July 2, 2012

So here we are, back to Monday and some semblance of normalcy.

I posted a few messages on Facebook, but with all the excitement of yesterday here in Tainan, I inadvertently forgot to say something yesterday in my blog:  HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Unfortunately, Taiwan doesn’t recognize Canada’s birthday, as an official holiday.  I don’t think many people even know when Canada’s birthday is, but ask them about the US National holiday… everyone seems to know July 4th!

Typical Monday… a couple of classes, then since my private was cancelled, headed over to Giraffe.  With all the excitement and pressure of the storytelling competition, there are some day-to-day issues that need taking care of.

One of teachers, whom I must say, I’ve gotten to know as a very good friend, has decided to leave Giraffe.

Carrie has been part of Giraffe as long as I’ve been working with Giraffe.  I’m not exactly sure what her long-term goals are, but she is planning on taking a bit of a holiday for now, and travel Taiwan.  She tossed around a couple of ideas with me, and asked that I kind of keep it to myself.  As a friend, and a decent person, I will respect her wishes.

Carrie, you’ve become a good friend.  We’ve known each other for a while, and I think we’ve both realized that we are great educators.  You can still pack away more food in one day than me, and that I will always remember!  It will be a bit strange not seeing you around Giraffe, but like others before you, you’re memory will linger, and life will (and must) go on.

You will be missed, not only by your fellow teachers, but I’m sure your students will miss you as well.  Take care, good luck in your future plans, and please, keep in touch.  You’re addicted to Facebook just like so many others, so I’m sure I’ll be seeing and chatting with you often.  Take care, my friend!

Since Carrie is leaving, her classes will be distributed to the other teachers.  Some students will be leaving Giraffe, while others will carry on.  This was part of what Janice and I had to discuss tonight.  It was also a good time to catch Janice up on where the various classes are in their work.

New books need to be ordered, new students will need copies of materials for their new classes…  All these changes go effect this week.

I also saw Elva and Jonas.  Elva won FIRST PLACE in her storytelling.  Her brother, Jonas, didn’t place at all.  Elva seemed to be in good spirits, and was admiring her trophy sitting on my desk.  Jonas, who I expected was going to be sad, didn’t seem to be phased at all!  It was like nothing had happened!

Apparently, his father took him to an amusement park (somewhere?) for the day.  Just he and his dad.  It looks like he’s had his chat with mom and dad, knows that, even though he didn’t win the competition, it wasn’t the end of the world.  He had a great day, was late for class, so he was back to his normal self.

It was a good thing I didn’t need to use my desk today at Giraffe.  Not that I really use that much anyway.  But it was sure nice to see all these awards sitting there when I walked in!

 

The National Finals are being held in Taipei this year on August 12th.  The Nationals are a bit different than the Regionals of course.  At this competition, our students will be competing with ALL the First and Second (and in a couple categories, THIRD place) winners from ALL the other regions.  This is the big one.  From this competition, I encourage the students to (of course) do their best and have fun, but don’t go into the competition wanting FIRST PLACE.

Aim low.  I realize that is a crazy attitude, but if I encourage them to get at least THIRD PLACE, then if they win SECOND or FIRST, all the better.  I do believe that each one of these kids can get, at the very least, THIRD PLACE.  If they do that, I will be very happy for them.  I will still be proud and happy for them, no matter what placing they take.  May realized that last year, when she didn’t win in her category.  She felt like Jonas did this weekend.

However, she picked herself up, and competed this year, and so far, has a great winning attitude.  There are a lot more competitors at the National level, and the competition is fierce!  This is the competition that the teachers and managers of the schools are probably a lot more on edge and nervous than the students.  After all, school honor is at stake!  We did very well last year, and in previous years, so I expect we will do well this year.

My prediction, as always for the Nationals, we will take home THIRD PLACE in all our categories.  I have to realize that, these students of ours will be going against students from Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Taipei – as well as other areas of Taiwan.  However, these three cities, are the three largest cities and a lot more competitive and cosmopolitan than Tainan.  Learning English in these cities, is almost a necessity.  These cities are the internationally known cities in Taiwan.

We have our work cut out for us.  Yes, we are champions in this area/region, and have always been respectable on the national scene as well.  I will be a lot more ‘picky’ and tougher on the kids for the next few weeks of practice.  Help them to get the ‘bugs’ out of their stories.  Pronunciation, intonation, and expression is foremost.  They already know the stories, so now it’s time to up their game.

That’s it, that’s all… for now!

June 27, 2012

I’m not sure who’s more nervous or worried about this Sunday.

This Sunday, July 1, is the regional competition for Giraffe National Storytelling.  About six weeks ago, I mentioned who our students are who will be competing.  Here they are again: Elva (Kindergarten), Nadia (Level I), Jonas (Level II), Marcus (Level III), and May (Level IV).  This will be the first year that we have a Level IV competitor.  I’m not sure exactly how long there has even been a Level IV in the competition.  Last year was the first time I had even heard about it!

At last year’s final competition in Taichung, there were only three competitors in the Level IV category.  I think they call it the Junior High level, but whatever.  Usually, by the time kids get to this age, they are not so concerned with the English language, and certainly not with telling a story in front of an audience.  Perhaps showing off their video gaming skills or their adeptness at writing messages on their cell phones, THEN there would be a competition!

For a couple of personal, selfish reasons, I really want all of our students to compete at the national level this year.  Our school has a great track record for our students being able to compete at the national level.  If memory serves me, I can only recall one time in the last few years, where one of our competitors did not make it past the regional level.

Elva is a relatively new student at our school.  Her brother, Jonas, has been with us for a couple of years now.  Elva is a beginner in English, and I’m not even sure she is learning English at elementary school yet.  However, she was the first of the five finalists to have already memorized her story.  Of course, she would need to, since she can’t read English, and probably can’t read a whole lot of Chinese yet, either.  Besides being able to do and show a lot of emotion in her speaking and body language, she also has the ‘cute’ factor! I think she will do very well at the regionals.

Nadia is another of our alumni.  She competed last year at the kindergarten level, and this year is competing at Level I.  The story that Nadia is doing, is not a ‘conventional’ story.  I must admit, that this was one of the stories that I had a little bit of doubt with this story.  However, she has, in a word, WOWed me with her rendition of the story.  The story has been cut down a bit from the original to stay within the time limit, but is still a great story.  Being an original story, and that her mother, like all the other parents of the students, is very supportive and helpful, I have no doubt Nadia will show an incredible performance.

Jonas, like Nadia, is an alumni as well.  He has done well with his story as well.  Again, like Nadia’s story, it is an unconventional story.  What I mean by that is, the story is not a well-known or well-told story.  It has been cut down considerably to comply with time limits as well.  However, he is doing a great job at interpreting the story.  I can tell that he is putting his ‘all’ into the story.  He listens to us when Janice and I are giving him criticism and asking him to perform the story.  This is another story that I had a bit of hesitation with, but now that I’ve heard and seen Jonas practicing, this could be one of those WOW stories as well!

Marcus is another alumni!  He has performed in these competitions for a couple of years now, and each time, has emerged as a winner.  He is pre-teen age, and yet still a kid, so sometimes, it’s a challenge to get him to follow direction.  However, considering that his parents don’t speak English, and yet he seems to have a great attitude to wanting to learn and speak the language, he does (eventually) put his ‘all’ into his performance.  He is doing an original story.  Okay, this is where I can say ‘kudos’ to myself.  This story was a story I, personally, wrote for this competition.

Last year, Marcus performed an original story as well.  It was the story of Hansel and Gretel, as told by the old lady of the candy house.  This year, he is regaling the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, as told by the troll in the story.  After his rendition of the old lady last year, this gave me the inspiration to write a story about the troll in this story, telling HIS side of what happened.  I’m not really sure he understands that Teacher Bill wrote this original story.  However, he has interpreted the story very well.  I think again, being that it is an original story, and if he performs it as well as I envision it being told, he will be the star of the day!

May is our most senior alumni.  May has performed in the storytelling competitions for several years.  She has always done very well.  A setback last year, I feel, has only fired her desire to win this year.  May was a little hesitant about competing at Level IV, but I think with the encouragement of Janice, Christine, and myself, she finally capitulated and decided to compete at a higher level.  She was the only student who I felt, could compete at this level.

May is performing a story that is Giraffe story.  Like her story last year, it is a condensed story, again, to keep within time constraints.  For May, we (Janice, Christine, and I) decided that May should choose the story that she wanted to perform.  We gave her options of stories, and she choose the one that she wanted to perform.

Because of May’s grade level, she has had to complete many exams and other testing in the past month or so.  I really was concerned and worried, that she would not be able to compete at this level.  She has had so many exams, that she didn’t have time to memorize her story or to practice, or even come up with any actions.

In the past week though, she has surprised me.  The great thing about May, even though she will deny it, her English abilities are very good!  The unfortunate thing though, is that, for May to feel comfortable or encouraged to perform, I must show her how to perform.  Not that she imitates exactly what I show her, but that she is able to see what my vision of her performance would be, and to take that, and put it into actions.

I get giggles and side comments (that I don’t understand) from others watching me help her for performance, but that doesn’t deter me from showing May, how her actions during her performance, can enhance her story.

I think that, by May watching me perform, and perhaps being a bit silly, encourages her to do the same.  I must admit, again, that she has surprised me.  A week ago, I beginning to have my doubts.  But now that we are getting closer to the competition date, and have been practicing a lot, and hopefully my encouragement has helped.

We (or more appropriately, the students) have only 3 or 4 days before the big day.  My hopes and desires that each of our students will place in the regionals to get to the nationals, is becoming more of a reality.  Late nights, and a lot of practicing, over and over, has given ME the encouragement that each of these students will move on to the nationals.  A couple more days, a lot more practice, and I think, these five students – Elva, Nadia, Jonas, Marcus, and May – will definitely win in their respective categories.

I am extremely proud to be a part of this competition.  I’m not sure what I will feel, if ALL of them place.  I will be ecstatic and overwhelmed.  I can’t see that any of the other Giraffe competitors from the other schools, have put in as much practice time as we have.

Good luck on Sunday guys, and know this – I am so, so proud of each and every one of you!  Each of you have impressed me beyond words.  Know this – I believe in each and every one of you!  I want, so much, for each one of you, to be able to compete at the national competition.  After watching all of you over the past few weeks, I have no doubt, that you will!

Let’s take this year!  2012 is the year Giraffe Nanmen will win the regionals and nationals!

That’s it, that’s all… for now!