Day 1 of observation (11/16)

Still getting used to the time difference and trying to get the sleep pattern down. Anyways, Max and I woke up pretty early and before we got picked up from school we went to Dunkin Doughnuts. Had a blueberry bagel if you were wondering. One of the teachers picked us up from our motel at 10:30 and showed us how to get to school. It is a pretty easy find because we do not have to turn once, however it is a good 30 minute walk and it is starting to get pretty cold. We will see what happens.
So we got to school and it is in a building on the 3rd floor. We are identified by a duck, i guess you could say our mascot. Pretty funny. Max and I met all the korean, Chinese,and english teachers. After that, we got our schedules and started observing. Each class is 40 minutes long with a 5 minute break unless you have off that period where you would get 40 minutes off. So I started with preschool, they are there from 9-2:30 i think. They learn chinese, korean, and english. I think it is crazy how long the children go to school for. It is not right and they should be playing not learning most of the day. After I observed some preschool classes I went to lunch with Max and another teacher. The next class I had were older kids and most of these children are very cute and seem to be a pleasure to be around. I did not really learn a lot today observing, just to play lots of games and try to engage everyone (pretty obvious). On a side note, none of the children could pronounce my name, so I told them to call me J teacher. They must say teacher it is a rule. Pretty funny. Also they were infatuated with my eyes because they are green and all of theirs are brown/black. Lastly, they all where masks and have to have their temperature taken because they are that terrified of swine flu. So it is hard enough to understand them without the mask because they are just learning enlgish, but add the mask and it gets that much tought, but you have to remember that this is a business and no one cares about your opinion. They just ant the children to 'pass' even if they failed. Its a money making business for people. The day ended at 8:15 after the 8th class. It was a long day and am ready to go to bed. Tomorrow have to be there even earlier to observe and a faculty meeting. Goodnight

-Pillows