Today has been a much better day at Kindergarten. I decorated my room and it colorful. I even had a few of the other teachers help me decide where to put chairs and a few furniture items. It was nice to have them come in and help out. I had some die cuts that I was stapling to the door and I shocked and awed them. They were all amazed and wished America wasn’t so far away so they could have some of their own. It is funny how little things like that impress them. I had teachers coming in all day to look at the things from USA.
One of the office staff I thought was a little snobby I found out today doesn’t know very much English, so she hasn’t been avoiding me she just couldn’t talk to me very well. It was nice to know that she is quite the snob I originally thought she was. I’ve also found out that as long as I’m doing my own thing and not in the way they are more than willing to help me with small jobs when I do go into the office.
I drew a few pictures today, because after lunch I realized that I didn’t have a “color” bulletin board yet. It doesn’t look as professional as some of the other boards, but I did a pretty good job at drawing the objects, so I’m calling it a good day.
There is still a blank corner in my room, but I may need it for the afternoon lessons. I did get a schedule for the morning, so I’ve got three back to back classes from 9:30-10:30 then a 10 min break and then four back to back classes from 10:40-12:00. The first three classes are L2 A,B,C and then the four classes are N1 A,B,C,D. N1 students will be 3-4 years old and L2 students will be 4-5. So they will be young and from what I can gather from the teachers they do not know a lot of English, so we will be basically starting from scratch. They really don’t seem to have gotten a lot of English before even though I know they had an English teacher and that English is taught a little in the classrooms.
When I was in Europe it was very easy to blend in and become almost European. I fit the part, but here I stand out. There is no way for me to blend in, so I have decided to embrace the fact that I am different and I do draw attention to myself no matter what I do. So I think I’m already the crazy American at work, so I’m taking that out with me. On my walk to and from school I have started smiling at everyone who passes me. I really think it kind of weirds them out, because everyone immediately directs their gaze elsewhere. When I am at the school and parents come they love saying “Hello” to me though. I think it is because they expect that from the foreign teacher, but out in the streets they are not ready for that. However, today I did have a little boy run up to me and was so excited to show me that he know how to say “Hello.” He was just beaming as he said it and I waved and said hello back and I think it made his day. He was excited! It is moments like that that are so worth it.
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