We are into our third week of school. It all should be routine by now.....but this is an International School with an ever changing student body with ever changing opportunities presenting themselves. The school has had the opportunity to start a pure English as Second Language (ESL) class for students that are 3rd and 4th grade age. They have either no English or a very limited English vocabulary. The class currently has 5 students. The class utilizes all subjects (math, history, etc) as tools for teaching English. Marilyn has been coordinating the ESL program. She has been working with the two ESL teachers at the school. When this opportunity presented itself, Marilyn decided to teach the bulk of the ESL class herself, so that she could have a better understanding of the job involved with teaching ESL students. There was no hesitation on the part of the administration that she would do a wonderful job because she is such a professional, compassionate, and caring teacher (their words not mine, but I fully agree). The only hesitation was that she was taking on too much work considering she was also working on admissions and guidance counseling and teaching 6th grade English, 6th grade Ancient Civilizations, 9th - 12th World History and supervising the Secondary Reading Time . We were able to rework her schedule so that she no longer taught World History (much to her disappointment...she really liked the students and the subject matter) or supervising the Secondary Reading time. I took those two responsibilities from her. Enrollment has grown to 90 students.
For those that are curious about me teaching P.E...... I have been teaching the elementary students the importance of warming up before you begin any sort of physical activities such as Duck, Duck, Goose; Balloon Bouncing; Red Light, Green Light or Extreme Hot Potato (I made that one up myself, I am thinking of starting a professional Extreme Hot Potato League, Maybe I could get Pringles or Lays to be a sponsor)..... I will take some video of my very innovative teaching methods and post them to the blog very soon. Since I couldn't run down to the Educational Supply Store or Sports Authority (for those of you in Harrison, a Sports Authority is a store that is like the sporting goods department at Wal Mart except they have a lot more sporting goods and you can't buy milk there or get your oil changed), I am getting 60 bean bags and three parachutes (not for sky diving but for games)made. Once I get them back from the seamstress I will take pictures and tell you about that experience. Once we have the bean bags, I am going to teach the art of throwing and catching. Hopefully, this will lead to baseball. By the way, Spring Training has started. It has to be the most Wonderful Time of the year.
As far as the secondary P.E., we have been playing Four Square & Doubles Two Square. I am working on starting a fitness program with the 8th - 12th grade.
We have taken pictures of the apartment. I have to upload them to the computer and then post them. Marilyn said that if I posted them that she would blog about them. Look for that before May 2010.
Aubrey said that she will blog on Wednesday....
Until next time.
Brad
P.S. Fell free to leave comments about the blogs.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Drama Class, Brad Games, & Early Mornings
Hello Hello All-
I am going to do a blog on my first & second days of School. So, the Sneed Family started out their first day of School by waking up at various times. My Dad was the first one up, he then came and woke both Aubrey and I up at around 5:50 am. For those of you who know me, know this was difficult. I got up, and took a 15 minute shower, by that time Aubrey was up and so was my Mother. It is now around 6:15. Aubrey and I have a little squabble over the only mirror in our bedroom. So I retire to the hall bathroom. It is now 6:25. Then I return to the bedroom to retrieve my make-up and discover that the said mirror is now unoccupied. I claim it as my own. I finish my make-up. It is now 6:45. Next thing I know we are out of the door to our apartment at around 7:15.
We arrived at the School, where my parents are going to be teaching and Aubrey, Gentry, and I are going to be learning, at around 7:30 . My Dad, for those of you who may not know, is teaching Physical Education, or in short-Gym. Yes, I have had it. And Yes, we did play Brad Games. Dun-Dun-Dun-Duhhhhh....okay, so it wasn't bad at all, in fact it was fun. We played Musical Chairs in my Gym class of six...at 8 am.
I think that the everyone in the Sneed family, with perhaps the exception of Grandmoney, are not morning people. Not that we are mean or anything. We just function better after 11 am or so. :)
Then around 1 pm they told us that Mr. & Mrs. Sneed were going to be leading a Game Time while other members of the staff worked on the electives for the Secondary students. More Brad games. We played the basics, EXCLUDING the "Put your Hand in the brown paper sack and see what nasty Food you pull out so you can Eat it" race. But I figure that it was because he couldn't read the Chinese on any food labels. BUT we did play the Colors chair game, in which I only fell off my chair ONCE, Thank you. And some like team relays..but it was a good afternoon for us.
Later that day, after school, our family met up with Kyle & Kim Jarman for Coffee at Jusco. I had Cocoa Steamed Milk, which my mother ASSURED me was Hot Cocoa....not the same, but I will take what I can get. Oh, and Aubrey bought herself a platinum blond hair extension. Surprised? Me either. And after my Parents got what they needed from the Supermarket we returned to our apartment to the delicious smells of our dinner that our helper had prepared for us. It was kind of like, well picture Sweet and Sour chicken with Peppers in it..It was
awesome.
Day Two was an interesting morning. Interesting meaning that, Aubrey and our Father were up until midnight doing Algebra 1 Homework together. I had not known this as I went to bed around 10:30 or 11 pm. If I had known I might not have messed with Aubrey so much. But Anyways, I woke up around 6:15 am because there was no need for me to take a shower as I had just taken one yesterday. So I got up, got dressed, fixed my hair, fought for my right to (Paaarrrtaaayyyy...kidding) use the mirror, and then went to go eat breakfast. Ever had one of those mornings where you just can't eat or drink anything? Okay, well whether you have or not, I did. I went and got a glass of water around 7ish and then I grabbed a cracker. ONE CRACKER. After I was about half-way through before the previously mentioned cracker I felt queasy. So I went and laid down on our couch. And around 7:15 am I rushed to the bathroom and puked up cracker colored water. Don't ask me why. And I went and laid back down on the couch. After my Parent's questioned me on, "How do you feel?" "Good enough to go to school?" "What hurts?" "Just your stomach?" , You get my point....so my Dad brought me some Coke. I downed about half a can and felt better. I love Coke. It is now 7:30. We leave with Gentry's hair unfixed, Laurel feeling like she has had her stomach pumped, Aubrey tired and worried about math, My Father wearing his tennis shoes with his Khaki dress pants, and my Mother looking for Gentry's hairbrush and scrunchies.
Our school day was pretty uneventful, until Drama. Oh, Drama. You can have fun in Drama. Our teacher Mr. Jarman, yes the same one we drank coffee with at Jusco, is a great teacher. He started out with each of us in the Class drawing a slip of paper out of a bowl and having to act out the person that was described on the slip of paper.
In example, Aubrey drew: A large, hick truck driver
Laurel drew: Frustrated father of an disobedient eight-year old boy
& our friend Josh drew: A very snotty, middle-aged woman
We had to leave the classroom and walk back in as the character we drew. Aubrey was hilarious. She came in and slammed the door obnoxiously behind her and then greeted us with a hearty, "Heyy YA'LL! I'm Pete." But then stopped because she said it was too difficult because she had already lost her country accent. Although I think she was on a roll. Josh on the other hand flounced in with his, I mean HER, back held high. And said, "Helloo Dahhhlings...my name is Cindy."
Then we did an improv, and Mr. Jarman said that we had to be the same characters only now we were all participating at the same time. The situation was that something had happened on Earth to cause everyone in the world to die. Leaving all ten of us, insane personalities, to fight over the only four spaces on the only rocket ship to Mars. Leaving the other six to die. Josh, I mean, Cindy of course had to be on board because she...was...um...Cindy. And Ed, the frustrated father, (AKA Laurel) had to be on board because his child Marcus was "the future". Then Cindy pulled out a gun. And the emo Pizza boy, (AKA our friend, Lizzie) committed suicide in the corner during the fight to plead their case to get on board the flight to Mars.
That was the end of our Drama class. And the end of our second day of School.
After we got home, we discovered that we had nothing, and I mean nothing, to take for lunch the next day. I had used all the bread making Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches for myself to take for my lunch. Gentry had finished off the snack foods for her own personal snack time at school, and Aubrey had taken the last of the Sweet and Sour chicken with Peppers that was so good, for her lunch earlier that day. So about 30 minutes ago my Father left to hit the supermarket across the street. That was at around 8:45 pm. He returned at around 9:00 with a large loaf of bread, some milk, instant coffee, and three Cup'O'Noodles. Only we are not sure what some of the flavors are. It should make for a fun lunch period tomorrow.
Zai Jian (thats goodbye in Chinese :D)
-Laurel- 9:19 pm
I am going to do a blog on my first & second days of School. So, the Sneed Family started out their first day of School by waking up at various times. My Dad was the first one up, he then came and woke both Aubrey and I up at around 5:50 am. For those of you who know me, know this was difficult. I got up, and took a 15 minute shower, by that time Aubrey was up and so was my Mother. It is now around 6:15. Aubrey and I have a little squabble over the only mirror in our bedroom. So I retire to the hall bathroom. It is now 6:25. Then I return to the bedroom to retrieve my make-up and discover that the said mirror is now unoccupied. I claim it as my own. I finish my make-up. It is now 6:45. Next thing I know we are out of the door to our apartment at around 7:15.
We arrived at the School, where my parents are going to be teaching and Aubrey, Gentry, and I are going to be learning, at around 7:30 . My Dad, for those of you who may not know, is teaching Physical Education, or in short-Gym. Yes, I have had it. And Yes, we did play Brad Games. Dun-Dun-Dun-Duhhhhh....okay, so it wasn't bad at all, in fact it was fun. We played Musical Chairs in my Gym class of six...at 8 am.
I think that the everyone in the Sneed family, with perhaps the exception of Grandmoney, are not morning people. Not that we are mean or anything. We just function better after 11 am or so. :)
Then around 1 pm they told us that Mr. & Mrs. Sneed were going to be leading a Game Time while other members of the staff worked on the electives for the Secondary students. More Brad games. We played the basics, EXCLUDING the "Put your Hand in the brown paper sack and see what nasty Food you pull out so you can Eat it" race. But I figure that it was because he couldn't read the Chinese on any food labels. BUT we did play the Colors chair game, in which I only fell off my chair ONCE, Thank you. And some like team relays..but it was a good afternoon for us.
Later that day, after school, our family met up with Kyle & Kim Jarman for Coffee at Jusco. I had Cocoa Steamed Milk, which my mother ASSURED me was Hot Cocoa....not the same, but I will take what I can get. Oh, and Aubrey bought herself a platinum blond hair extension. Surprised? Me either. And after my Parents got what they needed from the Supermarket we returned to our apartment to the delicious smells of our dinner that our helper had prepared for us. It was kind of like, well picture Sweet and Sour chicken with Peppers in it..It was
awesome.
Day Two was an interesting morning. Interesting meaning that, Aubrey and our Father were up until midnight doing Algebra 1 Homework together. I had not known this as I went to bed around 10:30 or 11 pm. If I had known I might not have messed with Aubrey so much. But Anyways, I woke up around 6:15 am because there was no need for me to take a shower as I had just taken one yesterday. So I got up, got dressed, fixed my hair, fought for my right to (Paaarrrtaaayyyy...kidding) use the mirror, and then went to go eat breakfast. Ever had one of those mornings where you just can't eat or drink anything? Okay, well whether you have or not, I did. I went and got a glass of water around 7ish and then I grabbed a cracker. ONE CRACKER. After I was about half-way through before the previously mentioned cracker I felt queasy. So I went and laid down on our couch. And around 7:15 am I rushed to the bathroom and puked up cracker colored water. Don't ask me why. And I went and laid back down on the couch. After my Parent's questioned me on, "How do you feel?" "Good enough to go to school?" "What hurts?" "Just your stomach?" , You get my point....so my Dad brought me some Coke. I downed about half a can and felt better. I love Coke. It is now 7:30. We leave with Gentry's hair unfixed, Laurel feeling like she has had her stomach pumped, Aubrey tired and worried about math, My Father wearing his tennis shoes with his Khaki dress pants, and my Mother looking for Gentry's hairbrush and scrunchies.
Our school day was pretty uneventful, until Drama. Oh, Drama. You can have fun in Drama. Our teacher Mr. Jarman, yes the same one we drank coffee with at Jusco, is a great teacher. He started out with each of us in the Class drawing a slip of paper out of a bowl and having to act out the person that was described on the slip of paper.
In example, Aubrey drew: A large, hick truck driver
Laurel drew: Frustrated father of an disobedient eight-year old boy
& our friend Josh drew: A very snotty, middle-aged woman
We had to leave the classroom and walk back in as the character we drew. Aubrey was hilarious. She came in and slammed the door obnoxiously behind her and then greeted us with a hearty, "Heyy YA'LL! I'm Pete." But then stopped because she said it was too difficult because she had already lost her country accent. Although I think she was on a roll. Josh on the other hand flounced in with his, I mean HER, back held high. And said, "Helloo Dahhhlings...my name is Cindy."
Then we did an improv, and Mr. Jarman said that we had to be the same characters only now we were all participating at the same time. The situation was that something had happened on Earth to cause everyone in the world to die. Leaving all ten of us, insane personalities, to fight over the only four spaces on the only rocket ship to Mars. Leaving the other six to die. Josh, I mean, Cindy of course had to be on board because she...was...um...Cindy. And Ed, the frustrated father, (AKA Laurel) had to be on board because his child Marcus was "the future". Then Cindy pulled out a gun. And the emo Pizza boy, (AKA our friend, Lizzie) committed suicide in the corner during the fight to plead their case to get on board the flight to Mars.
That was the end of our Drama class. And the end of our second day of School.
After we got home, we discovered that we had nothing, and I mean nothing, to take for lunch the next day. I had used all the bread making Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches for myself to take for my lunch. Gentry had finished off the snack foods for her own personal snack time at school, and Aubrey had taken the last of the Sweet and Sour chicken with Peppers that was so good, for her lunch earlier that day. So about 30 minutes ago my Father left to hit the supermarket across the street. That was at around 8:45 pm. He returned at around 9:00 with a large loaf of bread, some milk, instant coffee, and three Cup'O'Noodles. Only we are not sure what some of the flavors are. It should make for a fun lunch period tomorrow.
Zai Jian (thats goodbye in Chinese :D)
-Laurel- 9:19 pm
Let The Fun Begin!
School began on Tuesday, February 2. I (Brad) am teaching P.E. and an elective. I have three secondary classes (Grades 8, 9, & 10 are together; Grades 11 & 12 are together; Grades 6 & 7 are together). I have Laurel and Aubrey in my P.E. class that meets at 8:00 a.m. That is way too early for 8th & 9th graders let alone me. I have three elementary classes. I taught those today. I have 20 Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, & First Graders. Three of which have English as their primary spoken language. There are 15 Koreans and a Russian. I am so glad that balloons speak the international language of FUN! There are 16 2nd & 3rd graders and 18 4th & 5th graders. Amazing how you can teach hand/eye coordination with some balloons, a ping pong paddle and a badminton racket. (Also amazing that no one lost an eye).
The Elective that I am teaching is called "Strategies for Life". I will be teaching about learning styles, personalities, leadership, etiquette, how choices that we make affect us on many different levels. I will let you know how that goes once I teach it and write it. It is one of those things that I will make up as I go along. It should be fun. We will watch some movies and listen to music.
I introduced the students to Brad games on Tuesday. Marilyn and I had the students for about 2 hours while the electives classes were being filled. For those of you that are familiar with Brad games, we played a couple of the standards. I will not bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that the students have played the chair swap game where you call out a color and they have to swap chairs. No one was seriously injured, that I know of.
We get to the school at 7:30 a.m. each day. We have been taking a taxi each morning. We want to start walking to school once it is warmer on a more consistent basis. It only takes about 20 minutes to walk to the school.
Next Blog... I have to tell you about the Girls and I being "Golden on Bus 51". It will be a he said (me) she said (Laurel). Until next time....fyi...11 days until pitchers and catcher report for Spring Training!
~ Brad
The Elective that I am teaching is called "Strategies for Life". I will be teaching about learning styles, personalities, leadership, etiquette, how choices that we make affect us on many different levels. I will let you know how that goes once I teach it and write it. It is one of those things that I will make up as I go along. It should be fun. We will watch some movies and listen to music.
I introduced the students to Brad games on Tuesday. Marilyn and I had the students for about 2 hours while the electives classes were being filled. For those of you that are familiar with Brad games, we played a couple of the standards. I will not bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that the students have played the chair swap game where you call out a color and they have to swap chairs. No one was seriously injured, that I know of.
We get to the school at 7:30 a.m. each day. We have been taking a taxi each morning. We want to start walking to school once it is warmer on a more consistent basis. It only takes about 20 minutes to walk to the school.
Next Blog... I have to tell you about the Girls and I being "Golden on Bus 51". It will be a he said (me) she said (Laurel). Until next time....fyi...11 days until pitchers and catcher report for Spring Training!
~ Brad
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