Monday, October 08, 2012

where I work.

I'm going back to work today after having a week off, so what better time to tell you about where I spend the majority of my days?


I teach at the Shunyi Campus of the Canadian International School of Beijing. It's a Montessori school for children ages 18 months to 6 years old. It's small, only 3 classrooms, but it's cute.

It takes 30 minutes to an hour to get there from where I live, depending on how bad traffic is. A driver picks Alanna and I up every morning a little after 7. Everyone always says, "Man, the commute must suck!" but really, it's not that bad. I usually nap or read.




These are "before" shots of our classroom. All of the furniture and most of the materials we use are brand new, which is awesome. Unfortunately, all of the furniture is tiny so my back and butt hurt by the end of the day. 





These are the "after" shots, although things have changed a bit since I took these photos.

We only have 3 students (total, not each), so Alanna and I decided to combine our two classes in one classroom. Our students are 22 months, 35 months, and 3 1/2 years old, so there's not too big of an age gap.

I know it sounds like we have it easy, but trust me when I say that there are pros and cons. I won't go into details here because I don't think it would be professional, but everyone knows that jobs can be hard. Especially first jobs.

They can also be really rewarding. When a child whose first language is not English says "thank you" to you for the first time -- completely unprompted -- it can make your day (and cause you to cry).

P.S. Where I live. 

3 comments:

  1. Oh boy! Your students are just little ones. That alone would create some sticky challenges, I'm sure, on top of the task of teaching them a foreign language.
    Amanda, when you are finished with this, I'll bet you'll breeze through all future challenges.
    Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you can celebrate somehow.

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  2. I'm very impressed by the quality of the school building and materials. Just as with your apartment, the government there seems to make funding the schools and teachers a priority.

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  3. Dalyce: Thank you! Happy Thanksgiving to you, too! A group of us teachers here had a Thanksgiving potluck. No turkey, but we had chicken!

    John: It is a really good setup! It's a private school, though, so I don't think the government is funding it (much, if at all).

    ReplyDelete

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