The week of the 12th, although short was full of fun and surprises. The three day weeks can be a bit more hectic than the normal weeks, as we try to fit everything in. On Monday I taught the children the new words, and tried to fit Show & Tell in. I managed to get everyone in, but it left only a short time in the mornings for an introduction to new ideas like how to make “I am / I’m “sentences. We had some work on the alphabet, and learned how to thank and be thanked by people.

During P.E. we had basketball dribbling skills, where I had the students bouncing balls and jogging. I used our new footballs for this, as we have 25 of them, enough for each student to have a ball. Footballs don’t bounce as easily as Basketballs do, but they suit our purpose just fine. We continued this during the last week and added in bounce passing for the student to practice bouncing the ball back and forth to each other.

In science, we discussed the Energy of Light, and how to stop light. We did experiments with using different materials to change the light or stop it altogether dung the following week.

We learned how to make some basic strokes in calligraphy class, where I was able to test out a couple of my own strokes to the amusement of the students and Mr. Liu. Students are getting used to how to properly hold pencils and paper, which is a skill most of us don’t think about anymore, we just do it. But when your 6 years old, learning to write in any language, these things don’t come naturally to all.

In Baseball class the student got to do some batting practice, along with some base running. Everyone had a turn, including me. It was a lot of fun.

In Art class on the 13^th the children made Lanterns for their Lantern Festival. I didn’t get to see these until they were completed, but they looked lovely.

On Wednesday the 14^th, the children got to wear Red, Orange, and Brown colors instead of their Uniform. This was to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival, They also got to make mooncakes! I can say I had never made mooncakes before that day, it was a lot of fun.

No matter how much fun that week was this past week made me more excited. This week, our English Library arrived for the back of the room, the children immediately took a liking to the books I chose, and spent time sharing stories with each other. They were so enthusiastic about the books, I had to create a class job for 2 students each do to tidy the class library, because the books would get so messed up, they would end up on the floor.

And speaking of jobs, I posted some class job signs on the front of the class, alternating the student names each day. They include so far: fetching the Yogurt for the class break, tidying the library, tidying the art section of the room, and cleaning the board. I didn’t imagine I’d have to put names on these, but we would actually have student argue over the right to do these jobs during the break time before, so I had to assign them just to keep the peace.

This week, the children start using their tablet computers to reinforce classes, they have only had the one class with them so far, but we talked about basic safety, and usage manners. They got to look over the programs, I need to set up each and every tablet on the classroom Wi-Fi next week. I had spent about 2 weeks installing the programs, but since I did it during the children’s other class periods they all have the office Wi-Fi set up. I will make available all the programs the children use for the parents to install for practice at home, if each family is interested.

We learned about how different people come from different places, and that different is not just normal, but good for the world. We talked about the countries we had been to, or are from, and colored flags from some of these countries, and areas.

We have had not 1 but two field trips. Thursday we went to Tiananmen Square, as an introduction to Chinese culture and Community for Social Studies class. We had a good time, if tiring. There was a lot of tourists there that day, both Chinese and foreign. The foreign tourists spoke to the kids and took pictures, the Chinese tourists, just took pictures. We had a lot of people ask how old the class was. And I tried to convince the student that my home was in the Forbidden City, but of course they were too smart for that.

Friday we went to learn about organic farming, and agriculture. We took a tour of a farm, just outside the city, they showed us how they grow the fruit and vegetables without chemicals. They let the children pick carrots, peanuts, pears, and some leafy vegetables, that I’m not sure of the English name for. Then the children got to play on an old style wooden playground. It was a lot of fun.

One of the complications of running an American Program in a Chinese school is that the students still have a lot of activities that are cross-program. Ceremonies, Morning exercises, and some subject classes require that the kids understand some of the commands in Chinese. This week also began the registration for after school clubs and classes. We met with a lot of new subjects, and teachers this week, and got the kids addicted to Hide and Seek at lunches.

Lining up, crossing arms, and standing at attention during ceremonies, these are things that I had actually forgotten I’d need to teach the kids the Chinese words for. Where I had been teaching the English commands for these things, I needed someone to teach the Chinese terms. Luckily I have 2 ladies on my team, Ms. Zhao, and Ms. Qian, who knew that the kids would need these, and taught them for me. I’m still trying to remember the Chinese words myself for these and it is nice for someone else to help out.

Luckily, another member of my team, Shirley, took on the responsibility of registration for the clubs and activities. On Friday Morning, she had no idea about any of the programs and she deftly learned everything she could about the available classes, to help the children and their parents choose appropriate clubs.

The kids had a slew of new classes Including their first Show and Tells. Most of the students took the opportunity to tell us all about their Holidays. Almost all of them did it in Chinese, this week, which is fine, as standing in front of your class and talking for 2 minutes is a terrifying experience for most. We got to see a lot of cool things brought in from photos of their holidays to a basket of cloth flowers, to a bottle of Salt water from the sea. It was quite entertaining.

On Monday lunch time I played Hide and Seek with the children, but there seems to be some cultural differences between Canadian Hide and Seek and Chinese Hide and Seek. In Canada, 1 person is it. He counts, then tries to find the others. If they can get to the starting spot they are safe. The following game the first person found and tagged is the next “it”. The kids decided that if I caught them, they should catch people, and try to drag them over to me to catch the next person. I think we need to spend some time clarifying and talking about why this is a bad idea.

The kids had art and musical classes, and sports this week for the first time. They warmed up to the piano, singing and art teacher well. They learned how to handle rhythm and pace in a musical setting. They made hand painting pictures in Art Class. Some of the kids were not quite sure how to behave around Mr. Liu our Calligraphy teacher, but I believe they got off to a good start. They played baseball, football, and went swimming. The children got to start a lot of cool sports this week.

We spent some time on lunch-room etiquette, and how to be polite to the staff in the cafeteria. The students will be picking up their own lunches from the lunch line next week and we wanted to be sure there wasn’t going to be any difficulty for them. We shall find out this week.

The APS (American Primary School) Week began on Monday, with the children coming in to meet us, get their school uniforms, and learn some of the basic class etiquette. The kids were excited, we were excited, and we had a great time all round. We started out with a thing I like to do called Attendance by answer. I leave a question on the board, with 2 or 3 answers, that day was a simple “How are you?” with “Happy” / “Sad” / “Scared” choices. I wanted to let the children know that it’s ok to feel scared, and a few signed their names on that side. Nobody was sad to be in school, so this is good. We then moved out to the field for a game of “Red light / Green light.” Which was a lot of fun. We introduced the class theme of Super heroes, and discussed that then we took pictures with Super hero masks. Before we knew it the children were on their way home with their new uniforms, around 12:30.

Tuesday We held the Opening Ceremony of our new program, again half a day only. The ceremony was lovely. The children entered the multi-function hall (Our School theatre/ lecture hall) dressed in their new formal uniforms. They all looked lovely, and they were given celery, a symbol for hard work, and a packet of lotus seeds, a symbol for bitterness (as studying cannot always be sweet), they came up to the stage where the APS teachers: Ms. Shirley, Ms. Qian, Ms. Zhao, and myself were accompanied by Ms. Peng, our Director, Mr. Zhao, the principle of ZhongDe School and Ms. Caroline Huang, an American advisor to our American Programs (Middle school and Primary). They gave us their vegetation, and we painted red dots on their forehead to symbolize the opening of wisdom in the child. After this we collected some letters that the parents wrote to the children, explaining their hopes and dreams for their child. Children were given the opportunity to respond to the letters, and one mother, Isabella’s Mother, read her letter aloud for us all to hear. The ceremony was a very touching ceremony filled with symbolism, hope and joy.

We then took a break for a day to prepare for the first Full day of school. When we came back on Thursday, we had a second ceremony to attend. This time the opening ceremony for the entire school. All the students of the school filled the soccer field, and watched as the middle school students paraded around in camouflaged t-shirts and shorts. They heard different faculty give speeches, and they saluted the flag as it was raised. Various parents lined up along the school fence to watch and wave at their child to show support. I would love to explain what the different speeches where about, but I only understood one, and that was from my friend and co-worker, Mr. Alan Kelly. Alan, like me, is a grade 1 teacher this year. He welcomed everyone back to school and raised spirits by making everyone look forward to the wonderful year we will have.

By time Friday came around, everyone had calmed down a bit more, and settled into their spots. We introduced the rest of their teachers, Ms. Ann the math teacher, Mr. Liu the Skating teacher, and Mr. Gu, the football teacher. We worked on how to understand lessons, and what how to work together. For most of the day. We discussed names of different books, safety, free-time activities and how important it is to name their things, and be honest when finding other people’s things.

Throughout the week, the students learned a lot, and I learned a lot, from my wonderful team, and I have faith that we will have a wonderful year.