My Taiwan Adventure

There I am, feeling sorry for myself because nobody has told me how wonderful my pictures are. And what do I see? A comment on my New Year's gallery page from a complete stranger... telling me that my photos are wonderful! *grins* Okay, so I must ask "how sad am I that I need the positive feedback?" I guess we all want to be loved and appreciated and I'm no exception. If I haven't told you lately, I like getting feedback from you all out there. *smiles*

I haven't gone to the dermatologist yet regarding my hives, but man are antihistamines GREAT! Just watching the welt on my arm go down from an enormous lump (about softball-size radius) that flickered colours with my pulse to a barely red spot was wonderful. Not to mention the relief from the itching. Yay! I'm planning on getting out of the office soon and heading over to see when I can get in to see him. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon... because I have a half day.

Actually, today is also a half day at the school and I proctored my first exam this morning. It's really challenging to stay awake when the room is dead silent and all you are allowed to do is pace the room watching the students to make sure they don't cheat. I could be out hiking or touring more of Taipei right now, but have elected to stay in the office to work on my English lessons.


I'm diligently working on my lesson plans . I want to do the right things in class so I'm asking a lot of questions from my fellow teachers. As a perfectionist I'm pretty hard on myself and this is proving to be a challenge. I don't like NOT knowing the answers and I find it hard to ask questions because I often feel like I'm pestering the other teachers by asking their opinions all the time. However, I don't want the children to suffer because I'm new to teaching so I ask anyway.

I keep reminding myself that I can't expect to have all the answers at the beginning of my teaching career. After all, other people go to school for years to train for this and my tools are limited to real-world experiences and a TESOL certificate. Yet, I have that nagging sensation that so much of this should be easier. I suspect that's the perfectionist talking again and that my self-confidence will improve with time.

Yesterday some of my students (the older boys) were very rambunctious before class. One of my rules is no horse-play in the classroom and they were all jumping about. So I told them to go play outside until class started. Their response was to play in the hallway. Unfortunately, they ended up breaking the doorway into my classroom. After testing me to see what they could get away with for the first 3 classes they finally got to see me really lecture.

I never really thought I'd be the teacher that had them all so scared they didn't dare peep. Instead of the drama games I had planned for them I made them all write notes on a lecture I gave and then to really drive home the point that I wasn't pleased, I made them sit for 15 minutes quietly to "think about what they had done." I ended the day by calling in my supervising Jr. High Coordinator and letting her lecture them in Chinese about respect for school property. I wonder if the boys will continue to be misbehave in my class next week? I can tell you I didn't enjoy having to be the "angry" teacher... I would rather play games and have them learn by participating, but they didn't give me much of an option yesterday.

I like the "New look" Blooger. The pictures are great! More please.


So far I'm ver wrapped up in reading about your day and how you have been so much so I just forget to post a comment. My apologies.

Have you come across some intreasting animals/statues? I do like the way you wait for the right momment in lighting to take pictures. It's great!

Great to hear about your day and I hope to hear more.

Much huggs and cuddles
Gavin  

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