Advertisement
Published: August 1st 2011
Edit Blog Post
Again, it's been a busy past few days. I'll start where I left off... Friday was just another day of orientation. There was some time to do classroom preparations, so that was nice. I think I'm going to be a little overwhelmed with the IB curriculum, but the good thing is, I only have six IB students between the two classes 😊 I haven't really thought too much about the other classes that I'm teaching (8th, 9th, and 10th grade regular math), but they shouldn't be too bad because it's the regular American curriculum (Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra 2). One benefit of this school though is that we only meet with each class every other day. So even though I have 5 different preparations, I only have two or three classes each day (they are 75 min each). So I think once we learn the ropes of the school, the planning shouldn't be too stressful. My classroom is a pretty typical classroom. However, it has a gorgeous view of a lot of trees; it feels like we're in the middle of no where. One downfall is that I don't have a Smart Board. Something I was very spoiled with last year.
So I'm trying to learn how to teach the "old fashioned way." However, I am able to manipulate my computer and LCD projector to make a makeshift Smart Board. So as far as Friday during the day, it was just a bunch of random school related stuff. I hope we're remembering all that we need to. There are many confusing aspects to this school because it's so small. For example, the students have a 30 min recess/break every day and each teacher is assigned different days to supervise various parts of the school. So, two days a week during this recess, I have to stand outside and monitor the students. Also, each faculty member is required to offer some sort of club that is offered each week. I think I'm going to do a board game club and Brandon's either going to do some mass media/production one or ultimate frisbee. These clubs meet for an hour or so once a week. So that's another extra duty that we have to do outside of school. But at least it will be fun and we'll have kids that are interested in the topic. Also, if we want to eat in the dining
hall during lunch, we have to supervise a table. So Brandon and I are both going to do that because we get to have free lunch just by sitting with some students. I volunteered to supervise some elementary school class because I think my brain will be on overload after teaching the IB kids that I'll want some time where I don't have to think so seriously 😊 Oh, one thing that another teacher told us today is that there are problems with students working too far ahead and being too competitive (seriously?!). So Brandon was told that he can't give out novels until the day that he starts them or else all the Korean students will have it finished before they even start it as a class. And they also said that we should be careful about giving letter grades on everything; only give them on big assignments and doing a different system for every day things like homework. The Korean students get too caught up in the letter grades and completely freak out if they don't have an A and get super competitive with everyone. So if these are the problems we're going to have, I think I'm
really going to like it here 😊
Anyways, on Saturday we got a tour of Baguio. We drove around and just saw some of the sites, like Burnham Park and Camp John Hay. We also went to this really cute little restaurant that was a ways out of town and had a gorgeous view of the mountains. They grew all of their own lettuce and they hand picked it each morning. I'll put pictures up on here of the food (Pam, you would have absolutely loved it!). It was pretty good, however, the salad was a little much for me. I kinda had a stomach ache later that day and I think it was from eating so many greens! On Sunday morning we went shopping on Session Road (the main shopping place besides the mall, SM) and SM. Some of the other expats (they've been here for a few years and are from New Zealand) took us to Session road, because we've never walked there before. We went to a really nice fabric store so we could get fabrics for our bulletin boards in our classrooms. There are so many different, neat places on Session road. And it's super busy!
And they said that it was not busy at all compared to normal. Then we went to SM to get another load of stuff. Brandon also got a haircut for about $1.20. And he said it was the best haircut he's ever had. Then, we just came back and did some more prep for school (we start on Thursday). Today was another day of orientation sessions and classroom prep time. So nothing too exciting. I think we're starting to know our way around here and feel comfortable with most things. Everyone has been incredibly nice and welcoming. It's been very overwhelming to move to a new country and start a new job right away, but I feel like we're starting to fit in 😊
Advertisement
Tot: 0.18s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 5; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0849s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Curtis Bartlett
non-member comment
Good luck with everything!
Hey Lissie!! I am so glad to hear that things are going well. I will make sure to temporarily check in on this blog. It is really cool! Make sure to keep in touch and good luck with the first day of school! You will do great...