4ever Discovering
Another Unit Down, and Only Limited Time To Go
I Don’t Know What’s in the Water, but These Kids Have Summer Fever
With the temperature rising every day, my students are nothing short of energetic. We all know that time when we can practically taste summer; it is coming so fast, no one is really 100% focused on their work. With my favourite season just around the corner, I have to admit, it’s hard for me to not be checked-out right now. I feel like I have so much to prepare for for my summer travels, I am not always thinking about my classroom. Emily and I only have 7 weeks left in Taiwan, and still so much to do! Every day after school, we are trying to do something new. Every time we feel like we have accomplished something, there are 10 other things on our list that keep piling up. I know we can’t do everything, but we are trying our best! We are going to make the impossible possible.
As for my students, I know they are getting tired. We were advised to keep our kids on a tight leash; we don’t want them slacking off with just over a month left. For my own sanity, I need these kids to follow the routines. And for the most part, they are. Of course there are days (usually Fridays), where everyone seems totally wild, but I don’t blame them. The weather is hot and humid; the last place you want to be is sitting in a classroom. I just keep praying the air conditioning comes on every day! If the teacher is too hot, there is no way we will ever be productive in class.
I have just finished our sixth unit with the students: The 4 Seasons. This was a lot of fun because I was able to connect the Taiwanese and Canadian cultures. As I said before, my students are most engaged when I talk about Canada, so this was a great way for everyone to remain focused in the heat. We discussed how the seasons are different in the two countries. For example, summer is Taiwan has typhoons and is VERY hot. Winter in Canada has snow and is freezing. The kids were very excited to learn about Canadian winters. They keep saying how much they love snow, but most of them have never even touched it before. I showed them a video of a snowstorm in Canada and they couldn’t believe it. They thought it was so cool how we have snow days where we can’t go to school (but they love any day where there is no school). I told them it is the same as Taiwan, except here we have typhoon days. Either way, the kids would live anywhere where they could snag a day off now and then (me too!).
I think talking about the 4 seasons really opened my students’ eyes to different cultures around the world (well, hopefully). We learned about different clothing we wear in different seasons and countries, and activities we do when the weather changes. We also discussed different holidays we celebrate in the four seasons. This topic was really interesting because I was able to teach my kids about traditions we have in Canada that are not celebrated in Asia. Because the students come from younger generation families, they know about our big holidays like Christmas, but it is not fully celebrated here (enough to be a day off from school at least). Talking about Christmas made me realize how important it is to me, because the students would always ask what I do during the holiday. Of course I told them all I do is eat LOL.
When I was teaching my students about different holidays, they were so shocked some were only celebrated in Taiwan and China. “Miss L, Canada doesn’t have a Chinese New Year holiday??” They were mind blown to think that we don’t have those three weeks off, but I had to explain we have Christmas holidays off. It was really eye-opening for me to see how teachers can expose their students to different cultures, and play such a vital role in preparing them for the real world. The best classroom isn’t textbook focused; students must be culturally aware of the world and our role in it. This is why I think our program is just want these kids need to stray away from the traditional ‘asian’ style of learning. It was also hilarious to see their faces when I told them about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Part of me felt horrible for lying to them; they couldn’t believe a bunny came to our houses and hid chocolate eggs all over the place. They also told me they have heard Santa’s sleigh, but never seen him. One little girl told me her mom was Santa, and told her that was impossible. I told her I still get gifts that say ‘To Miss L, Love Santa’. I said maybe your mom was just helping him put the presents under the tree because they don’t have chimneys here. Hopefully she believed it enough to not ask me again!
There were a lot of cool ideas we came up with for projects around the 4 seasons. We connected our previous unit (My 5 Senses), and had the students describe what they can see, hear, feel, taste, and smell in each season. Of course most of them wrote, “In winter, I can feel cold snow” and “In summer, I can taste delicious ice cream”, but hey, they aren’t wrong! For the culminating task, we had the kids choose their favourite season and make a brochure to promote it. I am pleased to announce this was, BY FAR, my kids’ best work yet! It only took them 8 months, but I was so happy to see them all take their time to make the brochures look amazing! Some of the detail they put into them is incredible!
For a little art project, we had the kids create a 4 Seasons Tree Book. This was a lot of preparation on my part, but totally worth it in the end. They made a book of four different trees, each one showing how the trees change in each season. In spring the trees are full of blooming flowers; summer they are fully green; autumn the leaves change colour; and winter has no leaves. The kids had a lot of fun with this activity, and really put their best effort into completing them. I definitely was having some proud teacher moments!
Being May, we also made a Mother’s Day craft for the kids to bring home to their moms. I had my students make flowers, with each petal describing why they love their mom. Most of them followed my exemplar and said ‘you are selfless, you are caring, and you are beautiful’. They turned out really cute; I’m sure their moms will love them just because there is English on them! Maybe I can squeeze mine in an envelope and mail it home to you, mom! Or you can just see it when you come in 50 days!! (I’m a little excited).
We only have two units left in the curriculum and then we are all finished. The kids are doing amazing in class; I can really see all of their improvement since August. I just assessed all of their reading levels, and every single one of my kids has improved (some even moved up 10 levels!). It’s incredible to see. It’s starting to sink in that I am leaving them soon; I know on the last day I will be a wreck. I’m going to miss their quirkiness and love for learning. Some of the things they say and do, I can’t help but laugh. I will miss them choosing to listen to Adele in class when they get to pick a song, or dancing when they drink bubble tea. These kids are in school for so long every day, they don’t always have the time to just be a kid. If I can give them 5 minutes a day to take a little breather, I am happy to. My favourite quote from this unit came from one of my grade 2 students. We were talking about how the weather is very hot here in spring, but when I checked Toronto’s weather, it was only 7 degrees. They couldn’t believe the difference. Then this boy raised his hand and said, ‘Miss L, the world is broken’. I just smiled and said ‘it sure is’. They may not have the right vocabulary, but they know what’s happening!
