on taste (sweet, sour, salty, bitter); then Andrew and Rebecca (LET) went with a lesson on things you do right now (ie watching TV, doing homework). They were all stupendous; quite intimidating to see how easily they both interacted with the kids. Andrew especially had a great report going with them; by the end of the day they had a nickname for him and everything.

Then it was my turn. Cecilia and I co-taught a lesson on emotions; we taught happy, sad, tired, and angry, and the sentence patterns "I am..." and "He/She is..." It went pretty well, I think--we got great feedback after--but it was hard for me to see how un-talkative the kids were when they weren't simply repeating after me or using their new sentence patterns. When, for instance, I would say things like, "you want to win, right?" I would get blank stares. Something to work on in my actual classroom.

I'm tired, so that's it for now. I co-teach again tomorrow--with a story I wrote today about animals--so maybe then I'll have more details!

Survivor: Kaohsiung ETAs

Well, the rankings are in, on both sides. Tomorrow morning, we find out where we will be teaching. Today, those who were willing to volunteer for the county schools were placed; Steven will be teaching at Dashu, and Tiffiany will be teaching at Dashe.

That leaves 3 more county schools to be assigned to people who don't want to go there, and 7 city schools. Which means we now have a 30% chance of leaving the city, or less, depending on how well we have been at reading each other--because honestly, the entire ranking process has been like a high-stakes game of poker, or, more accurately, a reality TV show. So here's my confessional.

Who goes to Exile Island? Who is voting for which school? Which school is voting for them? If everyone loves League D, but everyone knows everyone loves League D, how many people will actually put League D as their number 1? Is it worth it? Side conversations trying to gauge others' interests joined with heated--but measured--group outbursts of emotion and fears.

It feels good that now we're just waiting, but now we're talking in clusters about who we think will go where--some people have very precise and reasoned theories about who will go where--and waiting anxiously for the moment of truth tomorrow morning. At least we were able to talk Alex into telling us in our own room, rather than in a big group like they did last year, and even today with Steven and Tiffiany. So now we'll have a moment to process whatever our news are, at least.

Alex and Fonda came to our apartment today to talk to Brittany, who is paired up temporarily for our co-teaching practice, with Aware. The bottom line, which Brittany relayed with plenty of wonderful color, is that he can't speak English at all. But, as we've been learning, Alex doesn't have the authority to kick schools out, and the higher-ups are ambivalent because of political pressures. Tomorrow, the woman in charge of the school selections will be there, and I think Alex will have her sit in on Brittany's co-teaching with Aware, so hopefully that will help. Hopefully.

Hope. It's all I can do, and I'm not even willing to grab onto the concept too firmly--the chance for disappointment is too big and too real. At least Alex and Fonda are working to do what they can for us--today they said that, if it really doesn't work after a month, we won't have to co-teach any more, and we'll just have fewer classes (at the functioning school), and freedom to do other English-language activities in the schools. Which is an improvement, but still scary.

So tomorrow, we find out. And then have to put a smile on our face, no matter what and go and co-teach with our randomly-assigned co-teachers from today. Incidentally, I love mine, but how much worse will that make it if I don't get to stay with them? We click, and we now have experience co-teaching together, but there's a possibility, no one knows how high, of tomorrow and Friday being the only days we co-teach. Today we sat together for an hour and a half and lesson-planned; tomorrow and Friday, we'll deliver those lesson plans to classrooms full of kids. It's a bonding experience; I don't see how it couldn't be, if you get along at all. But it may all be incidental.

I know it will work out, one way or another, and I'm doing my best to keep a positive outlook. I'm just hoping that won't hurt my chances of getting a school I like; while others have been extremely vocal in their criticisms of the county, I haven't been, in large part because I didn't need to be. But will I be assigned outside of my ability level because they think I'm less likely to raise a fuss? I hope not.

There it is again, that word, hope. I can't wait to see tomorrow if it's justified...

Trouble on the Eastern Front

I toyed with the idea of calling this post "Revolt," or "Mayhem." Karina suggested "Jury Duty." All are apt for describing the situation, and the day: we are having major issues with the county schools, and they go way beyond people just not wanting to go. Tensions abound.

Today we focused on co-teaching for most of the day; in the morning Professor Lee gave a presentation on what to do and what not to do in co-teaching (key point she made: IT IS ILLEGAL for ETAs to teach on their own in Taiwan--we're not certified!), and we watched a video the ETAs from a couple of years ago made called "The Art of Co-teaching," and discussed the best method in numerically assigned small groups.

But of course, the small groups weren't exactly impartial--we were supposed to number off, but somehow my group, group 4 of 12, ended up with 3 LETs, while another group had 6, and most had at least 4. Suspicious. When we snagged someone from the group of 6, it turned out she was from the same school as another LET in my group, and they took it upon themselves to turn our discussion, in part, into a time to pitch their school. They were very nice, but it felt a bit like I was being manipulated.

And oh, what a glorious segue that is into our number one concern with the LETs today: we felt, and in many cases were correct in feeling, like we were being lied to and manipulated.

As I mentioned before, several of the county schools yesterday sent school representatives, rather than the actual LETs like they were supposed to; yesterday, Alex made it a point to tell the group once again that they MUST send their LET to the orientation, as a requirement of their participation. So, today, all the same people showed up, but now they were magically transformed into LETs, when we asked. Beyond that, on probing several of them during our afternoon "speed dating" with all the schools, we discovered that some of the schools still hadn't sent anyone at all, and that a couple people couldn't speak English at all--one of the supposed English teachers could barely say his own English name, which was, incidentally, "Aware." Irony of ironies.

All of these shady practices made us, as ETAs, nervous. Leaving all thoughts about city versus county aside, these schools are lying about having LETs for us to teach with. When we get there, we know exactly what we will find: big joyous crowds come to welcome the English teacher, and an empty classroom set aside for us, and only us. Which is illegal.

And, even supposing that the "LETs" we met are there, we have too much of a language barrier to work together effectively! It would inevitably end up being either just them teaching the class in Mandarin, or just us teaching the class in English--which, again, is illegal. (You see, I told you that was a key point of the morning presentation.) And it's also ineffective! We are not (most of us) trained teachers; what we bring to the classroom is enthusiasm, an embodiment of why kids should care about English, and a native command of the language. What we do not bring is a knowledge of Mandarin good enough to manage a classroom, talk to administrators, and avoid miscommunications.

So, after the day was over, in our group meeting with Fonda, the ETAs essentially staged a verbal coup. Not against Fonda, not against Alex, not against anyone in Fulbright, but against the situation: we are terrified of it, and, I believe, justifiably so. We do not want to be sent to the county schools, only a couple of which actually have LETs so far, to discover that we are expected to do what we are not trained for and cannot legally do. We feel disrespected by the schools by their inability to prepare for our arrival and their total disregard for the hard-and-fast rules set down by the local government--we all went through a stringent screening to get to come here, and the city schools also took part in a major competition. But, due to political pressures, the same is not true of the county, and we don't feel that they are holding up their end of the bargain. In sum, we can't imagine a good situation coming from a partnership based in lies or, worse yet, from the absence of a partner.

So for now, we wait. We wait to see what the Education Bureau will do about those who break the rules; to see if they will enforce their own restrictions and fulfill our contracts to be assistant teachers. We wait to see if practicality will beat out political difficulties to benefit everyone involved.

I certainly hope so. 

First Impressions (and an "Aha" Moment)

Today we met all the LETs we will be working with from all the different schools around Kaohsiung. And that's all we did. To be honest, when I looked at our schedule and saw "ETAs & LETs PPT Self-introductions" marked down for the full day, I didn't think we could fill the day. But we did. And, surprise of surprises, the time went by really quickly; 12 leagues, 23 schools, 29 LETs, and 12 ETAs later, the day had evaporated into the heat waves coming off the sidewalk.

My first impression: these are great people. All of them.

My second impression: some of these great people may be a bit harder to work with than others, if for no other reason than that a few of them, though English teachers, struggle with the language themselves.

Also, those teachers from the outlying areas definitely know most people would rather be in the city, and will lobby hard to change your mind.

My presentation seemed to go well--I'd beefed it up a bit since we presented just to ourselves, as I discovered that several of my fellow ETAs have basically saved the world from utter destruction a couple times a year for the past ten years or so. So this version included my Spanish language skills, my experience in the playground program, my black belt in karate, my bass and piano playing, my acting, my Reader's Theater experience and willingness to write scripts (Reader's Theater is a BIG deal over here)--basically anything and everything I've done that might make me stand out in a room full of world travelers, Teach for America teachers, UNICEF Arizona founders, friends of congresswomen, and TESOL Master's recipients.

Competition in this group is stiff, let me tell you. I'm just glad we're doing this now, when we already like each other, or it could get brutal. In any case, Karina told me that they were really interested in what I had to say--more than anyone else's presentation, she said. I just hope that translates well for the rest of the process.

I spent the LET presentations taking copious notes on the presenters--not all of whom, we discovered later, were actually the LETs, like they were supposed to be (some were other school representatives,which was against the rules)--and, during the mingling time, did my best to be sociable and open and ask all the right questions and, for that matter, talk to the right people.

But it's stressful. At this point I think I know where I want to go, based on my interactions with the teachers and what they've told me about their schools. However, I have no idea who else of the ETAs may want the same schools as I do, or who of us the LETs would prefer. This makes the process intricately complicated--if ETA 1 puts my favorite school as their #1, too, and the LET at that school has ETA 1 rated above me, I lose out; if my second choice school is someone else's first choice and they match with an LET, I drop again, and so on. It's a complicated dance of trying to gauge ETA's and LET's interests and weigh them against my own: if I really want to be smart about this, I have to pick not just my favorite school, but a favorite school of mine that I don't think anyone else will put as their top choice.

But, given that there are only 7 city schools and at least 10 people vying for those spots (I overheard another ETA today saying she may vote county), it's almost unavoidable that we will overlap.

On the plus side, I genuinely like all of the teachers I met today. On the negative side, I'm afraid that ranking schools 'wrong' may result in me missing out on any chance in the city. Now's a time when I wish I were better at reading people. A big part of me also has this utopian fantasy that all the ETAs could get together and talk it over, and then compare notes with the LETs and come to some sort of mutually agreeable arrangement. But let's face it, that's a pipe dream.

So I'm playing it pretty close to the vest. Tomorrow we have more time to get to know the LETs--this time in a structured 'speed dating' format, rather than today's free-form talk-to-whom-you-will (or, as was often the case, whomever is available and/or most persistent in flagging you down), and tomorrow night we'll do the rating. We'll know where we're placed by Wednesday.

Here's an over-the-head shot of the LET and ETA meeting today--the camera misses quite a few people, too.

After the presentations were over, we (and by we I mean Andrew, Steven, Esther, Tiffiany and I--the usual crew always volunteering to do more scootering) did scooter practice, and I had a major "aha" moment. For whatever reason, today when I sat down on the scooter, something clicked and I was suddenly able to turn without feeling like I was going to fall over, and accelerate and stop on a dime. It was pretty cool, I have to say. Last time I sat on the scooter I was struggling with turning; now I can do figure eights. Gotta love it when muscle memory suddenly wakes up and says "Hey! The maneuvering on this thing is just like riding a bike!"

Which is not to say riding a scooter is as easy as riding a bike--that's what they've been trying to tell me since I've got here, and it's not true. Scooters are heavier, harder to balance, and harder to turn without going too far. But it is definitely the same type of skill set, and apparently today my body decided it was okay to tap into that wealth of old experiences and make it work.

So yeah, that's all for now...tomorrow I will master the art of the second impression, and hopefully solidify where I want to be, and where they'll have me!

The Principal's Office

I spent most of today in the principal's office. Well, there, and moving in and out of a tour bus, as we visited several--but not all--of the area schools where we will be teaching. 

The day didn't start out great for me, honestly--my alarm didn't go off, so I didn't wake up until a half hour before we had to leave, when Rachel knocked on my door; after a wild scramble to get ready to go (I somehow managed to get everything done in half the time--crazy what necessity will do for you), I arrived at our first school and promptly discovered that the coffee they gave me had leaked all over my shirt. So much for a good impression, there or anywhere on our route. And, of course, this was one of our most official-picture-taking heavy days so far, so I did some experimenting with strategic arm crossing.

At each place, the routine was the same: we'd pile out of the bus and follow someone into the principal's office/conference room they had set up for us, where we would be invited to sit and drink some sort of beverage (there was a bit of range here--hot coffee, iced coffee, iced tea, water, and cold honey water were all proffered at various places). Then, after a brief introduction, usually given over a microphone by the principal and translated by the local English teacher, we would be given a tour of the premises, always interrupted by a group photo op, before being herded back to our original seats for question-and-answer time. Then it was back on the bus and off to our next stop.

The schools are all so beautiful!

This is one of the county schools--only 77 students, but 6 class preps!

There were variations, of course. Some schools showed us a video to highlight their accomplishments; several gave us food; one showcased previous classes' work in English; one had a minute-by-minute itinerary and a prepared folder of materials for us to look over, which I, beaver that I am, quite appreciated. But the overall impression I came away with is that these are all great schools; as Rachel pointed out, they have all been through a selection process probably at least as rigorous as the one we've been through in order to get ETAs. No matter where we are placed, we will be in a good situation; no matter where we are placed, we will be working with gracious people. But still, the placement is an issue.

In fact, the wonderfulness of all the schools makes placement in some ways a bigger issue--it puts all of the emphasis on location, which was already what people were most worried about. Today we saw three 'city' schools and two 'county' schools, and really, they were all great. Each had its pros and cons, sure--one was close to the MRT station, but had bigger classes, while another had a small school population, but required more class preps, for instance--but the biggest factor for everyone, from what I can tell, remains whether the school is in the city or the county. 

We saw the county today. It is absolutely gorgeous--jungle-clad hills rolling into mountains in the distance; lush banana and rice farms not far off the road--but it is also far. From our discussions with Fonda, Alex, and several of the local teachers, it can be more than an hour to get into the city, and require at least three modes of transportation; the routes they described to us for getting to our biweekly meetings in Kaohsiung all consisted of scooter, train, and MRT. And that's complicated, especially if people in the county are wanting to take Chinese classes or hang out with other ETAs. At one of the county schools, the LET told us straight out that the only things to do in the area was watch TV, surf the Internet, or hike the mountains. And you all know how well hiking and I get along...

Don't get me wrong, it's GORGEOUS, I just don't know how I'd do trudging up these slopes in 90% humidity!

On the bus ride back, I settled my mind that if I ended up in the county, at least I'd get a lot of writing done!

When we finally made it back to the city, Alex, the ETA coordinator with whom we'd emailed since June  but whom we hadn't met until today, explained the placement process to us, and our tense, carefully-worded negotiation began. 

Alex said that in previous years (before the county was incorporated into Kaohsiung, so when all ETAs were placed within the city limits), everyone met all the teachers, worked with them throughout orientation, and then at the end ranked their favorites; placements were based on ETA rankings, combined with LET preferences. This, he said, usually ended up with everyone being disappointed that they didn't get their first choice, so this year, the plan was to allow those who wanted to go to the county to pick their schools, and then have the remaining city-dwelling ETAs draw straws, and to do it all this next week, so we have time to work with our own LETs, rather than the LETs as a cumulative group.

Almost immediately, Andrew raised the question on everyone's mind: can we go back to the ranking system, but do it earlier?

The answer was yes, if we all agreed and Dr. Vocke was okay with it, but then it got complicated, as more and more people weighed in, and as we determined that, as of now, only one of us actually wants to go to the county; soon questions of what the least psychologically distressing path would be arose, and, about a half-hour of negotiation and poll-taking later, we had determined--and then reneged--and then determined--and then put off the question, until Wednesday. 

Our tentative plan is to still let county people pick, and then rank the remaining based on one day of knowing the LETs, but there are still rumblings in the group from those who would prefer a purely random selection. We must decide, somehow, by Wednesday, so that Alex and Fonda have time to talk to Dr. Vocke and the Bureau of Education, and plan for our placement.

Oh, complications.