catching up: may and june

For the next few days, we're sharing some of our facebook statuses from the past few months to help "catch up" on what's been going in our lives.  Next up is May and June, which included a lot of the normal "end of the year" goodbyes and ended with some life-changing news (no, no not expecting--Lawrance got accepted to seminary), and we headed to America.

three calendars

My life revolves around three calendars.  Teachers have their own calendar.  Taiwanese have their own calendar.  And, then there is the American calendar too.  This means twice as many holidays, and three new years.

From Thanksgiving to New Year’s (Jan. 1) are the “American holidays.”  Then from New Year’s (Jan. 1) to the end of Lantern Festival (Feb. 17, this year) are the “Taiwanese holidays.”  This equals somewhere between 3-4 months of “the holidays.”

Quite frankly, that’s a lot of holidays!

Moreover, as a teacher at a university we have two sets of 18 weeks with breaks in between.  Which means our new year is in September, and the first semester goes to the middle of all these holidays.
Jan first comes right in the midst of the end of the semester.  So, while many may feel like they get a fresh start on Jan 1st, I feel like I’m in limbo till some unknown point in the future.

So, while my soul is longing for some time to sit down and reflect, to escape and refresh my spirit, the reality is I have finals to grade and essays to assess, then a winter camp to teach, and then a week of national holidays to celebrate with family and friends.  Then, finally, I might get a chance to rest.

There are so many longings within my heart, but I keep telling them “shh, just a moment more and then I  can acknowledge you.”

So, while I wait for that moment that Lord willing I’ll get a chance to retreat, I sing this song longing to be refreshed, placing confidence in the fact that the Spirit is not bound by any man-made calendar.

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language classrooms can be noisy

Here's proof from one of my classes last year:

The first video is of students debating for one minute on simple topics like "tea is better than coffee" and "watching news on tv is better than reading a newspaper."  I tell them "outside yes, inside no" and then they have to support the opinion I've given them.  Since they only have one minute to discuss the topic, they get really loud really fast.  I love it. 

The second video is of an activity I'm going to do in class tomorrow.  Each student has a partner--one sits down with a pen and paper, the other runs back and forth from one side to the other.  Why?  Well, they look at song lyrics, memorize a line or two, and then run to dictate that line to their partner.  First pair to finish wins. 

Of course not all of the activities we do are this noisy . . . but I do love it when my classroom is so loud I can't think. 

english spelling is dumb

I am a terrible speller.  I openly admit this to all my students. 

As someone who is incredibly detailed and struggles with perfectionism, it stands to reason that I should be a good speller. 

So, I blame it on the fact that I am a visual learner, and when learning spelling as a child I was always required to spell orally and listen to the words orally.  I just can't do that.  Gotta see it.  I was probably someone that actually would have benefited from a written kill and drill approach to spelling or at least a more creative visual approach. 

Speaking of . . . My bloggy friend Jimmie creatively teaches spelling to her daughter.  I love observing all the fun stuff they do . . . I wish I could have done that too.  Another friend (this one IRL) has her son, a tactile learner, spell out words with his body letter by letter on the floor or spell the words by "writing" them with his finger in mounds of rice or salt on a tray.  Fun stuff.

Back to the topic at hand . . . I also blame the fact that I can't spell on the fact that I can rely on spell checkers to help me.  In fact, since I can "teach" Word to auto-correct my most commonly misspelled words things have only gotten worse. :)

But, some people like this (now) 103 year-old man blame the fact that I can't spell on the fact that English spelling is dumb.

birthday cakes galore!

One of the benefits of having 8 hours of class on my birthday is that over 140 people sang happy birthday to me!

And . . . three of my classes surprised me with cakes!!

The first class actually used another student from another class to tell me they were in an assembly in another building, and our class would be canceled and I was free to go home.  I walked by their classroom before my class and it really was empty (little did I know they were hidding in the stairwell).  I debated for a moment whether to trust them or not.  I decided they were trustworthy.

I sent a text to one of the students and told her what I expected them to have completed by our next class.  But, about 5 min into class time the three guys in the class came into my office and told me the assembly was over and they were ready for class.  So, we all went back to the classroom.  I was thinking about how amazing these kids were since they were willing to have class even though they actually had a free pass for the final hour of the day. 

When we walked into the classroom, there was a party going on. :)  (Can you see the numbers on the cake?  That's right . . . 18!!!)



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They had transformed the chalkboard into a giant birthday card.



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Another class came back from the break during the second hour of class with a cake . . . and so we had a party too! :)



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Even though my last class wasn't over till 9:00 and I didn't get home till after 9:30, some special friends were waiting for at my neighbor's home with pizza and cake to celebrate with me.  I don't have picture of that cake, but here I am with my neighbor and her daughters. (I don't know if you can tell, but to me, I look SO TIRED.)



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Then the following day, 15 minutes into class, some of the "absent students" came in carrying a cake and singing "Happy Birthday!"  First thing one of them told me after singing was "you can't count me tardy" (apparently, I'm known for being strict about that.)



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Then later during the week of my birthday, a dear friend, Anna, stopped by with a beautiful little cake to help me celebrate my birthday.  She had seen my blog on Monday and thought I needed some cheering up--isn't that so sweet!!



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So, if I had to be in school all day on my birthday, it was nice being surprised so many times! :)  And, I also appreciate the others who through out the week made me feel special too. :)
 

class reunion

This past Saturday, about 20 students (out of a class of a little over 40) that graduated in 2005 got back together for dinner. It was the first time since graduation three years ago that I'd seen most of them!

When I came up the stairs and saw them sitting there, I was kinda taken aback.  In some ways they'd changed so much and in others not at all.  For the most part I think they have transformed into adults--from boys and girls to men and women.  That's neat to see happen.

They were my first class to teach in Taiwan and I taught them all for a full two years.  They are more than my students.  They became my friends and companions . . . some of them I know will be life long friends.  These students have blessed my life in many, many ways.  I will never have this kind of relationship with another class of students again, of this I am sure.  I am SO thankful for them.  Praise God for his blessings!

A solemn reality that reunions like this remind me of is that being a great English teacher has no eternal value.  Many of them haven't used English much in the past three years and don't feel confident conversing with me in English anymore.  That's ok because we can use Chinese, but my point is all my work and effort in English language education doesn't matter.  It counts for nothing in the end.  The only thing that matters is sharing the Gospel of Christ.  It is the only thing I can share with them that will be of eternal value. 

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my new class

Last Monday, I received a call at 9:10 asking me if I'd like to teach a class from 8 to 10 on Monday mornings.  The class was mine if I showed up before 9:30, so they could "meet the new teacher."

Even though I didn't have class till 3 pm, I was already dressed and ready thanks to years of listening to flylady.  I put on my outside shoes and scootered to school. (ok, so in Asia, flylady's shoe thing just doesn't work as well.)

I learned that they were "child care majors" and that is was a "listening practice" class. After talking to them, I decided to use the same book they used last semester, so they wouldn't have to buy a new one.

So, class our first week was short and to the point. 

This week, I was ready for class and there at 8:00.  But, I soon discovered that the textbook I had found in my office was first edition and they were using the second edition.  Sometimes there really aren't that many changes between editions; sometimes there are. 

This was a "sometimes there are" case.  My book's chapter 12 was about money and took up two pages.  Their book's chapter 12 was about free time and took up four pages.  So . . . I winged it :)  . . . doing nothing from the book.  It is a listening class . . . I didn't have the scripts nor the teacher's CD to go with their textbook 

Mostly I teach junior and senior English majors.  I love that age, that maturity level, that language ability.  But, I'm falling in love with my freshmen childcare majors (non-English majors).  They are a fun group of sweet, giggly girls.  Just right for 8 in the morning on Mondays! :) 

I'm glad God delights in the details of our lives!!  He knew I needed a something a little different this semester.  :)

(There is a lot more I could write about Chinese New Year, maybe I'll get around to it soon or maybe I won't till next year.  We'll have to see.  I make no promises.)

meeting judy!!

I recently saw Judy for the first time since the accident last summer. 

In some ways, she is still the bubbly, fun-filled girl she has always been, but in other ways fear grips her.

Please join me in praying for Judy.  How I long to see her rescued not just for a longer life on earth but for all of eternity.  How I long to see her set free from the fears that bind her.

winter camp is OVER!!

For the past 11 days, I've been teaching a winter English camp for my college.  It was exhausting!!  For an introvert, being around 150 students for 6 hours a day for 11 days kinda wears you down FAST.  I would be very content to just be a hermit for the next 11 days to recuperate. :)

But, since Chinese New Year is coming, that is impossible! :)

But, since Chinese New is coming, I do have the next two weeks OFF!!  Yay!!!  So, I will be spending the days with friends, so that is nice.

For winter camp, I do a lot of games like pictionary, charades, 20 questions, taboo, and more.  I also use songs in many, many ways with lots of different kinds of activities.   So, even though I am exhausted, I did get to have fun, and, hopefully, the students did too.

 

3 more pink pens bit the dust

Well . . . . I am FINALLY done grading finals!!!!!

23 research papers, 54 essays, and 24 biz english portfolios (filled with various emails) along with other various tests and exams have all been read and assigned grades. 

. . . sigh . . . that was the most grading I think I've ever done.  Three college level writing classes is pushing the limit of sanity.  :)

And, yes, I really did use all the ink up in a total of 5 pink pens--all different brands. (I even had to resort to grading the last set of papers in bright blue ink.)

at 7-11

In Taiwan there is literally a 7-11 on every corner, sometimes even TWO at one intersection.  When you have something like 22 million people squeezed into something the size of 1/15 of Texas, it makes sense.

So, today when I was playing 20 questions with my students, I thought it quite clever when nearly every group included the question "can you buy it at 7-11?" in their process to figure out what the item to be guessed was. 

I've never heard that question asked when playing in America . . . . just one more fun little part of life here.

tonight!!!

Last year, I discovered one of my students had been singing on TV.  But, because I didn't have cable, I only watched a few of the videos of her on YouTube.  I told her I had seen her singing and was impressed.  It was then that I found that what I had watched was small potatoes . . . . and that she had sung at other times on other shows too--as recently as just that past weekend.  But, she didn't tell me exactly what or brag or go into details. 

So, fast forward to this summer when I moved to Tainan and a typhoon blew through at the same time.  As I sat in my friend's apartment locked safely inside and utterly exhausted, I flipped through the channels . . . and I SAW HER ON TV!!!  I was shocked.  I mentioned it to my friend and found out that my student entered a "Taiwanese Idol" show on a major TV network. 

There are currently three different "Taiwanese idol" shows on prime time right now here in Taiwan.  My student is on the one called 星光大道 in Chinese.  They call it "Million Star" in English but a better translation of the show's name would be "Path to Stardom" or "Avenue of the Stars." 

So, ever since August of last year, I've faithfully watched this "Taiwanese Idol" show on TV each weekend.  It starts on Fridays at 9:30 and lasts till midnight.  Good thing for me they replay the last two weeks of shows back-to-back again on Saturday and Sunday.  So, in total I have four extra chances to see each show in case I miss the Friday night one or if I fall asleep on the couch before Rachel, my former student sings (she graduated last year).  (By the way, if you remember Judy from this summer, Rachel and Judy are best friends.)

Well, they have it down to the top five and tonight the show is live as they determine the ranking of the top five and declare a winner.  Rachel has consistently received high scores throughout the show.  And currently is in first place from the last 3 weeks of "top 6" competitions when they started adding the scores together for the top 6 and not just kicking off the low achievers! 

So, no doubt that tonight I will be watching this show and cheering on my former student!!! 

Here she is in a couple of her most recent performances on the show (the first one she is in a duet with one of the judges in a fun song called "it doesn't matter"):

seeing pink

I feel like my words are missing . . . my students have stolen them from me. :)

In the last 24 hours, I've corrected approximately 60 essays.  I have about 20 more to go by tomorrow afternoon, and then 40 more for early next week, and then oh . . . about 60 more later in the week.  Most of them are 2-3 pages, but about 20 are close to 10 pages each.

My hand hurts, my vision is blurred, and I've actually emptied the ink out of one pink pen and am about to finish off my second one in a matter of just a few more essays.  (OK, so maybe my arm hurts from sleeping on it funny, and maybe my vision was only blurred for a few seconds when my contact was doing something funny . . . but I really have used up the ink in 1.8 pink pens.)

Finals are in two weeks; but since I teach three writing classes, the majority of my students need to turn in final drafts of essays, research papers, or business emails they've written over the course of the semester.  Which means I am helping them to do their final editing.

. . . which means I'm seeing pink and will continue to do so until mid-January!!

[Oh, yeah, but don't feel sorry for me.  I am not complaining.  I love my job.  Just felt the need to explain why I've not posted much . . . I have no words left to express my own thoughts. :)]

a pictorial year in the life of amanda

Like I've done for the past two years (2005, 2006), I am summing up my entire 2007 in only 12 photos (one for each month).

I took less than half as many pictures this year as I did last year.  This year I only took a little over 4,000 . . . .it's kinda hard to beat 9000 in one year. :)  Nonetheless, it was still not easy to choose only one pic per month, but it is a fun way to showcase the various things that took place this past year.

January: Telling People about Jesus

February: Go to Thailand

March: I Play My Erhu in the Park

April: I Learn to Make Spring Rolls

May: A Fantabulous Weekend Getaway to Neighboring Island--PengHu (which I never blogged about but always intended too)

June: Students Graduate

July: My Cousins Come to Taiwan!!

August: I move to Tainan

September: My First MIRL--I get to Meet Fellow Taiwan Blogger in Person

October: Yuka, One of My Japanese Friends, Comes to Taiwan!!

November: New School, New Students, New Friends

December: Christmas Parties Galore!

Quite different than previous years.  This year was filled with more "風風雨雨"  (wind, wind, rain, rain), a Chinese idiom which can be translated "ups and downs."  But still the year remains a testament to God's kindness.

If you'd like to join me in doing this, please do . . . just leave a comment below with the link to your own pictorial summary of
2007 so we can all go enjoy looking over your year (I tried Mr. Linky, but he doesn't do custom meme's anymore unless you pay).

graduation project update

They did it!!  They finished their graduation project and successfully defended it this past Tuesday.

This was a huge accomplishment!

These are the girls--Kara, Josephine, and Juliet--you helped by completing their online survey back in April.  They are grateful for your help.  Those of you requested a copy of their project will be receiving it after they make the suggested corrections by their oral defense committee. 

Even though I changed schools, I continued to be their project adviser.  They would take the train up to Tainan on the weekends in order to work on their project with me. 

To me, one of the best parts of being a teacher is watching my students shine.  And, this Tuesday, shine they did!!

a cold joke

In Chinese the idiomatic expression "cold joke" refers to a cheesy or lame joke.

Monday one of my students was on his toes when he made a cold joke in the middle of class.

We were discussing onomatopoeia  for animal sounds.  You did know that dogs go "woof, woof" in English but "wang, wang" in Chinese, right?  Onomatopoeia is not only a fun word to say, but it is also a very fun thing to discuss with people from other cultures/languages.

Anyway, they were shouting out names of animals, and I was giving them their English sounds.  One of them asked for "deer."

And just like I said for rabbit and mouse, I replied "deer don't make sounds."  And another student said, "Yes the do.  They say 'honey.'"

Ha. Ha. 

But, actually for an EFL student to make a play on the words "deer" and "dear" right there in class is pretty impressive.

80 down, 36 to go

Essays to grade that is.  I've finished 80 and have only 36 left to read and grade.  Oh, yeah, I also have journals, exams, and projects to grade.

Yeah . . . finals are over, so that means my work has only increased. :) 

But, I can taste freedom--it is just around the corner.  Summer break is  a-l-m-o-s-t  here!

taiwan from my students' eyes

As I've mentined before, I am teaching an internet English course this semester.  This is actually one of the multiple reasons I needed a bloggy break! :)  I added 20 something student blogs to a "must-read and interact with" list on my blog-reader, and I am blogging for them as an example to follow.

Anywho, it has been fun teaching them how to blog and use flickr as well as some other online programs and sites.  Some of them have really taken off and are doing cool things with their blogs.  Others, well, they are just trying to get the hang of it. :)

I am enjoying this course because it is a way for them to use English for a "real reason."  I also enjoy seeing them interact with each other both in real life in the classroom and online. 

Now to finally get to the point of this post . . . . One of their recent assignments was to create a slideshow using slide.com to showcase a part of Taiwanese Culture.  Some of them have shared the HTML code for their slide shows with me, so I can share with you!! 

First, for no particular reason, is Stella's slide show.  Her slide show actually covers a few different aspects of Taiwan culture. 

Another student,  Nancy focused on "Stores in Taiwan."  All of her photos are of different kinds of stores in Taiwan.  So, take a look and see what it is like to do some shopping in Taiwan.

I'll post more of their slideshows in the near future!!  Keep an eye out for them and learn even more about the little tropical island we live on! :)

What does dinner look like at your house?

Every year, I supervise a group of graduating students as they complete a senior thesis together.  This year, my group wants to know what dinner time looks like in America. 

All they know is what they have seen on movies.  They think our evening meal times are either extrememly serious and quite with candles lit and opera music playing softly in the background or are crazy, loud, and chaotic.  They think we only eat steak, hamburgers, and pizza.

So, these three young ladies have created an online survey to discover a better picture of what dinner time looks like in America. 

We need your help to take the survery and to encourage others to take the survey as well. The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete. 

To encourage you to help us advertise the survey, if you link to the survey from your blog and invite your readers to take it, you will be entered in a prize drawing if you leave a trackback or comment to this post.  The prize?  A handmade postcard sent from Taiwan.  Up to ten people will win the prize.

The survey and "spread the word" prize contest will both close on April 29th.   But don't wait!  Help us now!!

Your help is greatly appreciated!!

{ETA: The survey is only for Americans, but the prize drawing for helping us get the word out about the survey is open to all!}

teaching barefoot

I know I've told that in Taiwan we take off our shoes before we enter someone's home.  But, have I ever told you that I teach barefoot too?

All of my classes are in a language lab or computer lab; so, we must take off our shoes before entering the classrooms.  "Regular classrooms" do not require shoes be removed.

Why the floors of these rooms must be kept clean I will never know.  But, that is the school rule, so that is what we do.  And just for the record, the student's don't like it.

I love the fact that the school provides these nifty little shoe cases for the students to put their shoes, but that instead students just pile the shoes in front of the shoe case.

Outside of a computer classroom at my school: