Day 10

I went to bed early last night with a slight headache and woke up at 2 am with a worse headache.  I was able to stretch my neck and go back to sleep, but the headache was worse when my alarm went off.  I really didn't want to go to 3e International school today, but I took 4 Tylenol and kept my thoughts to myself.

I really enjoyed my time in the classroom after the headache went away.  It was interesting to see things that cross cultures, like 5-6 year old kids tend to pick same gender playmates.  It was also interesting to see differences, like graphing the level of pollution in the air.  They discussed how pollution is dirt in the air, not a cloud.  The kids in the U.S. wouldn't understand the discussion since they had never experienced that kind of pollution.  I really want a smart board in my classroom like the classrooms here do.  They were able to do calendar, weather, pollution, and multiple other things all in the same space without using up a lot of wall space.

I really do feel saturated in the area of Chinese education.  I'll have to work up my interest for the last school on Monday.  I'd be happy to see the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, and just go back to the U.S.  I am tired of struggling to communicate and/or having the same conversations with different people.

All the Chinese and English teachers that I observed used a calm voice to tell a child why a behavior was not acceptable and what they should do instead.  Even when I couldn't understand their words I could tell that their method was like what I learned based on their behavior.

I found it interesting that students were not told to help their classmates to clean up.  They were invited to begin the next activity and the children still cleaning up could hear what they were doing.  I'd read about that method but this was the first time I saw it obviously practiced.  The second teacher was following up with the students who needed to finish cleaning up.

After the school let out, we went to a shopping area.  I thought this church was beautiful that we walked by.

It was interesting to see the foods available.  Jon and Carrie tried scorpion on a stick.  I tried a fried potato curling around a stick.  It was a like a thick potato chip.  I'm really shopped out so I had no interest in walking through the stores.

We took the Metro back to our hotel and walked through a park on the way from the Metro Station to our hotel.  I liked all the rock in the hillside.

The rest of the group went out for supper tonight but I wasn't hungry so I stayed behind.  I walked to the corner store for fruit, water, and snacks.  I am enjoying some time alone right now.