The Way We Go To School

School has been busy the last few days so Nate and I have been relaxing by playing the video game OverCooked at night. We have Charlie Hunt, Cora Glass, and BKC to thank for getting us into it! It is so much fun and not too hard. 

Some things I’ve learned about my school:

• All the classrooms are on the east-facing side of the building (sleeping rooms, offices, and gathering spaces are on the west side), because Chinese people value the sunlight and warmth so much. Tara (my principal) said that parents would not enroll their children here if the classrooms were on the west side. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• Chinese parents worry that their children will get too cold. This is part of the reason for the above preference and also why they always dress the kids in layers, regardless of the outside temp (this was a problem at Towsley too). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• Also because of this preference, the classrooms often have windows open AND the air on. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• Children have indoor shoes for school, so they don’t bring outdoor germs and dirt into the classrooms. I like this philosophy but we don’t have to follow it as teachers so it seems kind of pointless, because we are bringing those germs in on our own shoes. (This was a similar issue we had at Towsley, when transitioning the infant/toddler classrooms to shoe-free zones.) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• It’s unusual for the children to play on the floor if there is no mat or rug on the floor. This is partly because of the above preference for indoor shoes but it also seems that it might be a personal preference of the teachers. Other English teachers have done activities on the floor with no issue so I will also be trying that.
• Here are some photos of my classrooms (I'll be teaching in two). I can't take credit for the set-up...my Chinese co-teachers did a wonderful job with that!