"Hey Jessi, what's it like working at an international school?"
Well, friend, I'm glad you asked. Let me tell you two stories. These stories are probably my two favorite stories that I get to tell because they perfectly capture the incomparably crazy essence of this life.
So, here you go.
Story #1: I love doing lessons where I get to project the world map onto the board because every hand is in the air, every student is bouncing out of their seat with excitement, and every voice is talking all at once. (A real teacher's dream right?? Lol. Yeah.) "Ms. Souer, where is Korea?" "Ms. Souer, where is Japan?" "WHAT THAT HUGE COUNTRY ABOVE CHINA? IT EATING THE WORLD." (It was Russia FYI) "Ms. Souer, Ms. Souer, this one time, we went to this little island that sounds like the name Chengdu, but it's not, because I forgot the name of it, but we went to..." And on and on and on, one after the other (who am I kidding--all at one time) wants to share about somewhere they've been, or point out a country they've visited, or talked about the people they know in the countries on the map.
You know what I love about this though? What I really, absolutely, wholeheartedly love? When my students look at a map, they see people. They know that Sam lives in Hong Kong and that Bella lives in Brazil. They have travel stories--funny, sad, or otherwise. The world is so much smaller to them and they aren't afraid because they don't think of "scary" on our level. They've already done it--leaving all they know as familiar to be somewhere new. My students have traveled to more places than they can count (literally--we're working on that lol), and I think it's freaking AWESOME.
Story #2: End of school day--walking out to the buses. The bus driver pulls me aside and begins talking to me in Chinese about two of the students on the bus, but sadly, I don't even catch onto the meaning of what he's saying. The student holding my hand looks up to me and says, "Ms. Souer, you say, (Insert Chinese phrase meaning "I don't understand")."
Me: Blinks. "Um, yes, thanks (Student)."
We keep walking until I hear another student ask, "(Insert Student's Name Who Speaks Chinese), what did the bus driver say?"
Student thinks and responds, "He says, (Student A and B) need to be quiet on the bus."
And there you have it. Five year olds translating for me. My life. :)
Well, friend, I'm glad you asked. Let me tell you two stories. These stories are probably my two favorite stories that I get to tell because they perfectly capture the incomparably crazy essence of this life.
So, here you go.
Story #1: I love doing lessons where I get to project the world map onto the board because every hand is in the air, every student is bouncing out of their seat with excitement, and every voice is talking all at once. (A real teacher's dream right?? Lol. Yeah.) "Ms. Souer, where is Korea?" "Ms. Souer, where is Japan?" "WHAT THAT HUGE COUNTRY ABOVE CHINA? IT EATING THE WORLD." (It was Russia FYI) "Ms. Souer, Ms. Souer, this one time, we went to this little island that sounds like the name Chengdu, but it's not, because I forgot the name of it, but we went to..." And on and on and on, one after the other (who am I kidding--all at one time) wants to share about somewhere they've been, or point out a country they've visited, or talked about the people they know in the countries on the map.
You know what I love about this though? What I really, absolutely, wholeheartedly love? When my students look at a map, they see people. They know that Sam lives in Hong Kong and that Bella lives in Brazil. They have travel stories--funny, sad, or otherwise. The world is so much smaller to them and they aren't afraid because they don't think of "scary" on our level. They've already done it--leaving all they know as familiar to be somewhere new. My students have traveled to more places than they can count (literally--we're working on that lol), and I think it's freaking AWESOME.
Story #2: End of school day--walking out to the buses. The bus driver pulls me aside and begins talking to me in Chinese about two of the students on the bus, but sadly, I don't even catch onto the meaning of what he's saying. The student holding my hand looks up to me and says, "Ms. Souer, you say, (Insert Chinese phrase meaning "I don't understand")."
Me: Blinks. "Um, yes, thanks (Student)."
We keep walking until I hear another student ask, "(Insert Student's Name Who Speaks Chinese), what did the bus driver say?"
Student thinks and responds, "He says, (Student A and B) need to be quiet on the bus."
And there you have it. Five year olds translating for me. My life. :)
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