My 2 Weeks with 160 Local Chinese Kids

The last two weeks have been a new and amazing experience for me.  My school hosted a summer English camp for 4 local Chinese schools which brought in about 160 students eager to learn English from me and many guest teachers from the USA who flew in for the summer.  The Chinese students ranged from age 5 to 13 years old! 

Our theme was Roadtrip in the USA.  Four teachers taught the 4 major regions of the US: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West.  I taught dance with another teacher who taught music.  It was so much fun!  I taught these kids how to country line dance, Native American dancing, the hand jive, and many other fun dances!

The parents enjoyed dancing to the 'Chicken Dance'.

They enjoyed singing "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes"

Singing "Bingo"

Keeping the beat with rhythm sticks and bells to a Native American Song.

Teaching some kiddies about cowboys and line dancing!

One week left of summer break before I have to report back to PD days at school!  Have a great rest of your summer!! :)

Dr. Seuss Author Study

Last month, we studied and read many Dr. Seuss books.

One of my personal favorites is Oh, the Places You'll Go!
We read this book and discussed where in the world we would like to travel. My kids are lucky for being such world travelers at such a young age.  Many came up with some unique places they wished to travel.  We made a hot air balloon craft and wrote a sentence on where we wanted to visit.

Then I posted our craftivity onto our classroom door!  I am obsessed with the hot air balloon I made from a book basket.  The balloon part is made from tissue paper.

Here's a picture of my author study bulletin board in our reading library.  This is definitely one of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes. :)

Summer is here! But now I'm back to work.

I can't believe it's already July!  I have officially worked in China for 1 whole year!  From the first day of school to Kindergarten graduation, it's crazy to think last summer I was packing my life away for China and a new job.  Now I have survived my first year in a new country, new school, and new culture. 

For teachers who are on their first year contract, we only have a 3 week vacation in June.  Then we have the rest of the summer to learn "intensive" Chinese.  Honestly, I was nervous at first because I skipped many of my Chinese classes (which were twice a week after school) during the school year.  But since I don't have to teach everyday during the summer, my brain is ready to tackle more difficult Chinese language skills.  My other job I chose to do for my international school is to teach dance for our Summer English Camp.  I'm excited that I still get to spend some of my time with kids and potential kids who might attend my school.  I'm happy to use and share my talents on making these kiddos the best dancers as possible and also to help them learn English! :)

In the mist of all this happening, my roommate and I had to move apartments.  We were very happy we got to stay in the same apartment complex and building.  AND on top of that we had movers to move everything for us!  I felt so blessed I didn't have to do any heavy lifting.  The best part was watching all of these Chinese people rushing into my house to pack and unpack (basically 1 or 2 people were assigned a room to place it up and unpack the boxes into the new house).  I wish I took a picture of video of the moving process because it sure amazing on how quickly a 3 bedroom apartment could be boxed up in 1.5 hours! 

What did I do on my 3 week vacation?  I stayed in China and my boyfriend, Kevin, came to visit me!!  I haven't done too much traveling within China so I was very happy to visit many places with him for the first time.  We went to my city (Tianjin), Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Macau. In Hong Kong, my boyfriend was able to meet my extended family for the first time face-to-face!  :)  Long distance relationships can be tough but I'm glad we are still able to travel and explore the world together even though our time is short.