Celebrating a dog's birthday

Living and working in Taiwan has given me a lot of firsts and today was definitely an unusual "first". I celebrated my coworker's dog's birthday haha Her cute dog is named Kiki and she turned 3 which in doggie years is 21. My coworkers had people over with their dogs and it was a good turnout although the dogs were getting rowdy at times since a lot of my coworkers have dogs. Anyway we played rock band and I loved it since they had Beatles rock band and I was singing most of the time. They even bought a doggie cake for Kiki haha We even sang to her and she "blew" out her candle :) Outside is actual frosting but there's no sugar and inside the cake was lamb meat but Kiki didn't even finish it since she only liked the meat part and not the sweet parts of the cake. My coworkers made hamburgers and it was fun lol Pictures above are Kiki blowing out her candle, her cake, and my other coworker's dog eating Kiki's piece of cake haha

-Chihchat

"Teacher Lilly, you are strange"

Every Sat. I have the problem of prepping for my last class. It's only 1 hour but it's the most painful since it's a JK10 class and they are older and don't want to be there. I try to make fun games or activities but they got bored easily and are really picky. I played some kid games with them and some of them have been through it all. So it's hard to figure out a game to actually get their attention.

I created a game this morning where the point is to create your own "person" and each body part was either voc. or q/a. They had to make their own person by spelling the voc. or answer the questions and surprisingly my morning class liked it and same with tonight's class. They thought it was funny but yes, it was weird lol One of my students who always talk to me and gives me a hard time (but we're cool), went up to me after class and said, "Teacher Lilly, you are strange. Okay, not you but your games." lol He then told my CT that they are really complex and complicated. I guess that's a compliment? haha I told him I have to make them strange so you can maybe enjoy it, or maybe you think I'm strange. Either way..but it's always a challenge to teach them for that last hour and although I'm so happy I'm done teaching them, I have to prepare for next week's lesson lol

-Chihchat

Surprise Birthday

Tonight for my A11 class, my students planned a surprise birthday for my CT. Her birthday is on the 26th but since we only meet on a Friday, they wanted to celebrate since it's coming up. They came to class early and bought me a bubble milk tea. It was really sweet and they got my CT a drink plus cake but they had to pick it up and so we had to devise a plan to stall my CT from teaching for the second hour. First we decided that two students would have to leave early to get the cake. Since they start class at 8:30, I wanted them to leave 10 mins. early. Originally I was going to pretend that they would have to do a make up test but the only problem was that they would have to be outside the classroom but my CT would see that they weren't outside. While the two students were going to get the cake, I had my other coworker talk to my CT about her class and ask her what she should do to plan her class for tomorrow.

I talked to the secretaries to let them know that two of my students were leaving to get a cake for our CT. The only problem was that I couldn't have the students do a make up test since she would see them so I wanted them to pretend to be naughty to get kicked out of the class and be forced to be on the second floor. The only thing was that they are both really good students and it was hard for both of them to be "naughty." lol I yelled at them and finally I just pretended to get angry about something little and told them that they had to go outside to work on their voc. together on the second floor. At first I didn't think it would work since my CT looked at me and was surprised that I was getting so angry. But then the two students started to not pay attention and be "naughty" and then I said they had to go downstairs which then my CT agreed.

It was hard to get mad at them since they weren't really being naughty but luckily my CT fell for it and they left and got the cake. Then my other coworker distracted my CT during the breaktime while the other students were finishing up writing the birthday card and setting up the cake. Then I got my CT to go to the classroom and while were going to the classroom the lights were shut off and she goes, wow they are playing with me and it was funny since we surprised her with the cake. It was awesome since they bought streamers and they were thrown in the air. It was hilarious and it was funny since my CT says I never get angry and that she was going to call the parents of the two students that were acting up lol

Pictures above are from the birthday party. I just love this class. They are really best!

-Chihchat

*200th* post

It is my 200th post :) Wow, time really goes by fast. Today was a busy day. It was the last day that I subbed for my coworker and I really tired them out. I subbed for 3 days and all I had to do was do review games. I kept playing review games for them constantly and that's all I really did. I played everything to sticky ball, basketball, pictionary, word scramble, hangman, snakes and ladders...basically EVERYTHING lol They were so tired and it was funny because at the very end I would keep asking them questions and they were said it so quickly and be really annoyed lol It's hilarious though because I would ask "What is this?" and one of the smart students would quickly say "This is a kite. K-I-T-E KITE lol I was like whoa! haha So at least now they will remember the voc. and sent. patterns haha

Winter classes are tomorrow and I'm teaching a phonics/reading/grammar class. The main focus is phonics and reading and I'm actually a little worried. Well first it's going to be a class with lots of little kids but also it's because I'm not good with phonics. I'm bad at pronouncing the vowels and sadly I had my roommate go over vowels with me tonight haha It's every day for two hours so hopefully the students won't get bored and it will be fun..hopefully *crossing fingers* At least it will only last for 12 days.

-Chihchat

You're not wearing a jacket?

It's winter right now as Jan. is one of the coldest months but being born and raised from Iowa and now living in a tropical climate like Taiwan, my definition of cold isn't like that of Taiwanese people. Many Taiwanese people, including my coworkers think it's insane to wear a shirt when it's Jan. in a indoor building. Yes, it would be if it was actually cold! The past couple of days have been pretty warm and at times I would even be sweating walking outside. Even my students asked me today if I was cold since I was wearing a shirt. But then if we were playing a game, they would want me to put the air conditioner on since it was too hot in the classroom. Drew got the flu and today everyone was asking him why he was wearing a shirt and not a jacket or scarf.

I will admit that there are some days here that I would actually be cold and there is no insulation in most Taiwanese apartments so my room can get pretty chilly. But I just sleep with a sweatshirt and sweatpants and I'm fine. I haven't had to use a heater and it's not like below freezing like Iowa. I don't know, I don't mind the cold but I'm not looking forward when it gets humid and muggy. It was really hard for me to deal with it last summer and there is only one more month that it will be "cold" until spring comes.

It's just annoying when people think that if you don't wear a jacket or a scarf that you will get sick. They also think it's crazy when you eat ice cream when it's cold outside because you will get sick, btw Drew and I ate Coldstone tonight lol Taiwanese girls wear puffy jackets, high fur boots, BUT wear a skirt with leggings or no leggings which doesn't make sense since they are afraid to be cold but they can show bare skin on their legs? People look at me and my coworkers that we're crazy for wearing so "little" when we look at them because they are wearing too much! However it's about lower 60s and Taiwanese people are wearing puffy winter jackets, ugg boats, and wool hats!!!

-Chihchat

Sheer Kindness

Since I have a new class on Thurs., I can't go to my aunt/uncle for dinner that night because I work really late and by the time I get to their place, it will be around 8pm. Every day I work until 7pm or later but my aunt insisted that I still come once a week so tonight we planned for me to go to their place for dinner, regardless of the time. They are so nice to still have me come over to their house late since I got there close to 8pm. While I was going to their apartment, I needed a key to get into the building unless someone left the door open which someone usually does, but this time the door was locked.

I saw a lady waiting for the elevator and I waved at her to see if she could open the door for me. She was really nice and came to open the door although she didn't recognize me. We were both going to the same floor and she asked who I knew and I said my aunt and uncle live here. Ironically she is my aunt/uncle's next door neighbor haha That was still really nice of her since she could have gone in the elevator and not even bother coming to get me because right when I was locked out, the elevator door was opened.

-Chihchat

Torturing my M8 class :)

My Monday night class used to give me a huge headache ever since I started teaching them in the summer but I've learned to accept their misbehavior and learned that no matter how much I yell, reason, or talk to them, they will still be naughty. My Chinese teacher is gone on vacation and so I had a sub. I'm sure the class was quiet when I was gone and someone subbed for me too, but I want to bow down to my sub for tonight.

One of my coworkers who is good at keeping control of the classroom subbed for my class and the class was actually well-behaved and really quiet. Obviously a big part of the reason is because they are afraid of her. They did all the work and even when we played a game they were pretty quiet for the most part. One of my students, Patrick, always gets out of his seat and finally he stayed in his seat mostly because she yelled at him. It was great. I know this is mean but this class NEVER listened to me or my Chinese teacher. They would just yell and be noisy all the time so I'm just really glad that they had to "suffer," get yelled at, and feel a little nervous.

I wish I had the power to have control over them but I guess I'm not intimidating enough. It was just awesome to see them be unhappy for once, I mean it's karma. What goes around, comes around and luckily tonight I got to see it! :)

-Chihchat