Today was an amazing day! I got to meet my students and parents for the first time today. I LOVE FIRST GRADERS. Today we had an orientation for our new babies so that they could get comfortable with the new school (our school starts with 1st grade, so I have to teach them how to act and all the routines and procedures).
We had orientation from 2-4pm today and my Chinese co-teacher (who I adore) co-taught the orientation. When they arrived, each student had to find his/her cubby and find their desk. The parents stayed for about an hour and a half and did not want to leave their kids - the parents seemed awesome. They were all clearly very well off and well-dressed (a lot of them are officials or run their own businesses). They all expressed how thankful they were that I was teaching their children and some parents brought me presents. After the children found their cubbies and desks, I started teaching them routines. I showed them how to line up, how to sit in "active listening position", how we raise our hand, etc. I made it fun and the kids had a great time. We then had a game of "Ms. Hesse Says" (my version of Simon Says) which was a huge success. I absolutely love this age - they are adorable and worship me...makes you feel pretty good to have these little people looking up to you and know that you are directly changing their lives.
After orientation, i had to walk each child to their bus. In my class, I have 24 students (13 boys and 11 girls) and most of them are Chinese. There are a few kids who are half Chinese and half American. This year i will be teaching English, Social Studies, "Show and Tell", "Personal Growth" and science. i cannot wait.
After the student/parent orientation, all of the foreign teachers in the school (all 128 of us) took a bus to this beautiful banquet hall to have our welcome dinner. It was a huge buffet style sit-down dinner with both American and Chinese food. It was delicious! i made some new friends at the table i sat at and had a great time.
Following the banquet, about 20 of us went out to the biggest night life hot spot in China - "KTV". KTV is a kareoke place that is really popular in China. We sung silly 90s pop songs, had some drinks, and all bonded. It is now 1:45am and i am just getting home...Guess I should go to bed soon so I can wake up at 7am (our last day of new teacher orientation).
I am having the time of my life and feel so at home already. I feel like i have known the people here forever and everyone is so incredible. Below is a picture of Casey and me at KTV!
XO Love you all!
We had orientation from 2-4pm today and my Chinese co-teacher (who I adore) co-taught the orientation. When they arrived, each student had to find his/her cubby and find their desk. The parents stayed for about an hour and a half and did not want to leave their kids - the parents seemed awesome. They were all clearly very well off and well-dressed (a lot of them are officials or run their own businesses). They all expressed how thankful they were that I was teaching their children and some parents brought me presents. After the children found their cubbies and desks, I started teaching them routines. I showed them how to line up, how to sit in "active listening position", how we raise our hand, etc. I made it fun and the kids had a great time. We then had a game of "Ms. Hesse Says" (my version of Simon Says) which was a huge success. I absolutely love this age - they are adorable and worship me...makes you feel pretty good to have these little people looking up to you and know that you are directly changing their lives.
After orientation, i had to walk each child to their bus. In my class, I have 24 students (13 boys and 11 girls) and most of them are Chinese. There are a few kids who are half Chinese and half American. This year i will be teaching English, Social Studies, "Show and Tell", "Personal Growth" and science. i cannot wait.
After the student/parent orientation, all of the foreign teachers in the school (all 128 of us) took a bus to this beautiful banquet hall to have our welcome dinner. It was a huge buffet style sit-down dinner with both American and Chinese food. It was delicious! i made some new friends at the table i sat at and had a great time.
Following the banquet, about 20 of us went out to the biggest night life hot spot in China - "KTV". KTV is a kareoke place that is really popular in China. We sung silly 90s pop songs, had some drinks, and all bonded. It is now 1:45am and i am just getting home...Guess I should go to bed soon so I can wake up at 7am (our last day of new teacher orientation).
I am having the time of my life and feel so at home already. I feel like i have known the people here forever and everyone is so incredible. Below is a picture of Casey and me at KTV!
XO Love you all!
