Sigh.
I find teaching grammar to be a stretch out of my zone of proximal development. It's been two long weeks of grammar review exercises, quizzes, and note-taking. Plus, toss in a little ESL struggle and what you have is a dog's breakfast (as my good friend Lisa likes to say). Today, I was feeling selfish and tired, so I had a little fun...
We talked about adverbs, we threw them around as if we were old drinking buddies. But still, I knew it wouldn't be enough. I needed a little dance music to get the neurons really firing. Luckily, Kesha is always close by on my Ipod. I cued her up and explained that the verb would be "dance." Whenever I wrote an adverb or adjective on the board, they had to dance in that way. Today, we had a dance party, and it was outrageous.
Another highlight of my week is that unlike in Canada, where teachers are treated like scum of the earth, they are revered in China. Today is National Teacher's Day! Last night, we had a big staff party and there was beer, kareoke, and dancing. A few women danced with flags and it was mesmorizing and cute. Today, we were given a cash bonus, and each class gave us gifts! I was wondering why they were building a wall of toliet paper at the back of the room all week...it was for teacher's day! It is practical afterall! One of my students gave me a really beautiful gold ring, with (fake) diamonds and sapphires embedded in it. It kid of looks like a...gargoyle? Or two siamese cat heads cuddling? I'm not sure, but it is really pretty! He said his Mum picked it out for me. Or maybe he stole it. Either way, I have to be nice to him all year now--dang!
I still have a couple classes to go, so we'll see what else comes my way. I hope I get crazy asian snacks! I found these wafers last night that taste just like fortune cookies. Heaven! I also bought 6 beers last night for $1.50. Just sayin'.
Come to China! We'll have fun!
Missin' you,
xox
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