Summer Institute in a Nutshell! - Abby

Ok, first of all I have to apologize for being the worst blogger ever! Summer Institute has been seriously hectic and I haven't been very patient about dealing with our internet issues, but from here on I vow to be a better blogger.

So much has happened in the last four weeks that I hardly know where to start. Our first week here we attended class every day where we learned about all sorts of teacherly things - how to write lesson plans, how to write assessments, strategies for tracking students behavior both as a group and individually, strategies for tracking students academically both as a group and individually, etc. Then we got assigned our class and curriculum and had a weekend to begin writing lesson plans and making posters and getting ready to teach. For the past three weeks, we've been teaching one class per day, and then continuing with our other classes until about 5:30 pm - and then grading and lesson planning frantically while hoping that the little print shop around the corner doesn't decide to close early again.


It was grueling, but it also went by amazingly fast. The ending was surprisingly bittersweet too. I'm excited to settle in at Yongfeng, start classes, and meet all of my students - and to be honest I'm also really excited to be leaving our cockroach problem behind. But it was difficult saying goodbye to the Teach for China fellows that I'd become close to and all of the second year fellows and staff who were so supportive. And I will miss the gorgeous mountain views as far as you can see in every direction. On my last day in Lincang, I finally hiked Qishan, the mountain near campus - and realized when I reached the top that I had forgotten my camera, so I can't share that view. But even from the city you can get a sense of how beautiful it is. Here is the view from the room that Nina and I shared with two Chinese fellows:



Though the room itself has a pretty eccentric decorating scheme:

 

But I think the best part of Summer Institute was definitely getting into the classroom and getting comfortable teaching. I had a fourth grade class and they were really adorable. I'll post more pictures when my internet is stronger, but for now my proudest moment was reading the results from a 'Culture of Achievement' survey Teach for China gave our students to see how they felt in the classroom. One question asked, "What were the two best things about this class?" and a common response was, "My two wonderful teachers!" (They got two periods of English a day, so each class had two English teachers). When asked, "What were the two worst things about this class?" One students responded, "Not having class in the afternoons and not having class on the weekend!" I'm sure that was completely genuine and they were not not just trying to kiss up to their teacher... (It's also worth noting that it was our last day of class and we had just given them candy).



I'm off to Vietnam tomorrow for a vacation before the school year starts! Nina and I are meeting up there and staying with her college roommate. I am psyched for the trip. Hopefully I will get a chance to update the blog while I am there, but if not I will be back in Xi'an in about a week!