Sunny Lei Feng Days

Hi everyone!

Unfortunately, I must apologize for not writing recently (as every blogger does eventually). We’ve really hit the ground running this semester, so we have lots to catch up on and not enough time to do it.

Luckily, I gave my kids a test recently, so it’s been an easier couple days in terms of preparation.

First of all, watch this video. It's my 1st graders playing "Wooden Person." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkqY_wDUOD8&feature=youtu.be

Better Weather

               

Following Bob’s rainy visit, we’ve had some of the most BEAUTIFUL days ever in Yongfeng and Xi’an lately. After weeks of gloomy pollution, we’ve finally had some clear skies and sun. The four teachers managed to attract more stares than usual walking around our Xi’an apartment complex. With the sun, some of us have started wearing shorts and other leg-bearing clothing. Annie heard that Chinese people don’t like to show their legs in spring, because the “地气” (ground vapor) is bad for your knees. So, even on these super warm days (sunny and 75 degrees!), you won’t see a single Chinese person without leggings or pants on.

                On the other hand, the warmer weather has been severely affecting the smoothness of my 1^st grade P.E. classes. Without fail, after three warm-up laps, my students need to peel off their heavy coats immediately. I don’t blame them, and usually let them take “20 seconds” (more like 5 minutes) to run back to the classroom and leave them in the room. However, some of them choose to stay instead, pulling their coats backwards and up above their heads, so that they look like tiny winged creatures running in circles. The sight is especially ridiculous when there is another P.E. class in progress. Mr. Yang’s main activity with the upper grades is military marching, so the contrast is pretty funny (video of this to come).

Lei Feng Day

                A couple weeks ago, in honor of Lei Feng, a selfless soldier of the People’s Liberation Army, Yongfeng cancelled classes to “做好事” (do good things) like Lei Feng would. I refreshed a bit about the Communist icon of Lei Feng in the days leading up to Lei Feng Day. I learned he was a soldier who didn’t live long, but his “self-sacrifice and patriotism” became an important icon in the 1960s during the Great Leap Forward. In cities and online forums, the idea of “Learning from Lei Feng” has been become a bit of a joke. But, at Yongfeng—and other rural schools—the tradition remains strong.

In the days leading up to Lei Feng Day, there was a lot for us foreigners to learn about him. I asked a group of my fourth graders to fold up some posters after science class. They stayed in my room for almost 15 minutes, lining up the edges with such precision that I thought they were joking. When I asked them what they were doing, Annie (an outspoken fourth grader), told me “We are doing it just as Lei Feng would! If it’s not perfect the first time, we do it again!” Even my first graders had something to say about Lei Feng. They told me stories as told by their uncles and fathers. When I asked them why he is important, their answers were practically in unison.

When it came down to it, it seemed like Lei Feng Day was an excuse for the students to run around, set up our new tooth-brushing sink (!!!), and drag giant branches across campus to clean up for Bob’s visit the following week. (Below are some pictures of special Lei Feng moments with some of my students and me.) Annie and I even tried to emulate Lei Feng by starting to work on the garden. We went over with tools and tried to weed, but soon enough teachers came over to laugh at us city folks and tell us the ground “wasn’t ready.” We tried, Bob!

Okay, that’s all I have for now. Here are some photo updates of the students and of Bob’s visit!

"The Diplomacy of Mr. BOB"

Shaking hands with the Yu Cai Middle School Principal

I took this on one of my first days back!

4th Grade Skeletons project

David looking confused

Chen Jun Hong--wearing his sister's hand-me-downs I presume

First Graders!!

Ate this during only 4 days at Yongfeng...peanut butter is currency here

This was a funny story, one week Rachel returned to her room to find a group of teachers and strong sixth graders pulling a rope attached to a fallen tree outside her window...

just, what?

My students excited to miss class

4th grade body outlining for our systems unit!

Nils being himself

Lei Feng Day (My student Heidi's finger in the corner)

this was the Mr. Yang's idea--I guess he thought I needed a work out

Christmas is here!

Christmas is almost here! I’ve been planning for Christmas themed art lessons since Thanksgiving! I was so excited because I thought our Halloween celebration was quite authentic (our Peter Pan performance and trick or treating session) and the kids had a lot of fun. That being said, I wanted to make sure Christmas would be as fun and realistic as Halloween. Lesson 1: Introduction to Santa! The 5^th and 6^th graders seemed to know that story pretty well. So I added the story about Santa’s nice and naughty list, and warned them if they’ve been behaving poorly in class this year, Santa will know and they will get coals in their stockings instead of awesome gifts. However, it’s NOT too late to change their attitudes and be a part of the good student list. Kids reacted to this part of the story pretty well in the beginning; I even had some usually rowdy students sitting perfectly straight up for rest of the class just to prove to me that they are willing to change (but that only lasted for one class). As for the 3^rd and 4^th graders, they enjoyed the story so much that I ended up spending half of the class time answering various of questions such as: Will Santa come to China? Will Santa pay a visit my house this year? I had a lot of fun answering their curious and cute questions. So here are some pictures of Christmas art projects so far for the 3^rd to 6^th graders. To create the Christmas spirit in class, I made a holiday playlist and  we jammed in all the art classes and even had a mini carol session from the 5^th graders. Needless to say I had a lot of fun this month in art.

Lights are on!!!

                                                             Trees are up!

                                                         Stockings are hung!

                                    
                                    

1st Grade P.E. Drawings

The other day I took over for one of the teachers and ended up having two first grade P.E. classes. I decided to take it easy during one of the periods and had the kids give me some feedback in the form of drawing our P.E. class. I couldn't help but post some of my favorites here :) Naturally, I think their representations of class (and of me) are hilarious! 

陈子桐

宫佳瑶
I'm assuming that's me--check out that hair

武姝岑
It's so cool how some students' stick people look like the character "足" (foot)

陈兴

陈理浩: such a great student!
Plus, he drew me as Big Bird, so that's cool too

 More Pictures!

Highs and Lows

             I initially chose to teach 6^th grade English, because I thought I would relate better to older students. I've since learned that this assumption is far too simple, and often flat-out wrong. Within my first week here, I learned that I would also be teaching 4^th grade science and 1^st grade P.E. Seeing such a range of ages each day keeps me on my feet as a teacher, and I've learned to use very different styles with each grade. 

I feel like our obsession with our students fluctuates by grade on a given day. Annie, Lin, Rachel and I spend most dinners chatting about our students and all of the adorable and ridiculous things they say. Our conversations usually go something like this, "My sixth graders were really getting on my nerves today." "Why? I was loving the sixth graders, it was the second graders who were driving me nuts." Sometimes our off days with certain grades overlap, but so much of it depends on our moods on a given day. This is something probably every teacher deals with, but it's nonetheless hard to get used to the extreme highs and lows throughout each day.

            When I'm feeling like a rock star, first grade is my favorite. As I approach the classroom, the kids slowly start to realize it's time for P.E. class, and you can hear it with their high-pitched calls "Miss Gabi!" or "P.E. class!" (体育课!). I've tried several times to teach them to sit quietly just as they would with any Chinese teacher, but nothing can get them to settle down. If I'm not in the mood for this, their greetings sound even louder and higher-pitched than usual (kind of like having a hangover). When giving instructions, I circle around the room very quickly, pretending that the most routine activities are mysterious and exciting. For example, every day the kids run three laps, and every day I act like it will be the most magical adventure of their lives. "First! We're going to…suspense…suspense…so much suspense...RUN LAPS!!!!! Who can run laps the best?!!?!"

             If I were to teach my 6^th graders the way I teach my 1^st graders, they would think I was insane. Once, a few of my 6^th graders were outside watching as I taught the first graders, and I actually felt embarrassed. I felt like Big Bird caught wearing sweat pants at the grocery store. I didn't want my 6^th graders to think I was some sort of phony. With English, I get down to business quickly. My kids help run the class, from collecting homework to helping set up and keeping track of team points. I definitely have goofy moments, but at 12 and 13 years old, a few of my 6^th graders act too cool for that. As the students get older, they respond much better to responsibilities and being taken seriously. I recently implemented an incentive that if students turn in 10 consecutive assignments, they get to spend time in the computer room.  Today they used the computer to respond to their pen pals. Since I started this system, I haven't had more than two students fail to turn in an assignment. 

We teachers recently started a tutoring program, in which several of my best English students tutor both 4^th graders and some lower-performing 6^th graders. Once we've paired them up, the students quiz each other on vocabulary words, and help them work through English problems. I can't help but smile watching the students help each other succeed. In those moments, I imagine myself as a teacher from one of those inspiring teacher movies, leading the kids down the path of knowledge and cooperation—that or Barney, I guess.

I won't go into detail on the 4^th graders (I aim for Miss Frizzle, naturally), but they're somewhere in between. Not quite angsty yet, but old enough to be given real responsibilities. Put simply, if I'm in the mood to dance "Yongfeng Style," the 4^th graders take the lead (see my video below for details).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtTI7HaK8kM&feature=youtu.be

December Pictures

Some photo updates of the school recently!

first graders playing slap-the-leaves

I used my parents' heads in a little English activity for the 6th graders! They thought it was pretty entertaining

 Rosa, Heidi, and Joy

"English Friends" (英语朋友) tutoring: 

Alex (new student this year), Otis, Mark, and Johnny

 Sean and Harry

Lana and Betty (shout out, June!)

Eva and Joy

More Otis...he's an awesome tutor

A Little Something for the Fellows Back Home..

My grandpa has had some setbacks recently and I decided last week that I would make a video to send some love back to the states. As I was watching it I got thinking the former fellows might enjoy watching the kids ham it up as much as I do. So, here's a little something for you guys to enjoy! They're so darned cute!

Apologies for the blurry clips at some point. I'm really not much of a videographer.

http://youtu.be/OUigOWe3hsA

A Note on Teaching Music

In previous posts I believe I mentioned that I am teaching 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 5^th and 6^th grade music. Two months ago, I would have said I had bitten off a little more than I could chew. Teaching music was difficult not only because it required me to tap into a much different skill set, but also because, due to the relaxed nature of an elective subject, class misconduct evolved from quiet murmurings between students to outright fights between students (at one point escalating to something that resembled a sort of Ultimate Fighting match… kicking above the waist included). Fortunately, as I have solidified my style and authority as a teacher, my music classes have become less daunting and, at times, quite fun. Nina, who taught music last year, spoke truthfully when she said that although music was often the most difficult class to plan, it was often the most rewarding.

The program’s purpose for having the fellows teach classes other than the typical English class is to give students a more “rounded” education. So often in China classes such as music and art are set-aside for the core subjects: Chinese, math and English. For example, the fourth graders at Yongfeng rarely attend music class because their music teacher, who is also their Chinese teacher, uses the class time to further review Chinese content. As such, the importance of our elective classes as a creative outlet/escape is greater than ever.

This semester, the goals for my music classes have been to 1) provide students with an opportunity to get those creative juices flowing and 2) in the spirit of the liberal arts, help students realize that studying music does not just exercise artistic skills, but skills from many different subjects as well.

The pictures and clip below are from a project I did with my 1^st and 2^nd grade music classes. After a few weeks of studying the notation and value of quarter rests, whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes, I asked the students to write their own four beat compositions. Rhythm, note value in particular, can be easily related to math problems. For example, a half note (2) + a quarter note (1) + a quarter note (1) = 4 beats. Therefore, part two of the project required students to correspond their notation with a numerical note value. The enthusiasm and success of the project was exciting for the students and myself. Enjoy the pictures and clip! 

Second grade rhythms:

http://youtu.be/aHLJ7g7mVEU

First grade rhythms: