NICS Field Day

Today at NICS, we celebrated the conclusion of summer school with a field day! It took a lot of planning amidst last-minute planning for the swiftly approaching 2011-2012 academic year and last-minute planning for the China trip, but it actually turned out to be a pretty amazing time. We laughed, we cried, we ate ice cream!

The day began with a whole-school assembly, where we filled the students in on the day's activities. Then, we divided them up into teams of 6-7 students, with 7^th and 8^th grades intermixed. The groups then spent the first part of the morning brainstorming team names and then creating their team flag. It was really funny listening to the students come up with team names, and then wondering exactly how they chose those particular English words. For example, we had the Fairytales, 1^st Shot, Suck Rockers, Team Cemetery, Freedom Blood, Team So What?!, Man and a Half, and then Teacher Mark’s personal favorite, the Perpetual Motion Sliders. Perpetual Motion Sliders was particularly unique in that they shortened their team name to an acronym- PMS. And then they took it even further and gave their team a slogan- “We can go all night long!” I feel like at any other school, this would be unacceptable. However, with these language learners, I can guarantee they do not know what PMS is nor are they keen on any connotations that may or may not go along with their slogan, so we just chuckled within our peer group of teachers and that was that.

After, they lined up in their groups and each group introduced themselves to the rest of the school. And then we let the games begin! Three to four teams at a time rotated through each station, competing against one another for points. At station one, teams had to build bridges spanning half a meter, using only 8 1/2 “ X 11” sheets of paper. They only had a certain number of sheets, and had fifteen minutes to create something that would support as much weight as possible. Our “weights” were the English level readers- at the end of the fifteen minutes, we began stacking the books on the bridges, and the one that could hold the most was the winner. This was my station, and it was so much fun watching them strategize and seeing the different ideas they came up with.

At station two, teams had fifteen minutes to build freestanding towers out of drinking straws. The tallest one was the winner. Once again, it was fascinating seeing some of the design concepts. One team first constructed a whole bunch of triangles and then put them together. Another built a tower that was literally a replica of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai! Although it wasn’t the tallest, it was architecturally quite artistic! At station three, which was up in the gym, teams played a game fashioned in the style of traditional horse- shooting around the key for points.

After all teams completed the rotation, students ate lunch, and then the final event was the three-legged race. Thirty-seven pairs competed in this relay that resulted in stinky, sweaty students! Everyone reconvened out on the veranda for a final tally of scores, and we had an ice cream sundae social- Meaghan, Clare and I scooped until our hands were covered in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry slime. We had a little fiasco with the toppings- the cook said she would get them then saw the list in English hours before we were supposed to serve it, and said she wouldn’t do it. So teacher Mark and I left school in a hurry and grabbed Oreos, peanuts, gumdrops, sprinkles, bananas, whipped cream, spoons, bowls, strawberry and chocolate Hershey’s syrup, marshmallows, caramel toffee topping, mini chocolate chips, cones, and the ice cream (Maraschino cherries were SO expensive we had to omit them from the list!). We made it back in time, and it all went off without a hitch.

After ice cream, we ushered the students upstairs- many of the 8^th graders had been working so hard and so secretively all week on a surprise for Teacher Val, who is leaving the school to return back to the states. They let me in on it, because they had scripted me into the movie they were making for her (which made me feel very special and honored!), and it was tough hiding it all week long, as they would come into the lounge and whisper to me about things they needed and questions they had. I even did a little acting coaching! I loaned them my camera so they could film it, and the debut this afternoon reduced Val to sobs. I had the students sign the script they had given to me so I could "memorize" my lines, and then after the viewing, they presented it to Teacher Val. Each student had written something special on it for her. Watching everything, being a part of it- it was all so moving. And I had one of those, “Ah, THIS is why I am doing what I am doing!” moments.

I think one downfall in teaching abroad is that it isn’t permanent- most teachers teach for six months or a year, and then they move on, either to another country or back home. Students grow to count on us. When so much in their life is changing, they take their teachers for granted- there’s a certain stability there, whether acknowledged or not, and when the entire teaching staff is composed of foreign teachers… over the last seven months, it’s been us and these kids. We’ve built a community. We’ve built a family. I know I will be leaving, and it breaks my heart knowing that I won’t be there for them next year. Poor teacher Val was having a hard time with this today.  It makes me yearn for a position at home, in a school where I can stay long-term.

We concluded the day with some excited talk about the China trip- we leave in five days! Today was great, and China will be amazing!