A Typical Day at Character English Institute
Monday, October 3, 2011:
My alarm goes off at 6:30, I roll over and grab my Bible. That is the best way to start the day. At 7:15 I take my turn in the shower. 7:35 I finish getting myself ready and then grab some breakfast. I run up the stairs to the office five minutes before 8:00.
The English team gets their own desks in the office this week. Yeah! We choose our desk and settle in, scrubbing it clean and arranging our things. Then we begin final preparations for the kids coming in. I make sure my camera’s memory card is empty, ready for another week of pictures. At 8:15, Lan Ci announces that the bus is a little late this morning. We will meet it at the gate at 9:00. Then, the group gets together to speak “blessings” over the week. (They are not Believers, but they do believe in “positive thinking.”)
9:00- Eight teachers eagerly greet the incoming students as they get off the bus. It is raining, so everyone is flustered and in a hurry to get inside. Once inside under the overhang, the Chinese teachers arrange the children and take role.This week we have 22 children from three different schools.Once they take their belongings up to the 4th floor, it is time for the opening ceremony.During the opening ceremony, the kids receive their books, meet the teachers, hear the rules, and get “oriented” to the building. Directly following opening ceremony, the Chinese teachers give the students a tour of the building and take them to their first class while the English teachers go back to the office.
When the bell rings, the children come racing out of the classroom for a ten minute “shia-kuh” (break time). We go out to say hello and try to get the children interested in a game. Most of the kids are shy. Only one or two come up to me and say “Hello Teacher,” so I just try to join their game. This group loves just tossing home-made paper balls back and forth. The bell rings again and the kids run off to class.
The English teachers meet during this time. We discuss the week’s challenges and pray for the children and teachers. This week, there are two new teachers- Lisa and Penny, so we cover them especially with prayer. I love this prayer time. This is when we can claim the promises “where two or three are gathered in My name” and (paraphrased) “the unsaved are sanctified through the faith and prayer of the Believers.
Once again, the bell rings, as it does every forty minutes, and we play with the children. I love to pull out my violin and play for the children. The shy ones especially will often come out of their shell with a little bit of music, and several children want to play it themselves. Teacher Bekah has a game of jacks that they all love, and the game "Quai, quai, quai" (faster, faster, faster) is, like always, a hit.
After one more class, it is lunch time. The children file down the stairs to the auditorium, where English and Chinese teachers serve them. The meal today is white rice, boiled bamboo shoots, breaded chicken, very watery soup, and a kind of stew made with a white carrot, tofu, and various other vegetables. There are also bananas, but fruit is optional for the kids. This camp teaches the children gratefulness, so they must thank the teachers, the other students that clean up, and then eat all their food. No food can be wasted. Being here for four weeks of camp, I finally have the lunch-room chant down. “Shie-shie lau shr, shie-shie tung shue, da jia ching kai dung!” (Thank you teachers, thank you students, let’s eat now!) As the kids devour their food, us teachers get our food, and sit down to eat. We do not sit with the students. It is a matter of respect here. We sit at the teacher’s table. Before the students can be excused, they have to get their plate inspected by a teacher, to make sure they have eaten all their food.
Usually, I am done about 12:30, but today, being Monday, is a little late. I finish at 12:45 and head to my room for nap time. My favorite part of the day! Here in Taiwan, all school children are required to take naps up through the 8th grade, therefore, the teacher gets one as well.
Returning to the office at 1:30, I begin putting my lesson together. I have the Evaluation lesson at 4:10. Evaluations is not my favorite class, but it is required to tell us what level the children are at with English. It is rather like a test for the students.
Since this day is slow for English teachers, I have time on my hands. I cannot really plan my other lessons until I know the level of the students, so I catch up on emails and various personal things. I write God’s promise to me for the day in my journal, and read a book by Francis Chan called “Crazy Love”. It is an “ouch” kind of good.
In the middle of the afternoon, the kids have chore time. The tasks are simple, and when the children are done, we play games with them. Sweeping, mopping, wiping, washing… the kids are separated into teams and assigned jobs. Usually, they are done in about 10 minutes and come to the office to get the teachers to play. These kids are really thorough and do a very good job.
The bell rings at 4:00, so I head to the class room to prep for my class in ten minutes. I make sure the overhead is on and working, that I can find the ppt on the computer (important! it’s all in Chinese), and load music for book work time.
The great thing about the first class is the lack of discipline issues. These children have never seen a foreigner before, so getting their attention is as easy as walking in the room. I greeted them with a “good afternoon!” Blank stares. No response. Well then, this group is very basic I thought. We played a game of Bingo in Chinese to get them mingled and interacting with each other. Then I taught them “Hello. My name is _______.” However, these students did not know their English names. They glanced at their name tag and tried to pronounce their names. I had them take of their nametags, scrambled them, and then they had to find the owner. Chaos, and still some children who don’t know their name. Ah well. I told them to get their books (with motions as well as words) and wrote the page number on the board. Then, all of us English teachers observed how they did. We all took note: keep it basic this week.
Dinner for the kids is at 5:30, and we are done for the day. Back in our apartment, Susanna makes us a delicious meal of salad, candied carrots, and baked potatoes. Yum! (I’m glad she’s on my team!) We chill out with dinner and a movie, and head to bed. I fall asleep around 9:45 quoting Scripture and praising the Lord.
What a day! God surely has blessed this week. I can’t wait for tomorrow…
Happy in the Service of the King,
Barbara J. Sutton
Pictures coming soon!!!
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