It Is Finished!

This is my 100th blog post. This milestone in blogging corresponds with a milestone in my teaching career...it's over!

Today was my last day, and it went well. It was another Parents Day, but this time I had parents sitting in on all my classes, not just my main morning class.

In the past I have played games and done crafts with the kids on Parents Day, but today I just did a lot of review. In the last month the children have been able to understand questions and answer on their own, so we spent a lot of time simply chatting.

We talked about what penguins eat, what sharks eat, what the children like to eat, and other simple things relating to the pictures I had. Two children can answer "How do you spell RED?" even when I cover up the word, so I made sure to showcase their skills as well.

Guo, my co-teacher, was very pleased with the way my morning went. She said the the parents saw that their children know "more the English" and it made them happy.

My afternoon classes, where I only teach for half an hour a day, didn't go as smoothly because those kids don't know as much English. I have to pour more effort into filling the alloted time, and today was no different except there were parents watching me sweat it out. Ok, I'm not giving myself enough credit here. But I do seem to check the clock a lot more during my afternoon classes than I do in the morning.

My day didn't end without drama either. One of the parents insisted that the school put on a big graduation do for the oldest class, so the school complied. This family had been kicked out of the rival kindergarten across the street (Future STAR! Kindergarten), because that school didn't want to deal with the family's outrageous requests anymore.

Our school already had a ceremony planned, and the regalia ready. It seems that the planned ceremony wasn't good enough, so the school brass scurried about to give it more flourish. The parent said that the kindergarten across the street had a government official handing out the diplomas to the six year-olds, so why didn't we? Unfortunately, nobody could be rounded up on a few hours notice.

Earlier, this parent had also told the kindergarten that they should be documenting the last week of school with a video camera. A Sony Handycam was rounded up, and different teachers took turns following the graduating class around with it. Very odd.

The ceremony was to be put on in the basement right after my class, and at the last minute I learned I had to teach my class down there too. This was to save time and effort for the parents and children. I would have to teach on the small stage, where I'd need to project my voice. This would change the whole classroom dynamic I'm used to, and it would be important to display adaptability.

When I got downstairs, I was ambushed with cameras on tripods, big bulbs bathing the stage in camera-friendly light, and lots of people hanging around waiting for me to start teaching. Fish bowl! I was on display, and the cameras were rolling. I would need to display more adaptability than I expected.

It frustrated me at first, but then I reminded myself that it was the last half hour of the year, so I shouldn't get too worked up about the whole situation. I ended up having a reletively good class with the kids, not worrying about the audience. We played a short game at the end of class, and the kids loved it. If nothing else, now the parents know that their children enjoyed having class with me all year.

A few children hugged me as I packed up my bag and said goodbye, including Alina who is featured in the top picture of this post. She insisted I wear her mortarboard in the picture, and I didn't argue.

Yoyo (female, unlike the Yoyo in Carol's class) came up and said "I love you!" as she hugged me goodbye, which was really nice. I was surprised to hear that, since I only teach those kids for half an hour a day!



After I was done, I sat back and watched the ceremony. It was good, and I'm sure the kids and parents enjoyed it, politician or not.

My day (and year) being done, I went back upstairs and waved the remaining children goodbye. There was really no emotion for me, other than being very truly happy that I had finished my year.

I was happy not only because I wouldn't have to teach again, but also because I remembered everything it took to get to this day. It was a long and difficult road, but one that I'm proud to have travelled.



Here's Jimmy. For the whole first symester he sat in his chair and stared at me like he was in a coma. At the beginning of this second semester, he started smiling and seemed to enjoy school a little bit. He still didn't say much, and didn't seem to understand much of what I was teaching.

Then one day out of nowhere, he got up out of his chair in the middle of a numbers lesson, grabbed a toy dinosaur off the shelf, and said "This is a dinosaur!" and then went and sat back down. Amazing! Oh Jimmy. After that, he began participating in class as much as possible, and loved to demonstrate his English to me.



Soon, all my kids had gone home and only teachers and stragglers remained in the school. I was still in a really great mood, so I started grabbing babies like a campaigning politician. And like a campaigning politician, I made the babies cry.

Actually, it was only one baby, Ms. Lie's. She's the principal, and her baby was born around Christmas. It's a girl and is at the school a lot. It generally never cries, excpet when big foreigners hold it!

When Ms. Lie left the school, she thanked me for teaching and told me I did a good job. She said all the children enjoyed having me teach, and she appreciated all I had done. That was nice.

That was my day. Afterwards, all the teachers went out to KTV (karaoke) and I agreed to go with them, even though I knew it would mean multiple hours spent listening to Canto-Pop and Mando hits. I figured it would be an appropriate bookend for the school year, since Carol and I attended KTV with the same teachers back in September. We were invited out the night before the first day of school.

I have now taught 189 of a possible 191 school days. No more days to go. It is finished!