Week Three and the Promise of KTV

We are halfway through week three here at ICA. Everything has been a whirlwind so far, but each day is getting easier and easier. Thank goodness for the support of wonderful coworkers and friends here in Taiwan and the endless words of encouragement from my family and friends back in the states. Without these things, I’m not sure what I’d do.

I love my classes. I see a group of ninth graders first hour for Literature class and then I see a group of eighth graders fifth and seventh hour for Literature and Language Arts. The great thing about my schedule is that I can plan fifth and seventh hour as a block period. This means that whatever we don’t cover in fifth hour can be pushed to seventh hour. Thank goodness for this because every day is different with that group. Some days they want to work very hard and other days it’s like pulling teeth. I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to see them twice in one day because I can guarantee that the important lessons and activities will be covered.

The hardest part about my classes is the range of students I have in each class. I am not alone in this struggle as these groups of students travel together all day, so all of the teachers have this challenge as well! Because of this, there is such a sense of community across the departments. I meet with the math teacher almost daily to discuss our classes. 

The fact that an English teacher and a math teacher can coordinate plans that benefit both classes and all students is absolutely amazing. I feel really bad for any teacher out there who feels they cannot approach a teacher in another department because of the content covered in each class.

I have also been given the amazing opportunity to teach my very own ESL class! It consists of five of the eighth graders I see twice a day plus one other eighth grader who is in the upper-level eighth grade classes. For the last couple of weeks we have been playing English games and getting to know each other and getting more comfortable with the small group. This week, we’re going to be diving into vocabulary skills. I've contacted their content teachers and have collected vocabulary and assessment plans so I can incorporate that information into my class with them. 

This is where cross-curricular coordinating and communication plays the biggest role because I have to communicate with seven different teachers for this group of six students. Whew!

Break dancing has been very fun as well! I only have four students in the club right now, but I have been assured from a number of people that once varsity volleyball ends, I will gain four or five more boys who were in the club last year. The four I have right now are very hard working and extremely talented. We have a teacher come to campus to teach techniques and tricks and combinations and all of the students are picking it up so fast- I’m so proud! I love interacting with them and joking around. I am looking into local competitions for the spring and possibly getting off campus to do some performances at nearby facilities (elementary schools, The Down Syndrome Association, etc.) to get the school’s name out there and to get my dancers something to look forward to!

Other than that, the teachers have been spending time together in and out of school to get to know each other better. This last weekend, I went hiking at the Dakeng Scenic Area trails. It's a twenty minute scooter ride to get to the parking lot up in the mountain and then the trails took us three hours to complete. My calves are still screaming (and yes, I've still worn my heels to work each day) but the view and the work out were completely worth it. 

A few friends did this trail during summer, so rumors of these trails have made their imprint in my brain. I've wanted to do this hike for a long time now so I feel a true sense of accomplishment and I can't wait to do it again!

This is the view from the top of Trail 5

This is halfway up Trail 2

This is the trail/stairs we used for the entire 3-hour hike. Sometimes the ground was right below the logs, sometimes it was a steep decline to our death. But the railings were reinforced (Carrie) and we didn't die.

Tonight, I have been invited to go to dinner with some English teachers to a dumpling restaurant! Supposedly it is one of the best restaurants in the world so my expectations are quite high. And there was the promise of a KTV cab ride on the way there, so that raises the bar quite a bit more.