The training week has certainly taught me how difficult it Is to be a teacher, no matter the curriculum or student level. In the course of three days, we had to plan out two weeks’ worth of 6-period days. Our lesson plans had to incorporate new vocabulary and sentence patterns, reading, conversation, writing, review, and activities, and had to simultaneously be applicable to three levels of ESL ability. This was incredibly overwhelming to us at first; we definitely spent a lot of time staring blankly at the computer screen and exchanging confused looks. However, as the week progressed, we learned the tricks of the trade through lecturers and presentations, and a real teaching plan began to emerge :]
We stayed up late on Wednesday to finalize our lesson plans, and when we were done we were mentally drained but eager to do SOMETHING other than basic elementary vocabulary and spelling. After some discussion of things we could potentially do, we finally decided on a whim to check out the clubs around Taipei. We ended up at Myst, just a few blocks away from the Taipei 101. It’s a beautiful interior, and we felt much better after loosening up and dancing away the accumulated stress from coming up with so much content for the classes. Aside from being extremely ill-prepared for a club setting (we had waltzed into the club with plain jeans and tees, and had only eaten a light dinner about 7 hours before heading out), it was a great night out for some team bonding, followed by 4am Taiwanese breakfast food at one of the most famous chain stores in Taipei.
Officially on the program schedule, however… was the fact that as a reward for finishing all of our work, we were able to walk over to the Shilin night market to scope out its extensive array of Taiwanese street food, and to purchase gifts and prizes for our students. My teaching group stuck together and after getting some authentic boba, stinky tofu, and the famous giant fried chicken, we were set to meander for a while, shop for shoes, laugh uncontrollably at ridiculous accessories, try more street snacks, and just joke around, simultaneously poking fun at and getting to know each other better.
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