Sunday 27 February 2011

Chicken Restaurant




Our school staff decided to have dinner at a type of restaurant that I have never been to before. They serve a big platter of chicken and noodles, a bit spicy but delicious.

Books and More Books




Tomorrow, Monday, is the first day of the new school year in asia, and we have had a lot of work to do to prepare for it: new students, new classes, and, of course, new books. Here are a few pics of just some of the new books we will be using . . .

Saturday 12 February 2011

Student Drama

Last Wednesday I told my great class of 2nd graders that they could do drama on Friday. They love "drama time" and had been asking me for it.

So on Wednesday I put them into groups of three (there are nine of them), gave them a piece of paper, and told them they had the 15 minutes that were remaining to plan their drama. I did nothing else to help them, and they know that they have to do their "prop" stuff as homework, as we don't have enough class time to spend drawing pictures, etc.

On Friday I gave them ten minutes at the beginning of class to organize and practice. Two of the three groups were great. For example, one group had two students walk into class, saying, "We're so hungry!" Then they saw a sign taped to the whiteboard that said, 'Julie's Crocodile Restaurant. Delicious!'

So they went to the desk that was the crocodile restaurant and asked Julie for crocodile steak and cookies. They had made pictures of all of the food, set on a paper tray. It was very well done (unfortunately, I was being so entertained that I forgot to take a picture).

Then they asked for crocodile ice cream, and pretended it was horrible and made them sick. They had even drawn a realistic picture of vomit,, which they used.

In the end (these skits just take a few minutes), the owner, Julie, pretended to eat the plate and the other two ran off, yelling, "Monster!"

Then Julie stole their money.

I am so proud of these kids for 1) simply being so creative, and 2) doing it all in English.

At then end of class, while I was writing their homework on the whiteboard, they spontaneously--as a group-- made up a song, using the tune from a textbook song that we sang a month ago, and started singing it together, making a few modifications as they went along.

Wow!

The Circus

The teachers from our school are going to see the Cirque du Soleil (Varekai show) in April. I'm so excited! I saw them years ago in Japan, and they are wonderful. Tickets are expensive (about $130 for good seats), but I think they are worth it. Yeah!