Year Two Completed!

Today was the last day of school here in Beijing. Again, there was the send off of buses, but this time I filmed the buses with the compact video setting on my camera which gives me a teeny video. Enjoy it anyway.

Buses ready:

Fireworks ready:

And....GO!

I've completed my second year teaching here in Beijing now and my seventh year teaching in all. Tomorrow, I head back home to California for the summer. Before then, I better finish unpacking from moving to my new apartment (On the 30th floor! Well, actually the 26th floor because there are no 4th, 13th, 14th, or 24th floors.) and packing my bags for the summer.

Also, I saw this on the way to school today.

So now it is time for me to put on my angle wings and fly on home to California! (Like that?)

--Sarah--

P.S. Here's the video from last year. The video is bigger and we had more fireworks last time.

New Kid in My Class

I got a new student while I was gone on Tuesday.  He has begun in my class with this crazy schedule: Tuesday - substitute, Wednesday - International Day - a crazy day for all, Thursday - sub in the morning while I worked with a consultant, Grade 1 Performance in a huge theater for all the parents in the afternoon, Friday - sub in the morning while I was with consultant again, Monday - Field trip!

He has a severe peanut allergy and on his second day, one of my other kids nearly killed him.

He is also just learning English!  What a way for this little guy to start with us!

On Thursday, I took some time to see which letter names and sounds he knew and to briefly assess how much English he had and just to take some time to talk to the little fella!

We went through the letter names - both capital and lowercase - and he did really well.  We started on the sounds and after several he got to 'j'.  He thought for a moment, said the correct sound and then, "like jam".  I said, "Yes!  Great!  And the next one?"  But he had other plans.  He decided to go back to the beginning to give foods for each letter.  We were kind of pressed for time (performance in the afternoon), so I got him to give me all the sounds first and then go back to give me the foods.  Here is some of the conversation:

Kid: A, like apple

Me: Mm-Hmm

Kid: F, hmmm, have food with f?

Me: Yes

Kid: What is food with f?

Me: How about you think of an animal with F?

Kid: No.  F. /fffff/. Fox meat.  That is the meat of the fox.

Me: Okay.

Kid: P. (Cocking head) Have food with p?

Me: Yes.

Kid: What?

Me: What food do we give to the mealworms?

Kid: (Grinning) Potato.

Me: (Grinning) Yes!

Kid: W.  Have food with w?

Me: Yes.

Kid: What?

Me: Try to think of one.

Kid: You do like potato.  Tell me.

Me: Hmmm.  Xi gua? (Watermelon in Chinese)

Kid: (Grinning again) Watermelon.

We did this for a few more letters.  Sometimes he thought of the food on his own, sometimes I gave a hint in Chinese or another way.

Kid: Z. Have food?

Me: Yes.

Kid: Hmmm.

Me: Can you think of an animal with Z?

Kid: Foods now, animals later.  (His plan was to go through all the letters with foods and then go back and do animals.)

Me: Do you know zucchini?

Kid: Oh. Yes.  What country eat zucchini?

Me: America does.  Does your family eat zucchini?

Kid: Yes.  Sometimes.

Finally, my favorite part of this whole conversation:

Kid: We are very smart.

Me: Who is smart?

Kid: (gesturing to the two of us) We are smart.  (Grin)

I love this kid!

--Sarah--

Teacher Tales

This post doesn't have anything to do with being in China (except that a couple stories are from kids here in my current class). Here are some quick stories of things that happen in first grade. Enjoy!
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I had just put brand new, neat pencils in our pencil jar in my classroom. Alexis, a first grader who had a history of taking things which did not belong to him, was caught by my aide with several pencils stuffed into his pocket. When I asked him if he was taking my pencils, he replied, "No, Miss Smith, I quit stealing YEARS ago!"
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For my birthday, one student brought me her own dirty, beat-up teddy bear. This student came from a very poor family and her father was recently incarcerated. She had been having a tough time and I thought that she might need this teddy bear more than me. I thanked her but tried to get her to keep it. I asked, "Would you keep it at your house so that the other kids won't mess it up at school?" She answered, "Just take it home." I said, "Yes, but I have a dog and he might chew it up!" She said, "Just put it in your room and shut the door so he can't get it." After those two tries, I decided I would have to keep it.
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Sophia: My mum’s in the United States.
Me: Really? Which one?
Sophia: The UNITED States.
Me: There are a lot of them. Find out which one she is visiting.
Next day:
Sophia: I found out!
Me: Yeah? Which state is she in?
Sophia: The United States of AMERICA!

Sophia is from Australia.

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A sad one about the air quality of Beijing:

On a sunny, slightly windy day in September, Justin looked out the window and asked me, "Miss Smith, what's those blue things?" I looked out the window to see what he could be asking about and told him, "Justin, those are mountains." "Ooooooh!" responded Justin.

Today we got to see the mountains again. It is kind of like in Redlands where you hate to have people visit in the summer when the San Bernardino Mountains are cloaked in smog.

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And finally one for the holidays coming up:

At Christmastime, I had just read the book, Polar Express, to my kindergarteners. On the last day before Winter Break, we had our class party. Some kids were talking about whether or not Santa was real. Some were sure that he is not. After the party, all the kids went out for recess. At this time, I got the bells I had stored in the freezer and put them on the little Christmas tree in my classroom. They were tied on pretty red ribbon and were ice cold. When the kids came back into the classroom, they quickly noticed the tree and the bells. They were so excited! Finally, one child, Kirsten, came up to me and said, "Miss Smith, you know how I know that these are really from Santa Claus? I can smell the reindeer!" Immediately all the other kids began smelling their bells and declaring that they could also smell the reindeer (even the ones who said they didn't believe in Santa).

--Sarah--