Barring minor incidents (like when my nose started bleeding profusely while out for a walk and this poor horrified man had to bring me wet wipes, this week was relatively chill.)
Military Training The first three days of classes I didn't actually have any work, because all seventh graders had military training. It was maybe the funniest thing ever, because there were just 40 groups of 50 middle schoolers all learning how to march in lock step, run in lock step, and change directions in lock step. Then, when I needed to walk through, or when the school car drove me and Dan (the German teacher) through the pathways all these kids immediately broke formation while their teachers tried to get them to smoothly separate as a unit. I do feel bad though, because it was like 95 degrees all day and those kids were just out there marching. But, it seemed like they were having fun, and over the three days they improved at an incredible rate. (Also, marching in step like that is much more difficult than one would think. Back in high school when my friends and I spent a few days at the Shaolin temple, we had to learn to run like that, and even did a two mile run while in lock step. The worst part is that the tallest kids were in the front, so they chose the stride length and us short kids were stuck basically sprinting because the steps were too long.) Then, when they were done marching they had to take some pop tests, which cannot have been any fun. For me, it meant having a few days until I began teaching.
Teaching Days 1 and 2 Wednesday evening, I received my schedule for the term and I have five classes a day every day except Fridays when I teach only two. That meant that on day 1 I immediately had to start teaching five separate classes. Luckily, all twenty two classes learn the exact same lesson, so prep time is not very complicated, but my poor scarred vocal cords may not last through multiple days of five hours of teaching. Particularly because for this first week I do more talking than the kids. Although at first they appear thrilled to have me in their classes (I am the fun foreigner who only teaches once a week,) as soon as I start teaching and asking questions most of them clam up. Luckily, a few kids in each class are really really excited to learn and practice their English, so I do have to call on them and rely on them to help me explain things to their classmates sometimes. (They seem to love it so I am not concerned.) What the week did tell me was that the NBA, Ronaldo, Taylor Swift, and Harry Potter need to be frequently used as references. Unprompted, these kids are obsessed with those things (and some of the kids love YouTubers and tech people I don't know, so I'll need to look them up.) The sports, Taylor Swift, and nerd books squad is in very good hands. I will happily make those a part of my lesson every week. (And I've already started convincing the Lebron, Curry, KD, boys to look for some WNBA games because they only knew Sabrina Ionescu.) Unfortunately, they have pretty varied English, so I'll have to tailor my lessons and groups to specific levels, and also specific levels of rowdiness. Some classes were absolutely silent, sitting still, and actively asking questions and raising their hands. Others talked quite a lot, but whether that's because of disinterest, excitement at having a new teacher, or because they couldn't quite understand my rules so need a little more help I don't know. Either way, all of the kids were very kind and happy to be in the classes so that was awesome. It was also awesome teaching groups of 55 middle schoolers to say "Howdy!" in the most overexaggerated country accent imaginable. I would start with a picture of a cowboy (牛仔 niu2zai3), teach them to tip their hat and say How-dee! It was adorable. We also practiced saying "coyote" because I needed to teach them Quiet Coyote, the greatest tool for quiet classes ever invented. Unfortunately quiet coyote just made the kids giggle and make coyote hands at each other, so the clapping and repeating method will probably be my go-to. All in all, the students are awesome, and the teaching will get very exciting once I get through all the rules and remember to bring a water bottle to class.