I am very relieved.
I have enjoyed meeting my students, and they seem to have enjoyed meeting me. Phew! The previous music teacher was very well liked, so you never know how students will take to a new music teacher.
My room is too small for some of the classes, and as the year goes on and the kids start to get bigger the room will just seem that much smaller. Ah, well. We'll adjust, because we must.
I saw the preschool students this week - and frankly, this level is going to give me the most fits, I can tell. See, pedagogically, a preferred time for preschool music is 20 minutes. I'm scheduled to see the 3 and 4 year olds for 40 minutes. Too long. I approached the preschool teachers to see if we could divvy up the time, so they still have 80 minutes of prep, just spread out over 4 days. Not a happy thought - I totally get the preciousness of prep time, but their students go home at 12:55PM every day, leaving them with 2 hours of prep in the afternoon, plus their kids have 40 minute blocks of Arabic, PE and library time throughout the week.
Anyway, they graciously came up with a compromise - twice a week for 30 minutes and once a week for 20. My hope is the teachers will see the difference between the 20 minute lesson and the 30 minute lessons - attention span, engagement of children, actual musical learning taking place, etc.
I've been freaking out a little since the time I have with each class is double what I've ever had - plus, I have an 80 minute block with grades 3, 4 and 5, which really messes with my mind. Since I have already rocked the boat with the preschool scheduling, I'll wait until next year to tackle that. Besides, I may decide that I actually like 80 minutes, and feel that 40 is too short. We'll see.
In other events: My shipment actually arrived! It was delivered Tuesday evening, and it seriously felt like Christmas morning - and in a way it was, because as I've unpacked things, I've discovered stuff I completely forgot about. For instance, on my furniture shopping trip to Beijing in April, I bought this beautiful an rather unique box - I'll have to take a picture, because I will not be able to describe it properly - and since I haven't lived with it for very long, I forgot all about it. It was very exciting to see it and remember. Most everything survived the move well - there are a few pieces tape that left a sticky residue, one lamp broke off where the light bulb sits, and my beautiful Chinese step cabinets, well - I don't think the lacquer had truly set, even after the 2 or so weeks it lived at my apartment, because there are now imprints of bubble wrap in the finish. I'm a bit disappointed. Good conversation starter, though, right?
Living in Oman is filled with adventures - some big, some small. It's against the law to drive a dirty car, so regular car washes are a must! I like to go through the automatic wash at the gas station (and can I share that I fill up my tank for $12? thank you very much), and then there are workers who hand dry the car. And stare through the window.
Hand shaking is huge - just not across the genders. It's not a Western handshake, though, it's somewhere between the limp fish and a hand press. Kinda hard to describe.
No word on my visa yet. Hoping it comes through soon, because Thai Express in Dubai is calling my name! I could cross the border, I just don't want to pay the fees required on a tourist visa. I may have to take a visa run to the border, though, if my resident visa doesn't come in the next week or so. We'll see.
This weekend will be filled with school work on Saturday - we are supposed to have our curriculum planned 6 weeks in advance and uploaded onto a special website. The powers that be are checking on Sunday. As I am deadline driven, Saturday will be busy.
That's pretty much it. My apartment is chaotic right now as I unpack and arrange everything. Teaching was fun this week, learning all kinds of new names not so very much fun, and the writing and uploading of curriculum is even less fun. But hey, it could be worse - oh, and I watched "Pollyanna" last weekend, so here's my attempt at playing the glad game: I could be back at my first job, teaching at 2 different schools with over 900 students each!
I like the glad game! You could still be waiting for your shipment to arrive. You could still be filling your gas tank for $50 instead of $12. You could be not living overseas.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing about your successes this week. It is so great to hear from you!
One more - Just think about how much fun you will have during the last 6 weeks of school knowing that everything is already planned!
:)