Well, my third school year is off to quite a start! Our school is quickly growing and we're up to 6 classes now, with more coming in January once the construction on the new building behind us is completed. We have 3 new teachers this year and let me tell you, this is a crazy group. All big personalities, which you can imagine leads to a lot of laughs and some drama of course. Our head teacher is in charge of all three branches and was being stretched a bit thin by the end of last year with each branch growing. She decided to nominate one teacher from each branch to be the team leader and mentor. I was the one selected from my school so I get to be right in the middle of all the drama of the new school year:) There were a few confrontations and meltdowns within the first week (the first week!) It's not a dull group and it keeps me on my toes lol. Luckily everything calmed down a bit between the teachers and everyone is getting along for the most part now.
I'm very lucky with my class this year. I already knew most of my students from the younger classes last year so that made the beginning much smoother than usual. My parents are pretty cool overall and I haven't had any issues. A few are high maintenance but not negative at all, just overly involved and chatty. Unfortunately I can't say the same for a couple of the other classes. The parents were coming in hot this year; just really out of control with their complaints. They also have formed whatsapp groups so they are able to bitch and complain to each other and get previously uninvolved parents fired up. Two of the other classes have had major issues with this. In one class a mom was actively trying to turn other moms against the teacher in the hopes of getting her fired. That situation has been defused as of now, thank goodness.
A few highlights from the first couple of months in my class...
- I have an adorable Taiwanese/South African boy in my class, G. He's such a handful. His mom warned me in the beginning of the year that he'd recently picked up the f bomb. Apparently he was in the car when his mom was in labor with his baby sister over the summer and she was letting some colorful language fly and he picked up some choice phrases. She said he knows the correct context in which to use it. I couldn't keep a straight face when she was telling me this. It's hilarious and much to my disappointment he hasn't used it in class yet. He has used the word "bloody" though, which is pretty hilarious in itself. And there's a phone in my class and whenever it rings G yells "telephone! telephone!"
- One of my favorite kids this year is a little Portuguese/German girl, L. She's so cute and such a character. One day Felipe was picking me up at the same time she was getting in the car with her mom and she goes, "look! Miss Jennifer's daddy!" hahahah. Felipe was not pleased. He looks at me and goes, "is it the grey hair??" I said, "relax, she's 3 :)" Whenever G is being loud in class she puts her hands over her ears and says, "my ears are falling off!" One day I was just outside the classroom at our resources closet when L pops up next to me, I told her to wait for me in the class and she goes, "but i need to see you" I asked her why and she said "because I'm your friend." Her parents are really cool and her dad is actually the managing director of all the restaurants at Atlantis the Palm. Her teacher from last year and I got invited to check out Gordon Ramsey's new restaurant as soon as it opened, for free! He said he can hook us up for anything we want to do at Atlantis. So nice!
- Using "listening ears" is a big theme in my class. I always ask the kids to turn them on in the morning during circle time. I tap my ears (the kids do the same) and say "test, test, are they working?" I tell them it makes me sad when they don't listen. So during the day they'll frequently comment on these things. You'll regularly hear one kid say "I'm sad because they're not listening". One of the boys told me he told his older sister to use "listen ears". One girl insisted on "making my hair beautiful" and as she was attempting a braid she said "I'm making your hair because you're listening":)
- In the afternoon class there's one boy, K who is always keeping us on our toes. He's hilarious but such a handful. He always drives the cars really fast and we warn him about running into younger children. One day I said "K, you're going way too fast, I'm going to have to remove the cars", he got frustrated and said "Miss Jennifer I'm fasting but M is fasting too!" I had to explain that what he meant to say was "going fast" and not "fasting" and the difference between the two. To check if he got it, I then asked, "ok so are you fasting or are you going fast?" He looked at me for a minute very seriously and said, "I'm fast."
I'm very lucky with my class this year. I already knew most of my students from the younger classes last year so that made the beginning much smoother than usual. My parents are pretty cool overall and I haven't had any issues. A few are high maintenance but not negative at all, just overly involved and chatty. Unfortunately I can't say the same for a couple of the other classes. The parents were coming in hot this year; just really out of control with their complaints. They also have formed whatsapp groups so they are able to bitch and complain to each other and get previously uninvolved parents fired up. Two of the other classes have had major issues with this. In one class a mom was actively trying to turn other moms against the teacher in the hopes of getting her fired. That situation has been defused as of now, thank goodness.
A few highlights from the first couple of months in my class...
- I have an adorable Taiwanese/South African boy in my class, G. He's such a handful. His mom warned me in the beginning of the year that he'd recently picked up the f bomb. Apparently he was in the car when his mom was in labor with his baby sister over the summer and she was letting some colorful language fly and he picked up some choice phrases. She said he knows the correct context in which to use it. I couldn't keep a straight face when she was telling me this. It's hilarious and much to my disappointment he hasn't used it in class yet. He has used the word "bloody" though, which is pretty hilarious in itself. And there's a phone in my class and whenever it rings G yells "telephone! telephone!"
Science!
- One of my favorite kids this year is a little Portuguese/German girl, L. She's so cute and such a character. One day Felipe was picking me up at the same time she was getting in the car with her mom and she goes, "look! Miss Jennifer's daddy!" hahahah. Felipe was not pleased. He looks at me and goes, "is it the grey hair??" I said, "relax, she's 3 :)" Whenever G is being loud in class she puts her hands over her ears and says, "my ears are falling off!" One day I was just outside the classroom at our resources closet when L pops up next to me, I told her to wait for me in the class and she goes, "but i need to see you" I asked her why and she said "because I'm your friend." Her parents are really cool and her dad is actually the managing director of all the restaurants at Atlantis the Palm. Her teacher from last year and I got invited to check out Gordon Ramsey's new restaurant as soon as it opened, for free! He said he can hook us up for anything we want to do at Atlantis. So nice!
Outdoor Play Area
- In the afternoon class there's one boy, K who is always keeping us on our toes. He's hilarious but such a handful. He always drives the cars really fast and we warn him about running into younger children. One day I said "K, you're going way too fast, I'm going to have to remove the cars", he got frustrated and said "Miss Jennifer I'm fasting but M is fasting too!" I had to explain that what he meant to say was "going fast" and not "fasting" and the difference between the two. To check if he got it, I then asked, "ok so are you fasting or are you going fast?" He looked at me for a minute very seriously and said, "I'm fast."
Dance class
Flag day with all the UAE flags we made!
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