I couldn't pick a movie reference. And I went a little liberal on them anyways. Laoshi (lao-sher) means "teacher" in Mandarin. And the white lung refers to all the chalk dust I have been inhaling. (And I'm coughing because these damn germ breeders got me sick)
I am halfway through week 3 of teaching at Minghang Experimental Primary School. Today, though a long day, I got the sweet relief of a grade three class. During the week, I teach 24 different classes of first and second graders. On Wednesday I get one grade 3 class and on Friday I have a grade 5 "English Club". In each class I have about 40-odd students.
The little-uns are cute enough, but all they do is repeat every word you say or don't say anything at all. They are exhausting. I run all over the classroom and repeat myself endlessly until they seem to understand what I want. The second graders are slightly better. And noisier. Though one shouted out that I was beautiful today, so I can't complain when she talks. But, oh, those lovely third graders. They get me. Today we talked about things you aren't allowed to do until you clean your room and then played scategories with things that you have to clean. Last week, my grade 5 played Jeopardy.
It's not so bad. I now have my own huge classroom. I get to school at 8:30 every morning and some days are shorter than others. My office is up 8 flights of stairs with the local Chinese English teachers. They are all so kind and willing to help me. I teach each of their classes once a week and they come along to help me with discipline problems.
I definitely have some great student stories already piling up. Like the one boy who just wanders around all class, quietly hanging out the window and inspecting the back corners of the room. Or the one who pronounced a very inappropriate word when practicing the different"a" sounds and mispronounced "cake". Eason gets pissed if you pronounce it "Ea-sun". Oh god, the names. I will never know them all, but I will know my favorites and the oddities. Like Prince, Seven, Six, Ice, Hello Kitty, Happy (so many), Jenney the boy, Artholomis, Apple, and many others.
On another note, this week we work Mon-Saturday and then have an entire week off. Sunday is a National Holiday and the following week is the Mid-Autumn Festival Golden Week. AKA...I'm going to Beijing! That means the Great freaking Wall of China, Forbidden City, and most of the sites you've heard of regarding China.
BY THE WAY, TODAY IS MY ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY IN SHANGHAI!
I miss you all. I left behind so many great people and great happenings and it seems like it has been so long. But I also get it when people say that one year will not be enough to experience Shanghai. The days also fly by and my list of things I want to do has not gotten any shorter..
Tonight is yoga and then Boxing Cat Brewery!
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