Ready or Not, There We Go

Wow. Student teaching in the states has seriously flown by faster than I every believed was possible! On October 21, I will be Taiwan bound! We fly out of Cleveland on October 19th, and after going through Minneapolis and Los Angeles, we arrive in Taipei on October 24 (12-hour time change!) Total trip time: 20 hours, 4 minutes. WOAH.....

My friend Alaina and I will be staying with a teaching supervisor from the school where we will be interning. We'll spend about a week observing various classes throughout the school, and then eventually settling into our teaching placement. Most likely, we will both be teaching ninth grade language arts. From what I understand, the language arts curriculum will be very similiar to the American system since the school aims to prep students to attend American universities. However, I have never taught higher than seventh grade, so teaching the ninth graders will definitely be different than what I am used to, especially since they are English language learners. Each morning, Alaina and I will first take the subway and then a city bus to get to our scchool, which is in Taipei County, but way up in the mountains. Our school day is from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm.

After spending months speculating about what it will be like to live in such a different culture, let alone teach,  I am getting apprehensive/excited for this adventure to begin. I will write again as soon as possible to update on our arrival and first impressions.

Zàijiàn!