Well it's been a while since my last blog update and I thought I'd squeeze in a quick posting before having to batten down the hatches for the home stretch (I mean that literally)... Okay so I'm assuming none of you knows what I'm talking about in the last sentence so let me enlighten you.
The last week and a half has been crazy busy. I've been giving out significantly more tests and assignments and you guessed it, that means more marking for me. It sounds crazy but first term report card marks need to be submitted in the not too distant future so stay tuned for more excitement on that front. The last of the new school year excitement has worn off and now it's all business. Still though I find moments during the day where I just can't help but to chuckle at all the little quirks and moments that students have while at school. It is true that its the interaction with the students that really make this job worth investing yourself into.
Running tennis as an extra-curricular has been made a tough day even tougher. Most of the kids that have come are very much beginners and need a lot of assistance. Since they can't really hold a rally with their partner I often times have to jump in to sustain a rally so that I can see if they've actually improved from the drills. I am happy to say that I am seeing some significant improvements with some of my players and that feels just as rewarding as having a student have a striking epiphany of understanding in class. Despite the physical exhaustion at times, I'm very much looking forward to helping them continue to improve.
Between all of that I really didn't much of a chance to do anything remarkably amazing this weekend. I did swing by the Venetian again to buy some more casual clothes. Running tennis practice made me realize how small my athletic wardrobe really was. So I picked up an extra dri-fit shirt and an extra pair of shorts while window shopping through the Venetian. I really should start working out even just a little, because the only physically straining thing I did prior to tennis was walking home from school everyday. I'll be honest, picking up my 2nd pay check almost tempted me into splurging since for the first time since I've arrived I wasn't worried about running out of money.
But things aren't all doom and gloom, next week, the school has fall break meaning we have one glorious week off school to do whatever we want. Most of the teachers are visiting other neat places around Southeast Asia but for me I'm just going next door to Hong Kong. I'll be sightseeing, visiting some my fellow B.Ed grads from Queen's teaching in HK and visiting some relatives over the week. Probably won't be in Hong Kong the whole week but it will be great to unwind for a bit. I'll update the blog with tales of my adventures in Hong Kong when I get back.
So unfortunately, that's all there is to tell you about this time. I'll have plenty more stories when I get back from Hong Kong. In the meantime, a T1 typhoon is making landfall here in Macau in a few hours. If it somehow strengthens to a T8, school will be cancelled. I'm not holding my breath for that though. See you all next time!
Random Macau adventures: So ever since I've got to Macau, I have not eaten at the same restaurant more than twice... until yesterday. If you wondering, that means 6 weeks and approximately 30+ restaurants before doubling back to the same one. It's always sad to have a good streak like that broken but it would have ended eventually. Also, if you were wondering it was a Japanese restaurant that we went to through the dinner club that ended the streak.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Saturday, 17 September 2011
Short But Not So Sweet
Howdy everyone, and thanks for stopping by to catch up with me. This past week has been quite short as it is Mid-Autumn moon festival here in Macau and we also had a PD day right after that, meaning we only had a 3 day teaching week. A short week but perhaps the toughest one yet.
Last weekend was spent eating out (what else is new?) and touring about the casinos that are literally next door to the school. Honestly, TIS is located in the most bizarre area. We are on the Macau University of Science and Technology campus, across the street are a couple of the biggest casinos in the world (probably bigger than the ones in Vegas), and one street over in the other direction is the Macau International Airport. Didn't get the chance to tour Old Taipa all too thorough as I'd hoped but as a consolation, I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon inside the Venetian, browsing the shopping area. There was definitely times during the afternoon where I forgot we were at a casino/hotel and thought we were at a shopping mall, it is that huge inside.
Our PD day was actually quite informative. As a student teacher, I would hear all the older teachers grumble about PD days but nobody at TIS seemed to be grumbling and most teachers found something useful during the many workshops during the day. The really exciting part of that day was our weekly teacher's supper club. This week we were at an Italian restaurant called La Gondola right up at the very southern tip of Coloane, Macau where we had not only great food and company but also a gorgeous beachfront sunset as well. It was my first time traveling Macau public transit as well and I only just realized just how convenient the buses really are. It will encourage me to frequent Coloane and Macau mainland more often now. Not to mention the price of public transportation was quite good compared to Canada.
Things in class really got kicked into high gear this week as I was piling on the quizzes and assignments for my kids this week. As much as they complain, I dread it more (even though I'm the one deciding these things) because no teacher, not even the staunchest most dedicated teacher can claim to enjoy marking. For me marking is bearable if students are doing well because I can fly through, dishing out check marks. But... I seriously bog down in "poor work" because I always feel the need to give feedback about corrections and I can never leave alone errors in students work. Let's just say this is going to be a tedious weekend.
I also started coaching the tennis team this week. Some students just want to learn, others wanted to play competitive in the Macau school tournament at the end of October. All in all it means a lot of additional commitments I have to invest in. Regardless I love it because it gives me a chance to interact with the kids in a different way. I was exhausted after the first practice already though. I'm going to have to involve myself less with the playing part in these practices, so hopefully the tennis learners can pick things up quickly. There will be 3 practices a week on top of weekly staff meetings (we have A LOT of meetings at TIS, don't believe me ask anyone who's ever worked here), and 3 a week tutoring sessions for a gr. 12 student in biology and perhaps pure math as well. I'm definitely not looking forward to tutoring pure math, it's honestly been awhile since I've needed to solve logarithmetic equations that complicated.
Despite all of the hard work, I find that an unspoken motto of the teachers at TIS is that we work hard but we have to play just as hard. On thursday, we had a staff volleyball game. I LOVE volleyball but was honestly a little rusty having not played in months. The teachers at the school (no offense to them) don't quite provide the same level of challenge as the people I used to play pickup games at Queen's with the last few years. Still though, I love volleyball no matter the skill level because I find even the casual players can really get a lot of enjoyment out of it. I'm really starting to look forward to the teacher vs. students games upcoming to help our volleyball teams (first year TIS has volleyball teams) get ready for their tournament. A bunch of us went out to a hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant afterwards. Apparently it has a great reputation with foreigners to Macau and I will say that the food there was AMAZING! It definitely warrants another visit, and soon.
The other noteworthy outing of the week was to hang out with the kids from youth group at my church for the first time. When I walked in, my mouth was practically on the floor. Practically half the kids were kids I taught at school, and all of them were from TIS. Even the other two youth group helpers were teachers at TIS, both in middle school with me too. For those teachers reading this, you'll be aware that this poses a profession boundaries issue. These sort of things just don't happen anywhere in Canada. But Macau is so small that it really shouldn't have been a surprise. Despite an initial period of awkwardness, I really enjoyed the opportunity to have a more relaxed sort of set of interaction with my students (yes I let them call me Jason under the condition that they understand the appropriate title to address me during school). All my kids are amazing kids (despite possessing limitless amounts of energy) and I'm blessed and grateful to have the opportunity to get to know them more personably through youth group and extra-curriculars like tennis.
Okay I think I've literally told you everything that's happened this week. As I mentioned I have a mountain of marking to do (yay!... not!) so I better get cracking. Here are some pictures to amuse you with in the mean time. See you next week!
Getting Hit by Culture Moment: Another teacher (who is white) and myself got into a cab last week. He used Mandarin to say we wanted to be dropped off at different locations and told the driver his stop. I followed up telling the driver (in English) my location. The cab driver didn't understand me so I had to describe where I wanted to be dropped off (with the help of the other teacher) in Mandarin. Biggest language fail of my life and I will forever remember (and laugh about) that moment.
What is that?
The main entrance "display" in front of the galaxy casino/hotel
The curtains lift to reveal... a diamond. Extravagant much?
Teacher's Supper Club this week at La Gondola in Coloan.
The view of the South China Sea at sunset sitting at La Gondola.
Mid-Autumn moon festival. I had to show a picture of laterns.
A wall of dragons.
Pork chop burgers. Delicious!
A shot of the Ventian not very spectular from this side.
The Galaxy, one of the 3 big casinos/hotels right next to TIS.
Inside the Venetian. Feels like I'm in Europe or something.
Shopping under the clear blue sky. Okay fine that's not a real sky.
The Venetian really went all out to make you think you were in Europe.
Free mooncakes? Yes please.
Get in my belly!
Last weekend was spent eating out (what else is new?) and touring about the casinos that are literally next door to the school. Honestly, TIS is located in the most bizarre area. We are on the Macau University of Science and Technology campus, across the street are a couple of the biggest casinos in the world (probably bigger than the ones in Vegas), and one street over in the other direction is the Macau International Airport. Didn't get the chance to tour Old Taipa all too thorough as I'd hoped but as a consolation, I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon inside the Venetian, browsing the shopping area. There was definitely times during the afternoon where I forgot we were at a casino/hotel and thought we were at a shopping mall, it is that huge inside.
Our PD day was actually quite informative. As a student teacher, I would hear all the older teachers grumble about PD days but nobody at TIS seemed to be grumbling and most teachers found something useful during the many workshops during the day. The really exciting part of that day was our weekly teacher's supper club. This week we were at an Italian restaurant called La Gondola right up at the very southern tip of Coloane, Macau where we had not only great food and company but also a gorgeous beachfront sunset as well. It was my first time traveling Macau public transit as well and I only just realized just how convenient the buses really are. It will encourage me to frequent Coloane and Macau mainland more often now. Not to mention the price of public transportation was quite good compared to Canada.
Things in class really got kicked into high gear this week as I was piling on the quizzes and assignments for my kids this week. As much as they complain, I dread it more (even though I'm the one deciding these things) because no teacher, not even the staunchest most dedicated teacher can claim to enjoy marking. For me marking is bearable if students are doing well because I can fly through, dishing out check marks. But... I seriously bog down in "poor work" because I always feel the need to give feedback about corrections and I can never leave alone errors in students work. Let's just say this is going to be a tedious weekend.
I also started coaching the tennis team this week. Some students just want to learn, others wanted to play competitive in the Macau school tournament at the end of October. All in all it means a lot of additional commitments I have to invest in. Regardless I love it because it gives me a chance to interact with the kids in a different way. I was exhausted after the first practice already though. I'm going to have to involve myself less with the playing part in these practices, so hopefully the tennis learners can pick things up quickly. There will be 3 practices a week on top of weekly staff meetings (we have A LOT of meetings at TIS, don't believe me ask anyone who's ever worked here), and 3 a week tutoring sessions for a gr. 12 student in biology and perhaps pure math as well. I'm definitely not looking forward to tutoring pure math, it's honestly been awhile since I've needed to solve logarithmetic equations that complicated.
Despite all of the hard work, I find that an unspoken motto of the teachers at TIS is that we work hard but we have to play just as hard. On thursday, we had a staff volleyball game. I LOVE volleyball but was honestly a little rusty having not played in months. The teachers at the school (no offense to them) don't quite provide the same level of challenge as the people I used to play pickup games at Queen's with the last few years. Still though, I love volleyball no matter the skill level because I find even the casual players can really get a lot of enjoyment out of it. I'm really starting to look forward to the teacher vs. students games upcoming to help our volleyball teams (first year TIS has volleyball teams) get ready for their tournament. A bunch of us went out to a hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant afterwards. Apparently it has a great reputation with foreigners to Macau and I will say that the food there was AMAZING! It definitely warrants another visit, and soon.
The other noteworthy outing of the week was to hang out with the kids from youth group at my church for the first time. When I walked in, my mouth was practically on the floor. Practically half the kids were kids I taught at school, and all of them were from TIS. Even the other two youth group helpers were teachers at TIS, both in middle school with me too. For those teachers reading this, you'll be aware that this poses a profession boundaries issue. These sort of things just don't happen anywhere in Canada. But Macau is so small that it really shouldn't have been a surprise. Despite an initial period of awkwardness, I really enjoyed the opportunity to have a more relaxed sort of set of interaction with my students (yes I let them call me Jason under the condition that they understand the appropriate title to address me during school). All my kids are amazing kids (despite possessing limitless amounts of energy) and I'm blessed and grateful to have the opportunity to get to know them more personably through youth group and extra-curriculars like tennis.
Okay I think I've literally told you everything that's happened this week. As I mentioned I have a mountain of marking to do (yay!... not!) so I better get cracking. Here are some pictures to amuse you with in the mean time. See you next week!
Getting Hit by Culture Moment: Another teacher (who is white) and myself got into a cab last week. He used Mandarin to say we wanted to be dropped off at different locations and told the driver his stop. I followed up telling the driver (in English) my location. The cab driver didn't understand me so I had to describe where I wanted to be dropped off (with the help of the other teacher) in Mandarin. Biggest language fail of my life and I will forever remember (and laugh about) that moment.
Teacher's Supper Club this week at La Gondola in Coloan.
The Venetian really went all out to make you think you were in Europe.
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Week 2
So week 2 has come and gone and as of yet I don't feel completely overwhelmed. But the storm is on the horizon. This week, things started to settling back more into a regular routine. The students didn't seem as lost as they were at times last week and we were really starting to get into the real content of the course.
Week 2 passed by much like week 1 did, although there were still a few firsts. Got a chance to see some students from other grades when I was scheduled for afterschool playground supervision. I'll be honest, I felt like I was back at camp, based on the types of conversations I would be having with the kids and the ways I would interact with them. The other teachers made playground supervision duty sound like it was going to be rough but I actually rather enjoyed interacting with the younger students (could have done without the profuse amounts of sweating while standing outside under the sun).
Week 2 also presented a first opportunity to meet with the parents of the students during curriculum night. While certainly not as tense a situation as parent-teacher interviews, I was cautious about the evening as some parents (especially well-endowed, high achieving ones) would be pushy in trying to get their kids to do even better than they already are in class, despite it being really early in the year. However, seeing as how most students come from very affluent families, it was good to see that there seems to be a lot of support coming from the students homes to ensure that they will succeed academic throughout the year, which I'm sure can't be said for students from all other schools.
The rest of the week was fairly straightforward although we tried out a few demos in science and I took the students to the labs for the first time. In the time I took all the classes to the labs, the students ONLY managed to break 3 test tubes, which is not too bad considering that some students (boys especially) can be a little rowdy when it comes to experiential education in the labs.
The first couple of weeks have kept me pretty busy with teaching and I haven't had a lot of time to involve myself with the leisurely aspects of living abroad. However, I've still periodically gotten a chance to sample the various types of cuisine within Macau. In fact, some of the teachers at the school have a weekly supper club where we go together to try out a well received restaurant every week. The first couple of restaurants that we've tried out have been amazing and I'm looking forward to more restaurants in the coming weeks. I recently also had a chance to check to an area called Old Taipa as well. It was really only a quick walkabout, but I intend to head back there very shortly to check out the area more thoroughly very soon. I promise to bring my camera next time and give you guys a little preview soon.
This upcoming week will be shorten thanks to the mid-autumn moon festival (we even got a box of free moon cakes from the school) and a PD day right after that. But I said that things will be getting busier as I will be starting to coach tennis and I start tutoring a student in grade 12 biology. This is on top of the fact that we'll be having 2 quizzes next week in math and an assignment due back to me for science. I'd better not squander anymore time this long weekend, so that will be all for this entry. See you all next week!
Week 2 passed by much like week 1 did, although there were still a few firsts. Got a chance to see some students from other grades when I was scheduled for afterschool playground supervision. I'll be honest, I felt like I was back at camp, based on the types of conversations I would be having with the kids and the ways I would interact with them. The other teachers made playground supervision duty sound like it was going to be rough but I actually rather enjoyed interacting with the younger students (could have done without the profuse amounts of sweating while standing outside under the sun).
Week 2 also presented a first opportunity to meet with the parents of the students during curriculum night. While certainly not as tense a situation as parent-teacher interviews, I was cautious about the evening as some parents (especially well-endowed, high achieving ones) would be pushy in trying to get their kids to do even better than they already are in class, despite it being really early in the year. However, seeing as how most students come from very affluent families, it was good to see that there seems to be a lot of support coming from the students homes to ensure that they will succeed academic throughout the year, which I'm sure can't be said for students from all other schools.
The rest of the week was fairly straightforward although we tried out a few demos in science and I took the students to the labs for the first time. In the time I took all the classes to the labs, the students ONLY managed to break 3 test tubes, which is not too bad considering that some students (boys especially) can be a little rowdy when it comes to experiential education in the labs.
The first couple of weeks have kept me pretty busy with teaching and I haven't had a lot of time to involve myself with the leisurely aspects of living abroad. However, I've still periodically gotten a chance to sample the various types of cuisine within Macau. In fact, some of the teachers at the school have a weekly supper club where we go together to try out a well received restaurant every week. The first couple of restaurants that we've tried out have been amazing and I'm looking forward to more restaurants in the coming weeks. I recently also had a chance to check to an area called Old Taipa as well. It was really only a quick walkabout, but I intend to head back there very shortly to check out the area more thoroughly very soon. I promise to bring my camera next time and give you guys a little preview soon.
This upcoming week will be shorten thanks to the mid-autumn moon festival (we even got a box of free moon cakes from the school) and a PD day right after that. But I said that things will be getting busier as I will be starting to coach tennis and I start tutoring a student in grade 12 biology. This is on top of the fact that we'll be having 2 quizzes next week in math and an assignment due back to me for science. I'd better not squander anymore time this long weekend, so that will be all for this entry. See you all next week!
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Students, take out your notebook and copy down this note
Hi All,
When last I checked in with you all I was a day away from starting life as a teacher. Well I'm glad to say that I have managed to survive the first week and definitely came out better through the experience.
The first day of school is always met by some nervous excitement. I mean by everyone, teachers, parents, and students alike. Having gone through it before doesn't really dull the experience and I could tell that everybody was feeling that same nervous excitement that I was. As my homeroom class trickled in for the first class of the day on Monday it made me smile because I knew that for the first time, these were MY students and I had the chance to really make a difference in their lives ahead. I was a little nervous at first, but who isn't on their first day of anything. Thankfully though, I think the students were all a little apprehensive as well, since being in grade 7 meant that they were starting middle school, something a touch different from elementary school for them.
As the day got started and my classes filed through, I was just feeling really positive about the whole experience. When I would see the bright faces of the students, I can't help but feel that with a smile and a positive attitude for learning, that these kids could achieve anything. Of course you're all thinking that this is very poetic and overly simplistic but seeing them there in front of me sincerely made me feel that way. Not that I'm applying a standard for other teachers, but I feel as though you need to hold onto this kind of a belief if you want to be an influential teacher.
So far I've made it sound like the first week has been a breeze. It has most certainly NOT been a breeze. Teaching (especially the first year of teaching) is a LOT of hard work. There's no easy way around it and if you aren't swamped as a first year teacher, something is amiss. For the record, I haven't left school before 5:00pm the entire week. The grade 7s are still very dependent and all throughout the week I've needed to explicitly tell to write things down in their agendas or I had answer questions I've previously stated more than once already. I still love my students to bits despite the nuances of being in school. Also som,etimes as a middle school teacher there are times when I feel like I'm one part teacher one part parent (a good learning experience for the future). I've managed to keep atop of things so far, but soon I'll be inundated by grading, extra-curriculars, and a whole stack of meetings.
A few small hiccups aside (like the fact that there aren't enough math or science textbook for all the students and it'll be the end of OCTOBER until the new shipment comes in) the school and community of staff, students, and parents has been amazing. Working at an international school is really a neat and worthwhile experience. I have students from all over the world and each of them brings some unique life experience to the classroom with them. Despite the inevitably challenges and difficulties ahead I'm finally confident that the choice to come start my teaching career abroad in Macau was the right one.
There's way more that's happened during the week that I have time to tell you all about unfortunately. I have lessons to prepare and you have better things to do with your life than read my blog so that's all I'll give you for now. Check back again next week and I'll give you an update about meeting students' parents for the first time for curriculum night and some other things I've been up to.
P.S. If you were wondering how small Macau really is, I've run different TIS teachers all weekend (asides from the ones I arranged to meet with) and I saw my students at the grocery store and at church. Remember I've only been teaching for a week. At this rate I'll meet my whole class before Christmas.
When last I checked in with you all I was a day away from starting life as a teacher. Well I'm glad to say that I have managed to survive the first week and definitely came out better through the experience.
The first day of school is always met by some nervous excitement. I mean by everyone, teachers, parents, and students alike. Having gone through it before doesn't really dull the experience and I could tell that everybody was feeling that same nervous excitement that I was. As my homeroom class trickled in for the first class of the day on Monday it made me smile because I knew that for the first time, these were MY students and I had the chance to really make a difference in their lives ahead. I was a little nervous at first, but who isn't on their first day of anything. Thankfully though, I think the students were all a little apprehensive as well, since being in grade 7 meant that they were starting middle school, something a touch different from elementary school for them.
As the day got started and my classes filed through, I was just feeling really positive about the whole experience. When I would see the bright faces of the students, I can't help but feel that with a smile and a positive attitude for learning, that these kids could achieve anything. Of course you're all thinking that this is very poetic and overly simplistic but seeing them there in front of me sincerely made me feel that way. Not that I'm applying a standard for other teachers, but I feel as though you need to hold onto this kind of a belief if you want to be an influential teacher.
So far I've made it sound like the first week has been a breeze. It has most certainly NOT been a breeze. Teaching (especially the first year of teaching) is a LOT of hard work. There's no easy way around it and if you aren't swamped as a first year teacher, something is amiss. For the record, I haven't left school before 5:00pm the entire week. The grade 7s are still very dependent and all throughout the week I've needed to explicitly tell to write things down in their agendas or I had answer questions I've previously stated more than once already. I still love my students to bits despite the nuances of being in school. Also som,etimes as a middle school teacher there are times when I feel like I'm one part teacher one part parent (a good learning experience for the future). I've managed to keep atop of things so far, but soon I'll be inundated by grading, extra-curriculars, and a whole stack of meetings.
A few small hiccups aside (like the fact that there aren't enough math or science textbook for all the students and it'll be the end of OCTOBER until the new shipment comes in) the school and community of staff, students, and parents has been amazing. Working at an international school is really a neat and worthwhile experience. I have students from all over the world and each of them brings some unique life experience to the classroom with them. Despite the inevitably challenges and difficulties ahead I'm finally confident that the choice to come start my teaching career abroad in Macau was the right one.
There's way more that's happened during the week that I have time to tell you all about unfortunately. I have lessons to prepare and you have better things to do with your life than read my blog so that's all I'll give you for now. Check back again next week and I'll give you an update about meeting students' parents for the first time for curriculum night and some other things I've been up to.
P.S. If you were wondering how small Macau really is, I've run different TIS teachers all weekend (asides from the ones I arranged to meet with) and I saw my students at the grocery store and at church. Remember I've only been teaching for a week. At this rate I'll meet my whole class before Christmas.
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