First week... done!

I realize it’s been about a week since my last update, and to be honest, I’ve had plenty of time to write this one all week.  I have been procrastinating so much because I have never been in the greatest mood to write home telling everyone how “great” and “exciting” life in Hong Kong is.  Because, well, to be honest.  The past week hasn’t been “great” or “exciting” at all.  In fact, I think I’d be quicker to describe my week as exhausting, stressful, and frustrating.  This week was filled with situations testing my patience and a couple nights filled with tears.

Backing up a little, week one started out with Gauge Day.  That basically meant that we spent the morning testing all 160-ish students to determine which level of English they were.  After the testing, three of us sorted the results into eight different levels and assigned a teacher to each level.  During this time, the other five teachers entertained all of the students with games in the huge gym-like hall.  The last hour of the afternoon was spent meeting our students, introducing ourselves, and developing a few classroom rules.

Day two began the real lesson plan teaching.  Day three (Wednesday) was a day off because the students had graduation from the regular school.  Our students come from five different schools, so they were all at their separate schools for that day.  My team spent the day preparing for Thursday and Friday.  Thursday and Friday were the last two teaching days of the week.

My team meets for morning devotions at 7:45, leaves our dormitory at 8, walks 15 minutes to the MTR subway station, takes the subway to the next stop, and arrives at CCC Ming Yin College (middle school) dripping with sweat around 8:30. The humidity here is ridiculous.  I teach the students in my own classroom from 9 AM-12:30 PM.  From 12:30-1:30, we have a lunch break.  Lately, I’ve been packing my own lunch and spending time reading through students’ journals so that I have less to do each night.  From 1:30-3:45, my team works together to teach the students about the American culture.  So far, we’ve only taught them about our personal hobbies and American fairytales, but this week we will cover Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter.

After school, we head back to our dormitories, arrive around 4:30, and have a team meeting until around dinner time.  We grab dinner at the canteen (dining hall) on campus and have the rest of the night to plan our lessons or explore the city if we have time.

I’d love to tell you that my students love me and are perfect angels, but any teacher knows this is rarely true.  This first week has been interesting, to say the least.  With 21 students who are middle-level English students, I have my hands full.  Several of my boys have quite the attitude, while the girls either have the same attitude or simply refuse to respond.  All week long, I have made progress.  Smiles are beginning to show up, laughter occasionally graces our classroom, and some students even talk to me after class or during the lunch and breaks.  Their English is getting there, and they know a lot more than I had expected they would, but the attitudes are what leave me exhausted and hurt by the end of the day.

However, after 16 hours of sleep last night and another 10 hours to come tonight, I have finished one week, have two weeks to go, and have already finished all of the lesson plans for my four days of teaching this next week.