Crazy Times

The last few weeks have been super busy around here.  My students took a BIG exam, which decided their class ranking for the rest of their time in high school.  All the students were tested and then placed in classes based on their scores and majors. Students in China pick a major during the first year of high school.  They can either study science (biology, chemistry, physics) or liberal arts (history, geography, politics).  

All that to say, it has been crazy! All of our students got switched around.  This might not sound like a big deal, but when you teach 600 students any change becomes an ordeal.  In one week, our teaching schedule got changed three different times. By the third time, I thought Les and I were going to lose our minds! I wish I was joking. Oh China!  If I've learned nothing else, I've definitely learned flexibility.  

It's also a  sad time because some of my students are now Lesley's students and vice versa.  It's always hard walking into class the first day back  and hearing some students scream with excitement because I'm still their teacher and seeing the others with disappointed looks on their face because they no longer have Lesley as a teacher.  They eventually get over it, but at first they are sad and we are too!

Before the students switched classes, I took class photos of the students with their former classmates. (Students stay with their same classmates for every class.  The teacher changes classrooms, not the students.It's the exact opposite of America.)  They become very attached to their classmates. I mean the kids are in their classrooms 6 days a week, 10 hours a day!  How could they not form attachments?  They see their classmates more than their family. Poor things work so hard!  

Class 15    

Love these kids!  Every student has to pick an English name for my class.  Some of my favorite names from this class are Echo, Mr. Loneliness, Light Novel, and Obama.  Don't worry, Mr. Loneliness isn't lonely anymore.  He now has a girlfriend! haha

Class 13

One of my best classes and my favorite one!  Shhhh...It's a secret!  But really, they were a great group of kids.  The class dynamic was awesome!  They loved learning and were so much fun to teach.   My favorite English names include:  ET, Coconut, Pomegranate, Mustard, Blue Sky, Cloud and Rainbow Blue.

Class 13 also had a great head teacher!  She is in the red jacket on the bottom left.  She doesn't speak any English, but is always friendly to me.  Her son was my student last year.  She wanted to join us for our class pictures.

Class 7 

 This class is huge, so I didn't let them stand up and take the picture.  

Favorite names:  Nevermore, Moon, Snake, Sleep Man (it is a fitting name for him), Pineapple, Jewish, and Peter Pen ( I think he meant Peter Pan, but misspelled it). 

Class 7 again!  Please check out the piles of school books on their desk.  Crazy, right????

Class 4

Obviously, they were not super excited about taking a picture. haha

Favorite names:  Luckily Boy, Ipad, Lonely Boy Tom, and Baby Boy.  This class really like to have "Boy" as part of their name.

Class 14 

They are such good kids and so sweet!  Favorite names:  Phil Silver, Jason 1, Jason 2, Zipper, Webster, and Rexxar. 

Class 12

   They weren't very excited either. Superman (first kid on the left) is giving me the "do I really have to do this look".  

Favorite names: Superman, Shine, Nice, Lebron, Horse, Dreamy, Tom and Jerry (because of the cartoon).

Class 2  

We had our ups and downs, but there were some really great students in this class.

Student names:  Pink (he's a boy), Star Knight, Yark, and Ice cream.