I am going to skip the part where I say how silly I am for
waiting so long to post, because if you are reading this, my procrastination hasn’t
stopped you from coming back to read!
So, thanks, and welcome back. Or
maybe this is your first time reading my blog.
In that case, I have blogged daily without fail for the past 6
months! That’s a lie. But now you know where your expectations
should be.
So hi. (:
Taiwan is a magical place.
I even wrote a song about it. And
that’s saying something because I haven’t written a song in at least a
year. Maybe two. So that’s an exciting piece of news! The second piece of news is that there is
only 2 weeks of school left! I don’t
know how I feel about it. Being done
with lesson plans will be nice, but life without my kids is a touchy
subject. I don’t want to leave
them! I want to pack them all up in my
suitcase and bring them to America. They
have become so much a part of me in the past 6 months, that it will
feel…different without them.
A funny thing I have enjoyed wondering about for the past 6
months is that all the kids love poop.
Like, cartoonized poop. They
think it’s hilarious. One of my kids
gave me his homework folded up and it said, “To: Nick. Cool!
Ted’s Homework” and it had drawings and little pictures of poop all over
it. Haha. Oh the things the kids find amusing
here. Another is all things cute. Even the boys like cute things. I wanted to buy journals for my kids, but all
they had were cutsie type notebooks.
Finally I gave up. If the boys
hate them, they can tape a piece of black paper over it, I thought. But guess what? They all loved them! I was happy, but I knew that would not fly in
America!
Some of the little rewarding things during my time as a
teacher:
Teaching my kids how to pound it and then having them prefer
it over high fives
Teaching Eric how to tie his shoes.
 |
| My favorite child. There I said it! |
Giving my 16 year old twin tutor kids the first birthday
party ever. It was their 16th
birthday and they had never had an actual birthday party! One wrote later that it was the most special
birthday in her life.
My 6th graders made a facebook group for us, and
named it Nic (it’s my nickname and the password to my computer, that they all
know (:)
Force feeding my kids PB&J, ants on a log, grilled cheese,
and banana peanut butter honey sandwiches after telling me it was weird and
then liking it. (Except for the
celery. No kid actually likes celery.)
Teaching my kids knock knock jokes and then hearing their
own made up ones. Ex. knock knock.
Who’s there? Sharpie. Sharpie who?
Sharpie you’re wife! (She’ll be).
Teaching my kids about the tooth fairy. When I couldn’t tell them exactly what she
looked like because I had never seen her, they all spent the next 10 minutes
telling me they had seen her and described what she really looks like.
Teaching my kids the word “inappropriate”. Now even my 6th graders tell on
each other! It’s good because I can’t
keep up with all their ridiculous little code words, and sometimes they get
away with inappropriate jokes. Not
anymore! Muahahahaaa. It’s amazing what
a more advanced vocabulary does to your integrity.
On a contrary note, here are some stories that have resulted
from my lack of teacherlyness:
One of my babies stuck a bead up his nose and had to go to
the hospital to get it removed. Yeah,
I’m a really attentive teacher.
Some of us teachers bought some cheapo temporary butterfly
tattoos one night for fun. I put mine safely
under my shirt (or so I thought). I went
to class the next day without an undershirt on, like I usually do, because it
was so hot. During KE that morning, one
of my babies pulled up my shirt and yelled, “Butterfly!!” and another one of my
kids saw, too. Now they point to my
waist and say, “butterfly!” at least once a week. It’s quite comical. Especially so, because I taught them that
word.
After class, I saw Eric reading a book while he was waiting
to go home. I came over and told him to
read it to me. When he got stuck on a
character, I read it for him. It wasn’t
until the second or third time I read the words, that he realized I was
speaking Chinese (which was a surprise to him because speaking Chinese in
English class is a no no). His face: priceless.
Our school has 2 locations, and I teach at both of
them. I went all the way to the “old
school”, and realized I had forgotten the snack. Dang.
Well, I went on back and got it.
Halfway back to the school, out of nowhere, rain just decided to crack
down! Torrential may not be intense
enough to cover it. I got to the school
so wet, I didn’t even go in! I looked
like I had belly flopped into a pool. My
kids got a kick out of it!
We did a murder mystery game in 6th grade. I must not have explained the directions
clearly, specifically the purpose of secret clues in the game. After giving out the secret clue to the kids
who needed it that round, I looked over and saw one of them dipping it in a cup
of water! I said, “what are you
doing?!” He said, “everyone is trying to
see the secret clue!” I said, “it’s
okay! You can show it to people!” He
said, “…oh!” Everyone had to carefully
take out the dripping wet, ripped piece of paper and put it together. Hahahaa.
I don’t know why, but that story makes me laugh so hard!
I spoke Chinglish, and my kids corrected me. THAT was an interesting, and slightly embarrassing
moment!
I just have so much fun with my kids. I want to take them back to America with
me!!!!! It makes me really sad that this
will really be the last time I see most of them, and they will most likely
forget me. I’m coming to terms with that
fact. But I know I will never forget
them, and when I come back in the future and see them, I will give them the
biggest hug however much older they are, no matter what! They will probably freak out and it will be
completely awkward…So I’ll make sure someone is filming it.
Here’s to the next 2 weeks! Makin' em count!
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