Friday, January 1, 2010

June: Wonderland Time!

June 21, 2009

(A NOTE:  Schools change sometimes from year to year.   Please read all the reviews at the end of these posts if you are considering teaching at Country Garden Shunde.  ESL reader boards would be a good place to get updated information.  I wrote this blog so others would have some idea of what teaching at Country Garden in Shunde, China, was like and that no one would be as unprepared as I was the first time I taught here in 1994.  If you are looking into other international schools in that area, CLIFFORD is also a good school/country club/resort to check out. :] )

It’s June! And I’m having a great time. 
 It took 8 months of hard work and trudging-on forward, but I am in Wonderland!

 I have students who are quiet during class time, follow my directions and are able to understand English enough to participate creatively in the lessons!   I've won a victory.

 It had been 'always winter and never Christmas' in my teaching experience here.    It seems this year has been represented by Narnia movies.   ..all that perseverance.  Strange obstacles in a strange land. The Sound of Music has been inspiring too. 

It has helped to learn all their names--all 250 of them. 

In the beginning there were multiple sets of twins and look-alike siblings. (That is why it was so hard to keep my classes straight!  I was sure I had already gone through chapter 5 with class 4.1 because that’s the class ‘Neville’ is in.

 Little did I know that Neville has an identical twin brother named ‘Omar’--names have been changed to protect the innocent--in class 4.2. Neville always seemed to be either very good or very bad. His behavior pattern was finally explained by the discovery of his twin. 

So, now looking forward… I see green hills, I see school, I see more work to be done. But good work. The kind that brings the cows home and the harvest in. Fulfilling work. We'll see what happens with that.

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy~

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