On the 30th we went to the kindergarten Halloween party, and I finally got to meet all the little ones that [...]]]> In the run up to all hallows eve, Siobhan, Stuart and I were busy trying to come up with decorations for the students’ parties and designing our own costumes.

On the 30th we went to the kindergarten Halloween party, and I finally got to meet all the little ones that Siobhan teaches.  Quite a few of Stuart’s primary school children were there too, so it was great to meet all the little devils I’ve heard so many stories about.

There are many days that I would like to swap my middle school & high school students to teach the littler ones; but each group of kids has their own unique set of challenges to be sure, and after a night of high pitched shrieking and waist level karate punches, leaving my ears and … well, other parts sore, I am fairly certain I made the right choice.

We started the night rather strangely, the three of us sitting down in the Halloween-decor saturated kinder-classroom and reviewing vocabulary with group after group of kids – showing them flashcard after flashcard and rewarding them with candy.

After that they had a little dance party …

during which I snuck up behind some kids and gave them a good scare.  While most of them shrieked and then laughed, one little girl just instantly broke into tears!  I felt pretty bad, but the parents were all just rolling with laughter.  Ahh, good impressions …

The night ended with all the dressed up teachers (the three of us foreigners and one of the natives) taking pictures with the students … and about fifty photos later we called it a night and headed back to our dorms.

The celebration of China’s 60th birthday was an interesting time here at the school.  My junior classes had a little party and they asked me to host.  I thought this seemed like a rather un-chinese idea, but as it turned out I was co-hosting with the dean of the junior [...]]]>

The celebration of China’s 60th birthday was an interesting time here at the school.  My junior classes had a little party and they asked me to host.  I thought this seemed like a rather un-chinese idea, but as it turned out I was co-hosting with the dean of the junior grades.  There we had China and America hand-in-hand and suddenly nothing seemed more an appropriate way to welcome the sixth decade of their nation.

They asked me and the other foreign teachers to prepare something about our national days, how we celebrate and such.  Huh.  Most people drink quite a bit and watch a fireworks display – but since telling a group of 11-15 year-olds this probably wouldn’t go over too well, I told them it was a time of firework displays and reunions with friends and family.  I wikipedia’d the rest, and recounted something about our independence from England and ‘inalienable rights’.

As the night progressed, my co-host for the night turned over to me and asked me if I’d like to sing a song.  I vaguely recollected from the two-minute-before-the-event-started-and-first-time-meeting-to-discuss-the-night’s-schedule that she wanted me to join them in a song – “Heal the World” by, of course, Michael Jackson.  Quickly recovering from my momentary shock from her seemingly odd request, I said “Sure, but I think I might need some help!”  Ahh good times.  The students finally got their wish to hear me sing (sort of, I turned off my mic), as the music started and I joined my students.

A short play recounting the story behind the Mid-Autumn Festival – a love story about a girl named Chang’e who drinks too much of an elixir of immortality and rises to the moon, where her lover Houyi can only see her once a year.  Sweet.

After the kids sang one more song (and I joined in on that one just for kicks), a few more kids lip-sanc (what’s the past of lip-sync?), and then the whole group tried to teach us three foreign teachers how to say Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinese, each giving it a try in turn.  Good times.

Then we judged a poster contest, picking two winners, one that represented National Day, and one that represented the Mid-Autumn Festival.

(Not one that we chose as a winner, but real cute!)

National Day Winner

Mid-Autumn Festival Winner