Every day that I spend here I think I enjoy it a little bit more. There are definitely periods where it can be a little lonely, but I am loving my new apartment as well as living so much closer to some of the other teachers. They have been a great help getting settled in and have given me many helpful hints for getting around/surviving this place. Elisti even told me about a running trail that is only a short jog or walk from our apartment. It is very nice to find a great path where I do not look so out of place jogging down the street. Many of the people running or walking this path may be wearing face masks (still haven't figured out exactly what that is about), but still! And this morning I joined the gym that is right by my apartment that Elisti and Sophia go to. The island itself is very beautiful. It is a great mix of city life as well as beautiful surroundings. There are even supposed to be great hikes right out the door of my apartment that hopefully I will get to go on soon.
Teaching has been going much better as well. I have found that the trick is over-preparing extensive lesson plans for all my classes, at least for now until I get in the swing of things. When I can come up with the next task quickly I think the children are kept slightly more focused and it is a little easier. This is not to say that I have gained even close to complete control of ANY of my classes. The Kindergarteners jump all over me and I think often feel that my blabbing is getting in the way of their socializing time.The older kids typically listen a little bit better, but are much farther behind in the language learning process. I even got a class of "babies" yesterday where five or so did not have English names yet. I was given the task of selecting a list of names for those students to choose from. Regretably, no one went for any of the Kardashians; none of the girls seemed to like Kourtney, Kloe, Kim, Kylie, Kendall, or Kris. The boys did not even consider Bruce, Scott, Lamar, or Mason! However, they jumped all over the cast of the Jersey Shore and my class now contains a Deena and a Jenny, who I'm hoping won't notice if I slowly start calling J-Wow.
During the last period of the day I had an extremely unruly child, Henry. He had given me problems last class, but the hand raising technique had proven ineffective as he just waved his arms around making strange noises and becoming even more of a distraction. Today he refused to answer any question I asked him or participate at all (I'm not sure if he does not understand me or was trying to be spiteful) and then began banging his desk and chair. When ignoring him, and then pleading with him to quiet so the other children could hear did not work, I did as I had been told previously to do and stepped outside to grab a Korean teacher. My director was nearby and when I told her what was going on she said no problem and ducked into a side room to grab what I thought was a more forceful or intimidating teacher. However, when she entered the room she had a ruler in her hand and began talking extremely fast and sternly to Henry, who quickly sat on his hands to hide them... I guess this was the hand striking I had heard about from teachers at other schools. I felt a little sorry for Henry, but he was not hit and promised to quiet down. My sympathy ended quickly when the teacher had to be called in a SECOND time as he yet again would not shut up. This time he was pulled out of my classroom and did not come back until a while later, now with a much better attitude. Whether it was the ruler that did the talking or some other sort of persuasion I am still not sure.
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