To be honest, we met in kind of a weird way. As members of the LDS church, women are assigned a few other women in the ward to visit and share a message with once a month, and just check up on and be friends with. It sounds kind of like an odd set-up, but it's actually genius, especially when you are new in the ward! It's like you are automatically assigned friends! And it doesn't have to be as cookie-cutter as it sounds, but it instead gives you an excuse to get to know someone you might not have otherwise.
Anyway, tangent. Out of the blue we had "assignment switch-ups" and on my first visit to Alisa's house she randomly tells me about "this one time she taught English in China." Hello! What a blessing! That's exactly what Lance and I were looking into at the time, but had already been shot down through another program.
After our visit, I went home, excitedly told Lance about it, we did some research, applied, were accepted and felt amazing about our decision!
Since then--- I have asked Alisa tons of questions about life in China, what to expect, what to pack, what not to eat. She very graciously lent me her lesson plan book and I have spent an hour or so reading it and making a lesson book of my own!
Can you even read those? The left one is Alisa's book and it's on the page of a lesson plan about holidays! Mine is on the right and it's about learning vocabulary about being lost in a jungle! More about these below.Here are a few of her ideas that I may or may not have converted to be my own:
Lost in the jungle: students must imagine they are lost in the jungle and give me a list (orally) that I'll write on the board of what supplies they should bring. I will fill in the blanks. Then in groups of three, students must discuss which five items from the list they think would be most important to survive and share and discuss with the class.
American holidays: Alisa discussed the American holidays in one or two class periods and just told a little bit about the traditions and cultures of what we do for say Valentine's Day (wear red and pink, give hearts and valentines, flowers etc) or for Easter have a bunny deliver candy and search for Easter eggs. Which by the way, they get a kick out of, because how ridiculous is that haha. But I was thinking I could do or I could celebrate American holidays as they happen in the school year, like come to class wearing green on St. Patty's Day and do a little St. Patrick's activity or whatever. Then I could have students break into groups and over the next few days do presentations of their favorite holidays-- the origins, traditions and why (American or Chinese).
Collectively, we had plenty of ideas. Like word games such as Hangman, game shows, Pictionary and Taboo, Boogle, Scattegories, Picture Picture, Scrabble, Do you love your neighbor etc. anything to get the students talking in English! I also have other more serious plans, such as learning about job interviews and the vocabulary that comes with that, and travel and other useful English words/situations. It's a little intimidating to think I'll be a teacher in a few months, but during orientation (the first few days we're there) our director will give us teaching materials, as well as the school has a text book we can use. Also, we Skyped with the current teachers in Xinxiang a few days ago and they said we could borrow some of the materials/lesson plans they have because they have about 10 years worth of it! Nice!
What do you guys think? Any teachers, mothers, wise and creative people, or those who have lived or traveled foreign have any suggestions for me?
p.s. I know you guys have to be as excited as I am, so in case you are, here's a blog of a couple who is teaching in China right now that I definitely stalk on a regular basis: http://teamferrin.wordpress.com/
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