Fridays with Emily

Every Friday afternoon from 1:00-2:30pm, I have what is called Language Exchange: I meet with six Chinese kindergarten teachers in my classroom and teach them English. We sit in kindergarten chairs around a kindergarten table. These six teachers - Demi, Tacey, Lisa, Lucy, Alice and Sherry - already have a pretty good command of the English language in its written form, being able to read and write fairly well. However, the girls need help with speaking. I prepare a separate lesson plan for them from a book I found to be oh so handy in the Elementary School library. We have met three times so far - the first week was spent on introductions and getting to know each other. I also prepared for them a test so I could gage how much English they already knew. The second week, we talked about our families. I made a family tree and described my family to the girls. It was funny to see them compile their own family tree. Lucy needed another sheet of paper to connect horizontally to her already busy piece of paper. She looked at me and said, "I need more branches!" My girls are really funny and want to know all kinds of slang. I tell them that since I'm from Texas, my slang will be different from other parts of the country. Needless to say, they now tell me Howdy every time they see me in the hallways with their classes.

Since this is called Language Exchange, the girls also teach me Chinese. Two of them come to my apartment on Sunday after lunch for an hour to help reinforce the things I am already learning every Monday and Thursday afternoons in our free company Chinese classes. One of the two who come has a husband and a young daughter, so coming to my apartment means a great deal to me. She wants to see me succeed in the Chinese culture, so she's willing to help out however she can.

Starting this Sunday, I will be adding on another "class" of students. One of my Language Exchange teachers, Sherry, has a daughter who is eight years old. She's in 3rd grade, but at a Kindergarten level of English and needs a tutor. Sherry asked me if I'd be willing to tutor her daughter and three of her daughter's friends on Sunday nights. Sherry will prepare dinner for me in her home beforehand. Luckily, Sherry asked me what kinds of foods I like. She also told me that I need to try new foods, so I'll be blogging about those adventures. Heh.

I am very thankful for my group of teachers; it's a great way to build relationships and experience a pebble on this mountain called Chinese Culture.

A Perfect Ending

I had the most perfect ending to a conversation with one of my student's parents this morning before class began...

The parents of a student of mine named Ethan came and found me this morning before class started. They began to talk to me about their son, wondering if he's improving. They wanted to know if he's shaken his habitual and hysterical crying fits and punching of the other children yet... Good thing he has. As I was talking, Ethan's mom wanted us to go get her son, (apparently so we could continue our conversation in front of him) so we began to walk to his classroom. I took them downstairs to the room where I always drop him off, and his Dad said, "No, his classroom is upstairs." Though a bit confused, I took them upstairs. We quickly found out that was not his classroom. Ethan's dad whipped out his Chinese and finally asked a Chinese teacher where the K1 D classroom was. We then walked back downstairs and outside, around the building, and up another flight of stairs. Behold, there was Ethan's classroom. I never knew that was his classroom. I always march the K1 D kids to the room at the bottom of the stairs, the first place we went... which is correct, by the way. The only part I didn't know was that the children go through that classroom to their own - a shortcut, if you will. Who would have known?
As Ethan's parents and I headed for the main entrance of the school so they could leave and head to work, I said "goodbye" and "thanks for coming to find me and talk my ear off about your son who shouldn't be in my class" (shortened to "thanks for coming to find me", of course). I began to walk down the first floor hallway to my classroom (I was taking a different route that would put me at the staircase closer to my room). Ethan's mom noticed I wasn't walking up the staircase right in front of us, so she quickly tried to save me from embarrassment.

Ethan's Mom: Excuse me, Teacher Emily?
Me: Yes, ma'am?
Ethan's Mom: Your classroom is upstairs.

I simply responded by telling her I was only taking a different route. How seemingly scatterbrained I must appear to these people, and what a great encouragement to start my day. Heh.

The Little Emperor

I have been mulling over reasons as to why some of my kids do not take discipline seriously at school. They smirk or even giggle while I explain to them what they did was wrong, they flauntingly tell me "No" when I ask them to do something, or they continue the bad behavior no matter how many times I have to walk them to the Principal's office after class. As a Sociology major, I am fascinated in finding out why these kids behave the way they do. It could be that they are only 5 years old and haven't been in school for very long; it could be the language barrier; it could be that they've been in school for just two weeks and need some time to warm up to me; or it could be that I am not doing an adequate job in classroom management. I was venting this frustration with some of my fellow teachers and my friend told me that she thinks it's due largely in part to what's known as the Little Emperor/Empress Syndrome. I'm not sure how many of you have heard of this term before, so let me explain.

"Little Emperor Syndrome is a name for condition affecting both parents and their one child for example in urban areas of China", like the capital city of Beijing and here in Shanghai. It is considered to be a indirect result of the one child policy (which is very interesting, by the way - take some time to look at this: ). Both parents lavish attention, time and energy on their one child, thus the child becomes ridiculously spoiled and gains a 'strong' sense of self worth. In researching this epidemic, as I call it, I found that "parents in China and in surrounding nations such as Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea where 'one child only' incentives are also being encouraged, have been known to wait outside the school for their children all day, carry their school bags around after them and cater for their every need right into teenage and early adult life." That's incredible...

These children have now become the center of their entire extended family. They are given privileges that might not have been given - this is their parents' only opportunity at getting it right, so they give their child everything they have. It's possible they don't want their child to be upset with them and potentially grow to resent them if they place rules on the child, so they give in to whatever their child hankers after. No longer is the parent the hub of the family; it is now the child.

"Experts suggest that too much care and pampering may result in the child ending up incapable of leading a confident future life. Many youngsters do not get exposed to life's realities and in many cases the parent's only goal is to get their child into a good slot at a respected university. The truth is that only a little more than 10% of high school students in China can hope to get into a college." [This site did not explain the statistic, though I wish it had.]

Another interesting fact: the generational pyramid is top heavy in China and the surrounding countries - 4 grandparents, 2 parents and one child. So, the family tends to over nourish the child, potentially causing the child to become overweight or even obese.

Can the verity of this theory be proven? Perhaps not, but one can certainly wonder. The Little Emperor Syndrome could play a part in why some of my students cannot accept the fact that they are being disciplined and told that horrible word of "no". It'll just take some time to break them of their naughtiness.

-E

quotes taken from www.answers.com

word of the day: panjandrum

Week One

It's been a few days since I've blogged... sorry for the delay.

I'm in my apartment listening to Miles Davis tonight. I have always enjoyed jazz music, but his stuff I really like. Very relaxing. Makes me want to write or study or something unusually rare. :)

Week One as a Teacher -
My first week of teaching Kindergarten was really good! I have quickly realized, though, that passion isn't enough sometimes. Preparation is a huge necessity. So, as a teacher, lesson planning for each class is essential. I think this first week I took preparation too lightly. Too boring. I won't be thinking that way anymore. I thought, eh, I love kids, and I love teaching - this will be cake. Nope. Having 10 minutes left over in a class full of 16 five-year-olds doesn't go so well no matter how much passion you have. Heh. Keeping their attention is hard to do even when you have something planned, let alone when you run out of things in your lesson plan. "Okay, kids, who wants another coloring page?!" ... Plus, being out on Thursday due to a stomach virus didn't help much - I feel a bit behind. I feel much better about this next week. Interesting side note: Kindergartners don't have school on Friday afternoons! BUT teachers have meetings. Just when I thought I had more time to plan, it was snatched away.

I was just thinking, my favorite part about teaching so far is seeing the kids faces light up when they finally grasp a new concept. I love pointing to a picture of a vocabulary word and hearing the whole class shout out at the top of their lungs the correct answer - "PENCIL!!". When we are going through their little student books and I say something like, "Ooo! Who can point to the pencil case? Pencil case...", some of my students will call me over to their tables just to show me that they have the right answer... it's really cute. Though this next favorite doesn't have much to do with teaching directly, it's a wonderful feeling when the kids come into class saying, "Teacher Emily! Teacher Emily!", running over to my desk or wherever I happen to be in the room to give me a big hug...

My students really like puppets. I have Mr. Frog and Mr. Monkey. They especially get a kick out of the different voices the two of them can make. One class I had to teach the whole 30 minutes with Mr. Frog; it held their attention.

I have figured out who my "testers" are. In class one, I have two boys, one named Daniel (who is very squirmy and likes to dance while he's seated in his table. He can't contain his excitement for English class, I suppose. Heh) and one named Sean (who likes to laugh at everything). They like attention, so rather than continually discipline them, I pick them to help me with different activities, though there are times when they disobey that I have to send them to the back of the room to stand in the sad box for a few minutes. Sean doesn't take discipline very seriously, laughing while standing in the back of the room, so I'm going to have to think of something different for him. Let me know if you have any ideas.

The class two tester is a boy (always seem to be the boys...) named Kai. He did not want to do anything I told him to do, and wouldn't even go to the sad box. I had to carry him over and make him stand there. As I started bringing out the puppets and class was interesting and he could see other kids having fun, he asked me if he could sit down at the table and learn. So, I told him it was okay with me and handed him his book. He ended up being one of the kids who would call me over to show that he had the right answer... :)

There is something about the way the some parents really push education on their children, so much so that they sort of start to live in a dream world, thinking their child can do anything, regardless of age. There is a student named Ethan in one of my classes who does nothing but cry the whole time. Literally. And it's loud too. He is supposed to be a level below, but his dad thinks he can handle it. He can't. If he can't stop crying through class by the time Wednesday comes around (the week marker), I am told he will be going back to the level he should be at. Luckily, that situation will be handled by my principal and not me.

Anyways.
That's a bit about my first week. I hope and strive to make a difference in these childrens' lives. I am honored to be their teacher.

Until next time,
E