Mooncakes and Midweek Madness

So I relaxed on Monday for the most part. I went to this two floor shopping center where they not only carry tons of stationery, books, and maps but have a number of instruments as well. So now I know where to go for my violin as well as any supply needs I have. I just have to test them out and decide if I want a traditional one or a blue one. They sell guitars and erhus as well. I think it's funny that every stationery shop I've been into sells recorders as well. Maybe some schools require it?

My big haul. I'm still eating them and for the first time I've tasted a mooncake with egg inside that I actually enjoy.

I also got a lot of mooncakes. I bought 4 at Metro before leaving Changsha, then another three from a work colleague who really loves English literature and was talking to me about how Mark Twain and Jack London are popular in China. I've heard that The Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye are becoming very popular now too. I'm brainstorming English books I could donate to the school. I've also heard that there's some program that gave a couple funding to start a "Wai-Brary", a library of foreign books. I might apply for that and see if I can get something going for my school or for the area. I think it'd be cool to get my students more involved with something like comic books since they can read but also see what's going on if they don't understand. Given that I teach Junior 1 students who are at a pretty basic level, I would like to offer books at a variety of levels. The Great Gatsby might be hard if all you know are numbers, colors, and "I'm fine, thanks. And you?" I have Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree  as well as other books on my list right now. I would just really love it if my students had more opportunities to use their English than reciting in class. I told them that there are many ways to use English. More than for a test, if you understand English you can make friends who speak English, play games in English, read books in English, and watch movies in English. In this way, you have more to see and your world gets bigger. I haven't mentioned the independence you get as you get better, but that may be learned in time.

Oh, and in all this brainstorming I forgot to mention that I received another 6 mooncakes from the school. I can only eat so many!

My site mate won a live chicken in a golf competition that was part of the Teachers' Day festivities. It made for a delicious meal on Thursday.

This past week just flew by. We had Monday off for the Mid-Autumn festival, but then we also had a half day on Wednesday for Teachers' Day. I received candy and flowers from my students in class 6. A class of good kids who sometimes challenge me, but I know they're all really excited and often at very different levels of English. I have to try hard to not only keep them quiet and listening, but to scaffold what I teach so everyone can participate. I think my lesson this week intimidated some students and confused a lot. I told them to write a conversation together in which they had to ask each other their names, their hobbies, and their phone numbers since they're learning about introductions, greetings, and phone numbers this week. I don't think I really have their attention until I get to the slide with Taylor Swift and Lebron. Then I practically have students falling out of their seats in excitement. Note to self: pop culture references keep their eyes up front but I still need to quiet them.


I usually wrap up class with a review of what we did and learned today as well as a review of the class points and how well behaved everyone was. Then I give them a preview of the next lesson. They're going to start learning about families next week and I thought that it would be a good opportunity to incorporate some American TV since there are so many shows that revolve around families. I had pictures of the Addams family on the last slide and the Simpsons. No one responded to the Addams Family, but judging from the excited screams the Simpsons are popular in China. So I guess I'll have them making a family tree using the Simpsons next week or something similar. I have to figure out how to lead them into a speaking activity though. It seems like it'll be a fun day if they're already excited. I'm trying to think of how I can bring a simple song into the class as well though that will be a separate lesson. I had a number of students tell me they really want to learn and that they're really interested in the language and culture. I'm two weeks in and already really love my students. I just wish I could get to know them all but it's nearly impossible when I have 13 classes a week of about 55-60 students in each class. And getting them to behave is sometimes difficult. I hear talking, but sometimes the talking is so that other students know what I'm trying to teach them. I get to be the fun teacher, which means in some ways I have to be tougher to control my students but also means I have a lot of room to win my students over with my lessons.