My New Job

As some of you may know, about fives weeks ago, I started teaching English at an after-school day care (that's the best way I can briefly describe it...). I teach five days a week, from 4:30 to 5:30. I also teach two levels, 1 and 4, rotating every day. Now, I suppose that's not a lot, but hey. It wears me out.

But I have so much fun, that I usually don't really mind. For instance, I am currently teaching the younger class (8-10 students, ages ranging from 6-8) the Hokey Pokey. At this point, they have the tune down pat, and can sing the verse perfectly so long as we sing slowly. It's when they get to the "You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about" part where they stumble over their words. They are gradually getting better, though. The kids absolutely love the motions to the song, and it can sometimes get a little crazy--at which point, I make them return to their seats. ;)

My older class enjoys drawing games. At first, I had a single person come to the front to draw something, while everyone else guessed. This past Tuesday, though, I split them into teams and had two children drawing simultaneously. That was... quite interesting. Not many people can draw a dragon and make it look like a rabbit, but my kids are talented.

Teaching these kids definitely tries my patience, though. They receive a lot of stern looks from me, and those usually silence them for a little while. Sometimes I have to split people up from their friends because 1) they aren't learning a thing, and 2) they distract the other students. I'm constantly telling them to be quiet, stay in their seats, and listen--though I can't exactly blame them. These kids have been in school since 8 in the morning, so by the time I have them, they're extremely restless. Nevertheless, I have a job to do. I am striving for more patience, but I am also running out of ideas. If any of you have any game/activity ideas, as well as discipline/reward ideas, don't hesitate to tell me!

Regardless of this job being tiresome and difficult, I really am enjoying spending time with my children. They're all nice, and have no qualms about laughing at my ill-spoken chinese when I try to explain something to them. Or when I do something silly. For instance, yesterday, we were playing "Simon Says" and I sat down in my chair. The obnoxious thing suddenly decided to collapse beneath me as one of its legs fell off. >.> My children enjoyed that scenario to no end.

Please pray for me as I continue working at teaching these children English. I could use more patience, more ideas, and it wouldn't hurt if God would make the children a little more attentive. ;)





...I also need a new chair.