Differences about Clifford School

I’m sure I’ll be adding to this list all year long, but here are some of the interesting differences that I’ve noticed so far
*The students wear uniforms—this isn’t different than all U.S. schools, but it is different from the ones I’ve taught at.
*Getting supplies is quite a hassle. We send in supply lists monthly, but we don’t get our supplies for about 6 weeks. So, yesterday I filled out a form for supplies I’ll need in October. It takes some planning and I’m not a big planner. Plus, for new teachers, we just have to hope we can scrounge up enough stuff for our first few months. Also, there are certain supplies that have to be exchanged in order to get new ones—like staplers, white board markers, rulers, scissors, and the list goes on and on. So, basically, you can’t order more of anything unless you have an old, defective one to turn in. I guess it’s probably good so there’s no waste, but, again, it poses a problem for new teachers.
*We have to supply the students with everything. Since it’s a boarding school, we give the students all the paper, pencils, notebooks, folders, etc. that they will need for our class. After reading my last point, you’ll see how this might be a bit frustrating.
*Mid-morning, the students have a 25 minute break for stretches. They line up outside by class (very orderly) and the Chinese teachers lead them in some stretches. Mid-afternoon they have a 15 minute break where they have to sit in their desks as music plays over the intercom and they do eye exercises (???).
*In the courtyard, there are badminton nets set up. All the students have racquets and in between classes they play. Apparently, there are some students that are really good and the others will gather around watching. I haven’t had the time to sit and watch yet, but I think it would be fun.
*There are no bells, just music that comes on over the intercom indicating the beginning and ending of each class. If you’re in the middle of saying something, there’s no way the students will hear it over the music.
*They don’t have any drinking fountains, but they have water spout things throughout the building with 4 different spouts with filtered water of varying degrees of water temperature. There’s the very hot water and the very cold water and then 2 in between. At each water faucet, there is a sign reminding you to be frugal and not waste water. At least I think that’s what it’s trying to say. It’s in Chinese and underneath it has the English translation that says, "Have a frugal mind of limited energies". That brings me to my next thing…
*All around the school, there are pictures on the wall with inspirational sayings. They are all in Chinese with the English translation underneath. The English on almost all of them just makes me laugh. It’s not that they’re not translated right, but the wording is just off. It’s just not anything that we would ever really say. I just find it a bit ironic at a bilingual school where they have so many native English speakers available to them. There are even some with words misspelled. In the school’s defense though, they probably order them from some company rather than making them here at the school.
*On the doors of the stalls in the school bathrooms there are signs reminding the students not to squat on the toilets (they are "real" toilets, yeah!), not to waste toilet paper, not to smoke, not to litter used toilet paper (yuck!), and to flush.
*I don’t have my own classroom, I just rotate around to the student’s home room Chinese class. The desks are arranged in straight rows and there is a seating chart. The Chinese classes are very structured and very disciplined. So, when I go in there, it’s a bit different for the students. The very beginning of the first day, I made them choose a partner and move their desks together with their partner. It was like a completely foreign concept to them. It’s fun for me to shake things up a bit. I plan on doing a lot of group work and games and activities where we’ll have to move the desks around a lot. It’s a bit hard for me to not have my own room. I love decorating and hanging up student’s work and creating the environment that I’m comfortable in for teaching. The classrooms feel so sterile to me. I think my favorite part of teaching is seeing the students working in groups, talking and interacting and creating together. It’s a bit chaotic at times, but I love it. I guess as a plus though, it’s a lot less work not having to maintain a classroom.
*The two hour lunch break is something that is different too. I thought this would be a really positive difference, but I'm not sure yet. One thing I loved about being a teacher was getting done at 2:30 or 3:00. I think I'd still prefer that to a two hour lunch break and then working until 5. Maybe once the school year gets a bit crazier and busier I'll really appreciate a break midday. But, for now, I wish I could just work straight through and get home earlier.