And Then It Was Over...

...and that was that. Last Thursday, June 28th, was my last day of teaching at Lanshan No. 1 Middle School. A rollercoaster 10 months of experiences, which I'll have to reflect on later, as now I just don't have the time. The vast majority of weird and wonderful experiences happened to me outside school, but the ones that I'm most proud of and that have given me most joy have been the ones I've had inside the classroom.

And of all of those, my time spent with the Junior 1s has been the very best. So it was perfect that I rounded off my year with my four Junior 1 classes.First up was Class 176. It's very hard to make any distinction between the Junior 1 classes. Perhaps this was my least successful class, but only by a tiny, tiny margin - and then only because they were always the first of the week and were my testing ground for new activities and games, which did not always go 100% as intended... But we lay the blame for that on me, not the kids, who are wonderful. Each class had strong characters in it and this one had the most jokers. A little testing at times for discipline, but more often laughed along with than anything else.
Next up was Class 173. These gave me real cause for grief last week, when they went absolutely wild at the very end of class. We'd been playing a class game to practice asking and answering different questions, which started off in groups and worked it's way up to semi-finals and finals with sweets as a prize at each stage. I don't know why they went crazy, but they did, and I was more angry with them than I had ever been with any other class. I guess this was because I always had such high expectations of these kids and had never had any problems, unlike in other grades. This was totally out of character and really disappointed me. I was glad that they pulled it together for me though this week and I could remember them as fondly as I always had before.

Some of my most enthusiastic kids are in this class, although all Junior 1s are hyper-enthusiastic. I have my highest concentration of regular English Corner attendees here, and some kids that always go to the greatest lengths to please me. One boy in particular, who they call Watermelon in Chinese, will put his hand up every single time. In fact, each time I ask a question I can guarantee to be able to call upon at last half a dozen students for the answer - and this applies just as equally to all the other classes. All these kids love to participate, which is the most I ever ask for. I am rewarded by their consistent hard work and positive attitude which has allowed me to prepare my most fun and creative activities for these classes, and which gave me the confidence to be a total extrovert for them. I entertain as well as teach and here I have had the best audiences week after week. It's been a positive feedback thing and the benefit has been outstanding.
Third class of the week is Class 174. It would be incredibly difficult to try and choose a favourite class as I adore them all so much, but maybe this one would be top of the pile. It does have some of my favourite kids in it and I guess that pushes it up. I think this class is also the most appreciative of me teaching them. It would be pretty big-headed of me to say I was the highlight of their week, but even if I wasn't I was made to feel as though it were true. I had them last thing on Wednesdays, immediately after Class 173, and as soon as their previous class was over a load of them would run over to Class 173 to see what I was doing before dragging me over to their classroom ready for the next period. After our class the students have some time to do homework, but these kids always wanted me to stay and play games instead. That was cool. In the style of a manic audience at some rock concert, I'd ask them 'do you want me to go?' and get cries of 'no!! no!!' back. I'd ask 'do you want to play a game?' and they'd all cheer and shout out 'yes! yes! yes!'. We'd play hangman or word-snake for a good 25 minutes, until it was time for dinner. It was a fantastic time. So apologies for the number of photos above, but I just couldn't narrow the selection down and do them justice at the same time.
I finished with Class 175 on Thursday. The most reserved Junior 1 class, and the best behaved with some of the cutest kids of all. Great English too. So it was with these kids that I said goodbye. They all gave me presents and little notes and it was beautiful. The perfect ending.

When I think of things that I will miss about China, these Junior 1 students will be top of the list. I almost want to stay here to watch them grow up and see how they turn out. It feels strange to know that they will have another teacher next year. I feel jealous, possessive almost. I don't want to give them up. They are the greatest kids in the world and I will miss them dearly.