Gettin' there...

Working at Singapore International has been absolutely wonderful so far. I have two classes of 9 year olds, about 23 students per class. The morning class is far better behaved and, not trying to toot my own horn here or anything, are completely obsessed with me. I warrant this reaction to the fact that their current teacher, Alex, is considered the head disciplinarian of the school. So I come in with this "good cop, bad cop" routine and the students are so incredibly eager to do whatever I say, while Alex has to scream and shout and punish the students who neglect to behave so nicely for him. I've found that positivity works a whole lot better than the other side of the spectrum... then again... doesn't it always? As for my afternoon class, they are quite the handful. With about 14 boys and very few girls, keeping the boys in line is probably my biggest hurdle of the workday. I've been doing my best to stay nice, but make it apparent that I'm no pushover (taking away friday free-play time works very well without having to resort to yelling).
I am also in charge of teaching Art to the students; the Vietnamese teacher aides usually help with this part by coming in with prepared ideas and materials, but of course our teacher aide was sick today. It is Women's Day on Monday (which is really a sight to see, streets are lined with men buying flowers and women walk around holding huge bouquets) so I thought it would be good to make cards for mothers, grandmothers, or any other special women in the students' lives. I added a twist by showing them how to make pop-up cards, something they have never seen, and were all very eager to try. I actually ended up receiving 4 cards from the girls in the class, which are all incredibly adorable. When I locate some tape I will hang them up in my apartment.

I know the week has been short (a whole 2 days...) but I am really looking forward to Friday. These kids wear me out! But I know that I'm doing a good job, and after having seen some other teachers in action, feel totally confident that I can do an incredible job teaching here. Woohoo! When Monday rolls around, I will be teaching actual classes without having to be second to one of the men that have been substituting for the class ever since the original teacher pretty much left "on holiday" and never came back. The school was in a bad place after the teacher completely ditched 50 students, and I definitely applied at the perfect time. Timing is everything!!!