Hey Folks,
The word 'busy' is defined by www.dictionary.com as:
1. not at leisure; otherwise engaged
2. to keep occupied; make or keep busy
Yea, I've been busy. With nearly two weeks of actual in-classroom teaching experience under my belt now, I'm feeling pretty good. Much better than the intense stress-fest of my first few days, where planning for every lesson felt like an emotional and academic Armageddon that lasted all day. I might even say that I'm really beginning to enjoy teaching
The kids...ah the kids. On the whole I would describe the kids that I teach, ranging from age 5 to age 13 or 14, as very hard working and sweet. On the whole. But, as we all know, we are only human and there are of course those select few that I have termed "monsters." Now, that word might be a tad misleading. Even some of the monsters are very smart and when I call on them in class or get them for an oral test they do quite well. But when you are playing a review game and the little puke in the front row screams "teacher MEEE" for every question, and during break he won't stop prodding you or trying to take your white-board eraser, and no matter what you throw against him in paper-scissor-stone you lose; patience comes in short supply.
Yet, standing in the front of that classroom with sometimes up to twenty or so Taiwanese kids looking at you with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension...its very invigorating. I am in command, so to speak. Teacher Nik rules the classroom, but not with an iron fist. I try to make it fun but...sometimes you just can't get a dozen ten year olds to get excited about has and have requiring PP-verbs and proper verb tense agreement.
It just doesn't happen. Well, unless you offer less homework for more class participation. Suddenly everyone wants to contribute. Weird.
Overall I'd say that the first few days were the worst. I had a lesson or two completely bomb and my CTs (co-teacher/chinese teacher) woulod just sigh and thank me or give a smidgen of advice. I think it was the complete newness of it all, of not knowing or having any idea what it was going to be like once my lesson got going that had me stressing out worse than a drug courier trying to pass customs. Training left me feeling aquainted with teaching, and even some of the material, but totally unprepared to actually step into the classroom and have people learn from me.
Now some fun stuff.
The first story I heard about the apartment complex that I am now a resident in was about another Hess NST (native speaking teacher ie. English speaker) and a local man by the name of Mr. Lin. Allegedly the teacher, we'll call him Ted, invited a girl up to his aparment to chill out. However, said girl was only 15 compared to Ted's 23 or 24 years of age; she was also Mr Lin's god-daughter. I am still unsure if Mr. Lin is an actual Taiwanese gangster type or just a neighborhood hoodlum, but I am very sure that I would never mess with him. Sure he stands under five and a half feet tall and is rather thin, at least by Western standards. He also knows Taekwondo and has a massive callous on the middle knuckle of both hands and is roped in small but firm muscles. He's one of those tiny dudes that you see eating bullets or flipping cars over on reality clip TV shows. Oh, his teeth are also stained the color of blood because of his addiction to Betel nuts, a local favorite. Think chewing tobacco with five times as much kick. Anyway, Ted almost got pulped by Mr. Lin and I'm sure a few others. But an eyewitness told me they talked it out and nothing actually happened to anyone, Ted or the girl or Mr. Lin.
I've met Mr. Lin and he loves Americans and I tried to teach him some more english. I think I'm on his good side.
My bathroom. Ah, yes. My apartment came furnished with a bed, a closet, a desk, a coffee table, a couch, a chair, a tv, a tv stand thingy, and a fridge. Very nice, right? I have no kitchen. I have no bathtub. I have no shower stall. I'll try and get some photos on facebook (flickr albums to come for those of you without FB). Picture a smallish bathroom shaped like a rectangle. Near the right side and on the wall you face from the doorway there is a sink with a mirror above it (no medicine chest). To the left of that near the other side is the toilet. Between these two is a shower head, mounted straight to the wall with a drain in the floor beneath it.
Yep. Pretty normal for this side of the world. I have a squeegee like you see at gas stations for windsheilds, only i use mine for the floor. I'm considering an upgrade to a mop.
New news!
I'm offically a resident of Taiwan as I am an ARC carrier. ARC = Alien Resident Card. Now I can open a bank account, try and get scooter insurance, and lots of other things those tourists can't do.
Ah yes, my scooter. 125cc's of Taiwanese mayhem. I average around 40-50 km/hr on it and I have no intention of finding out its maximum speed; at least not yet. My daily commute consists of two major roads, a shit-ton of stop lights, bus doding, and wondering why no one else wears a big helmet like I do. As I've told many of you already, driving in Taichung makes Boston look like a country road cruise. Here, people in cars or on scooters will pull out of a side street and onto a major thoroughfare without even glancing at oncoming traffic. Weaving in and out of tiny spot between cars is also commonplace as is having small children or even pets sit or stand between their legs as they drive break neck speeds through rush-hour traffic.
Yikes.
But, so far no major complications. I'm not sure if my IDL (international driver's license/permit) is still technically valid, so I'll have to get my scooter license real soon. Don't you worry your pretty little heads about it though, my head NST has been here for four years and owns a scooter and a motorscycle and is without a license for either. If I happen to get pulled over, the chances of the cop (who would also most likely be on a scooter) speaking English are pretty remote. Then I would feign total ignorance, maybe start crying. Hey, if it works for girls in the USA maybe it works for guys here.
Now I have to go grade some well attempted but horribly written free-write essays from some of the older kids. For those of you whose grammar or spelling I've corrected in the past (all of you?) you can only imagine how much red pen I want to put on these papers. Grr.
Keep it real kids, take care of yourselves. Many days and pleasant nights, say thankya.
Next time: Photos of the city will be on Flickr, web address to follow in next entry. Food: Sushi Express and the awesomeness of Tappunnaki (sp?). The wonder of the covenience store in Taiwan: what you can do or get there and how numerous they really are.
Fun Facts:
-It is illegal for people to park their scooters on the sidewalk in Taiwan. Everyone does it anyway.
-The temperature has been 90-95+ everyday since I got here.
-It is acceptable to have a tiny box truck with loud speakers on it blaring some advertisement in chinese at top volume drive around the city like a mobile billboard at 8am every day.
-The garbage trucks play music.
-Recycling is a law here because there is no more landfill space.