Semester 1 is finished!

It is with great joy and happiness that I write this post, for today is the Friday that brings with it one month of glorious holidays. I have just completed 95 working days as a full-on kindergarten teacher. It's been the toughest job I've had so far for sure. Luckily, I have turned out to be a pretty good teacher. If I was a worse teacher things would have been a lot worse!

I've been looking forward to this day since October! I'm very excited and can't put it to words! I've decided to let the venerable Mr. Spock do the talking for me.

Lack of male teachers in kindergartens a worry

On the weekends I usually read the China Daily, the country's national English newspaper. It's an OK read since I understand it, but I find it a bit fluffy as it's too full of feel-good stories about people returning large sums of lost money to rightful owners, or families being reunited. One small snippet in the ChinaScene column on page 3 attracted me though. Here it is:

Lack of male teachers in kindergartens a worry.

The grandmother and mother of Qiang Quiang, a boy in Hefei, Anhui province, have visited almost all the kindergartens in the city, but have not found any suitable for the child - because non had male teachers.

Qiang Qiang's father is reportedly working outside Hefei and the boy stays at home with his mom and grandma.

The women fear the child would become too feminine without any male contact and have been searching for a kindergarten with male teachers to make him more masculine.

An official at the Hefei teacher's college said the lack of male teachers is a "national problem".

Onee male teaching graduate told reporters he and his classmates would not work in kindergartens as long as the salaries remain low.

Maybe I should try and renegotiate my contract for the second semester, since it looks like I'm a commodity!

Hokey Pokey

I sing Hokey Pokey with my kids, and I'd say it's their favourite song. They love putting their left hand in, taking it out, and shaking it all about! I never thought children could get so stoked about songs, but these 3 year olds squeal with joy whenever we sing Hokey Pokey. So, it was with special interest that I read the following, sent to me by Heather:

Sad News

With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the
moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very
important person, which almost went unnoticed last week.
Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote "The Hokie Pokey" died
peacefully at the age of 93. The most traumatic part for his
family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left
leg in - and then the trouble started.


It doesn't matter who you are...that's funny!

Slow News Day

So, it's a slow news day here at jvd.evenflow. Well, not really. I just haven't been in a writing mood. I'm slugging through the last few weeks of school until a month of glorious, well earned holidays.

I was going to do report cards today, but I guess I'll do them tomorrow. They're due the next day. I never thought I'd be doing report cards when I came to China. This job doesn't seem like your average "teaching English in Asia" job... I thought I'd just swoop in, teach some words, and leave. I've been given much more responsibility than that. Participating in parent/teacher home visits, planning crafts and science lessons, teaching the kids to count and read...it's been good, but difficult since I have no formal training in education. (Don't tell that to the parents and the other teachers. Apparently everyone thinks I have TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages?) because the woman that hired me off the street has told them that.) Oh well.

Anyway, here's a funny picture that I'm going to post for no reason.

Have a good Tuesday.

Clickity to see bigger size.

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