1st day of school

Phew! finally started the job, teaching @ victoria school. my 1st day went well...as well as can be expected. it was a day of up's & down's for the students and their new lao shi. the start of the day was chaotic and i feel i'm being generous by saying so...originally i imagined that i would have been teaching one class of xiao hai zi for the day, with a few periods hither and thither for recouping and planning. instead i'm acting more like a resource teacher who travels from class to class, rather than having a class of their own. flashback to any french teacher i had from grade 1 through grade 8. in total i teach 7, count 'em 7 different classes. the breakdown: 3 kindergarten classes for 5 different periods a day...K2C, K2A and K3A. the K2C kids are 4 y.o and do not speak a word of english...they are going to be my most challenging class by far as i have always had students who speak some english. the last two days have been spent getting them to recognize and respond to their english names...trying, but god bless 'em, they're cute as buttons. next in line is K2A...they are second year kindy kids and have some english ability (ball, cat, sit down, SHUT UP!) but have a bit of a discipline problem...guess i will have to break out the metre stick. the last K3A are amazing! also 2nd-year kindy kids but they blew me away with what they already know...so, that's my day from 9-3:30.

my afternoon or P classes are what i am used to. they go to "regular" school first and then come after to victoria. i have 4 of these...L4A, L6A, L9A and L13A. i wasn't feeling anxious whatsoever about these classes and my confidence was confirmed when i met them yesterday and today. this is what i'm talkin' 'bout. i thought to myself.

there you have it...new semester and new challenges...it's going to be hard in some ways, but you have to think if the little ones can at least speak a few sentences in english by the end of the year, mom and dad are happy.