Monday, June 25, 2007

Graduation

Graduation was on Saturday (even though we have one more week of school left). The grade six ceremony was in the morning (over two hours) and the grade nine ceremony was in the afternoon (I had to leave after three hours). Five hours of sitting on a plastic chair and not understanding a word of what was being said. It was my choice to go, though: none of the other foreign teachers went. For the grade six students, they have been together in the same class with the same students since grade one. Even though they are staying at the school for junior high, the genders are separated for grade seven. I was so proud of all of my students from Advanced English, so many of them received special awards for top grades. They also had dancers, a choir and an orchestra made up of students from younger grades. It was strange to see kids that I had taught in grade two when I first came to Fuhsing: they look very different! (Carole, do you recognize some of your students in the choir? Jasmine is in the second row).
For grade nine, graduation is an even bigger deal. Most of the students will be leaving to go to high schools all around the city. Some will be staying to go into Fuhsing's new high school (next year it will be grade ten and eleven). What high school the students are able to go to depends on one test. They have been studying all year for this test, and their results determine their summer fate as well. The life of a grade nine student means getting to school around 7:30, classes all day until 5:30 and then studying/homework time at school until after 9pm. Oh, and that's six days a week. And, since most students are under a lot of pressure, their parents probably also have them in extra classes in the evening or on Sunday. But, if a student gets a great grade, they can go to a prestigious high school, and they can take the summer off. If a student (or his parents) aren't happy with the grade, they need to spend the whole summer at school re-studying all of the same material to take the test again at the end of the summer. Yikes. Anyway, all of that was forgotten in the excitement of the ceremony. I watched some of my worst trouble-makers from grade seven travel class graduation (good riddance!) The top students were all Advanced students that both Carole and I have taught, and I was so excited for them. The people standing behind them are honored alumni (I think).Also, welcome to any students who are reading this! I decided to give out my blog address to all my classes just in case the students wanted to read stories and see pictures from Vietnam, Cambodia and Australia. So, students, please keep checking back (especially in August) for more news. You can even comment and let me know that you're reading this and what you're doing for summer vacation. You could comment about how much time you spend at school and in buxiban: do you wish you had more free time? Just click on where it says (0) comments and then on "Post a Comment." Don't forget to put your English name and class!

Posted by Kathleen @ 8:02 AM