Finishing up

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Grade 2 Class 22 on the last day of class. Just one of my 11 classes!

Hanging out with my students (Kevin, Isaac, and Wendy) over the holiday weekend.

At a smoothie shop with our Chinese friends (Douglas, Coral, and Lily). We convinced the worker to let us behind the counter for the picture!

Hey everyone. The end of the school year is just about here. This is my last week of teaching. Since it’s the last lesson, I’ve just been watching a movie or doing a campus-wide scavenger hunt. The students love doing something so out of the ordinary.

It’s been harder than I thought to say goodbye to most of my classes. Almost all of my students have been with me for two years. When I think about my job, they’re the first ones that come to mind. They’ll still be at school next year. However, I won’t be teaching them because they will move onto their senior year. As I’ve mentioned before, your senior year in China is basically a year-long review/study session for the GAOKAO exam, which determines what college they’ll attend. Their grades throughout their high school career basically don’t matter. It’s all about this one exam! They already feel a ton of pressure. I know I’ll see them around the school, but it’ll be strange to not see them every day and know that they’ll be incredibly stressed.

Quite a few of the students have been giving me letters and notes to thank me for teaching them which has choked me up a few times!

Last week was a small Chinese holiday, so I had a couple days off. I was able to go to a movie (Kung Fu Panda 2) with three of my students. The movie was really funny, and it was great to see them in a more relaxed environment. I was also able to go to chrch (the gvt allowed one) with another student for a second time.

Another friend (Coral) who we got to know well last year at Mr. Mai’s visited us. She moved to Beijing this year, so we hadn’t seen her in awhile. It’s weird to be living in China and having friends move away from me!

Other than that, not a lot of new stuff has happened. I cleaned my room like crazy over the holiday. I’m hoping this will help prevent mold (which is really common in our rooms) when I return in the fall. It’s also nice to have a clean room for a little while before the dirty Chinese air fills it with dust after a week!

We just judged a small English singing competition for our students. As usual, they asked us to perform at the last second. Daniel, Kirk, and I sang Beyonce’s “Halo” with our falsetto voices as best we could! I’ll post a video if I ever get a hold of one.

That’s all for now. 13 more days…