(Post by Alisha)

I teach four classes at Uncle Sam School, but my homeroom classroom is the Dolphins- I love them! They are around 3 or 4 years old, but extremely bright for their age and they get so excited about learning. When you talk to the students here, everything is in very simple English because too much wordiness would confuse them, but they are able to understand and speak quite a bit of English. It's a lot of conversations like, "Uh-oh Sandra, sit back down. No star for you unless you sit so nice! Hands back, no talking- if you are so good, you can come help Teacher Alisha write the number six!"

We both like teaching, but find it requires a lot of energy and hard work. The older children can be pretty naughty; they will talk in Chinese, get out of their seats, push each other, etc. The thing that works the most to keep them in line is taking away their points/stars or giving them more Vocab homework. There are also cameras in each classroom that stream online so the parents can watch their kids and see if they're misbehaving.

Going from college students to elementary teachers was a big switch, but I think we're adjusting to it pretty well.