Kerry Bryan is fine?

So meet the other classes I have....
1st photo is my Tuesday 8:00 class
2nd is my Wednesday 8:00 class
3rd is my Wednesday 1:30 class
4th is my Wednesday 3:30 class
5th is my Thursday 10:10 class
6th is my Thursday 1:30 class
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So did the title of this post catch your eye? Hopefully so...I had my students do some informal evaluations of me this week and I asked five questions. So I did my best to find one great answer that caught my eye....Enjoy

Question 1:
What is the best thing about Freshman Oral English?
Best Answer:
"I like listening to you and talking with you because you are smart, kind and fine."

Question 2:
What do you not like about Freshman Oral English?
Best Answer:
"Speak English only" (I'm sorry student...the rules are speak English only...tough break)
Another good answer for this one is..."You can take us outside for class" (I am not allowed too...I would love to go outside for classes when it is sunny...sucks that I can't)

Question 3:
What are some things you have learned in Freshman Oral English?
Best Answer:
"I learn a lot. Maybe many. Just spilling out my brain. :) The way of speaking English, the food's difference Chinese and American and so on." (Yes...spilling the brain...I did not teach that...ps that is a word for word statement straight from the evaluation)

Question 4:
Do you think your English is better now?
Best Answer:
"Yes, of course. My ORAL English is more unadulterated than before" (I had to look up what unadulterated meant)

Question 5:
What can I (Kerry) do to make class better next year (term)?
Best Answer:
"Oh, Dear Kerry,
Don't worry about this. You did well, we all thank you for your effort and we all love you very much. As our first foreign teacher, you're great." (Only if my student could speak like this)

For question 5, many students wrote, ""You had better do____." Normally you had better teach us more slang and idioms. Or you had better learn more chinese for us. (I had better.....just funny to me)


Today one of my female students (One of my top 10 students for sure) stood up in front of class and have me a five minute speech on how the class has loved my class and how they are happy I taught them and put so much into teaching them....it really made me happy and made me all warm inside....it was good words to end my first semester of teaching on...

But......................................
I leave for Hong Kong in less than two days....and Bangkok in less than 9 days...gotta love adventure (I'm traveling the world TK)
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Here are gifts from my classes:
1st photo is a gift from my Tuesday 8:00 class(Santa Hat with Tails)
2nd is gifts from my Wednesday 1:30 class (All kinds of Chinese food)
3rd is gifts from my Wednesday 3:30 class (Homemade card and food)
4th is gifts from Thursday 10:10 class (Giant Beijing Opera Mask and Handmade Paper Flowers)
5th is gifts from my Thursday 1:30 class (Beijing Opera Ashtray and Lighter, Candy and Stuff)

Meet my Monday Classes...

I have nine different classes, and I only see each class once a week at two hour intervals. This is my eleventh week of teaching, so I decided that you needed to see my students. So, the three classes about are my Monday classes. The first one is my 8:00-9:50 class, the second is my 10:10-12:00 class, and the last one is my 1:30-3:30 class. All nine of my classes are completely different but each of them are very fun for the most part. My Monday 10:10 class seems to never understand me so I have a hard time getting across to them but they have come through by doing really well on both of the oral examinations. The scores they got blew me away, cause they never talk in class, they never ask questions and are scared to ask questions. Most classes do not ask questions. They will sit there confused and do something wrong before they ask a question. This is because in their other classes, the teachers lecture the entire two hours. There is very little student feedback. In our classes we want to have the students talking and mingling to improve their English. Oh well...hopefully next semester the students will be brave.
Last week we had final exams....wow...my classes did really good on the exam..yeah I had a few students who did not pass but that is normal. But all of my students passed the semester but some of them came very close to having to retake it.
So this week of teaching is a supplemental week. No set lesson to teach the students...but with in being Christmas, I am teaching the meaning of Christmas. I am comparing our Christmas Celebration to the Chinese Spring Festival (Chinese New Year which is on Jan. 26 in China). So please remember me you do that who closing your eyes thing and talking to the man upstairs. Lift me up so that I will be able to remember the important facts that need to be said and I teach a new concept to my students....cause it really is very interesting. Some students say this story is very cool so I hope it might lead to more discussion.

So...my classes have given me gifts for Christmas...which is sad cause I have nothing to give them in return..so in return they have asked me to sing them a song...so I did. I had to do something so I decided to sing Silent Night....they loved it. They will probably never say if I am a bad singer cause this whole country is so generous and accepting of everything. But here are some thing my class has given me. The first picture is a Beijing Opera Silverware set...with American Silverware and Chopsticks...they said they got me this because they know that I love to eat...they listen to every little detail about me. The second picture is a basketball, man scarf, fruit, jello and weird food. On the basketball is a picture of my favorite NBA team...the SAN ANTONIO SPURS....all my student know they I LOVE THE SPURS and that Tim Duncan is my favorite player...so they got me this basketball. Only if I have something in return to give them...but I have roughly 225 students so I would be broke after that...More posts of my students later this week.

Holla

Early Christmas

"Shh, it's Kerry."

That is what my students said when I was a few steps away from entering my 8:00 class this morning. I should have noticed something was going on when two of my students were walking outside. I asked where they were going and they said, "We are going to get a camera." I wasn't worried about it because there was still ten minutes before class started. So I am getting my laptop set up for class, I am using a laptop this week because we are doing final exams and the exam is on my laptop, and one of my students said, "Kerry, our class got something for you." I thought they were doing some kind of joke to see what I would say. But no, they seriously got me a gift. I had no idea what it would be. So I get this bag and inside is a huge card and a Chinese flag. Wow, I was really excited. I asked this class how much a flag was and if the found a cheap one to please let me know. But they got it for me as a Christmas gift, along with a Pop-Up Christmas card that all my students signed that said:

Dear Kerry,
Thank you for teaching. We all love you very much. Best wishes for you. May you be happy and everything goes well!
From Accounting Three
December 2008

I have been wanting to get both an American Flag and a Chinese flag to hang up in my living room. When I go to Thailand, I would like to buy a Thailand flag as well. I probably wont hang it in my room but just to have it. Maybe that will be a collection. When I go to another country I would buy the flag for that country.

After this class, I took a good two and a half hour nap and woke up to catch the end of a really exciting Spurs and Mavericks game. When I woke up there was 1:47 left in regulation and my Spurs were up 2. But it went into overtime and then a second overtime. Then the Spurs pulled out a big win. I was glad that I was able to catch that.

Only 10 more days until Hong Kong, 17 until Bangkok.

Merry Christmas

So, thanksgiving is over, and now it is time for Christmas. This is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, at least that is what a song says. I love the holidays, waking up at the crack of dawn with the family opening gifts, watching the lights on the tree blink (or chase or whatever your lights do). I am beginning to miss home, the family, the friends, the shopping, and most of all the food. But I will be going to Hong Kong for a few days to spent Christmas there then going to Bangkok on Dec 27th and will bring in 2009 in Thailand. I will be spending Christmas and New Years with some awesome people and I am really looking forward to it. I am getting messages from friends saying they wish I was home for the holidays and how they miss me and getting e-mails from Mom. But I am doing something with my life right now that I feel that I was supposed to do. I want to travel the world and this was a great starting point.

So during Thanksgiving lunch, they did a raffle for teachers to win a Christmas tree. I was one of the winners. So here is a picture by picture of my tree as it came together. Thanks to Ben and Christina for letting me borrow decorations and lights to put on my minature tree. As you can see, there are traditional American decorations but I decided that since my student gave me all the weird Chinese decorations, then why not put those on they tree. They way, when they visit again they will see that the decorations they gave to their foreign teacher(me) went to use. The students love the tree, I try to have it on before they come into my room, sometimes I forget so I turn it in when they come in. They like it alot, or so they say. I met with a student last week because I needed to get the right roster from him, but he told me the class had a vote to elect their favorite teacher. Well, I am very pleased to say that the class voted me as their favorite teacher. I asked him why, he said, "because when we come to class never know what to expect". He told me they love they I can make them laugh everytime. That is what I try to do cause in their other classes, the lessons are all teacher centered and that is extremely boring on a student. With two hour classes, students need to be provided with some sort of entertainment.

Cliques, or a social group, is something I really am not a fan of. I guess you can call me a floater cause I don't think I really am much of a one group kind of person. I mean, I do have a few people who are the guys/girls I love to hang out with but I love to hang out with different people from time to time. So I float from group to group, to try to take advantage of building relationships with those around me. But, here is my point. I have been told here that I fit it well and I provide so much to the group. Talking about the foreign faculty as a whole at Sias. Well, as of right now with the whole group, I feel like I provide nothing at all. I get the occasional text about volleyball and whatnot, but when it comes to exciting things, all I do is sit in my room or am with Andy and Lacy. Why would people tell me these things about being so great or whatever but they do not allow me to be much. Now I was invited by the different cliques here for their different trips over Thanksgiving and I was really excited to have been invited to those but I had to save money for Christmas and traveling so I did decline. But other things that happen, I feel like I invite myself. I have never really had to do that and it is kind of uncomfortable. One group here does a thing here once a week sometimes every other week and I usually get invited to that, but when I go to that the only thing they talk about are stories that took place last year. So I awkwardly sit there and listen to the stories that I have nothing to do with wishing I was able to provide some kind of input so I will give the occasional courtesy laugh. Sometimes the stories are really funny and I will laugh pretty hard about that. It just stinks that I was a late arrival to China cause trying to work yourself into a group that seems to already been sewn together is a very tough thing to do. I just want to provide something. Anyways...just something I have been dealing with for a few weeks now.

Hope you guys enjoyed this post...I know I am usually the happy person but sometimes a brothas gotta rant.

Holla