Clarification: Kindergarten here is much more heterogeneous than in the states. Some of my children still have their baby fat, while others roam around like giants compared to their classmates. Three year olds in a language class is a great idea, by the way! We can learn a lot from the Chinese educational system. Yesterday while squeezing one of said baby fat carrying toddler's cheeks, I remarked, "You have BIG cheeks." There was not one moment's hesitation with the innocent reply, "You have a big NOSE!" Children everywhere are fascinated by my nose. One student was rubbing it today with a look of great fascination. I could tell he was really thinking and wanted to tell me something but didn't know quite how to articulate. Finally, after polishing my honker for a full minute out came, "Teacher Dane, you have a sharp nose." What would they say about Dad's nose? (luv ya dad)
This job is also great for my self esteem. We are encouraged to teach the children how to speak in first person, so while reviewing their spelling words I came up with the following dialogue:
"Beautiful. Am I beautiful? Yes, I am beautiful." Shouts of rebuttal rang through the classroom. "Teacher, you not beautiful. You stinky." I was hoping the next word would evoke a more pleasant reaction. "Cute. Am I cute? Yes I am cute. I am cute and beautiful." Cue: rotten tomatoes and lettuce. Oh well, can't please everyone, eh? Although, I must say that one of my students obviously likes me because when given an assignment to write comparisons in his journal while observing me, he wrote, "Teacher Dane is more handsomer than me." His little 12 year old girlfriends strongly disagreed. Oh the days of young romance!
My teaching schedule:
Monday 8:30-11:30 Morning Kindergarten 130-400 Basic Reading
Tuesday 8:30-11:30 Morning Kindergarten 440-640 4th grade
Wednesday 830-1130 Morning Kindergarten 130-400 Basic Reading 650-850 9th grade writing
Thursday 130-400 basic reading 440-640 4th grade
Friday 130-400 Basic reading 650-850 writing
Saturday (tell me about it!) 8-10 4th grade
(I don't think this picture does justice to the humongous size of this bowl. It was HUGE! This is Joseph and I eating out and a temple...the lanterns had characters about heavenly mother on them.)
Holy Mole-ee!! That is fantastic that you use questions such as "Am I beautiful?" haha I wouldn't dare do that. Kids are far too honest. (Meaning if I asked them that, I would be scared for the response-and I don't mean they're TOO honest, it's a great thing)! Big girl you are beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteClass on Saturday huh? 1,2,3 GO TAIWAN!!
I'm glad to hear that the kids are warming up to you! That's not a difficult thing, i'm sure. In China when we wanted to scare the kids into behaving properly we would tell them "I'll send you to the Chinese teachers." They would immediatley stop whatever they were doing wrong! I don't think they're very loving.
I sure hope you were full after eating that large portion of food! Dang! That looks suprisingly tasty (I zoomed in).
Dane you are so much handsomer than me! AH!!!
Aren't you just the cutest thing? Big nose and all. Although yours is quite small compared to some in fam. Whatever you're holding in that big bowl looks good, but looks can be deceiving. That's a cool Temple picture too. I'm surprised you have time to get out with that schedule of yours. Will it remain the same over the 6 months? The kids sound adorable AND honest. Is that what they call you, Mr. Dane instead of Mr. Hess? I like Mr. Dane. It sounds very distinguished! Loves from Mom
ReplyDeleteOh the words children say(No this is not Vincent). I wrote my final paper for 2200 on how honesty is not always the best policy. Maybe the Thaywanese children should take a gander at it. Comments like that are easy to find funny, then I realize that kids don't lie, so it's offensive. Actually I don't care anymore, but at my tender, baby-fat bearing age of 14, Daxton told me I ate like a pig and it made me sad. Okay fine, not really, Shanette just yelled at him a little so that's why I remember. Oh the beauty of bluntness! Not brain bluntness of course. That just makes boring conversation.
ReplyDeleteI think it so funny that there is such a diverse population of kindergarteners(spelled wrong?). It reminds me of the 3 or 4 sophmore boys in my school that haven't hit puberty yet. They're roughly 4 ft. tall and 110 lbs. Quite sad really. Maybe the giant chinamen are Yao Ming's offspring?
I'd have to disagree with what Kaylee said about the food in the jumbo large bowl. I didn't think it looked too tasty. I also zoomed in and the only thing that looked good was the bowl of rice next to the sunny-side-up egg. Also after zooming in, I found something that peaked my curiosity. What is that China-lady doing in the upper right hand corner of the photo? So funny! I think you taught her a few yoga moves, but she got them mixed up a little. She combined two and made the spitting up dog. Poor food industry worker.
Well i just love Los Asian Persuasions and hope you find time in that busy schedule to think of me. And read your scriptures of course. I love you, buh-bye.
Yeah, I've been looking everywhere and no Yao Ming! Could you send me a copy of your paper? We also send the kids to the chinese secretaries so they can be disciplined with the bamboo stick when they won't behave well...it works wonders supposedly, but I'm a little hesitant to subject my kids to that. Well, on some days I have no hesitation whatsoever. How's that for honesty?
ReplyDelete