So, I've been here for two months, right? This next story demonstrates how unobservant Hong & I are. haha
Once the students switched to summer uniforms (which was about a week ago) Hong & I started noticing that all of the teachers were wearing almost the exact same grey skirt. We couldn't figure out what was going on. & Then the next few days, they were all wearing the same pants and skirt. So, at our meeting on Thursday when all of the teachers were gathered in the staff room to indulge on Ms. Lao's delicious culinary skills (she made us Creme du Caramel b/c she found out that we really enjoyed it!), we noticed that they again were all wearing the same grey pants, so we finally piped up & asked about it. Turns out they have a mandatory uniform policy for the Elementary teachers. They have to wear grey bottoms & a while blouse. Huh! Who would have thought? Thank goodness we aren't forced to do this... 1. I don't own any grey pants (I kicked that habit after 4 solid years of grey pants wearing at St. Ignatius High school) & 2. I own one white blouse, which I've already managed to stain & I DID own a white golf shirt but threw it in the wash with brand new red bed sheets. Brilliant move, I know. I'm really good at getting white things dirty.
Bought tickets to the Zaia Cirque du Soleil show tonight! We go next Thursday night & we snagged third row seats :) Word on the street is that this show isn't doing so hot & there are plenty of empty seats each night, but still I can't wait!!! I've never seen a Cirque show, so I have nothing to compare.
Going to Hong Kong for the Easter weekend. I am very excited to have a little RNR away from Macau. Don't get me wrong, I really do love this city, but I need a change of scenery/ in search of other things to think about other than my Inquiry Project & teaching.... Oh no... my life as a teacher is just beginning, isn't it? Living, eating, sleeping, dreaming with teaching. Oh bother!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Allergies - who would have thought?
The last couple of days have been quite a nuisance as I am allergic to something lurking in my house. I went to the school doctor, and he believes that it's dust mites. These are apparently quite common in Macau since it's so humid here & they just looove the humidity. I'm beginning to think that I should live in a bubble for the rest of my life. There isn't much that I can do about these little critters except wash my things again (although this wouldn't get rid of them because we can only wash our things in cold water & you need hot water + a dryer to kill them), or you could use a de-humidifier, or get a vacuum & try to vacuum everything up (which we don't have one). So they next morning I washed all of my things & then went early to school. Because I had washed all of my things, I must have stirred up my new friends & inhaled them all because my eyes got so bad... I left school, I looked like a freak & it stung so bad.
I went back later for a meeting, but it was quite unbearable. They were able to scramble up a de-humidifier for us though, which was great. We then went out for dinner with Ms. Mou, and the entire time I was trying not to scratch my eyeballs out. On the way home, we went over to a Japanese home store to buy some shower curtains so that I could wrap my mattresses in plastic. I also bought a new pillow, and all together it was quite expensive, but I thought that it was going to worth it. Got home, opened up the shower curtain & realized that it was polyester... so that wasn't going to work. Went right back to the store & the lady tells us that we can't get our money back but can exchange for something else (after many confusing gestures & words). There was nothing really that we needed so we ended up buying $70 worth of toilet paper. haha - we are set!!! I went to the grocery store & found some plastic shower curtains, so I bought 2 just in case. & thank goodness I did b/c it took two to cover both of them. Thank goodness for Hong's magical present wrapping skills, I couldn't have done it without her (& I was too busy wanting to pass out/vomit from the pain). Took a couple of Benedryl's & then passed out at 8:30pm.
The doctor told me not to sleep with my comforters b/c they are probably infested & that I should have my A/C on to make the place dryer. So lastnight I had to sleep in my long johns, two hoodies (with the hoods on), wool socks, a toque, and a couple of towels to cover me. I was sooo cold! I woke up about 10 times in the night b/c I was so cold! This morning, two men from the school came to deliver the de-humidifier & some new comforters, a mattress mat, blankets & pillows. We also wanted to show them the awful noise that our toilet makes when you flush it. So we flushed it for them & of course it didn't make the noise right away, so they were probably like what the heck are these girls talking about? But when it finally did make the noise, the man said that in Macau, it's normal. It seriously sounds like the toilet wants to explode & the pipes & faucets shake & everything when it happens. It's kinda freaky.
For our last mission to get rid of these stupid bugs in my room (oh & btw, they are most likely everywhere in our appt, including in our drapes, but Hong isn't allergic to them, so she is fine), there was a whole stack of wooden pieces (for a bed) underneath my bed which were attracting handfuls of dust, so we took them all out & shoved them behind the sofas in the living room. Now I have a beautiful, clean pristine floor underneath my bed! :)
My eyes still look hideous, but I think they're getting better!
We learned some interesting things about cemeteries over dinner lastnight (& keep in mind that were discussing this over dinner!!). Tomorrow is the Ching Ming festival, and this is a time where the Chinese go to visit their ancestors. So we were talking about how Ms. Mou had her ancestors brought across the border to be placed in a cemetery in Coloane (which is a neighbouring island of Macau) instead of across the border in Mainland, because it was just too hard to visit them every year with the hundreds of thousands of people that cross the border during this time (after a certain amount, they actually close the border completely). Throughout this conversation we found out that when you pay to have your family buried, you are only paying for them to be there for 7 years. After the seven years, the body has decomposed enough so all that remains are bones. These bones are put into an urn & then you either rent out or buy a little cupboard inside of these rows & rows of walls in the cemetery. How crazy is that?? (& remember, we were eating while talking about this hahaha). But it makes so much sense. Hong & I were actually wondering & just baffled at where do they fit all of the people that die? There's no space for cemeteries! & now we know how! Another thing that I learned is that if someone has passed away in your family, then you can not visit another person's house or attend a wedding for a certain period of time (I think it was about a month), as it is believed that you would pass on this bad luck to the other families.
Ms. Mou has been so great to us. She helps us with our butchering attempts at Chinese, she always treats us to food, & she is a very good friend to have here. I definitely want to do something for people here before we go - but I just don't know what! Any ideas?
I went back later for a meeting, but it was quite unbearable. They were able to scramble up a de-humidifier for us though, which was great. We then went out for dinner with Ms. Mou, and the entire time I was trying not to scratch my eyeballs out. On the way home, we went over to a Japanese home store to buy some shower curtains so that I could wrap my mattresses in plastic. I also bought a new pillow, and all together it was quite expensive, but I thought that it was going to worth it. Got home, opened up the shower curtain & realized that it was polyester... so that wasn't going to work. Went right back to the store & the lady tells us that we can't get our money back but can exchange for something else (after many confusing gestures & words). There was nothing really that we needed so we ended up buying $70 worth of toilet paper. haha - we are set!!! I went to the grocery store & found some plastic shower curtains, so I bought 2 just in case. & thank goodness I did b/c it took two to cover both of them. Thank goodness for Hong's magical present wrapping skills, I couldn't have done it without her (& I was too busy wanting to pass out/vomit from the pain). Took a couple of Benedryl's & then passed out at 8:30pm.
The doctor told me not to sleep with my comforters b/c they are probably infested & that I should have my A/C on to make the place dryer. So lastnight I had to sleep in my long johns, two hoodies (with the hoods on), wool socks, a toque, and a couple of towels to cover me. I was sooo cold! I woke up about 10 times in the night b/c I was so cold! This morning, two men from the school came to deliver the de-humidifier & some new comforters, a mattress mat, blankets & pillows. We also wanted to show them the awful noise that our toilet makes when you flush it. So we flushed it for them & of course it didn't make the noise right away, so they were probably like what the heck are these girls talking about? But when it finally did make the noise, the man said that in Macau, it's normal. It seriously sounds like the toilet wants to explode & the pipes & faucets shake & everything when it happens. It's kinda freaky.
For our last mission to get rid of these stupid bugs in my room (oh & btw, they are most likely everywhere in our appt, including in our drapes, but Hong isn't allergic to them, so she is fine), there was a whole stack of wooden pieces (for a bed) underneath my bed which were attracting handfuls of dust, so we took them all out & shoved them behind the sofas in the living room. Now I have a beautiful, clean pristine floor underneath my bed! :)
My eyes still look hideous, but I think they're getting better!
We learned some interesting things about cemeteries over dinner lastnight (& keep in mind that were discussing this over dinner!!). Tomorrow is the Ching Ming festival, and this is a time where the Chinese go to visit their ancestors. So we were talking about how Ms. Mou had her ancestors brought across the border to be placed in a cemetery in Coloane (which is a neighbouring island of Macau) instead of across the border in Mainland, because it was just too hard to visit them every year with the hundreds of thousands of people that cross the border during this time (after a certain amount, they actually close the border completely). Throughout this conversation we found out that when you pay to have your family buried, you are only paying for them to be there for 7 years. After the seven years, the body has decomposed enough so all that remains are bones. These bones are put into an urn & then you either rent out or buy a little cupboard inside of these rows & rows of walls in the cemetery. How crazy is that?? (& remember, we were eating while talking about this hahaha). But it makes so much sense. Hong & I were actually wondering & just baffled at where do they fit all of the people that die? There's no space for cemeteries! & now we know how! Another thing that I learned is that if someone has passed away in your family, then you can not visit another person's house or attend a wedding for a certain period of time (I think it was about a month), as it is believed that you would pass on this bad luck to the other families.
Ms. Mou has been so great to us. She helps us with our butchering attempts at Chinese, she always treats us to food, & she is a very good friend to have here. I definitely want to do something for people here before we go - but I just don't know what! Any ideas?
Saturday, March 28, 2009
ESL "workshop"
This morning (& on a SATURDAY), we went to the Macau tower for a workshop being put on by Oxford University Press. We were somewhat unsure as to what this would be like as the teachers kept encouraging us to go simply for the free dictionary. That should have been a red flag.. there are always catches to free stuff. Because my navigation skills are just stellar... we got on the wrong bus & headed to the border (which is the farthest point north in Macau) instead of the Macau tower, which is the farthest point south! haha... so I am officially off navigation duty & have passed that role over to Hong :) We ended up having to get off the bus at the border, get right back on & re-pay. Oh well... we got there in time! There were lots of little breakfast snacks, danishes & tea before we went into the seminar, which were quite delicious!! It made me miss Canadian breakfasts... when I get home, I am going to have the HUGEST breakfast humanly possible with lots of fruit, pemeal (sp??) bacon, eggs, tomatoes... mmm.. my mouth is salivating.
We were signed up for the New Magic! English seminar, and there were also ones for Math & Chinese (all elementary, high school in the afternoon). Funny enough (but expected), the seminar was all in Chinese... and it wasn't so much as an education workshop or seminar that I've been to in Canada, as it was a 2 hour infomercial for New Magic! English & Oxford University Press, in Chinese. It was interesting to see the new material being marketed, and see the similarities between what our school is using (Longman - Welcome to English, 2003) & New Magic! which is a 2009 edition (but also separate publishers). This new program uses more songs, dramas, poems, group activities/conversations than does our Longman textbooks... but even if our school was to invest in this newer English packet, I think that it wouldn't change anything. CDSJ will still have the same objectives, outcomes & forms of assessment despite the program they choose to market. The students will still be required to memorize & regurgitate according to the assessment strategies that are favored. I think what is missing in CDSJ & this New Magic! is a diverse selection of ways to assess students. If this New Magic! wants students to perform dramas or sing songs, then these should be considered as an oral mark for example. If students are making a comic strip based on a story they read in class, then this should be a part of their writing assessment. Versus currently, and even in this New Magic! packet, students are still assessed in their schools via unit tests, dictations, listening comprehension tests, etc. Any projects, performances, class participation, etc isn't factored into their final mark. Anyways... I'm glad I had this time at the workshop b/c it made me think about some of these things further.
There were a few other teachers from CDSJ, but they came quite late as they had lessons in the morning.
Fun fact - Macau tower has the highest bungee jump in the world. Interested?
Going to mainland tomorrow with some of the students & need to get a paper written for the uni & an article written for CDSJ's newsletter - busy busy... queen of procrastination :)
We were signed up for the New Magic! English seminar, and there were also ones for Math & Chinese (all elementary, high school in the afternoon). Funny enough (but expected), the seminar was all in Chinese... and it wasn't so much as an education workshop or seminar that I've been to in Canada, as it was a 2 hour infomercial for New Magic! English & Oxford University Press, in Chinese. It was interesting to see the new material being marketed, and see the similarities between what our school is using (Longman - Welcome to English, 2003) & New Magic! which is a 2009 edition (but also separate publishers). This new program uses more songs, dramas, poems, group activities/conversations than does our Longman textbooks... but even if our school was to invest in this newer English packet, I think that it wouldn't change anything. CDSJ will still have the same objectives, outcomes & forms of assessment despite the program they choose to market. The students will still be required to memorize & regurgitate according to the assessment strategies that are favored. I think what is missing in CDSJ & this New Magic! is a diverse selection of ways to assess students. If this New Magic! wants students to perform dramas or sing songs, then these should be considered as an oral mark for example. If students are making a comic strip based on a story they read in class, then this should be a part of their writing assessment. Versus currently, and even in this New Magic! packet, students are still assessed in their schools via unit tests, dictations, listening comprehension tests, etc. Any projects, performances, class participation, etc isn't factored into their final mark. Anyways... I'm glad I had this time at the workshop b/c it made me think about some of these things further.
There were a few other teachers from CDSJ, but they came quite late as they had lessons in the morning.
Fun fact - Macau tower has the highest bungee jump in the world. Interested?
Going to mainland tomorrow with some of the students & need to get a paper written for the uni & an article written for CDSJ's newsletter - busy busy... queen of procrastination :)
Friday, March 20, 2009
CDSJ Anniversary
I think I'm still recuperating from the jam packed day we had on Thursday, even after we were told that we only had to attend the General Knowledge competition & would have the afternoon off. No such luck!
On Wednesday, we attended a mass at the Primary school. It was all in Chinese, so that hour & a half was much slower than usual. After mass, the Primary 6 students had made some games for the students to play & win prizes. They were quite creative!
On Thursday, we first went to the 2nd & 3rd school for the Senior general knowledge contest, which was pretty much the same as the Junior one. A couple of weeks ago, I had done a voice recording of one of the questions, but it didn't work, so Hong & I had to read out the questions during the contest. They were really tough questions & no one answered them. They had to listen to our directions & follow what we were saying on a map & then tell us our destination. I couldn't even answer when I followed along while Hong read one of the questions. We had to wait for Patricia & Karen after the contest while they talked about the English club to the parents & members of the school board. A few of us went out for lunch, including their mandarin teacher so that Karin & Patricia could interview us for their newsletter. We were scheduled to meet all of the teachers again at the 1st campus for the grand opening of a building. Which building, we didn't know. haha It turns out that the building next to our school complex (there is a church, old-age home & this empty building all in one block), this building was going to be used to raise funds for the Teacher's Association of CDSJ. When I was talking to Carlos (he is the president of this association, also the AP), he said that until now, the teacher's salaries were funded by student tuition & there wasn't much security in this. So they've decided to set up a place where the public can rent/use & this money will go towards a security for the teachers' income. I'm really unsure as to what the public will actually use this place for, and when we asked around, no one else seemed to know either. Anyways, it was a good event, lots of food & people to talk to.
Today is Saturday, and so far it has been quite un-productive. This morning we went to a place down the street for congee, as we haven't got to try the real thing yet. It's basically a boiled down rice porridge with meat in it. & you typically eat a Chinese doughnut with it. When we got there, there were so many people standing around & we had no idea what to do. So Hong tried her best to tell them what we wanted in it. When we first got ours (after all of the confusion of whether or not we paid, etc) we thought that they had gotten it completely wrong... but in the end, they understood what we asked!! We were very happy. I got beef & 1000 year old egg in mine, & Hong got a mixture of intestine, stomach & liver in hers. I thought I was being safe by getting beef... but turns out they just put raw beef in it, without cooking it. It was ok... but pretty chewy.. like as in raw beef chewy. Hong's was good & I actually tried intestine, liver & stomach today!!! I was so proud of myself :) It was alright... but nothing I would get all of the time. I just think of those fear factors where they make the people eat a plate full of plain intestine that's been pickled or something... so it's more me relating it to that than anything, that turns me off. The yummiest part about it all was the Chinese doughnut... aw man, they are good!!! very crunchy & delicious!
On Wednesday, we attended a mass at the Primary school. It was all in Chinese, so that hour & a half was much slower than usual. After mass, the Primary 6 students had made some games for the students to play & win prizes. They were quite creative!
On Thursday, we first went to the 2nd & 3rd school for the Senior general knowledge contest, which was pretty much the same as the Junior one. A couple of weeks ago, I had done a voice recording of one of the questions, but it didn't work, so Hong & I had to read out the questions during the contest. They were really tough questions & no one answered them. They had to listen to our directions & follow what we were saying on a map & then tell us our destination. I couldn't even answer when I followed along while Hong read one of the questions. We had to wait for Patricia & Karen after the contest while they talked about the English club to the parents & members of the school board. A few of us went out for lunch, including their mandarin teacher so that Karin & Patricia could interview us for their newsletter. We were scheduled to meet all of the teachers again at the 1st campus for the grand opening of a building. Which building, we didn't know. haha It turns out that the building next to our school complex (there is a church, old-age home & this empty building all in one block), this building was going to be used to raise funds for the Teacher's Association of CDSJ. When I was talking to Carlos (he is the president of this association, also the AP), he said that until now, the teacher's salaries were funded by student tuition & there wasn't much security in this. So they've decided to set up a place where the public can rent/use & this money will go towards a security for the teachers' income. I'm really unsure as to what the public will actually use this place for, and when we asked around, no one else seemed to know either. Anyways, it was a good event, lots of food & people to talk to.
Today is Saturday, and so far it has been quite un-productive. This morning we went to a place down the street for congee, as we haven't got to try the real thing yet. It's basically a boiled down rice porridge with meat in it. & you typically eat a Chinese doughnut with it. When we got there, there were so many people standing around & we had no idea what to do. So Hong tried her best to tell them what we wanted in it. When we first got ours (after all of the confusion of whether or not we paid, etc) we thought that they had gotten it completely wrong... but in the end, they understood what we asked!! We were very happy. I got beef & 1000 year old egg in mine, & Hong got a mixture of intestine, stomach & liver in hers. I thought I was being safe by getting beef... but turns out they just put raw beef in it, without cooking it. It was ok... but pretty chewy.. like as in raw beef chewy. Hong's was good & I actually tried intestine, liver & stomach today!!! I was so proud of myself :) It was alright... but nothing I would get all of the time. I just think of those fear factors where they make the people eat a plate full of plain intestine that's been pickled or something... so it's more me relating it to that than anything, that turns me off. The yummiest part about it all was the Chinese doughnut... aw man, they are good!!! very crunchy & delicious!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Busy day of sightseeing & school events
This morning we went to the 2nd & 3rd school to watch the Jr. General Knowledge competition. Most of it was in Chinese, but there were some in English as well. It was quite the big deal with a huge audience, all of the game-show type technology & even trophies! After this was over, there was a 'lay-up' competition (Basketball), we only watched some of this as we were going out for lunch with Janice, Virginia, & Cobol. Watching this lay up competition was like going through one of those moments when you are so embarrassed for the person, that you just can't bear to watch. They were trying so hard, & showing off here & there, but they just kept either missing, crashing into the free standing basketball net, or falling. & then all of the people watching do the "Ohhhhhhhhhh" really loud when the person messes up. It would be so humiliating!!
Lunch was good... had drunken chicken, some ong choi, various dumplings, and a spicy & sour soup. The soup wasn't very good... it kind of tasted like stomach bile & it also had pig's blood in it.. which just really grosses me out. I can't do it. The drunken chicken was fairly good (completely soaked in rice wine & served cold, which surprised me). I don't really much like the chicken here as it usually has lots of skin on it & sometimes is hairy, but the skin just bothers me.. it's not crunchy & bad for you tasting.. it's like elastic & soft as it's usually boiled.
Hong & I decided that we wanted to go to Fisherman's warf today, so after lunch we set off & decided to explore. We opted out of taking a bus b/c everything is so close in Macau.. .but soon wished we had as we wandered slightly too south & ended up much farther south than we wanted to be. But that was ok b/c we ran into that Kun Iam statue, which is worth the sight. It's a fairly new statue, built in 1998. We finally arrived at Fisherman's warf.. marveled at how bizarre and random each little area was & how there were very little visitors & had some ice cream/gelato. The last part being the highlight!!! On the way home we walked past the Kun Iam temple (which was very close to where we had Hot Pot & we had walked past it then & were told to visit), so we did! It's a very nice temple, lots of history in it. We tagged onto a couple of tours, but soon gave up as they were in Cantonese & Japanese. Came home & relaxed for a bit before the Anniversary of CDSJ school event this evening. Virginia warned us that we should eat before as the speeches would be very long & we probably wouldn't eat until about 9pm (which ended up being very true), so we grabbed some sushi.
Quite the event! It was a dinner put on by the Alumni association, lots of food & presents. I got a bizarre egg thing with a lot of glitter on it... I don't even want to open the container b/c the glitter will just spread like wild fire (youtube: Demetri Martin, 'jokes in the guitar' to find out more about glitter). Food was pretty good... many meals one after the other, in total, including the dessert there were 14 dishes. It took a long time to eat! My favourite was the steamed fish (SO GOOD!) & the boiled lettuce & mushrooms. The last dish also had something else in it... I TRIED... but didn't like it. It had chicken's feet in it, boiled as well. so again... the skin was all elasticky & chewy... & then also the webbing was still in between the toes! Eek! I definitely think that I would have enjoyed it had it been deep fried or something.. but just not boiled. I tried a bit... but just couldn't finish (so Hong ate mine, I will attach a picture soon!). One more thing... all of the little bones were much like our metatarsal bones in our feet - soo eery! Dessert was so tasty! Cookies and rolls that were almond/sesame based, & red bean soup. I was surprised by how delicious red bean soup actually is, i loved it! (it also has lotus seeds in it)
I am definitely pooched now! Off to bed I go :)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Out the window!
So, my optimistic attitude about the class quickly faded today. It was insane, frustrating, and completely out of control. I am really struggling with how to fit into this class, what is of my concern & what is not, what should be done about situations (& how to deal with them?) and perhaps it is me needing to just let go & adapt to how things are done here?? I don't know what to do. I just know that I can't, morally ignore physical and verbal violence in the classroom. I hope things improve... otherwise I am going to be quite the grouch for the next 5 months.
After a long day of classes, Hong & I went out for lunch on the way home. We stopped at this incredibly over priced Japanese restaurant. I got a seafood udon (I would call it noodle & sauce, barely any seafood :( & Hong got a fried Eel & rice. The bones in the Eel were somewhat dangerous & you couldn't really eat around them (they were thick enough to jab into your throat or mouth, but were also too small to pick out) so unfortunately Hong just had rice for lunch. There was a large table of Jr High kids beside us & one of them got dared or something to shove a massive sushi roll into his mouth. Needless to say, he choked & threw it all up onto the table. It was awful. What a day so far!
Once I got home, after talking to Connor for a bit on skype, I decided to have a nice long nap. I was exhausted & slept for about 2 hrs. Hopefully I can fall asleep tonight!
After a long day of classes, Hong & I went out for lunch on the way home. We stopped at this incredibly over priced Japanese restaurant. I got a seafood udon (I would call it noodle & sauce, barely any seafood :( & Hong got a fried Eel & rice. The bones in the Eel were somewhat dangerous & you couldn't really eat around them (they were thick enough to jab into your throat or mouth, but were also too small to pick out) so unfortunately Hong just had rice for lunch. There was a large table of Jr High kids beside us & one of them got dared or something to shove a massive sushi roll into his mouth. Needless to say, he choked & threw it all up onto the table. It was awful. What a day so far!
Once I got home, after talking to Connor for a bit on skype, I decided to have a nice long nap. I was exhausted & slept for about 2 hrs. Hopefully I can fall asleep tonight!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
A-ha moment!
Second day in my grade one class and it went very well. Miss Woo is there to help out with some crowd control, but it isn't bad at all. My previous practicum class had 56 students!! 14 is a breeze in comparison. Speaking of which... I am noticing such a drastic contrast between the grade ones here & the grade ones in Canada. & I by no means want to portray anything negative about it... but the students here seem older, more serious, & constrained almost. I have heard from many people that in Macau, studying is everything & the parents do everything that they can to make their child excel in school... but also make them work very very hard each & every night. On the playground, they are just like any other child... but the classroom is just so different. Not only did I completely drop the ball on giving them homework my first day, but when I assigned some today... I didn't assign enough!! Miss Woo said that the parents get quite upset if there isn't a 'substantial amount of work sent home to be completed'. I am not sure I will get over this pressure and importance that academia holds in this city. It's just amazing!
side note: I forgot to mention this yesterday! When I was in the Kindergarten class yesterday morning before the students arrived (everyone else starts at 8:20am, where as the Kindergarten students start at 9am). One of the student's father approached me & asked me if I was teaching his daughter. & I said that yes, I will be teaching them English twice a week. As soon as I said this he just grinned from ear to ear & couldn't stop thanking me for being in this class. It was very sweet... but for all he knows - I could have no idea what I was doing!!! haha
Today's lesson went very well. I wanted them to learn about using very simple nouns & adjectives, so we described some of their vocabulary that can be found around the classroom. They were so cute, pulling anything they could out of their schoolbag so that they could get a turn to describe it!
There are 2 boys in the class that Miss Woo frequently describes as 'naughty', and I have witnessed some of that behaviour... but today was awesome! So yesterday, Sam was flicking erasers at another students... so I told him to stop & go pick it up. He kind of gave me this pouty I'm pissed at you look but then finally did it. Today right at the beginning of class he was just bursting out nonsense, trying to get a giggle from everyone. I simply (& I think of Tara whenever I say this), shook my head no & said 'no thank you Sam'. He got it. & didn't revolt in any way. Just took it all in & continued what we were doing. The other little one is Paco, and yesterday I saw him across the room during our 'oral speaking groups' rolling around on the floor, crawling like a worm while pushing his chair & stomping around. But there was something about today that just ignited him. He was getting up.. going from one spot to the next to find me something that he could describe, he was taking that one step further in talking about more than one detail of an object, etc. It was fantastic. I just need to get this kid moving & challenge him a little. I think he (& Sam as well) are far more than competent in everything we do in class.. but just need that little extra push.
Hong was working until after lunch, so I came home & waited for her to get back so that we could get some grub! We wandered around as we usually do until we find something & we stumbled upon a fantastic dumpling place! They were soooo good. Not sure if they have meat ones though (pretty sure these only had veggies in them... but you never know). They were dirt cheap too! (don't know if that's a good thing.. ha) They were only $1 MOP each which is about 15 cents Canadian. We went to the market after to get some food for dinner & decided to get some more rice. There was this man running this stall & of course looked right to Hong & started speaking Chinese to here, even though I was pointing to what we wanted. He kept repeating the same thing & Hong would say something in English & finally she said 'Gong Yingman' which means 'speak English'. He then kept saying something over & over again in Chinese which we think it was something like 'really? you only speak English?' & was just creepily smiling at Hong, but still not getting our rice. It was pretty funny.. I think he had a crush on her.
Something else funny at the market. There was this mom just holding her daughter in the air with her pants down so that she could pee into the drain in the middle of the sidewalk. Right by all of the food stands!! Mmm
side note: I forgot to mention this yesterday! When I was in the Kindergarten class yesterday morning before the students arrived (everyone else starts at 8:20am, where as the Kindergarten students start at 9am). One of the student's father approached me & asked me if I was teaching his daughter. & I said that yes, I will be teaching them English twice a week. As soon as I said this he just grinned from ear to ear & couldn't stop thanking me for being in this class. It was very sweet... but for all he knows - I could have no idea what I was doing!!! haha
Today's lesson went very well. I wanted them to learn about using very simple nouns & adjectives, so we described some of their vocabulary that can be found around the classroom. They were so cute, pulling anything they could out of their schoolbag so that they could get a turn to describe it!
There are 2 boys in the class that Miss Woo frequently describes as 'naughty', and I have witnessed some of that behaviour... but today was awesome! So yesterday, Sam was flicking erasers at another students... so I told him to stop & go pick it up. He kind of gave me this pouty I'm pissed at you look but then finally did it. Today right at the beginning of class he was just bursting out nonsense, trying to get a giggle from everyone. I simply (& I think of Tara whenever I say this), shook my head no & said 'no thank you Sam'. He got it. & didn't revolt in any way. Just took it all in & continued what we were doing. The other little one is Paco, and yesterday I saw him across the room during our 'oral speaking groups' rolling around on the floor, crawling like a worm while pushing his chair & stomping around. But there was something about today that just ignited him. He was getting up.. going from one spot to the next to find me something that he could describe, he was taking that one step further in talking about more than one detail of an object, etc. It was fantastic. I just need to get this kid moving & challenge him a little. I think he (& Sam as well) are far more than competent in everything we do in class.. but just need that little extra push.
Hong was working until after lunch, so I came home & waited for her to get back so that we could get some grub! We wandered around as we usually do until we find something & we stumbled upon a fantastic dumpling place! They were soooo good. Not sure if they have meat ones though (pretty sure these only had veggies in them... but you never know). They were dirt cheap too! (don't know if that's a good thing.. ha) They were only $1 MOP each which is about 15 cents Canadian. We went to the market after to get some food for dinner & decided to get some more rice. There was this man running this stall & of course looked right to Hong & started speaking Chinese to here, even though I was pointing to what we wanted. He kept repeating the same thing & Hong would say something in English & finally she said 'Gong Yingman' which means 'speak English'. He then kept saying something over & over again in Chinese which we think it was something like 'really? you only speak English?' & was just creepily smiling at Hong, but still not getting our rice. It was pretty funny.. I think he had a crush on her.
Something else funny at the market. There was this mom just holding her daughter in the air with her pants down so that she could pee into the drain in the middle of the sidewalk. Right by all of the food stands!! Mmm
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