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Published: February 19th 2011
Hello all!
I know it's been awhile since my last update. It's just been a wild and crazy week so far! We've started our summer program at Cornel school, I'm incharge of 11 wonderful 4th graders as well as the 8th and 9th grade graduates program. Between setting up the classroom, discovering the ins and outs of the curriculum, and trying to figure a routine that works, let's just say this past week has been a frenzy!
The first day of school went well. I love all the students I have, all with wonderful personalities. Setting ground rules has been a bit tough. They also attend Chinese School everyday, so it's understandable that at times they need a little break from memorization and notes to play a game (educational of course!). The students I have are on the accelerated side. At times, I have to push some to give me their best, but in the end, their work proves that they can do anything they put their minds to.
I teach two other classes on Friday in addition to my fourth grade class, I teach 8th grade from 3:30 - 5 pm and 9th grade 5:20 - 6:50
Hiking at Dakeng
This is everyone hiking at Dakeng, we had a blast!pm. I was a little apprehensive teaching these classes as my experience does not range past 4th grade. The students took some time to open up. We discussed the aspects of descriptive writing and I read aloud an excerpt from "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", more specifically the part describing the hobbits in the beginning. We discussed how descriptive writing can place an image in our minds that the author wants to convey and drew a picture of what the hobbit looks like. (No one had seen the movies, so this was all from scratch for them!) Everyone's picture was the same (Yay!) Afterwards, we used descriptive writing to describe an object, animal, or anything and the class had to guess from your writing what it may be. Another successful activity. Many students really got into this one, I had descriptions from a sword, to glasses, to a school, to a rabbit. Next, we discussed the ideas of feelings and how to relate to the reader feelings in our writing by not using the words angry, sad, happy, or fear. Instead we used words like anxious, sorrowful, enraged, and delighted. We used these descriptive feelings and
each chose a newspaper article and wrote a paragraph how that article made them feel. Many conveyed some very strong emotions. It was interesting reading through these writings and getting a glimpse into their personalities as well. My 9th grade did the same, but instead of the 8 students I had in 8th grade, only one 9th grader showed up! Needless to say, it was nice having a one on one discussion about descriptive writing and current events. I think he did as well.
Friday night, after the madness of the week, Kim (another fellow new teacher) took Kelli and I out to a night market that was located fairly close to our school. We ate curry noodles, Kelli had a clam omlet, and I feasted on some good ole fried chicken. Kelli also, for the first time, ate chicket feet. She kept telling me to take her picture, but I couldn't even look at her while she was eating! Although chicken feet is considered a delicacy here, it is definetely not for me.
For the weekend (yesterday), I slept in (yay!) and Kelli and I went to a little shindig called "Love Stock" in Dakeng (pronounces Da-King)
Hiking at Dakeng
Even more stairs! where went hiking the weekend before. The event was held further in the mountains at an abandoned hotel/spa/amusement park. It was really interesting how they set everything up! There were several stages - the acoustic stage, the DJ stage, and the main stage - all playing live music (except the DJ stage of course!). Jewelry, clothing, food and drinks were all sold as well. I ate some amazing Spicy Tai Chicken Fried Dumplings, sooooo good! We met another group from Kaohsiung, which is the second largest city in Taiwan and towards the southern tip. They were camping the night and it was really nice to converse with foreigners like ourselves. All were teachers as well, but in Kaohsiung.
Sunday, I'm relaxing and writing to you all. (as well as grading papers and getting ready for tomorrow!) Some have been asking me my address. I am going to photocopy my address in both English and Chinese, that way, whatever goodies you decide to send has double the chances of making it! That will be sometime this week.
Sending lots of love from across the seas!
Mary Beth
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