Believe it or not, in addition to all our sightseeing and food sampling, we are actually here to work. I've been at my school for three weeks now, spending one week training and the last two weeks teaching. I've got to say in all honesty, I really enjoy the job. I teach mostly grade 7s with the occasional grade 9 and 10 class. Our grade 7s are divided into regular and gifted classes.
I teach Grammar, Speaking, Listening, Writing, Math and Science. Go ahead and laugh people, we all know I can barely add and subtract mentally. Then there was the time in high school when I did a science experiment at a Nursing home and made ash fly into old and sick people's faces. Oh, the hacking and coughing that day. But nonetheless, so far, so good!!
Today I decided to document my "Day in the Life" at a Catholic Taiwan Jr/Sr High School.
In the morning, I leave my apartment and walk down the sidewalk until I get to this intersection from scooter/bus hell. My school is straight ahead and has a big LCD screen advertising its programs. Once the little green walking man pops up, I cautiously check to see if I'll get run over by someone flying through the red light and I boot it across. When I get to the gate, there is a guard. Because of H1N1, I must stop and get my forehead temperature taken. Today I was 36degrees. If I get to 37.5degrees, I'm not allowed in!!!
Once inside the gate, you will see the chapel to the right and one of the school's buildings to the left. Sometimes when all the teachers get together for an after-work activity, we will agree to meet under "Jesus". Hey, it's in the shade!
When I go under Jesus, I turn right and walk to the ESL department office. Each teacher has his/her own desk and computer. Notice that I have a laptop to use because I was told that my desktop was "bad". I certainly don't want to deal with a hostile Chinese computer.
After spending a few minutes each day checking my Facebook and organizing my teaching materials, I head off to class. This is a picture of one of my classrooms. Notice the chalkboard and lack of decorations. I guess they don't want to have lots of stuff on the walls. Perhaps it ties into establishing a strict Catholic environment, I don't know. All I know is, I hate chalk. Yesterday, I had an entire class of grade 9 kids laughing at the pink chalk I somehow smeared all over my face. Sigh...
After class, I head to the cafeteria for lunch. I have a nice, long lunch break from 12:00-1:10pm and I get to eat buffet style food for free.
One of the most ackward ways to serve one's drink/soup. The longest ladle dipping into a deep cauldron of liquid. Nareesa demonstrates her superb skills.
Because we are part of the teaching staff, we get to sit at the nice round tables while the students sit at regular rectangular ones. Nareesa and John are ready to eat!
On my way back to the office from the cafeteria, I thought I'd take a photo of the students receiving their military class training. Apparently, if they really act up in class, they may get sent to the military man for a personal consultation. I'm told there are no more problems after that! Ha, if only we had a military man for every junior/high school at home in Canada!
Oh and I should mention that at 3:00pm every day something absolutely magical happens: Music starts playing in the loud speakers and all the students start mopping, sweeping and cleaning the school. It's really a beautiful sight.
So I teach some more classes and then make my way back home. And that's my day!
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