The name of my school in Taiwan is Kid Castle. There are two parts to the school: there is the kindergarten which is just like it sounds; then there is the cram school which is for older kids who go to a normal Chinese school in the morning then come to us in the afternoon. The kindergarten has kids as young as 2 years old and goes up to about 5 or 6. Then the cram school has kids all the way up to their early teens I think.
I've been teaching for about 3 weeks now and getting the hang of it. Most of my kids are good, although you've got the occasional shit disturber, hmmm...sounds familiar. I've learned to become a bit of a hard ass with the kids sometimes. For example today my oldest class was a real pain in the ass. They wouldn't stop talking and goofing around every chance they had so I laid into them a bit today and told them there was no fun stuff until they smartened up. And when I want I can really yell at them. Surprisingly my voice hasn't given up yet from all the yelling. We are supposed to get a Chinese teacher in every class as the disciplinarian, except I never seem to get one so I have to discipline them myself. I have yet to smack a kid. Notice I said yet.
Anyway what really steams my whistle about this school is the total lack of organization. Let me give you a couple of examples. Last week I was asked to sub for a sick teacher at another Kid Castle branch. I spent about an hour preparing for the class and was all ready to go. I walked over to the other branch, about a 20 minute walk, sat down and read over my notes when my boss showed up, she also came to sub for a sick teacher, 8 minutes before the class started she told me I was to sub for a different class. So I had to wing it for a 2 hour class which I had 8 minutes to prepare for. My hour of preparation went right down the shitter.
Another example. Yesterday I was asked again to sub for a class at the other branch. Apparently my boss knew the teacher wasn't going to be there for 3 days but did not ask me to sub until 45 minutes before the class, remember it's a 20 minute walk, but I also had to go home first to get warmer clothes because I was prepared for a 6 minute walk to my place, not a 20 minute walk to the other branch. This kind of last minute stuff is apparently the norm around here. The good thing is that I can't be blamed for not being prepared for class because I'm not really sure when I'll be teaching a class. Schedules are changed all the time. I've only been there 3 weeks an already had my schedule changed numerous times.
In a two week span 4 foreign teachers have quit with 3 naming the schools disorganization and 1 naming my boss specifically as reasons for quitting. The good news is my boss is being replaced on February 1st by Andrew who has done the job before and been at the school for 12 years and in Taiwan for 15. He's a much more competent individual and I can't wait for him to start. Unfortunately some of the disorganization happens above my boss so not all of it will disappear.
I also love the curriculum. The books and curriculum are specific to Kid Castle. The best part is the numerous grammatical errors in the books and the instructions to the foreign teachers. For example we had a song to have the kids listen to then answer fill in the blank questions for listening comprehension. The word fishes was in the song. Fishes! We're supposed to be teaching proper English to these kids who will take our word as gospel concerning the language and we have the word fishes in the song. I had to explain to them that it was done to make it sound good in the song but it is actually incorrect. Nice and confusing for the kids. Good job Kid Castle!
Oh and I think I might have convinced another foreign teacher not to sign a contract with the school because of the lack of organization. Oops. Ah well she was leaning that way anyway. Actually it's funny because the teacher who is leaving and cited my boss directly as the reason said she convinced a couple of other potential foreign teachers not to sign with the school. Should be a memorable next 11 months. Anyways that's about it for now. Later.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
New Place
Hello again from the other side of the world. I have now officially moved into my new place. It is literally across the street from the place I was staying in temporarily. It's a bachelor with a bed, TV, couch, desk and cabinet. It's kinda small but I like to think of it as cosy. It's very safe and clean with several locking doors between me and the outside. There are also infrared cameras everywhere which is kinda cool. The best part is I have cable which means I actually have English TV stations. I get CNN and several movie channels including HBO which show English movies. It's about a 10 minute walk to the school so the location is just about perfect.
On the school front I'm settling into my teaching routine. The kids are generally great although you get the odd kid who just wants to be a shit disturber in class. Kinda reminds me of myself. But anyway they generally listen to me, especially when they get loud and I have to yell to get them to quiet down. There are only 3 male teachers in the school including me and they're all foreign teachers. All the Chinese teachers are female so is the rest of the staff. I figure that's a good thing for me cause the kids are unprepared for my hard assedness. Oh and the teacher monkey moniker I've acquired doesn't look to be disappearing anytime soon. I had to substitute for a sick teacher at another branch of the school and the first thing the kids said when I arrived in class was teacher monkey. You see all the teachers are called teacher (first name) by the students. Oh well I'm playing it up with the students and acting like a monkey outside of class. I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm actually enjoying teaching. When I was in school, especially high school, I never thought in a million years I would teach, let alone actually enjoy doing it. My how things have changed.
On the food front I'm enjoying most of the food I've tried. Stinky tofu really is stinky. There is a stand right near my place and every time I pass it I have to hold my nose. It's really not that good and the smell makes my want to eat it even less. I have also tried the black chicken and it's not bad, kinda flavourless though. I do however enjoy the amazing amount of noodles here.
On Saturday night the school took all the staff up to a resort in the mountains for an end of the year party. There must have been at least 15 different hot spring pools there. Most of them were outdoors which was good because it was a cold and rainy day so the contrast between the hot water and the cold air was amazing. Some of the pools were so hot you couldn't spend more than 5 minutes in them without having to get out. Some had sulphur in them and I'm not quite sure the exact medicinal reason behind it but I think it's supposed to be good for your skin. Anyway afterwards we were served a banquet. Some of the food was good and some not so good. I tried sea cucumber for the first and last time. It was pretty much flavourless but the texture was slimy and downright disgusting. I actually managed to find rye at the bar and just had to have a glass on the rocks. Ahhhh a little taste of home. I have yet to find any bottles of rye since I've been here.
I have also now experienced the Asian fascination with karaoke. The bus we took up was fully equipped for karaoke with TVs and speakers and microphones. My god it was loud and most of the songs were in Chinese so it was painful to listen to. On the way back I was very thankful I had my mp3 player with me cause I just couldn't take it anymore.
Well I guess that's about it for now. Catch ya later.
On the school front I'm settling into my teaching routine. The kids are generally great although you get the odd kid who just wants to be a shit disturber in class. Kinda reminds me of myself. But anyway they generally listen to me, especially when they get loud and I have to yell to get them to quiet down. There are only 3 male teachers in the school including me and they're all foreign teachers. All the Chinese teachers are female so is the rest of the staff. I figure that's a good thing for me cause the kids are unprepared for my hard assedness. Oh and the teacher monkey moniker I've acquired doesn't look to be disappearing anytime soon. I had to substitute for a sick teacher at another branch of the school and the first thing the kids said when I arrived in class was teacher monkey. You see all the teachers are called teacher (first name) by the students. Oh well I'm playing it up with the students and acting like a monkey outside of class. I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm actually enjoying teaching. When I was in school, especially high school, I never thought in a million years I would teach, let alone actually enjoy doing it. My how things have changed.
On the food front I'm enjoying most of the food I've tried. Stinky tofu really is stinky. There is a stand right near my place and every time I pass it I have to hold my nose. It's really not that good and the smell makes my want to eat it even less. I have also tried the black chicken and it's not bad, kinda flavourless though. I do however enjoy the amazing amount of noodles here.
On Saturday night the school took all the staff up to a resort in the mountains for an end of the year party. There must have been at least 15 different hot spring pools there. Most of them were outdoors which was good because it was a cold and rainy day so the contrast between the hot water and the cold air was amazing. Some of the pools were so hot you couldn't spend more than 5 minutes in them without having to get out. Some had sulphur in them and I'm not quite sure the exact medicinal reason behind it but I think it's supposed to be good for your skin. Anyway afterwards we were served a banquet. Some of the food was good and some not so good. I tried sea cucumber for the first and last time. It was pretty much flavourless but the texture was slimy and downright disgusting. I actually managed to find rye at the bar and just had to have a glass on the rocks. Ahhhh a little taste of home. I have yet to find any bottles of rye since I've been here.
I have also now experienced the Asian fascination with karaoke. The bus we took up was fully equipped for karaoke with TVs and speakers and microphones. My god it was loud and most of the songs were in Chinese so it was painful to listen to. On the way back I was very thankful I had my mp3 player with me cause I just couldn't take it anymore.
Well I guess that's about it for now. Catch ya later.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Night of the Bugs
So I had a rude awakening last night. I got up to go to the washroom at 2:30am and as I stepped foot in the washroom a new friend was there to say hello. A cockroach crossed my path and I must have jumped 6 feet in the air when I saw it. I tell you Michael Jordan never had the kinda vertical I had last night. It took me a minute to compose myself and then I decided to say hello back with the sole of my shoe. Good old new balance, they do everything. He was probably the size of two loonies placed side by side but man he had me scared for a second or two.
After that it took me a while to get back to sleep, but when I did wake up apparently another new friend had greeted me, several times, as I was asleep. I woke up with 6 or 7 mosquito bites on my back. Lovely! Oh well I guess it was bound to happen, in a way I'm kinda surprised I haven't encountered more bugs since I've been here. It's all part of the experience right? Right?!
Anyway I have more things I have noticed that I thought I would pass on to you. The whole scooter phenomenon still cracks me up. You really do see entire families on a scooter. It's not just a Russell Peters joke. So far the most I've seen is 4 on one scooter. The funniest I've seen is 2 people and 2 dogs on a scooter. What's even funnier is once I saw a scooter with a dog stopped at a light and while it was red the dog got off and relieved himself on the corner then got back on and the scooter took off. I was on the back of a scooter at the time and I couldn't stop laughing at it. No one else thought it was so damn funny. And for some reason when there is a child on the scooter with a parent, only the parent has a helmet, not the child. Are you kidding me?! I rarely seen children on scooters with helmets on. Nice.
And let me tell you I'm glad I brought my motorcycle helmet cause the helmets people wear here I wouldn't wear on a bicycle forget about a scooter or motorcycle. They're paper thin and stop before the ears. I don't think I've seen more than 5 proper helmets that would meet safety standards in Canada.
A lot of people wear masks here too. And I don't mean surgical masks but ones that have been customized. You can buy them around town that have pictures and sayings on them and come in many different colours. And they don't just wear them when riding on scooters, some people wear them all the time. There are kids in my school who wear them all day. It's kinda weird because you never get to see they're whole face but it seems to be common place. I don't blame them the air here is much worse then in Toronto, and people in Toronto complain about smog.
The only thing so far I really dislike about Taiwan is the shower situation. They don't seem to have real bathtubs or shower stalls. Showers consist of a drain in the floor of the bathroom and a faucet. Essentially the whole bathroom becomes your shower. It's unfortunate because I used to love showers in Toronto but I have grown to dislike showering here and make them as fast as possible.
Well I guess that's about it for now. Catch you on the flip side.
After that it took me a while to get back to sleep, but when I did wake up apparently another new friend had greeted me, several times, as I was asleep. I woke up with 6 or 7 mosquito bites on my back. Lovely! Oh well I guess it was bound to happen, in a way I'm kinda surprised I haven't encountered more bugs since I've been here. It's all part of the experience right? Right?!
Anyway I have more things I have noticed that I thought I would pass on to you. The whole scooter phenomenon still cracks me up. You really do see entire families on a scooter. It's not just a Russell Peters joke. So far the most I've seen is 4 on one scooter. The funniest I've seen is 2 people and 2 dogs on a scooter. What's even funnier is once I saw a scooter with a dog stopped at a light and while it was red the dog got off and relieved himself on the corner then got back on and the scooter took off. I was on the back of a scooter at the time and I couldn't stop laughing at it. No one else thought it was so damn funny. And for some reason when there is a child on the scooter with a parent, only the parent has a helmet, not the child. Are you kidding me?! I rarely seen children on scooters with helmets on. Nice.
And let me tell you I'm glad I brought my motorcycle helmet cause the helmets people wear here I wouldn't wear on a bicycle forget about a scooter or motorcycle. They're paper thin and stop before the ears. I don't think I've seen more than 5 proper helmets that would meet safety standards in Canada.
A lot of people wear masks here too. And I don't mean surgical masks but ones that have been customized. You can buy them around town that have pictures and sayings on them and come in many different colours. And they don't just wear them when riding on scooters, some people wear them all the time. There are kids in my school who wear them all day. It's kinda weird because you never get to see they're whole face but it seems to be common place. I don't blame them the air here is much worse then in Toronto, and people in Toronto complain about smog.
The only thing so far I really dislike about Taiwan is the shower situation. They don't seem to have real bathtubs or shower stalls. Showers consist of a drain in the floor of the bathroom and a faucet. Essentially the whole bathroom becomes your shower. It's unfortunate because I used to love showers in Toronto but I have grown to dislike showering here and make them as fast as possible.
Well I guess that's about it for now. Catch you on the flip side.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Hello from Taiwan!
Hello everybody. I arrived in Taiwan December 30th so I've been here less than a week and let me tell you everything is different. First off very few people speak English. I think most people can say hi and bye but that's about it. People working in retail places like coffee shops and convenience stores can say a little more but not much at all. So far I can say hi (knee-how), bye (tsi-chien), thank you (shea-shea), and you're welcome (boo-ka-chee). I figure that's pretty good for 5 days.
There is literally a 7-11 or Family Mart of Hi-Life on every corner. They're pretty much the same thing. And you can buy beer and hard liquor in all of them! God bless Taiwan. You know we Ontarians could learn a lot from the Taiwanese. Western food is hard to come by unless you know where to go. I did manage to find a Pizza Hut within walking distance. However pizza toppings are much different than they are in the west. They did have a menu in English and as soon as I figure out how to put pictures up I will show you what I mean. Just as an example they have shrimp on pizza. When I get up enough courage I plan to try the crazy toppings.
Ann, Rob's girlfriend, and some of her friends and I went down to Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world for about a week I think, to watch fireworks on New Year's. It was lots of fun. I also discovered that night that Taiwanese are light weights when it comes to drinking. After one girly vodka cooler most of them were done, guys too. Only Ann's friend Debbie could keep up with me and I'm not even a big drinker.
Transportation is very different from home. First off scooters outnumber cars probably about 5 to 1. And everyone drives like a maniac. Stop lights, lane markers, even sides of the road are merely suggestions. As a pedestrian you really are the bottom rung of the ladder. It is pretty much up to you to make sure you don't get run over. I have very quickly become accustomed to looking in several directions before crossing the road. Sidewalks are purely for scooter parking and most of the time you have to walk on the road or maneuver your your way between the parked scooters to walk down a sidewalk. The cars here are a lot different than in Canada. There are many models I have never heard of. Surprisingly there are very few actual motorcycles. I figured there would be lots of dirt bikes and dual purpose bikes but almost everyone is a scooter or bicycle.
As a foreigner here I do get stared at. Mostly by very young kids and old people. I actually thought I would get stared at more. Usually if you flash them a smile or say hi in Mandarin they will smile back or say hi. Everyone here is really nice. Pretty much the only westerners I have seen have been in the school I'm working at. I went to the night market with Debbie and saw a white guy and we said hi to each other and I laughed about it for the next 5 minutes. I dunno why but it cracked me up that just because we're both westerners we felt the need to say hi even though we didn't know each other.
I am pretty much taller than everyone else and and I kinda enjoy that. I went on the subway to get to Taipei 101 on New Year's and I could see almost all the way down the subway train. Everything here is designed to be as efficient as possible. There are people who work in the subway stations, MRTs, whose job it is to make sure that things move as efficiently as possible. The train doors always stop in the same place so you know where to get on and off. Also you have to take a number at the banks to get service, and they always have many tellers open. Again we could learn from them.
Getting meals has been a challenge. When I'm on my own it's been a bit of a struggle as most menus aren't in English and they don't have pictures. Again thanks to Ann and Debbie for making sure I don't go hungry. I've also noticed that a lot of people say good morning as if it means hi how are you. I don't think they realize that it is based on the time of day.
The school is really nice and big and everyone there is amazingly helpful and friendly. I have been observing classes and have only taught one 30 minute class so far. In one of the classes I observed some of the kids have taken to calling me teacher monkey. All of the teachers are called teacher (name). I think some of the kids are a little freightned of me but some have become quite friendly with me and that's cool. As the newbie teacher I have been stuck with the toughtest grade 1 class. I have observed them once and they are very easily distracted and don't like to pay attention to the teacher. However I plan to be really strict with them and not take any shit, then we'll see how quickly they call me teacher monkey.
Anyways I guess that's it for now. I'll try to update this as much as possible and as soon as I figure out how to get my pictures on I will do so. Bye bye for now, or should I say tsi chien.
There is literally a 7-11 or Family Mart of Hi-Life on every corner. They're pretty much the same thing. And you can buy beer and hard liquor in all of them! God bless Taiwan. You know we Ontarians could learn a lot from the Taiwanese. Western food is hard to come by unless you know where to go. I did manage to find a Pizza Hut within walking distance. However pizza toppings are much different than they are in the west. They did have a menu in English and as soon as I figure out how to put pictures up I will show you what I mean. Just as an example they have shrimp on pizza. When I get up enough courage I plan to try the crazy toppings.
Ann, Rob's girlfriend, and some of her friends and I went down to Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world for about a week I think, to watch fireworks on New Year's. It was lots of fun. I also discovered that night that Taiwanese are light weights when it comes to drinking. After one girly vodka cooler most of them were done, guys too. Only Ann's friend Debbie could keep up with me and I'm not even a big drinker.
Transportation is very different from home. First off scooters outnumber cars probably about 5 to 1. And everyone drives like a maniac. Stop lights, lane markers, even sides of the road are merely suggestions. As a pedestrian you really are the bottom rung of the ladder. It is pretty much up to you to make sure you don't get run over. I have very quickly become accustomed to looking in several directions before crossing the road. Sidewalks are purely for scooter parking and most of the time you have to walk on the road or maneuver your your way between the parked scooters to walk down a sidewalk. The cars here are a lot different than in Canada. There are many models I have never heard of. Surprisingly there are very few actual motorcycles. I figured there would be lots of dirt bikes and dual purpose bikes but almost everyone is a scooter or bicycle.
As a foreigner here I do get stared at. Mostly by very young kids and old people. I actually thought I would get stared at more. Usually if you flash them a smile or say hi in Mandarin they will smile back or say hi. Everyone here is really nice. Pretty much the only westerners I have seen have been in the school I'm working at. I went to the night market with Debbie and saw a white guy and we said hi to each other and I laughed about it for the next 5 minutes. I dunno why but it cracked me up that just because we're both westerners we felt the need to say hi even though we didn't know each other.
I am pretty much taller than everyone else and and I kinda enjoy that. I went on the subway to get to Taipei 101 on New Year's and I could see almost all the way down the subway train. Everything here is designed to be as efficient as possible. There are people who work in the subway stations, MRTs, whose job it is to make sure that things move as efficiently as possible. The train doors always stop in the same place so you know where to get on and off. Also you have to take a number at the banks to get service, and they always have many tellers open. Again we could learn from them.
Getting meals has been a challenge. When I'm on my own it's been a bit of a struggle as most menus aren't in English and they don't have pictures. Again thanks to Ann and Debbie for making sure I don't go hungry. I've also noticed that a lot of people say good morning as if it means hi how are you. I don't think they realize that it is based on the time of day.
The school is really nice and big and everyone there is amazingly helpful and friendly. I have been observing classes and have only taught one 30 minute class so far. In one of the classes I observed some of the kids have taken to calling me teacher monkey. All of the teachers are called teacher (name). I think some of the kids are a little freightned of me but some have become quite friendly with me and that's cool. As the newbie teacher I have been stuck with the toughtest grade 1 class. I have observed them once and they are very easily distracted and don't like to pay attention to the teacher. However I plan to be really strict with them and not take any shit, then we'll see how quickly they call me teacher monkey.
Anyways I guess that's it for now. I'll try to update this as much as possible and as soon as I figure out how to get my pictures on I will do so. Bye bye for now, or should I say tsi chien.
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