so we finished the first quarter and I had to do report cards for the first time. no big deal really. I only had to write maximum 4 lines of comments per student, and assess them on personal/social/development skills. it was just all the marks that needed to be added in. and I thought I was doing well. maybe I mark too many things. I guess I'll figure it out as I go. so on Saturday, while Scott was gone to a soccer tournament in another city, I spent TOO MUCH of the day at school marking, and planning for this week. sad sad story. and of course the stress isn't over, because today my student who has been absent for 2 weeks (funeral in Malaysia) returned! and grades are due tomorrow, so I might as well fit in a few more tests for him! haha
you think I'd be a bit more settled....but I cannot help but think of ways I can teach the material better to my students. my ESL students struggle a lot because the material and vocabulary is quite advanced. I do a lot of small dramatizations during the day to explain small concepts, like "effort". today they did a self-evaluation of the past quarter and had to comment on their effort on assignments this past quarter. it wasn't easy for some of them!
Saturday night Scott and I found ONE friend who was free to go out for dinner. Hannah is a student teacher from Minnesota. so we had dinner at the mall, which has many nice restaurants then decided to head back to our place to watch a movie. Scott and I had rode our bikes over, so we said she could take mine and I'd ride on the back of Scott's, as we often do. but Hannah is not much of a risk-taker....and to ride a bike in Beijing?! well, we just kinda forced it upon her. otherwise, she would've tried to get out of it (which she did, but I ignored it). I gave her a few suggestions and we were off. Scott and I with one broken pedal and me the heavy load. once she managed to sit on the seat (because she's shorter than me) she was fine. she got a little nervous when someone passed her.....all was good, hardly anyone on the path and then I hear "CRUNCH"!!! don't worry. no one was hit except the parked car!!! hahahha. Hannah was riding beside a parked car realized she was a little close, went to turn away but instead turned IN to the car! hehe. thankfully she was laughing and wasn't hurt :) probably embarassed more than anything. the car was a beater so we weren't too concerned. and we made it safely back to our place! I'm just glad she didn't run into another person or moving vehicle.
this Unit I'm teaching in Social Studies right now is all about the Northeast region of the U.S. , and the text had a section all about the Niagara River, Niagara Falls, and the power plants. it was nice to talk about something so familiar. I even showed them some of my own pictures from the area.
I went out for Hot Pot tonight with some other staff. Scott missed it because he went to a meeting about joining the worship team at our church. we've really enjoyed the sincerity of the leader, and he's looking to expand the team. Hot Pot is like fondue, but much bigger, and more like a giant pot of soup. I think I've mentioned it before. it's quite enjoyable, though I came back smelling like it!
'tis all for now my friends.
thanks for reading!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
........
it's still hard to believe that I'm actually running my own classroom. some days just slip by and I barely remember what happened! Monday's I'm usually excited, full of energy, and ready to accomplish a lot! but as the week wears on it gets harder and harder to get out of bed.....and it doesn't feel like I get much accomplished during the day.
just this week in particular perhaps, because it's the end of the first quarter, and report cards go home next week! the grading program on the computer is excellent, so it's not too complicated, but I'd still like to put in more marks....which means more marking! Scott is gone to a soccer tournament all day Saturday, so I'll probably spend a lot of the day at school. sometimes it just has to be done on a Saturday!
we finally got a permanent teacher for the other grade 4 class this week! she also just got married and came over to Beijing. her husband is working on the American Embassy project. It's such a relief to all of us, and the class seems to be adjusting well. I'm really excited, because she has taught a lot of this curriculum before! she's got 2 years under her belt. so we hope to do a lot of planning together. and she's full of helpful, brilliant ideas! thank God for Jodee!
this past weekend I experienced more of what we call "Beijing Belly"!!! basically I ate something that didn't agree with me. either it was something gone bad, or some bacteria my body wasn't used to. I spent most of Saturday sleeping, trying to ignore the pain in my belly. thankfully we did pack lots of Advil.
I'm not sure I ever mentioned the little trip to the "ranch" during the second week of our vacation. basically we drove out of the city about an hour to a "ranch" set up by a Canadian. the accommodations were nice enough. cedar cabins, and the bathroom had a big jacuzzi tub and a sauna. by the grounds were nasty. not well kept. but we did lots of things: horseback riding, archery, go carts, bowling, ping pong. the best part was the hike that Scott and I took. no one else was on the mountain! except of course for the giant spiders and grasshoppers. we are very thankful that our chinese neighbour invited us along.....though we didn't know that all 6 of them were chain smokers!!! haha....not used to that much smoke in "Smoke Free Ontario!"
well.....that's all for now. I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful Fall.
p.s. sorry, it takes too long to load pictures on here sometimes....but check Scott's facebook if you want to see more
just this week in particular perhaps, because it's the end of the first quarter, and report cards go home next week! the grading program on the computer is excellent, so it's not too complicated, but I'd still like to put in more marks....which means more marking! Scott is gone to a soccer tournament all day Saturday, so I'll probably spend a lot of the day at school. sometimes it just has to be done on a Saturday!
we finally got a permanent teacher for the other grade 4 class this week! she also just got married and came over to Beijing. her husband is working on the American Embassy project. It's such a relief to all of us, and the class seems to be adjusting well. I'm really excited, because she has taught a lot of this curriculum before! she's got 2 years under her belt. so we hope to do a lot of planning together. and she's full of helpful, brilliant ideas! thank God for Jodee!
this past weekend I experienced more of what we call "Beijing Belly"!!! basically I ate something that didn't agree with me. either it was something gone bad, or some bacteria my body wasn't used to. I spent most of Saturday sleeping, trying to ignore the pain in my belly. thankfully we did pack lots of Advil.
I'm not sure I ever mentioned the little trip to the "ranch" during the second week of our vacation. basically we drove out of the city about an hour to a "ranch" set up by a Canadian. the accommodations were nice enough. cedar cabins, and the bathroom had a big jacuzzi tub and a sauna. by the grounds were nasty. not well kept. but we did lots of things: horseback riding, archery, go carts, bowling, ping pong. the best part was the hike that Scott and I took. no one else was on the mountain! except of course for the giant spiders and grasshoppers. we are very thankful that our chinese neighbour invited us along.....though we didn't know that all 6 of them were chain smokers!!! haha....not used to that much smoke in "Smoke Free Ontario!"
well.....that's all for now. I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful Fall.
p.s. sorry, it takes too long to load pictures on here sometimes....but check Scott's facebook if you want to see more
Friday, October 5, 2007
a week off...
Well our break is officially over. We're at school today for meetings. It's nice to be part of a school that is working hard to bring everything up to a high standard. We are working at getting accredited with WASC and NCCT (american and chinese respectively). So there are separate committees for every area having to do with running a school. They were working on this last year as well so much of the work is done, but we have to collect evidence for everything.
anyways, this past week has been fun. Monday we ventured to the heart of the city, along with about a million other people. (actually heard on the news that this holiday week 1.7 million people came to Beijing). we took the subway for the first time. at each transfer it got progressively busier and busier. at the final transfer we had to wait in line to get on the subway and then finally shoved our way onto one. downtown was just the same. massive crowds of people everywhere. there was no quiet spot. sidewalks were packed. Tian'anmen Square (the biggest town square in the world) was packed with people just mingling about. and there was nowhere to sit! no park benches, no steps, nothing! so people just sat down on the paved ground. at one point I found a curb to sit down on, but a police man came and told us all to get up. they kept people moving, yelling at us with megaphones. who knows what they were yelling, but it was annoying! going through Tian'anmen Gate towards the Forbidden City you could only walk in one direction. if you decided you wanted to exit you had to walk basically all the way around these massive gardens and walls. hordes of people just moving moving moving. so exhausting. the view from up top the Tian'anmen Gate was probably the best part of the day. since you had to pay to go up there weren't as many people up there. and you could see the entire Tian'anmen Square from up there, with all the people. that's where the leaders address the people from.
We enjoyed some comforting KFC food for dinner! then wandered around the famous shopping street Wangfujing. We also found the Night Market, which is famous for its weird foods. everything on a stick. from pork, to scorpions, grasshoppers, star fish, to fruit (which is what we had) :)
it was an exhausting day, but it's one of those things were you're glad to say "I was there!"
Tuesday was a bit more relaxing. we biked over to a local park where they had lots of exhibitors, including a little Dutch village! they are celebrating 35 years of diplomatic relationships between China and Holland. so there were some Dutch people doing some traditional crafts, and making some food. we found some delicious raisin buns! but no cheese :(
I'll write later about our visit to a little resort Wednesday-Thursday. we're going to head to the bank, which should take us at least 1 hour. that's the thing about China. many things appear very modern, but underneath it's all still old-fashioned. they chinese don't like to "lose face"....which affects many things in society, including the traffic :)
bye for now! happy thanksgiving!
anyways, this past week has been fun. Monday we ventured to the heart of the city, along with about a million other people. (actually heard on the news that this holiday week 1.7 million people came to Beijing). we took the subway for the first time. at each transfer it got progressively busier and busier. at the final transfer we had to wait in line to get on the subway and then finally shoved our way onto one. downtown was just the same. massive crowds of people everywhere. there was no quiet spot. sidewalks were packed. Tian'anmen Square (the biggest town square in the world) was packed with people just mingling about. and there was nowhere to sit! no park benches, no steps, nothing! so people just sat down on the paved ground. at one point I found a curb to sit down on, but a police man came and told us all to get up. they kept people moving, yelling at us with megaphones. who knows what they were yelling, but it was annoying! going through Tian'anmen Gate towards the Forbidden City you could only walk in one direction. if you decided you wanted to exit you had to walk basically all the way around these massive gardens and walls. hordes of people just moving moving moving. so exhausting. the view from up top the Tian'anmen Gate was probably the best part of the day. since you had to pay to go up there weren't as many people up there. and you could see the entire Tian'anmen Square from up there, with all the people. that's where the leaders address the people from.
We enjoyed some comforting KFC food for dinner! then wandered around the famous shopping street Wangfujing. We also found the Night Market, which is famous for its weird foods. everything on a stick. from pork, to scorpions, grasshoppers, star fish, to fruit (which is what we had) :)
it was an exhausting day, but it's one of those things were you're glad to say "I was there!"
Tuesday was a bit more relaxing. we biked over to a local park where they had lots of exhibitors, including a little Dutch village! they are celebrating 35 years of diplomatic relationships between China and Holland. so there were some Dutch people doing some traditional crafts, and making some food. we found some delicious raisin buns! but no cheese :(
I'll write later about our visit to a little resort Wednesday-Thursday. we're going to head to the bank, which should take us at least 1 hour. that's the thing about China. many things appear very modern, but underneath it's all still old-fashioned. they chinese don't like to "lose face"....which affects many things in society, including the traffic :)
bye for now! happy thanksgiving!
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