BER!

in the philippines (and everywhere else, i'm sure!) entering the -ber months is like the starting gun of the christmas season. shopping malls will be playing christmas carols, christmas decor will start to be on display, pre-season sales will be advertised, and christmas programs will be filling cable television. i love -BER!

'tis the season to start making christmas wish lists! and number one on mine? MORE KIDS!!! we're losing children, and all because our smart board of management thought it was a good idea to put our campus up for sale.

we accomodate 3 classes in our small campus. reception (4-5 year olds) nursery (3 year olds) and my class, pre-nursery (2 year olds) last year, we had a total of 58 students. this year, we have 24. how's that for a drastic drop...

manang,

endless toy store, internet and person to person searches have failed me.

in lieu of the real thing, you can have this instead:

http://www2.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/m/monsters/3D_Insectosaurus.pdf

enjoy! sorry it's not the cuddly kind... love you!

(tried it out, failed at that, too. i'm sure between you and jaime you can manage to make a decent model)

eye candy, indeed!thanks manang!

my class again...

strawberry...

shortcake!

rock-a-bye, baby...

...time to sleep...

we scream for ice cream!

my class...

Miz Piggy :)

but ms. kathy, she ate my fruit!

mmmm, tasty!

...and i caught one THIS big!

i'm happy, promise!

Meh! ...but i don't wanna go to school!!!

kids of the future...

oppy bouncers

4 kids... waht to do, what to do...

we have this new toy, a bouncy ball. the one where you sit on it, and bounce around. my kids love it, only problem is, they're too short to reach the floor! so instead of bouncing around, they roll head over heels over it! pictures to follow, lol!

after the happy dance, this is what they do...

i do this at the end of each term... XD

On the Other Side of the Door

On the Other Side of the Door
I can be a different me,
As smart and as brave and as funny or strong
As a person could want to be.
There's nothing too hard for me to do,
There's no place I can't explore
Because everything can happen
On the other side of the door.

On the other side of the door
I don't have to go alone.
If you come, too, we can sail tall ships
And fly where the wind has flown.
And wherever we go, it is almost sure
We'll find what we're looking for
Because everything can happen
On the other side of the door.

-Jeff Moss

(http://awrungsponge.blogspot.com/2006/09/back-to-school-poetry.html)

thanks for the poem! now to get ready for tomorrow...

hmmmmm...

Sometimes, you just have to wonder...

Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

Why is there a single shoe or slipper lying in the middle of the street?

Whose cruel idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have "S" in it?

Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do practice?

Why is it that most nudists are people you don't want to see naked?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest drown, too?

If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here,and drink whatever comes out?"

Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken there? I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes out of its butt."

only in Vietnam:

How do motorbike taxi drivers manage to sleep on their parked motorbikes?

Why are pyjamas so fasionable all the time, everytime, everywhere?

Why do men have such long thumb / pinky nails?

Why do adults wear helmets and children use only mosquito netting?

class photos today. oh, right. we were supposed to start off our week with Hey Diddle, Diddle. unfortunately, it took 2 hours (!!!) for my class to be photographed. why, you ask? well, my kids were eager enough, the girls even refused to play outside, because their hair would get messed up (my girls, the vanity club!). anyway, aside from the crying jag from 2 of my kids (new students), we did pretty okay in our group picture. sure, there was that one boy who wouldn't stop picking his nose. or that little girl who kept showing off her new knickers. but hey, these are 2 year-olds here. you really can't expect a class photo to be perfect.

so on to the solo pictures. what fun! we did it according to the class list (which, by the way, is not alphabetical, chronological, or in any other form of order known to man). each child was made to sit on a chair, look at the camera, and smile. which worked for a few of them. a very little few. say, 1 or 2 of my kids. more often than not, they looked shell-shocked. like, "who the h*#l is this dude, and why is he making goofy faces at me?" some would just have that blank look on their faces, probably wondering what we're having for snack today (since we were already running late by this time, everybody was cranky with hunger).

others would valiantly try to smile, even as their eyes start to tear up - "stranger! stranger! but still must smile, camera pointed this way..." my favorites were the ones too excited to wait for the camera to point their way. from the time they got to school, to the time we had lunch, they had this smile plastered on their faces. you know, the kind that pulls the lips back from the teeth, pushes the cheeks high up their faces, and all but makes their eyes disappear. that smile. some would even call it a grimace. characters, all of them!

and Hey Diddle, Diddle? we got to recite the rhyme. all other activities put on hold. try again tomorrow...

(posted on Facebook 11 May 2009)

my class did Humpty Dumpty last week, to start off our Nursery Rhymes theme for this month. we did masks, puppets, role-paying games. but our culminating activity was an egg-hunt last friday. the children were each given one hard-boiled egg to decorate. one of my very helpful assistants blurted out, "wow Henry! your egg is so blue!" yes, his egg was PAINTED blue. thank you, ms. Ha.

during the actual game itself, (we hid the PAINTED eggs on and around the slide) all three of them (my assistants) kept calling out, "find your eggs!" and "hold your eggs! don't break them!"

isn't innocence grand ...we're doing Hey, Diddle, Diddle this week.

(posted on Facebook 10 May 2009)

Turtles, PLEASE!

we had a showing of Finding Nemo a few weeks ago, and my class is now OBSESSED with those dang turtles! i admit, it's good entertainment for them on those rainy afternoons when we can't go outside to play. but we ALWAYS keep going back to that scene with the sea turtles! they even have most of the dialogue memorized! this is, of course, with the requisite lisps and mispronunciations - wimming with the tutles! and their favorite expression now is, "oh my goodness!" everything is "oh my goodness!" this, and "oh my goodness!" that. even if they're just going to the toilet ("oh my goodness ms. kathy! can i go pee-pee?") excited, aren't we!

not to mention all the awesome-ing that goes on. they finish their food, "i's awesome, man!" they see a butterfly outside, "i's awesome, dude!" they even tried the head-butting thing, but the accompanying pain was not "awesome", so that was that.

i am now searching for nursery rhymes, popular or otherwise, that have turtles in them. capitalizing on their interest, you might say :D. big plus if they're named Crush and Squirt. HELP!

a chorus of "mine! mine!" (sea gulls) can now be heard in the pre-nursery classroom at regular

intervals...

(posted on Facebook 13 May 2009)

welcome to vietnam

just got back from the airport. picked up my aunt after her almost 2 month holiday in the philippines. made me realize a few things...

in my limited travel experiences, tan son nhat airport in ho chi minh city appears to be one of the better ones. high ceilings, lots of windows and open spaces so it doesn't get that crowded. all in all, a rather pleasant travel experience.

that said, the first thing that hits you as you deplane is the unique, one of a kind aroma that is vietnam. it is indescribable. an experience not to be missed, as it will hit you over and over and over again. it is an irrevocable sign that you are in vietnam.

as you go through the process of immigration checks, baggage claim and customs, you will meet people who will persistently speak to you in vietnamese, even after you tell them that you speak english, because of the unalterable fact that you have asian features. after much discussion, and the resulting confussion, they will acknowledge that you do not understand them, and thus, speak in english.

even the taxi drivers, who are waiting in line to recieve passengers, will require continuous reminders that you do not understand a single word that you say. and they will STILL try to carry out a conversation, in the event that you miraculously understand the words that are coming out of their mouth.

for first timers, here's a tip. let the driver drive. it may seem as if they're trying to hit everything on the road, but that's just how their traffic scheme is. drive fast, be impatient and don't yield. it works! just don't get a heart attack.

by the time you get home, you're too much of a basket case that you panic when you see the taxi meter read 150,000 vnd. relax, it's not that much. it just seems like it because of all the zero's. you're a millionaire in vietnam, so start acclimating yourself to the seemingly over-priced bills. before you know it, you'll be buying stuff by the millions.

so come on over, and enjoy all the best that ho chi minh city has to offer. i guarantee memories you'll laugh about for years to come! :)

release

one week since i got back to work. is this for real? back to work already? where did summer go???

my classroom is all bright and colorful, excuse me, colourful. must not forget, british curriculum and all... ready for my students. how many, you ask? i have 8. yes, count them, 8. 6 girls, 2 boys. men, you are outnumbered!

now, do as the aspirin bottle says: take 2 and keep away from children. if only it were true...