Wednesday class.

We teach a 3-hour long Wednesday "English camp" every week for 5th and 6th graders. It's specifically geared towards phonics learning, but in the off chance that that comes across as somewhat boring...we usually spend an hour doing something 'fun.'

For a little more background on the students:
My kids come from the 3 "country" schools near us. There aren't many students at these schools to start with, and even fewer who actually want to learn English. (These kids are from the 'Tai' crowd, which could be described as the betel-nut chewing, blue truck driving, "Hello Baby" yelling section of the populace. Or just Taiwanese rednecks, if that's easier to understand)


This semester, most of my students were forced to come to class by their teachers or their parents. Due to their attitudes in class, I feel just a little unsuccessful as a teacher--but still successful as a friend, as long as we're not in class! I now know how my parents felt all those years. Please forgive me of my errant ways... :|

Attendance was at an all time low last week, with just 9 kids from 1 school. We made the most of it by making egg parachutes and dropping them from the 3rd floor. Even bored kids enjoy doing destructive things like breaking eggs!

Actually, I don't have anything to complain about. These kids are loud in class, but they still line up, which warms the cockles of my somewhat ragged heart. Ask anyone, if there's one thing I'm seriously obsessive-compulsive about--it's lining up. You should here me yell in my sleep during summer camps. Uh, yeah...that was a slight digression.

Overall, I'd rate the class as mostly not bad. I'm pretty sure I need extensive remedial coaching on how to teach phonics, but that's beside the point.


I am able to sleep at night only because I tell myself that someday they will eat apples, instead of epples. There will come a day when the teacher is a bad egg instead of a bed egg. I visualize them understanding that a bud does not fly in the sky, and that a bird is not an unopened flower. A duck can never have a boat tied to it, and a dock does not quack! The teacher is ugly, not ogly! When avery studint con say avery vowal weeth perfact eccuracy... please, may that day come soon...