240 smiling, shining faces for Jennifer

Jenn's first day as a teacher...

The pic to the left is me on my first day off to begin my new career as a teacher. The second day went better than the first! I teach 18 different classes a week for 40 minutes each so I only have to make one lesson plan each week. The only problem is keeping it fresh for me. I have repeated the same speech only eight times now and still have ten more classes to go. I guess I will get used to the monotony and it will force me to look for exciting lesson plans that I can actually live through doing them eighteen times!

I was not nervous at all today, well except for the bicycle ride to school. The fog was as so thick, I could not see twenty feet in front of me. And even though I take all back roads to get to school, I still share them with pedestrians, other bikes, trikes, electric bikes, mopeds, and cars. And that is the exact hierarchy of who has the right of way. So even though I have moved up from pedestrian to a bicycle, I am still only second rung on the ladder. Let’s just say I am very awake by the time I get to school.

I cannot explain the excitement around me when I am on campus. Everyone looks at me and says hello then giggles. I had two girls run up to me as I walked down the corridor because they wanted to know when I would be teaching their class and to tell me that they were very excited to see me. I was asked a few times to touch my hair. Of course, I let them. I have already started to receive emails from students wishing to be “pen pals” which I think will be fun for both of us. I really feel very comfortable here.

We are officially teachers...

Today, I got to witness some other things that go on during the course of the day. As I mentioned before, my kids have lunch and nap time from 11:40-1:40. They also have eye relaxation exercises that they do for 5 minutes prior to the class that starts at 2:30. As they listen to a very childlike voice dubbed over some cute Chinese music through the school wide sound system, they cover their eyes and massage their temples and eyes with their fingers. They all do it the same way, at the same time. It is supposed to help with their eyesight from what I have been told.

Then after that class ends at 3:15, they all run from class, down the stairwells, through the courtyard, and line up in straight lines throughout the entire school premises. Three thousand students all line up, space themselves evenly, and get ready for their afternoon exercises. The Chinese anthem begins to play and they start their well rehearsed routine of bending, jumping, stretching, jumping, hopping, and turning from side to side. I have never seen anything like it and hope to get a video of it to show you.

As I go around the room having the students introduce themselves to me I find a mixture of personalities. Many of the girls are shy and so are the boys. I can tell when they are really embarrassed because their cheeks get very red. I try not to put them on the spot and remind them that I am their friend. Some cannot even maintain eye contact with me. I know that I am a different type of teacher than they are used to and I will work very hard to get them to open up. Some get so nervous I can actually see them shake. Others have notes written on their hands in pen to help them get through the introduction with me. And of course, there is the class clown or the popular ones that I can pick out immediately.

But even after saying that, they are the truly the most wonderful people with such genuine and innocent hearts. This is going to be a life changing year for me, I can feel it already. Yes, I miss driving my little car to work, especially when you see me on my little bicycle and computer bag spinning down the road (queue Wizard of Oz music here), but the work that I am doing these days feels even more important than dispensing medication when I was pharmacist. At least that is how I feel for now. I hope that doesn’t change.

Bye for now!