China: Student Teaching Abroad

Today’s schedule was WAY more relaxed than yesterday’s. On Thursdays, Daniel teaches the last two periods of the day. So, the time before that is mostly spent writing lessons or preparing materials for other activities.

Since Daniel was not teaching at about 8:45am, I had the opportunity to observe an open ESL class in Kindergarten. I was really excited about this to see instruction compared to Kindergarten classes I have seen previously in America. The lesson was teaching students about the parts of the body. The lesson started by having students stand in a circle and roll a big dice. The number on the dice correlated to pictures of body parts on the board with a word bank of the written words. The student would match the written word to the picture of the number that they rolled. Students seemed to really enjoy this activity and I thought it was really good how she got them up and engaged. A common behavior strategy that I have seen in the classrooms here is making the students in teams and giving points to teams for correct answers, sitting still, and being quiet. (Very different from what is done in American schools). After this activity, students worked on a page in a workbook where they had to match body parts with the spoken word by drawing a line. This was very teacher directed and it didn’t seem like the students had an opportunity to try on their own without so much assistance. Lastly, the class played a modified version of Simon Says by having one student be the “teacher” and tell other students which part of their body to point to. Overall, I felt that the content was too simple for the students. They seemed to grasp the concept very quickly and could have benefitted by having a challenge activity.

After watching this class, the other girls and I met with a teacher from the high school. Her name was Maria and she teaches students grades 10-12. It was so refreshing to hear her speak because she had such a positive perspective on her time here at BRS. She spoke about how much she has loved working here and how she has formed such amazing relationships with her students. We also were able to question her about the Chinese culture’s perspective on kids going to college, mental health, and education in general. Maria was so helpful in helping us understand the goal of the students in the high school. During our conversation, some of her students walked by and said hello to us and she introduced each of them with a smile. This was a new perspective to us because we have been working through hearing the complications of the PYP program and the frustrations the teachers are experiencing with jumpstarting a new program. We talked with Maria for about an hour and a half and then returned to our respective classrooms. During our conversation I was able to stop by the coffee shop to get a Carmel Macchiato! It was really pretty before I put the lid on it so I tried to take a picture but it really woke me up for the day!!

Right before lunch I observed the math being taught in our class which is taught mostly in Mandarin. This teacher does a great job of incorporating English into her instruction. During the lesson, students were learning about counting and more or less which is very similar to what we worked on in Kindergarten in the US, but here they were using much bigger numbers. It was cool to be able to understand parts of the lesson since some was in English!

Question during math class

After math class, we all went to lunch and discussed some of the things we have been noticing about the school here as a whole and how it compares to the public and private schools back home. After lunch, Daniel informed me that the math teacher needed to switch periods with us because she wouldn’t be here tomorrow. So, we only taught one period – the last period of the day. We finally got to the last period and the students worked on their final product for the handwriting competition. After turning them in, Daniel chose the top 5. After students were finished, they worked on decorating their cards for the remainder of the period.

After school, Kelsi and I went to dinner and then headed back to the apartment to FaceTime with our professor, Dr. Wiseman. It was nice to catch up with her and discuss some of our opinions on the trip as a whole. To wrap up the night, Kelsi and I did some planning for the weekend to determine how to get to the Summer Palace, Art District, cooking class, and Beijing Zoo, and plan out how much the entrance fees would be. I am so happy that tomorrow is Friday and I am looking forward to our last weekend of exploring!

Wednesdays are always the busiest days in the school. On Wednesdays, Daniel teaches morning circle, and then together we teach from 10am – 12pm straight. Then after lunch, we attend two meetings – 1st grade team and English team – each for about an hour and a half, which puts us at the end of the school day (5pm).

Today in POI, we introduced signs and symbols to the students. The students took a pretest yesterday in which they drew pictures of signs and symbols that they have seen before. From this assessment, it seemed that the students were familiar with signs but not as familiar with symbols. During the lesson, we emphasized the fact that signs tell us to do something while symbols can represent many different things. After we introduced the concepts, we told the students that we are going to explore with signs and symbols. To do that, we would walk around the school in groups with iPads, taking pictures of signs and symbols that we see. Prior to going we reviewed the expectations of how to use the iPads. The kids were very excited! I loved this activity because it got the kids out of the classroom and engaged them in searching for signs and symbols as well as explaining why it is a sign or why it is a symbol. Daniel and I held the iPads and gave the students turns on using them. The whole time we were walking around the kids just kept saying “I see, I see!!” It was so cute and heartwarming to see the students so excited about an activity. Not to mention, it was beautiful outside so we even got to be out in the sunshine during the lesson!

After the POI lesson, we moved on to English where the students would be finishing their cards for the students in America. I was so excited about this part because I got to lead the lesson entirely by myself. I stood at the front and explained how we write letters and what they would write on each side of the card. I assigned each student to a student in my Kindergarten class at Underwood and showed the students a picture of them. They were so excited and said “He looks cool!’ or “She is very beautiful.” I also went around and took pictures of each of the students at BRS so that I could share a picture of them with their pen pal at Underwood. The cards are still a work in progress – they need to have more time to decorate and color. But, I am so proud of how hard they worked and how excited they are to share this connection with students in America.

We took a break for lunch and then after we attended a 1st grade team meeting. During the meeting, the team discussed the goals for the unit “how we organize ourselves,” and planned out some lessons for the next week. The team also discussed some behavior problems that were occurring in the specialists’ classes and how they can help fix the problems. After this meeting, we attended a meeting for all English teachers. During this meeting the teachers discussed some details about handwriting week. They also discussed some curriculum planning ideas. Currently, the school does not have a set curriculum that they are following in English and they are attempting to find one that suits their needs as a PYP school with students who are English language learners. The school currently uses AERO standards but are expressing that it is not effectively supporting their English language learners. The other NC State student teachers and I suggested the use of Letterland and Words Their Way as programs that could benefit their school and their English language learners. We will be putting together a presentation that shows the pros and cons of the programs for their school. I am excited that we are informing other teachers about the information we have learned and our methods courses that could possibly better their students and school as a whole.

The rest of the night Kelsi and I chatted about the experience we have had here and how education is similar and different from what we have experienced at home. Tomorrow we are going to be getting our plans ready for our last weekend to explore China! As of right now, we are planning on exploring The Summer Palace, taking a cooking class to make hand-pulled noodles, and seeing the giant pandas at the Beijing Zoo!

Today was a great day in the classroom and probably the most fun I have had since the day when I introduced myself to the kids. Tuesday’s schedule is really nice because we get to teach 3 periods in a row. There were 2 periods of POI class, then exercise time, and then 1 period of English.

The kids had a couple of things to finish up on their reflections from the last unit and then Daniel reviewed the homework from the night before (working on the long a sound – ai). Then, it was my time to shine. Daniel allowed me to lead the class in a lesson on writing letters and making cards for the students in my class in America. First, I explained to them that they needed to answer the questions that our friends were asking. So, to modify the lesson I wrote out sentence stems on the board where the students would fill in the blanks.

• My name is ________ and I am in Grade 1 Class 2.
• I like to eat _________.
• My favorite color is __________.
• China is very big and it looks like a chicken. (This one was completely their idea)

After I wrote each question, I gave students the opportunity to share their answers with me. They did so by saying the whole sentence which helped them practice their English. I was proud that during my lesson Amy and Nika did very little translation and the students were understanding!!

Next, I helped the students brainstorm some foods and colors that they could choose. I did this so that they could see how these words were spelled. The students helped me sound out the words and write them on the board as I went. When I asked the students about foods they liked, they kept saying foods that we have in America like pizza and ice cream so I had to frame the question as: “what do you like to eat at school.” Then students began saying rice and noodles. After we brainstormed, the students made a rough draft in their handwriting books in order to practice writing neatly (practice for handwriting competition on Thursday). Some students finished and were asked to then translate the English to Chinese characters. Those who did not finish in class (most students) were to finish for homework. I can’t wait to see their writing when they bring it back to school tomorrow.

Today it was rainy and cold so the students could not go outside for exercise time. So, the students practiced their Chinese Taekwondo in the classroom all together. This routine is something that the students are required to do once they move out of the primary grades. They are supposed to be practicing the routine at least once a week to prepare for when they get older but it often gets pushed aside due to other events. Enjoy the video below of the students doing the Chinese exercise!

After class was over, I headed to lunch. They had pizza today and it was actually pretty good! I was pleasantly surprised. The rest of the afternoon consisted of meeting with the behavior management team to discuss ideas for a program to implement in the PYP school. After the meeting we went to the cafeteria to eat dinner. Yesterday we found out how to order from the noodle soup bar of the cafeteria and it was delicious so I decided to get that for dinner. You basically put all of the raw noodles and vegetables and tofu into the plastic bowl and then the chef cooks it in broth and calls your order number when it is ready. It is so yummy and was perfect for a cold rainy day!

After dinner we went back to the apartment to relax and get some miscellaneous work done for the rest of the evening. It was nice to be able to come home and relax for a while today. Not everyday we have time to do that! Today was a short post, not too much going on but I am glad I was able to get more involved in my classroom and lead the kids on a lesson. Tomorrow is a long day with teaching and meetings so we will see how it goes! Goodnight from Beijing 😊

I can’t believe we are already beginning week 3 of 4 in China! Time has really flown by! This week in school we are starting a new unit called “How We Organize Ourselves.” We will be using signs and symbols to help students understand how our world is organized.

Since today was Monday, it was Daniel’s turn to do circle time. The kids sat on the carpet and Daniel reviewed the characters, setting, and major events in the story they were reading called “Bad Jack Fox.” The morning started off well for a Monday. I still don’t quite understand the expectation for circle time because most of the students are sitting on the carpet while others are moseying around the room or just coming in for the day. Morning meeting in America is much more structured in that all students are required to sit quietly in their spot on the carpet until it is time to share. This is not the same expectation here, as the kids get up whenever they please and chat with their friends while Daniel attempts to talk.

The kids also attended the Monday tradition of the Flag Raising Ceremony. All classes joined again on the playground to watch the China flag be raised on the flag pole. This went a lot more smooth than last week, the kids were more under control – probably due to their poor performance the previous week.

When the students returned from the playground it was time for English handwriting. Since it is handwriting week, the students will practice writing one sentence in their notebooks. The sentence read “My name is _______ and I am in Grade 1 Class 2.” The students will practice writing this sentence on their four-lines writing paper and then perform their final piece for the competition on Thursday. Then, their handwriting will be judged and the top 5 in each class will receive a prize.

As a part of handwriting week, I had an idea for a lesson! My students from Underwood Elementary in Raleigh, NC had made cards for my students in China. So today in English class, I showed the students at BRS the cards that were made for them. They were so excited to look at them and were a little unsure of what they said. I chose a few to read to the class and Amy helped translate. To practice their handwriting this week I thought it would be helpful to have the students practice their handwriting by making cards for my students in Raleigh! On one side of the card they will write in Chinese characters or pinyin and on the other side they will write in English! We didn’t have time for the students to start making the cards today but I introduced to them some questions that they would answer in their letters such as:

• What is your name?
• What is your favorite color?
• What do you like to eat?
• What is it like in China?

I am very excited for this lesson and I think the students in the US will be very happy to receive cards back from the students in China!

Reading cards

After this lesson, I went to another open ESL class to observe another teacher. It was a science lesson in 5th grade with a teacher named Grady. It was really cool. The kids were learning about seeds and how they grow into plants and then were talking about how plants have flowers which then create fruits. To start the lesson Grady played a video of pictures of flowers and the students had to choose one to draw on their paper. Then, they were to get with their team and group their flowers by characteristics such as color, shape, or size. Then, the students shared how they grouped their flowers. I loved this lesson and thought it flowed really well. One thing that I do appreciate about BRS is that they incorporate the arts very heavily in everything they do. They do a lot of drawing, singing, dancing, and painting in their daily lives. I think this really helps keep students engaged in the lessons.

After dinner we got to observe a class at 6pm in the middle grades. They follow the Middle Years Program (MYP) and their middle school is grades 5-10. The students in the class that we observed were in 9th grade, 15 years old, and were so incredibly well behaved and mature. And of course nearly all of them are taller than me! This was a history class and the students were learning about the American Civil War. The teacher, David, told us that he was going to set up the class in stations because they had a lot of content to cover in very little time. The class started by us (student teachers) introducing ourselves and listening to the instructions for the class. There were 5 stations set up in the room (reading, graphing, drawing, assessing, and sorting) all including information about the American Civil War. Luckily, we were knowledgeable about the topic so we were able to go around and help answer questions. The students also had iPads to help them look up anything they needed to during the class.

The students worked really well in groups and I was impressed to see how they wanted to continue working even after the bell rang for class to end. The one thing I find really neat about the students at BRS is that they all speak to each other in Mandarin but then write their answers and speak them aloud in English. I think that since they are bilingual, they are so much smarter and are able to form connections between topics quite easily.

After the class was over, we headed back to the apartment to rest for the night. Today was very laid back however, I am looking forward to the new week of learning and all of the awesome cards my students in China will create!

Today was definitely one of the most laid back days I have had since arriving in China. We went to bed at a decent hour last night but we were too exhausted to make any plans for the morning. We said we would wake up early to figure it out but ended up getting sucked into a deep sleep in the comfy hotel bed.

We went back and forth about what to do today because we needed to be at the airport around 2:30pm to check in for our flight back to Beijing at 4:30pm. We didn’t want to take a DiDi from the hotel to the city center and back again because it would be 45 minutes each way and we had already seen a lot of that area. So, we decided at 9am that we would call for a ~free~ shuttle from the hotel to the airport and then take the Maglev Train and metro to the French concession area of Shanghai. Great plan! So we thought…

We called down to the lobby to see when we could get a shuttle..the answer: 10:35am – a little later than we needed but it would do. Once we got on the shuttle and arrived at the airport, I thought we could go ahead and check into our flight so that we wouldn’t have to carry our bags around all day. We went to check in only to find out that we could only check into our flight 3 hours ahead. So, we went with plan B: bring our bags to the baggage storage center in the airport so we could go explore. We paid 20 RMB each to leave our bags until 2:25pm. Alright, although we had a few bumps in the road, we were determined to keep on with our plan to go to the French concession.

Next stop was to find the Maglev Train and buy tickets. We got to the ticket booth and found out that we could pay 80 RMB for a round trip! Nice! The Maglev Train reaches a top speed of 301 km/h so it helped us get to the metro a lot quicker than a normal train.

Once we reached the station, our next stop was to find the metro line 7. Easy task – so we thought. We walked around for about 15 minutes before even finding the line! Normally the metro is super easy for us to navigate but this one was spread out inside and outside and we struggled to find our way. At this point it was about 12:15pm and we would have to travel about 30 more minutes before even reaching the French concession. I started to get worried that we wouldn’t get back to the airport in time to pick up our luggage by the designated time. Kelsi was determined that we could get back in time but I was starting to feel really frustrated with the combination of heat (it was 80 degrees today), hunger, and passing of time. We finally found line 7 and bought a ticket to ride (4 RMB) but then decided it would be a smart idea to just head back to the airport. So, we did.

We got back on the Maglev and found our way to the terminal. We got back to the airport around 1pm and stopped at a McDonald’s and Starbucks to get some food and coffee. I made the mistake of getting a chicken sandwich – which I found out was super spicy after taking my first bite. We hung out in the Starbucks for about an hour. There was WiFi so we were able to download some shows to watch on the plane and catch up on blog posts and emails. We then left Starbucks around 2:15pm to get our bags and check into our flight.

After getting our bags, we went to the check in desk for our flight. In the process of getting our boarding passes, I was told that my luggage needed to be checked further before I could get on the plane. I suddenly got really nervous and sweaty. I went around the corner to a baggage check area where a police officer (who didn’t speak English) went through my bag. It turns out one of the gifts I got for Matt from Disney was making the sensor in the scanner go off. Everything turned out to be fine and I went to get my boarding pass.

We got through security and made our way down to our gate. By this time it was about 3pm so we still had about an hour to wait to board the plane. During this time Kelsi and I continued to catch up on blogs and social media while we still had WiFi.

Before we knew it, the plane started boarding! I was excited to see that this plane was a lot bigger and nicer than the plane we took from Nanyuan to Shanghai. There were many people on this flight but we had great seats with plenty of leg room. The flight was only about 2 hours but since it was during dinner time, they fed us a meal on the plane. Although our day wasn’t super fantastic, we had a great flight – unlike the one from Beijing to Shanghai. There was barely any turbulence and the seats had TVs on them with many newer movies.

A few hours later we reached Beijing and immediately noticed a temperature difference. Beijing is farther north than Shanghai so it was significantly colder outside. We got our bags and left the airport by calling a DiDi back to Beijing Royal School. By the time we arrived it was about 10pm – time for a shower and bed. Unfortunately, we didn’t end up doing a lot today but we figured it was worth it to sleep in a little (in a comfy bed) to rejuvenate our energy for the upcoming week. I would say the loss of our day exploring was well worth all that we did and accomplished while in Shanghai for the weekend.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared to death to travel to a different city in a whole other country this weekend. This experience has been unlike anything I have ever done before and I definitely feel like I have grown so much as a person and have taken a leap of faith each day to find new amazing adventures. As week 2 comes to a close, I think about all of the spectacular experiences I have had thus far on my trip. Here’s to beginning week 3..!

Wow! Shanghai is amazing!! Shanghai is the biggest city in China with a population of 24.5 million people!! Although the city is so large, I found it to be less stressful and more organized than life in Beijing. The city is much cleaner and the people move slower – there’s little pushing and shoving here. Nobody is sprinting to the subway and there are walk signs on the crosswalk which means no dodging traffic – unlike Beijing!! Where do I even begin…well we woke up at the hotel and Kelsi found this blog on Pinterest that gave an itinerary for “one perfect day in Shanghai.” It was indeed perfect!!

We took a DiDi about 40 mins to the City of God Temple in the Old City. The Old City is the heart and soul of ancient China where the culture and history is so rich. Once we arrived it was absolutely beautiful! There were a ton of people and a lot more Americans – and people who spoke and understood English. It was amazing to finally hear something we could understand! We stopped by the Starbucks to grab a coffee (only the best way to start our day). Then walked around the plaza to the City of God Temple. We had to cross a bridge with these gorgeous pink flowers and koi fish swimming in the water. It was a dream! Once we were in the temple we saw many people praying and giving offerings to the gods. People were also burning incense to worship the gods. It was beautiful. I’m so glad we got to see the rich culture of the Old City.

We crossed the Jiu Qu Qiao Bridge which is zig-zagged to protect against evil spirits. Across the bridge was the Yu Garden. This “Garden of Happiness” was built during the Ming Dynasty. Here there were beautiful gardens, ponds, windows, doors, and buildings. This part was one of my favorites because it was so peaceful and serene while walking around inside. Not to mention it was gorgeous outside – 73 degrees!

Flower detail on a wall in the garden

After we walked around the garden for a while, we walked to find somewhere to eat. We were starving at this point! We found a buffet style restaurant where you get a tray and choose a variety of foods. I will say, I don’t think this was my favorite meal. The rice boat in the middle of the tray was definitely the best thing we got.

After we ate, we walked to the People’s Square which was basically a huge park. Since it was nice outside, many people were hanging out playing card games and singing. It was really awesome to see people outside enjoying the space and weather. We sat down for a little not to give our feet a rest and then decided to walk to the Shanghai Planning Exhibition Center which was basically a huge museum about Shanghai. Inside the museum was a model of the city of Shanghai. It was extremely cool to look at and point to where we were on the model. This museum was really awesome because it talked about the plans the city has for growing until 2035. Just from this museum one can see how much more modern Shanghai is than Beijing.

At the top of this museum there was an observation deck on the 5th floor so we headed up to the top. We weren’t the highest up we could’ve been and we wanted to go to the new side of the city so we left the museum and got on the metro to go across the river to the New City. The New City was much more modern. It was like New York City on steroids!! There were so many people and the buildings were extremely tall! The skyline was absolutely beautiful and it was about 5:45pm at this point so the sun was beginning to set. We went to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the New City to see if we could sneak up to an observation deck for free. We slipped into the lobby and went up to the 87th floor. 87!!! And that wasn’t even the top! The skyline was absolutely breathtaking. We also took pictures of the Oriental Pearl which doubles as a observation deck and TV and Radio Broadcasting Center. We tried to go there to have dinner and view the skyline but the line for tickets was 2-3 hours long. Sneaking into the hotel was not the best view but it was an adventure I’ll never forget!

Oriental Pearl TV and Broadcasting Center

After seeing the New City, we were advised to head back across the river to the Old City in an area called The Bund, in order to see the lights across the river at night. The Bund was a strip of land where the buildings modeled those in England. It was so cool to see the mix of cultures just in this one area. The Bund was where the nightlife was lively!! It was about 7pm at this point so we headed to a restaurant recommended to us called The Captain. The restaurant was a Speakeasy and was hidden in the 6th floor of a building in The Bund. We could tell this was not a place that would feature local Chinese cuisine by the amount of tourists that were there. We looked at the menu and we were absolutely right! The vibe of the restaurant was also a lot more Western – the music was upbeat and the waiters all spoke English! I was able to get a delicious cocktail and Kelsi and I split a cheese pizza (there’s not much dairy in China), all accompanied by a spectacular view of the New City. It was nice to get off our feet, enjoy a cheesy pizza, and chat before heading out to the riverside.

Our CHEESE pizza!!

We were exhausted at this point but we headed to the riverside to get one last look of this amazing view. We took some pictures of the buildings in the Bund as well as some of the lights and buildings across the river. There were so many people on the bridge taking pictures and enjoying the cool breeze. It was so awesome to see so many people filled with joy from the view. There were even people dressed up (maybe for a formal dance) taking pictures by the water. This was the most perfect way to end our night in Shanghai!

One day to explore Shanghai’s city center was definitely not enough but we enjoyed seeing just how amazing this city is. It was so incredible to see how the culture of ancient China to modern day China was wrapped up into one city. We will be heading back to Beijing tomorrow around 5pm and I am so sad to leave this awesome city. I am so thankful for the opportunity of a long weekend and an amazing travel buddy (Kelsi) to have been able to live out this once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Entrance and ticket into Shanghai Disney!

Today was AMAZING!!! We started off the day by leaving the hotel at 7:00am. We ordered a DiDi to the park and arrived around 7:30. We found out that the hotel breakfast wasn’t free so we stopped into the Starbucks on the way into the park and grabbed a sandwich and a coffee. Even Starbucks tastes different in China but it was actually pretty good!

After we grabbed food, we headed to get in line for the park. These lines are CRAZY. There were literally a million people, some sprinting to get to the front of the line. Like I mentioned in a previous blog post, there is no such thing as personal space here. You have to push your way through the line or else you will get trampled. It doesn’t matter if you are in a spot, someone will push in front of you so you have to hold your ground.

Once we finally shoved our way into the park, we got our tickets and took a few pictures in front of the entrance. It was so amazing. I haven’t been to Disney in Florida since I was 11 or 12 so seeing everything in Disney again was so exciting!!

We walked through the entrance and immediately saw the giant castle in front of us. It was so beautiful and the sounds were amazing, with a band playing right in front. All of the signs had both Chinese and English on them so that was really helpful. The first ride we went on was the Pirates of the Caribbean. The animations and technologies used in this ride were so spectacular. You got in a boat and took a ride through looking at all of the scenes from the movie. It was awesome.

After the Pirate ride, we used the Disney app to see which rides had the shortest wait. We saw that the Winnie the Pooh ride had only a 20 minute wait so we headed over there towards the spinning honey pots! This ride was very similar to the spinning teacup ride at Disney in Florida.

After this ride, we walked through Toy Story land which was so so cute!! They had the characters up everywhere and the kids were going crazy. The decorations were so cute and I felt just like I was in the movie. We went to the slinky dog ride which was in Toy Story land. We didn’t realize that the line was going to be 50 minutes long and we were a little regretful after we rode the ride. It was more of a kids ride and we felt like we wasted time riding it.

After this ride we were starting to get hungry so we walked until we could find a food stand. I got a Mickey-shaped pretzel and Kelsi got a Mickey-shaped ice cream. The pretzel really just tasted like bread but Kelsi let me have a bite of her ice cream and it was delicious.

After grabbing a snack we went to another ride called the Crystal Grotto. The wait for this ride was about 40 minutes but it was so worth it!! We got on a boat and then went around to different platforms with water shows and flowers. My favorite part was Belle’s platform where she was dancing with the Beast.

After this ride we went to a Buzz Lightyear ride where you get inside and shoot the targets. This ride was really fun and interactive. Next up was the parade!! This was probably my favorite part of the day because we had a really great spot to watch the parade. We were right in front and we got to see all of the characters and floats. I was smiling from ear to ear during their whole parade. I loved it so much. Even though half of the songs were in Chinese, we could still sing along in English. It was amazing. I have many videos of the parade on my GoPro camera so I will share them when I get home!

After the parade we headed to a ride that had the longest wait times all day – as much as 160 minutes!! The ride was called the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We caught the line at the right time because now the wait time was at 60 minutes! We sprinted to the line and waited our turn. This roller coaster was more like ones you would see at Carowinds. It was fast and curvy with a few drops. It was pretty fun but definitely not worth more than a 60 minute wait!

We decided to grab another snack. This time it was what looked like a corn dog. People who know me also know that I love corn dogs. However, this did not taste like a corn dog in the States. The outside was fluffy and flaky. I was not a fan.

At this time it was starting to get dark and we had a fast pass for another one of the more popular rides called Tron. So, we headed to Tomorrowland where the ride was located. Tomorrowland was so awesome with all of the colored lights on. Definitely a part of the park that is more fun at night. We were on our way to get in line for Tron when we saw that there was a dance party happening. It was so fun to see everyone smiling and laughing. All of the little kids tried to jump in and dance too. It was great! After watching for a little bit, we got in line for Tron. The lighting in the ride was SO cool. The cars lit up and whipped around the curves very fast. The seats are like bikes so you are basically sitting on your stomach during the ride. It started off by counting down (in Chinese) and shot off into the LED lights. IT WAS AWESOME. Hands down the best roller coaster I have been on.

Once we finished the Tron ride, we had just enough time to catch the Jet Pack ride before going to the castle for the fireworks show. This ride wasn’t the best but it was still nice to sit down on the ride for a few minutes.

We headed over to the castle where everyone in the park was headed as well. It was INCREDIBLY crowded. We squeezed our way through to watch the fireworks and got stuck behind a ton of people. During the show it was really hard to see and the lady in front of us had her phone up in the air recording the whole time. It was ridiculous. The people in China are obsessed with their phones. Even more so than people in the States. If you walk around you will notice that the people are on their phone constantly. While they are walking, while they are waiting, while they are on rides. It is CRAZY.

By this time the park was beginning to close so we headed to a few shops to get some souvenirs on the way out. We ended up shopping until about 10:30pm. Our feet were in so much pain at this point from standing in lines all day. We were hungry but the only thing open was the Starbucks that we went to in the morning. So, we grabbed another sandwich and called a DiDi.

It was an awesome day in Disney and definitely worth the flight and money to come. It was really cool to see the culture and traditions imbedded in such a well-known place. Shanghai Disneyland is positively the happiest place in China!!

I’m writing this blog post from a very fluffy bed, unlike the one at our apartment in Beijing, which means WE MADE IT TO SHANGHAI!!!

I was pretty excited but also nervous to start the day today. I spent my morning packing my things instead of heading to breakfast in the cafeteria so no egg this morning (sorry mom). Today’s schedule in school was the Friday schedule which ends at 3:30pm and exercise time and nap time are taken out. On Fridays the kids have something called passive play time where they do yoga or another calming activity. Today, they decided to do a gallery walk with all of the classrooms to view each other’s artwork from the summative assessment. Each student laid out their artwork with their name on an envelope in front of it. Then, the classes switched rooms and drew a face on a piece of paper that showed what emotion they felt when looking at that person’s work. They then put the piece of paper inside the envelope and looked at someone else’s. I loved this activity and the kids seemed to enjoy it too. It was nice to see what each group of kids came up with to express their emotions in their artwork.

It was now time for lunch and I got to enjoy a very American meal of chicken fingers and fries! The cafeteria was empty because the high school students were finished with class at 11am (they are the ones who fill the cafeteria).

The last thing I did in the school day was meet a teacher from the middle school. We will have an opportunity to watch his class on Monday at 6pm. This will give us a chance to see how their middle school may be similar or different from ours. I am looking forward to it!

I ended up leaving school at 3:15pm to go back to the apartment and get my suitcase. Kelsi and I walked back to the front gate and ordered a DiDi. It was an incredibly long ride – we got in the car at 3:50 and didn’t get to the airport until 6:10!! It was still pretty affordable – about $32 USD. Our flight was at 7:20pm and we were so nervous that we were going to be late the whole time. Once we got to the airport everything was in Chinese. Luckily, the airport was really small so we didn’t have much room to get lost. We headed to check in and security and made our way to the gate.

Once we got on the plane, the flight was delayed about an hour. I had a middle seat which was no fun but we finally got in the air around 8:10pm. The flight was rough. The turbulence was really bad and I kept thinking we were gonna die on that plane. They were speaking Chinese the whole time and the only English I could understand was “extreme turbulence” and “don’t worry” which made me worry even more. We finally landed around 11pm and went to get our bags.

Two obstacles passed: making it to the airport and flying to Shanghai. Now for the next obstacle: getting the shuttle bus to our hotel. Luckily, this airport was an international one so more people spoke English. We got our bags and headed outside and a nice man told us where to wait for the shuttle. About 15 minutes later, it arrived! We got on the bus and headed to our hotel!!

The sign for our hotel!

Checking in was a breeze and we made our way to our room. When we walked in I was so pleased to see a giant fluffy bed!!! Since the beds we have been sleeping on in the apartment are as hard as plywood, it was nice to finally lay in a comfortable bed. Kelsi and I set our alarms for the morning and laid in bed. Tomorrow we will be at Shanghai Disneyland!!!! I can’t wait for all of the fun we will have tomorrow 😊 Goodnight!!

Today was another full day in the school. After getting ready for the day and eating breakfast in the cafeteria, I stopped by my classroom for circle time. Daniel read a book called Bad Jack Fox and discussed the setting and characters with the students. Just after circle time, I had the opportunity to go observe two ESL classes. They called these “open classes” because they were open to be observed by other teachers in the school. The first teacher we observed was named Dave who was teaching in a 2nd grade class. Dave was very high energy and the kids seemed to love him. He kept the students engaged throughout the lesson by splitting them up into three groups and giving each team points when they got the questions correct. The class was learning about the ‘sh’ sound and looked at words that contained the sound. Then, they had an opportunity to create their own sentence for the word. Many students started being silly and used Dave’s name in the sentence. I really enjoyed watching this class and wished that I could have been up there helping teach the lesson!

I haven’t gotten to do much teaching yet (this week consisted of assessments) so I miss being able to get up in front of kids and engage them in learning a lesson that I planned. I am hoping that next week I will be able to get more involved in lesson planning and teaching.

After Dave’s class, we went to a second ESL class in grade 3 with Juanita. Juanita’s class was a lot more calm and the students were learning about the concept of saving the Earth or protecting the environment. Throughout the lesson they discussed pollution and watched a video about land, air, and water pollution. This seemed to be more of a direct instruction model where the students were not as engaged in the lesson. At the end of the lesson the students had an opportunity to create a poster with their table group that informed how we can protect the Earth. It was interesting to see how once the students got to working together they went back to speaking Chinese rather than English.

After 3rd period was over, I headed back downstairs to my classroom to be with my students and teachers. It was now exercise time, so we headed downstairs and onto the big field. Today there was nothing that we were required to do during exercise time (Monday it was flag raising and yesterday it was PYP Assembly) so I was thinking that the students would have more time to play! Unfortunately, that was not the case. The students have something called Sports Day coming up where each class must march around the track to start the event. While marching, the students must be absolutely silent with their eyes and bodies facing front and standing up tall. On our way out to exercise time, our class (class 1.2) could not walk correctly. It took us about 5 minutes to get on the field and then the students had to practice marching up and down the field rather than playing during this free time. After they finally did it, we spent about 5 minutes playing an organized game and then the students had to line up again. Again this time, students still could not stand up straight and be quiet. So, we stayed on the field for about 10 minutes into the next period class – POI. Since Daniel’s class was next and the students had three more periods to finish up their projects, he wasn’t worried about coming in late from class. Just when I thought the students were doing a great job, I was told that it wasn’t good enough and that they had to stand outside and keep practicing until they got it. And so, we did.

The next three periods were dedicated to students finishing up their summative assessments for the unit they were working on. Students created dances, sang song, and created visual art forms like clay, painting, and writing. Although I think that some understood the purpose of this assessment, others did not and it was clear to see that they were playing with the materials rather than using them to express their emotions.

Our day concluded with two planning meetings – one for the first grade team and the other for English teachers. We all ate at the cafeteria for dinner and headed back to the apartment. Since the lunch breaks here are nearly 2 hours long, I went back to the apartment and put some clothes in the laundry. When I got home I had to take them out and hang everything up because we have washing machines but no dryers 😦 You don’t know how much you miss warm sweatshirts out of the dryer until you don’t have one!!

Tomorrow night we will be leaving for Shanghai!!! Tonight Kelsi and I were reviewing the travel plans and saw that since we booked our flight through a third party, we do not have an email with our actual flight tickets in them. Now, we are super nervous that we don’t actually have tickets on the plane. We attempted to go to the website to get more information but the whole thing was written in Chinese characters. Our plan now is to just head to the airport tomorrow after school to make it on time and hope that we have tickets on the plane!! I am super nervous about how this is going to play out, but I am trying to keep the faith and positivity 🙂 Time for me to get some rest and prepare for this exciting weekend ahead! Stay tuned to see if Kelsi and I actually make it to Shanghai tomorrow night!!

Well I guess you can finally say that I am used to the time difference from NC to China because I accidentally overslept this morning. Whoops!! I set my alarm for 6:00am but then turned it off on accident. I didn’t realize I didn’t have another alarm set and jolted myself awake at 7:00am..the time I normally leave for breakfast!! I jumped out of bed and grabbed a quick shower and hurried to get ready for the day. I took a banana and a granola bar with me and sprinted to class. I made it on time with sopping wet hair!

Like I mentioned in a previous blog, this week is the summarize assessment for students’ last unit about how they express themselves. Today the kids filled out a planner to organize their thinking about what they would make for their assessment. First, they were to think about the strongest feelings they had from the field trip (happy, sad, angry, excited, jealous, love). Then, they were to think about what forms they wanted to use to express those feelings (paint, draw, dance, sing, sculpt, write). Since this is all student-led, they were able to choose as many forms as they would like. Then, they were able to start creating. Since many of the students chose lots of art forms we will be working on this over a two day period. They were encouraged to use happy colors (Orange, yellow, pink) and sad colors (green, blue, purple) to express emotion in their painting, drawing, and sculpting. This was complete student choice and they could create whatever they wanted but they had to express – in Chinese or English – how what they created represents their emotions from the field trip. Below are some photos of students planning and creating their art forms.

The PYP school also had an assembly today during exercise time to give awards to students for the month of March. Some of these were behavior awards and others were rewards for exhibiting character traits like risk taker, reflective, or caring. The program was about 30 minutes long and the students were required to sit well the whole time. It was not a very interactive assembly so it was hard for the students to stay focused.

After school was over at 5:15pm, we went back to the apartment to drop off our stuff. We decided we would take a trip to the Longde Mall to eat dinner and buy some groceries. We were all hungry for Western food and found a Papa Johns in the mall. We were excited to find out that the pizza tasted exactly like it does in America. Yummy!! After we ate, we walked over to the grocery store called Carrefore. When we walked in the Chinese man at the entrance made us all get together so he could take a picture of us on his phone. This is probably the 3rd time a Chinese person has taken our pictures. It is very odd but we just go with it and smile.

The most exciting thing about the grocery store we went to today was that IT HAD PEANUT BUTTER!!!! If you know me, you probably know that I am obsessed with peanut butter and going without it is very hard. I wanted to pack a jar of peanut butter in my suitcase but mom convinced me that peanut butter crackers would be lighter. We had looked at the convenience stores and other grocery store here earlier and could never find peanut butter until now. I am SO excited!! We also got bread and dried mango for a snack. We had gotten Nutella at the Good Farming World so now we are able to make peanut butter AND Nutella sandwiches!! It’s the little things like peanut butter that make my day so much better 😊