My First Day of Teaching
Ok, Ok, Ok, so I guess you are wondering why has it been such a long time since I have blogged? Well the past couple of weeks I have been incredibly busy. I don't think there has ever been a time in my life when I have been this busy. Hours, days, and weeks all have started to run together. There has even been moments when I have forgotten what month it is. I currently have 12 different classes, so I spend most of my time trying to plan for them. I spend more time at the school planning and grading than I do in the classroom. But, enough about that back to the story.
So, it was Saturday night and my friends decided to take me to this club called Honky Tonk. Ok when I first heard the name I was thinking, "Oh they are taking me to a country bar" (c'mon I know I am not the only one that would think that). Now I am open to going anywhere as long as it is cool and the people are having fun. When I opened the door, to my surprise I was greeted with techno/pop music. The doorman asked for a cover of 600NT ($18.00) and told me that this was the price of admission along with UNLIMITED DRINKS. That's right I said, "UNLIMITED DRINKS", I couldn't believe it myself. I should also note that these drinks were not just your everyday drinks. Going to a bar that lets you drink unlimited drinks for a fee was not a new thing for me, but at these bars the cups were a little larger than a dixie cup, and the drinks were heavily watered down. However, the Honky Tonk was a big exception. They offered their finest drinks and gave everyone a menu to help decide. Now I am not a lush by all means, but lets just say that I had a good time. My friends also had a good time, to say the least.
Of course you know that I was the center of attention at the club (the only black guy in the city - remember) so all eyes were on me. As I was dancing on the floor I decided that I should pull out some of my crazy dance moves. Sooner than I began, I found a circle of people forming around me. That's right, they made a circle for me to dance in and they were cheering me on the entire time. Toward, the end of the night another guy jumped in the circle and he appeared to be challenging me. You know I couldn't let him do that and beat me :-), so I pulled out my entire arsenal. Lets just say when it was said and done, I can say that he got served. I even had a guy come up to me and ask me, that if he paid me would I teach him to dance. Now I had to think long and hard about this one, but then it dawned on me that just because you may be able to teach English, doesn't mean you can teach dance. So I politely declined his offer, but there are times that I wish I would have reconsidered ;-).
Monday, the day of reckoning (at least that is what I call it) was my first day of teaching. I would by lying if I said that I was not nervous. Many questions were racing through my head such as "Would the students like me?", "Would they be able to understand me?", "Would I remember to do everything?", and last but now least "How do you teach English to people without using their native language?" All very good questions, and they were bombarding my thoughts as I entered the classroom. During the first hour I could tell that the students knew that I was nervous (as if the sweating and pacing didn't give it away). But, during the break I gave myself a pep talk, and I went into the second half like gangbusters. The second hour was great, and the kids really opened up to me. After, class I have to say that it was the first time that I truly felt that I was now a teacher.
It has been 2 weeks now since that class and I am somewhat of a celebrity at the school. All of my students say, "Hi", to me in the hall. Two of them even gave me gifts, one a pastry-like ball and the other a bag of fruit along with two little cakes (these gifts were to commemorate the Moon Festival which is a big deal here). Knowing that all of the students are fond of me makes teaching that much more enjoyable. I know that with time I will become even better and I may possibly receive more gifts (wink, wink).
So I have been living in Taiwan for approximately three weeks and I already have a new destination in mind. You are probably wondering, "Now where else could he be going?". To make a long story short, I need to score well on the GRE to get into grad school and unfortunately Taiwan offers the test in parts whether than all at once. These parts are not offered at times that work for me if I hope to apply for grad school by the fall of 2006, therefore after calling representatives of ETS and the GRE Test, I was told that I would have to go elsewhere to take it. After searching online for the best prices, dates, and places that offered the GRE test as a whole, I came to the conclusion that at the end of October I will be going to Bangkok, Thailand. Now this trip will be more work than play, but believe me I will find time to explore.
Well that about does it for me. I am starting to run out of time, and I don't want to give yah too much to read. Next time I will talk about my random day that involved me taking out the trash only to find myself singing Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra karaoke style in some guys house that resembled a restaurant. Until then later!
NEXT TIME: ONE RANDOM DAY
So, it was Saturday night and my friends decided to take me to this club called Honky Tonk. Ok when I first heard the name I was thinking, "Oh they are taking me to a country bar" (c'mon I know I am not the only one that would think that). Now I am open to going anywhere as long as it is cool and the people are having fun. When I opened the door, to my surprise I was greeted with techno/pop music. The doorman asked for a cover of 600NT ($18.00) and told me that this was the price of admission along with UNLIMITED DRINKS. That's right I said, "UNLIMITED DRINKS", I couldn't believe it myself. I should also note that these drinks were not just your everyday drinks. Going to a bar that lets you drink unlimited drinks for a fee was not a new thing for me, but at these bars the cups were a little larger than a dixie cup, and the drinks were heavily watered down. However, the Honky Tonk was a big exception. They offered their finest drinks and gave everyone a menu to help decide. Now I am not a lush by all means, but lets just say that I had a good time. My friends also had a good time, to say the least.
Of course you know that I was the center of attention at the club (the only black guy in the city - remember) so all eyes were on me. As I was dancing on the floor I decided that I should pull out some of my crazy dance moves. Sooner than I began, I found a circle of people forming around me. That's right, they made a circle for me to dance in and they were cheering me on the entire time. Toward, the end of the night another guy jumped in the circle and he appeared to be challenging me. You know I couldn't let him do that and beat me :-), so I pulled out my entire arsenal. Lets just say when it was said and done, I can say that he got served. I even had a guy come up to me and ask me, that if he paid me would I teach him to dance. Now I had to think long and hard about this one, but then it dawned on me that just because you may be able to teach English, doesn't mean you can teach dance. So I politely declined his offer, but there are times that I wish I would have reconsidered ;-).
Monday, the day of reckoning (at least that is what I call it) was my first day of teaching. I would by lying if I said that I was not nervous. Many questions were racing through my head such as "Would the students like me?", "Would they be able to understand me?", "Would I remember to do everything?", and last but now least "How do you teach English to people without using their native language?" All very good questions, and they were bombarding my thoughts as I entered the classroom. During the first hour I could tell that the students knew that I was nervous (as if the sweating and pacing didn't give it away). But, during the break I gave myself a pep talk, and I went into the second half like gangbusters. The second hour was great, and the kids really opened up to me. After, class I have to say that it was the first time that I truly felt that I was now a teacher.
It has been 2 weeks now since that class and I am somewhat of a celebrity at the school. All of my students say, "Hi", to me in the hall. Two of them even gave me gifts, one a pastry-like ball and the other a bag of fruit along with two little cakes (these gifts were to commemorate the Moon Festival which is a big deal here). Knowing that all of the students are fond of me makes teaching that much more enjoyable. I know that with time I will become even better and I may possibly receive more gifts (wink, wink).
So I have been living in Taiwan for approximately three weeks and I already have a new destination in mind. You are probably wondering, "Now where else could he be going?". To make a long story short, I need to score well on the GRE to get into grad school and unfortunately Taiwan offers the test in parts whether than all at once. These parts are not offered at times that work for me if I hope to apply for grad school by the fall of 2006, therefore after calling representatives of ETS and the GRE Test, I was told that I would have to go elsewhere to take it. After searching online for the best prices, dates, and places that offered the GRE test as a whole, I came to the conclusion that at the end of October I will be going to Bangkok, Thailand. Now this trip will be more work than play, but believe me I will find time to explore.
Well that about does it for me. I am starting to run out of time, and I don't want to give yah too much to read. Next time I will talk about my random day that involved me taking out the trash only to find myself singing Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra karaoke style in some guys house that resembled a restaurant. Until then later!
NEXT TIME: ONE RANDOM DAY
posted by Bob | 4:47 AM
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