9 to 5   2004-05-27

okay ... so i'm a teacher. we had an appointment yesterday morning at kojen english language school. we assumed it would be a short affair consisting of mild exagerations and some sleight of hand on our part. which it was ... but a lot longer than anticpated. after writing a short essay on the challenges of living in a foreign culture ... no challenge too big! ... it was down to brass tacks.

kojen is probably one of the biggest and most respected english schools in taiwan and it came with high recommendation from past teachers ... thanks rene & mel ... so ... with a slight nod of the head we started signing the contracts. and signing. and signing. and signing. basically two hours of signing papers and glueing our pictures on forms destined for some beaucrat's file folder. good times. a lot of it was in mandarin so who knows what we've really agreed to. we'll take it as it comes.

after getting through the paper work and some dodgy perfumed tea we headed off to the main hospital for the "teacher" exam. some needles ... a very very dodgy looking x-ray machine ... some pokes and prods that lasted a few hours and we'll know in a week if we have a clean bill of health. i have quite a few mosquito bites and i'm not exactly sure how topped up i am with vaccinations but we'll find out sooner or later ...

oookay ... a small cockroach just scurried across the desk here in the internet cafe. *sigh*

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this is a two part entry. it's a couple of days later.

both marlene and i have spend a few hours observing classes at our respective schools. whoa. i'm in trouble. it's time to get ANI-MATE-ED!!! i've notice "classroom management" is the name of the game. the kids are hell on wheels. which isn't surprising as their chinese school goes from about 7:30 am - 3:00 pm. then a few hours at home and then to english school from 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm. that's a loooong school day for anyone.

the teachers seem to be having quite a bit of fun with the students. games games games. i have to learn a lot of games. keep the kids interested and focussed. i've been told to expect about 2 hours of lesson planning for each class in the first month. lesson planning? i say pardon? fortunately kojen has avery established and comprehensive curriculum. there's no guess-work involved. here's what you have to teach. here are the resources. go to it.

most classes are team-taught with a foreign teacher ... cauc ... and a chinese teacher. i think my co-teacher's name is kermit. super shy. i mean super shy. i don't know what he's doing teaching. unless he morphs into someone completely different when he's teaching. when we were introduced it looked like he was going to pass out. my director ... anne ... mentioned he's pretty shy. great. that'll be fun when i'm staring down my first class ... eager to eat me alive and spit out the bones at the end of the two hours ... and see kermit with his head down pretending he doesn't exist. i need a solid wing-man. must take him out for drinks and see what's up.

there are three other canadian teachers, an american, and two australians at my school. so far so good. everyone seems pretty cool ... no obvious social handicaps. most of them live together and hang out quite a bit with each other so it could be "one of those" kinds of work/socialize situations. wary. none of them are married by the looks of it so the wedding band could be the ol' magic disappearing ring. "uh ... i'd love to ... but ... "

i start teaching the week after next. i'm substituting for another teacher while he's on holiday. lucky bastard. so next week i'm heading into work to start writing up my lesson plans for his classes. he mentioned he'll go over where he's at with his students and basically i just don't have to burn the classroom down and i'll be okay. roger. no problem.

feels strange to be a "teacher." i'm a little cold when it comes to talking/being in front of people so i'm not sure how this whole thing is going to pan out. i'm expecting a bit of a rough first month. especially since i'll be dealing mosting with kids. like 7-15. i can't even remember the last time i talked to someone that age. factor in that i'm a "teacher" ... none of my jokes will fly ... pop culture references will be meaningless ... and i'm a deep fried fish out of water.

to all you teachers out there ... i salute you!

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