When I found out I had to work on Saturday, I was less than excited about it. Those of you who know me know I like to sleep for 75% of my weekend hours. But the tradeoff was no school Monday, and Saturday wouldn't even be a full day of work. So, I woke up at 7am and was at school by 8:15, wondering what this special "Mother's Day" workday would entail.
First, there was a 90-minute assembly. A few classes from each grade performed a 台語 or 客家語 song and dance. As I don't understand either language, for me, this was mostly an exercise in smiling and nodding and taking pictures of the shiny costumes.
A sample:
A third grade class wears traditional Hakka clothing:
A sixth grade class ends the show with "We're going to Hawaii" in Taiwanese. Needless to say, the boys in grass skirts and coconut bras were a big hit:
The crowd looks on at a fourth grade performance:
After that, it was out to the carnival held in the school courtyard:
Each class had its own booth, where they sold food, drinks, or wares, or held a carnival game. Here I failed miserably at the very-difficult ring toss hosted by one of my classes:
Not pictured? Me successfully knocking the cans over at two different throw-a-thing-at-the-cans booths.
My fourth grade sports class chose to sell worms (that would later go into cocoons, that would later grow into moths). I tried to buy something/somehow participate at every booth, but this is one where I had to decline:
Some fifth grade students try to sell their products to Susan and me.
I was easily persuadable, but I made them use at least a little English to sell it to me, and promise to work hard in English class, before I handed over the money. As a result, I ended up with two popsicles, a Slurpee, a cell phone charm, two bottles of bubbles, a soda (with a marble stuck in the bottle?), french fries, some lollipops, and countless other small pieces of candy. I don't think I'd had that much sugar since I was in elementary school.
All in all, the chance to interact with my students as just young, fun people, instead of having to stand in front of them trying to tell them what to do in a language they don't understand, gave me a whole new dimension to them. And it wasn't bad for a day of work, either; in typical Taiwan fashion, working Saturday meant getting the day off today.
A sixth grade class ends the show with "We're going to Hawaii" in Taiwanese. Needless to say, the boys in grass skirts and coconut bras were a big hit:
The crowd looks on at a fourth grade performance:
After that, it was out to the carnival held in the school courtyard:
Each class had its own booth, where they sold food, drinks, or wares, or held a carnival game. Here I failed miserably at the very-difficult ring toss hosted by one of my classes:
Not pictured? Me successfully knocking the cans over at two different throw-a-thing-at-the-cans booths.My fourth grade sports class chose to sell worms (that would later go into cocoons, that would later grow into moths). I tried to buy something/somehow participate at every booth, but this is one where I had to decline:
Some fifth grade students try to sell their products to Susan and me.
I was easily persuadable, but I made them use at least a little English to sell it to me, and promise to work hard in English class, before I handed over the money. As a result, I ended up with two popsicles, a Slurpee, a cell phone charm, two bottles of bubbles, a soda (with a marble stuck in the bottle?), french fries, some lollipops, and countless other small pieces of candy. I don't think I'd had that much sugar since I was in elementary school.
All in all, the chance to interact with my students as just young, fun people, instead of having to stand in front of them trying to tell them what to do in a language they don't understand, gave me a whole new dimension to them. And it wasn't bad for a day of work, either; in typical Taiwan fashion, working Saturday meant getting the day off today.
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2 comments:
I successfully knocked none of cans! Too bad! You're really nice to your students,but you may feel like being attacked in the end!! I also got countless candy and a black BEAR with magnet! That's what I was most excited about!YA))))
Yay! this does look like a fun day.I love school festivals - and remarkably it brings to mind the devon elementary fair, although i mostly remember selling lemon sticks and wickles, not, um...caterpillars. And monday off - soooooooo nice.
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