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.