Today was an almost normal Monday. We didn't wake up for breakfast but got up for ELE, headed to our class, and found out that we weren't having class today. Gloria went and talked to them and apparently they might be changing their schedule so we won't be having our ELE classes with our third and fourth graders this week but we won't really know if that's going to change until the last minute. I've learned to not even care though while I've been here and to just go with the flow because the schedule changes all the time.
Speaking of which, after three months of being here, a couple days ago Gen and I were walking to our class and the music that is usually going on for "eye exercises" during the beginning of our class was already playing. I was wondering if the bells and music were just off that day or something but we got up to the fourth floor and sure enough, our kids were already in our classroom! Apparently the schedule was moved up ten minutes and we were informed about this until after we were already late for class. I felt bad we were late but their Chinese teacher was still with them so it wasn't a big deal at all and we knew to go even earlier the next day. It's just funny because the schedule gets changed or performance practices or cleaning periods come up and we don't find out about them until right before they are about to happen. No one really informs us of anything until two seconds before, it doesn't bother me...it just cracks me up how sporadic everything is.
Anyways, I went to my kindergarten ELE class at eleven and we read the book, "Five Little Penguins Slipping on the Ice". They liked that one because they know the 5 little monkeys songs so they were very involved and then wanted to sing it afterwards. Those kids are so adorable but also very hard to teach with the language barrier and the fact that I only teach them for 20 minutes a day. I don't know any of their names because of it so I can't really talk to them directly. I wish I could give them English names though because I know all their faces now that we are so far into the semester. It's just that the class is always pretty hectic so I couldn't control the class long enough to tell each of them their names I don't think so I wouldn't be able to do it. They are so cute though. When ever I walk in the room they say, "Good morning Teacher Heary....Teacher Heary, Teacher Heary". Haha, it never gets old...even after the 50th time I've heard it that day between class and meals in the cafeteria and that is not an exaggeration haha.
After lunch we finished our 4th or 5th season of One Tree Hill ( :) ) and then headed to class. Gen and I have been trying to teach our kids Rudolph for the big performance our last day teaching (Spectacle) but they all mumble most of the words. They sing the tune but don't really know the words and don't really care to learn them so it's kinda hard. Hopefully they'll start getting the drift these next few days though because we only have seven more days with them!
One of the subjects we do in 2nd grade is Skills and Strategies which is just vocabulary and different activities to help them understand the English language. Well today I was doing that subject with my kids and one of the activities out of the book to choose from was tongue twisters. I introduced the phrase to them: Three thick brown pretzels, and we each tried saying it three times fast. It was pretty hilarious. We were all laughing and each of the kids wanted a turn at trying. They were cute at their attempts of saying these new words really fast. A lot of them couldn't even get the right words out but it was fun to see them try. Cathy and Wendy got the most points in the two classes which was good because Cathy doesn't win that often. She is a good speaker but just has a quite voice so I don't hear her over all the other kids trying to answer all the time. She's a sweetheart though and was excited to get the chocolate candy and sticker today. Wendy on the other hand is one of the smartest and best behaved students in B class so she is always winning. It is a good thing for her to win though because it forces the other kids to try even harder to beat her. Thomas is very quiet but he and Wendy were neck and neck today. They were tied when Leah came to have them line up so I had them do a tie breaker to see who got it.
After dinner we had FHE which was really just a s'mores making party. We went to the convenient store got some ducky marshmallows and pooh bear cookies, grabbed a second microwave oven, Natasha's chocolate chips, and headed to Shantel's room to start our smores. We were all crammed in her kitchen trying to get our turn at roasting our mallows but we had a lot of fun doing so. Kim and I were sittin on the counter/sink, Natasha was crammed into the water cooler, and Sierra, Shantel and Caleb were all turned sideways so they could fit in to roast their marshmallows at the same time! Total there were probably 9 of us in Shantel's 4 by 3 foot kitchen making it work, and I'd have to say...we were pretty successful.
We had a lot of fun and got pretty talented at getting a lot of chocolate chips on some cookies to melt them on the rack while we roasted the ducks.
Kim and I went to the One Plus One to get out more money from the Bank of China and pick up some stuff for her kitchen classes the next couple of days, did our work out videos, and went to bed!
It's unbelievable our days in China are coming to an end so quickly. We are getting so excited to be back in America with our family and the Christmas holidays but also can't believe we have to leave so soon! It doesn't seem like it has been four months already but I do have to say it has been one of the greatest experiences I've ever had.