Oh, That's Cute: In pictures

What you might doodle on your classroom desk when you're 11 and have limited English skills:

A Conundrum

Dear Taiwan,
I have lived here for three months and something about you still puzzles me. You never get cold. One day in October it got to around 70 and that was weird. Keeping in mind this fact, can you please explain why I can never find short sleeved shirts when I go shopping in your stores?? What's more, can you please explain why I never see people wearing long sleeves even though that's all your stores seem to carry?? Where are all your real stores? Where can I find short sleeves? I would like to know. Thanks.
Love,
Kate

Oh, That's Cute: Election Day Special.

I told my classes about the Presidential Election today. I covered very simple, non-partisan stuff: Who is the old president? Who wants to be the new president?

Here's a taste of the Q&A session:
Kate: Who is the OLD president??
Student 1: Muhhh...
Student 2: MuhKuh...
Student 3: MuhCain!!

I'm pretty sure they thought I was asking about age. Even if you like him, you've got to admit: that's cute.

It smells like kid in here

Once I met my friend in Paris. We went to the Louvre. A group of kids passed. “It smells like kid in here,” my friend said unhappily. I agreed. Later, we discovered that the smell of kid was following us around. This is because it was actually the smell of leftover brie cheese from lunch that my friend was carrying in his backpack. The point remains. In any country, a group of kids has a distinct, recognizable smell. It smells faintly of brie. Musty. Salty. You know.

All this to set the stage for a more complete picture of my classroom environment in Taiwan. I withhold a lot of information from you. I tell you that my kids are cute but tell you nothing about the schools that I teach in, or the people I teach with. Mainly because I don’t find these details as interesting to talk about. I teach with three Taiwanese English teachers at two elementary schools in Kaohsiung: Ling Jhou and Cijin.

At Ling Jhou I teach four 5th grade classes twice a week with Margaret- a total of eight 40 minute classes. Ling Jhou is in the middle of Kaohsiung city. It sports its own “English Village” which is difficult to explain in one sentence or less but basically consists of rooms designed to look very realistically like a Supermarket, metro, hotel and post office. 5th grade students from elementary schools all over Kaohsiung come to the English Village every morning in the week except Wednesday. I am the Supermarket cashier at Ling Jhou on Monday and Fridays. Here is a picture of me, some fellow ETA's, some school administrators, and some of my way cute Ling Jhou 5th graders after a long day of special English Village activities:


At Cijin, I teach 4 classes of fifth grade with Joyce once a week and 5 classes of sixth graders with Gill once a week- a total of nine 40 minute classes. This is what Cijin looks like:

Cijin Elementary school is located on an island- named Cijin, incidentally- off the coast of Kaohsiung. I ride a ferry to work every Tuesday and Thursday morning, and look at this pier from my seat on the boat (I am bad at taking pictures. sorry this picture is a bit lacking):

My token response when people ask about my commute is: “In America, parents always tell their children ‘when I was your age, I had to WALK to school. Uphill both ways. In the snow. And now I can tell my children that when I was their age I had to ride a boat to school. Both ways. In a typhoon.’” (concerned readers: the part about the typhoon is a complete exaggeration). My commute sounds a little intense because the word “ferry” is involved. But it is really quite pleasant and easy. The ferry ride only takes about 5 minutes and I get to see the Kaohsiung harbor (and all the container ships) every morning which is really nice.

In all of my classes at both schools we play a variety of games designed to trick 10-12 year olds into thinking they are playing and not learning English. Hopefully they are not tricking us into thinking they are learning English and not playing. It is always cute in my classrooms. It is always controlled yet noisy in my classrooms. And whether it is in the middle of the city, or on an island with a view of the Taiwan Strait, it always smells like kid.