I just wanna bang on the drums all day!

What exactly do I do in China?? Well... I work at Romp N Roll Beijing. Romp N Roll is a play-based learning school for children aged 0 to 6. Although it exists in the states it is run a little different in China. Considering the kids and parents do not speak English, there are some things that have to be different here in China. I like to describe the school as an "immersion" program for preschool aged children. There is always one American instructor and one Chinese assistant in class. So the instructor teaches just as you would in the states and the assistant translates to the children and parents. We are not in a "classroom" but instead we teach in a gym, music room, and art room. We work on things like body awareness, upper and lower body strength, balance, sign language, hand-eye coordination, and more. While teaching the gym, art, and music classes you are being sure to point things out in English. The instructor may refer to the shape of an object or its color. We use words like "tall" and "small." Or we may play music loud or quiet. We stretch up high and down low! I think you are getting the point here... We also offer an Oral English class which is set up for our older students and we work on vocabulary and concepts in English. Oral English is really the only class that has the main, obvious focus being on the English language. All other classes focus mostly on different skills to help children pay attention, become social, take turns, follow directions... and other skills necessary for when they start school. I will be teaching my first classes alone later this week. I am not exactly sure right now which classes I will be teaching yet. I am pretty sure I will be with Babies and Toddlers in the gym and maybe some art classes with the older kiddos. I feel pretty good about getting in the classroom and becoming more involved at work. I only have two more weeks of training and then I am off to Wuhan.

In Wuhan I will meet another American instructor, Megan. She will show me the ropes for a few days and then she will come back to Beijing. I will be in Wuhan for three weeks. A new American instructor will be arriving in Beijing around the time I leave for Wuhan. She will get trained for those three weeks and then come to Wuhan so I can come back to Beijing. It will be weird when I come back to the Beijing center because Anna and Jill will both be going back home. I will work at this center with Theresa and Alex (the other American instructors). In Wuhan I will be the only American. I am worried about not really being able to communicate with my colleagues and not being able to find other Americans/native English speakers to hang out with. I think the experience will be good for me to become more comfortable with the Chinese culture and at work. Because I will be the only instructor, I should get some pretty good work experience. So at least if I am confused and lost and over my head with things this country has to offer, I will know my job. If I can just know how to do my job it will be one less thing to worry about.

Mandarin lesson:
Nǐ néng bāng wǒ pāi zhāng zhào ma? 你能帮我拍张照吗？ (Could you take a photo for me?)