Donation Day

Yesterday, after organizing and boxing up all of the donations to the Orphanage Clothing Drive, the students and myself delivered everything to the Jiangyin Children's Welfare Home. We had a lot of donations (including about 20 brand new winter coats from an anonymous donor!), but were somehow able to stuff it all into ten boxes, and get it loaded and dropped off downtown.

Imagine our surprise when the local news station showed up to interview us for the nightly news! . Luckily, one of my students was able to act as translator. I haven't seen the broadcast--I don't think I even receive that channel on my TV--but will post it if ever found. 

Anyway, it was a good day. The coordinator of the orphanage was happy (as I'm sure the kids will be), the students were happy, and I'm happy that we could all work together to make even a small difference. Many thanks to all the donors, to Celia Cheung and Xu Hailong for help in coordinating everything, and to my students for all their work! Here are some photos:

At the Jiangyin Children's Welfare Home with all the donations.

With my student, Kyara, being interviewed for the nightly news.

Organizing some of the donations.

All boxed up and ready to go!

Our chariot/delivery bus, lol.

In front of the school before we left to deliver the donations.

Orphanage Volunteer Program Article

The article on my junior class Orphanage Volunteer Program is now up on the school's website, with student writings about the experience. Also included is information about our December 2014 Orphanage Clothing Drive. We've gotten a LOT of donations, so far, and expect to deliver all the items at the beginning of the new year. I'm so proud of the students, not only for their compassion, but their efforts to make a difference! Here's the link to the article:

Orphanage Volunteer Program at Nanjing Senior High School:

http://www.njschool.cn/Item/5153.aspx

Orphanage Volunteer Program

Yesterday, some students and I began our volunteer program at the local orphanage. This is the first group of students to visit--other students will take part next time. No photos are allowed of the interior, or of the children, but I can assure you that the place is clean, spacious, and well-staffed by caring people. Anyway, our (unofficial) big brother/big sister style program, taking place once per month, introduces high school students to the resident children of the home, about 90% of whom are developmentally and/or physically disabled. Most of the children will never be adopted, and have little contact with the outside world, so my students have graciously agreed to volunteer their time. I saw the joy on the children's faces as the students played with them, fed them, and held them, and saw how deeply the visit affected my students, as well. It's emotional, though (indeed, one of the students broke down as we were leaving), but I think the program is going to be beneficial for all of us. I'd like to visit more often than once a month, but both myself and the students have many other responsibilities to consider--at least this is a good start. I hope the experience inspires my students to continue volunteering, in some capacity, throughout their lives. I'm so proud of them!

Back to School

Ah, it's been a wonderful summer full of travel and adventure, but now I'm back to school for the fall semester. It's already been a couple of weeks since the term began, but it's taken a bit to get my bearings. It seems, so far, to be shaping up as a good semester. I've got a new class full of eager, bright-eyed students, my awesome second-year students, and even a new course to teach on top of my AP English classes--Public Speaking. This new class is already fun, and I look forward to getting my students prepped for all the public speaking they'll have to do in their lives.

I'm also doing another Shakespeare play this year (Hamlet. Yay! My fave!), and organizing the annual trip to Shanghai to see a live show. We'll do another poetry slam in the spring, too. One other thing I've organized this year is a monthly student visit to the local orphanage, where most of the resident kids are developmentally disabled, and few, if any, will ever be adopted. There are about 54 kids at the home. I went down there to visit a couple of weeks ago, and thought it would also be a good volunteer opportunity for my students--they'll go on a Sunday morning, read to the kids, and play with them.

I'm so happy to be working with high school students--I know it's not for everyone, but I really enjoy teenagers, and watching them grow intellectually. Anyway, here's to a great school year!

Teaching Award

Here's my English/Chinese interview upon receiving a teaching award for 2013. My organization, Ameson Education & Cultural Exchange Foundation, which places English teachers in Chinese schools, recognized my efforts last year, and honored me with an Ameson Advanced Educator award. This interview was given as part of the company's Outstanding Teacher Series. Originally only available in Chinese, I have uploaded the English translation of the interview to Scribd, which you can read at the link below.

Outstanding Teacher Series--Interview with Lauren Tivey:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/220500068/Outstanding-Teacher-Interview-Lauren-Tivey

Lauren Tivey (center), with her AP English Language & Comp. class,

Nanjing Senior High School, Jiangyin, China

I'm grateful to the organization for the award, and pleased about the interview. I've a wonderful group of students here, who make teaching a real joy for me, and I consider myself lucky to be able to do what I love for work!

Shakespeare in Shanghai

Just getting caught up on a lot of posts here! One great thing that happened in the past few months, back in December, was the overnight field trip we took with the junior AP English class to Shanghai, in order to see a live performance of Shakespeare's Macbeth, produced by TNT Theatre Britain. We'd also done this the year before, with another class, in order to see King Lear. Anyway, it was the first live play the kids had seen, and we had a blast. Fellow teachers Gerry and Zhangyan (plus Zhangyan's husband), all helped to chaperone the event.

The month before the show, we began reading and studying Macbeth. We read slowly and in-depth, in class, in order for students to understand the play--it's one thing to have English-speaking Western kids read Shakespeare, but to have Chinese students read it, in a second language, is an entirely different ballgame. They were all mostly terrified of trying to read Shakespeare, and baffled by the Elizabethan English, but with practice and patience, I walked them through it. Students first chose character names out of a hat--one student would get Macbeth, one Macduff, etc.--which they were to "adopt", to study their character's lines, and understand their motivations. This made the study a little more personal. Every day we read scenes, with each student reading the part of their character, and me helping to interpret difficult sections. We discussed plot events, themes, historical and mythical allusions, and more, and watched scene videos from a variety of different productions over the years. The students, of course, LOVED the witches (who doesn't, really?). Banquo's ghost scene was also a big hit. After reading the play, students were required to write four page essays on a thematic element, and then we watched the 2010 Macbeth, with Patrick Stewart in the lead role. The biggest thrill for me, however, was that day in class when we finished reading it--that fantastic final scene of Macbeth's death at the hands of Macduff, and the crowning of Malcolm--when the students broke into loud applause. Whether they were applauding the scene, applauding themselves for reading it, or just applauding because it was over, it didn't matter--we'd all made it through, together. I was so proud of them. What better way to celebrate than to attend a live showing? 

  

The students' excitement was palpable even on the bus to Shanghai, a couple of hours away. We all checked into the hotel after arriving, then made our way to dinner, and then on to the Lyceum Theater. I'd been to the Lyceum the year before, for King Lear, so I knew the students would be dazzled by the elaborate (yet intimate) playhouse, with its marble entry, chandeliers, winding staircases up to the balcony level, and red velvet chairs. The place was teeming with theater-goers, and we made our way through them to our reserved row of seats, where I had the students turn off their cell phones. Once the play began, the students were hooked. Shakespeare's plays just come alive on stage, and this production of Macbeth was no exception. I looked down the row to see all my students leaning forward, in rapt attention, and I knew, this was an experience they would never forget. 

Here are some photos:

Excitable bus ride to Shanghai

Chaperones: Gerry, Tony, and Zhangyan

TNT Theatre Britain--they put on a helluva show

Outside the theater--it was a heavy smog day (note the masks)

The Lyceum Theater, Shanghai

Happy students, just before the show

Gerry and students, before the show

The play was fabulous, of course. The students really loved the presentation of the witches as nature spirits (more in keeping with the original idea in Holinshed's Chronicles), and their foresty costumes. They laughed hysterically at the drunk porter's bawdy antics, and were completely mesmerized by Lady Macbeth's bloody performance and subsequent sleepwalking scene. After, they pointed out inconsistencies between the script and the performance (smart kiddos, these!). Suffice it to say, the field trip was a success.

This has been one of the best ideas I've implemented into my syllabus--making the study of a Shakespeare play AN EVENT, as meaningful and memorable for me as it is for the students, and I have every intention of doing it again next year. Fingers crossed that Hamlet is next--that's my favorite.

High School Poetry Slam

On April 1st, we held our first annual poetry slam here at Nanjing Senior High School. Participating were 35 students from three grade levels--all of our American Program Chinese students, plus our visiting German students. After a month of preparation, the evening event was held in the lecture hall, to great success. Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place were given, along with four honorable mentions, and the slam was even filmed. Fellow teachers, Simeon Campbell and Katherine Marie Priddy also helped organize and run the event, for which I am very grateful, and some of our other teachers, Gerry, Reuben, Ollie, and Lillian were our volunteer judges.

Since many of our Chinese students hadn't had much exposure to poetry slams, or to poetry, for that matter, the entire month before the event was spent studying poems. Though my junior AP English class had been reading a few poems, here and there, since the beginning of the school year, mostly as supplementary material to other literature, and had even read Shakespeare, we really needed to delve into mechanics and modern style. I also did a poetry unit review with my senior AP English class. This involved the reading and study of many poems, lessons in figurative language, short poetry videos and PPTs, writing workshops, outdoor writing exercises, and the poetry slam documentary, Louder Than A Bomb, which the students greatly enjoyed. Students wrote their own poems, workshopped them with their peers, revised them, workshopped them with me, and revised them again. We discussed the performance aspect of a poetry slam, and students practiced their poems aloud, both at home and in front of their peers, even doing a rehearsal run in the lecture hall the afternoon before the slam. Though they were all nervous about the slam that evening, they did well. And they had created some wonderful poems!

Here are some photos:

Cool poetry slam posters, designed by fellow teacher, Kate

Poetry slam judges: Gerry, Reuben, Ollie, and Lillian

Poetry slam in full swing

Winners, from left to right: Jasmine (HM); Claire (HM); Andy (HM);
Tom (HM); Shimmer (3rd); Chen (2nd); Andrew (1st)

Andrew won first place with his poem, "Pretentious Pimples", a piece that was not only brave, but cleverly structured as a conversation with his acne, and had a strong delivery. Chen won second place with "Homeless Dog", a persona piece, and Shimmer took third place with the confessional poem, "Her". All students, whether winners, honorable mentions, or not, did a fantastic job with their poems, and showed a lot of courage in reading their work in front of an audience--a first, for many. This helped build confidence, as many of the students expressed afterward.

All in all, our poetry slam was not only fun, but made a deep impression on the students. As one said, "Writing a poem is not as easy as I used to think. I had to modify the lines again and again, and read them aloud to seek the best voice to express them. It is funny--I earned award money in the poetry slam. It was the first time I earned money through my own effort". Another student said, "After this poetry slam, it seems that everything in life can be the subjects of poems. The matter is, what do I pay attention to? I have started observing life more clearly and carefully, and I've found a lot of beauty which I never paid attention to before."

As a teacher, I can't ask for more than that...

Back to School

Just arrived back on campus after a fabulous summer holiday. My travels took me to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Rome, Istanbul, and Cappadocia, then back to China. I think what made the journey most special were the relationships--I got to meet my fiance's family in Scotland, then got to spend time with my mom in Italy, and then moved on to a truly magical and romantic time in Turkey with just my fiance. And of course, along the way, new friends from different cultures were made. I feel so grateful for all of it! Time now to get settled back in, and start thinking about not only the new school semester, but new poems, as well, and to start planning the Nepal trip for winter holiday. Also, I'll post links to the photo galleries once I finish editing everything. It's good to be back!