~ The Little Mermaid, Jr ~

     The weekend of 19-20 April, PIK Primary put on the show The Little Mermaid, Jr. The students and teachers had been preparing for this for about 6 months. After all of that hard work and practise the show finally came. The teachers had to stay back from school to help out with props, and there were a lot of teachers that had production roles for the play. My role was to help with the booklet. I did not design it, but I helped put together the contents inside.
     After school on Friday we all stayed back to get ready for the play. I sat and watched the kids practise as they anxiously waited for the show to begin. A lot of students from my form class participated in the play. Most of the students that were in the play are part of the Performing Arts Club at the school. Two of my students had lead roles. One was Flounder the fish and the other was Sebastian the crab. You can see them above on the cover of the programme. I also had 4 other students from my class that had roles.
     They performed three times, and there was actually two different Ariels. They thought that both of them did a good job, so they took turns with the role. I was so impressed by this musical. They put on such a good show for primary students. I never knew how talented they were. I didn't know how talented my class was. Sebastian also played the drums at the beginning of the show. I don't know how they got up there and performed in front of everyone like they did. I guess I used to be in musicals, but I never had solos like most of them did. I was always in a chorus or something.
     I will say that I am glad the musical is over. It took up a lot of time, and pupils were missing class so that they could go to practise. It was hard when my students work in groups and their group members are gone. I think the rest of the teachers are very proud of the students, but they are also super glad that it is all over. I think they wanted to burn the props when they were done. Haha. Some teachers put a lot of time in on the props, like my roommate, Amber. She was definitely glad when we had the curtain call at the last show on Saturday night.
     Next year, the musical will be at the other campus (KJ), so I will be anxious to see which show they pick. Hopefully I will be able to watch it. This weekend I haven't done much. I went to see Iron Man 3 last night with Amber. Otherwise, today I have done nothing except clean up the kitchen a little bit and visit with Andrew from upstairs. It was nice to have a relaxing weekend. In May, I will be at school on the weekends for my Maths course. I need to prepare myself to be busy/tired. Haha! Oh well, the school year will be over soon, and I will be on my way to some island to relax on the beach...(hopefully)!

3 Terms Down...1 Term Left to Go!

     Well, we just had a week off from school for our term 3 break. I will write about my trip to Thailand in a different entry. I was thinking that I don't write about school on here very often, so I should probably start. I have been blogging about all of my trips! Haha. Anyway, I can't believe that 3 terms have already passed by since I have started my new adventure teaching in Jakarta. I think it has flown by! Summer vacation will be here before I know it.
     I know I wrote before how my Primary 4 class was a little hard to handle. They still are, but I think they have gotten better with their behaviour. Of course, some days they are the same as they always were, but then other days they are great. I have figured out some classroom management strategies that seem to work for them. That is something that I can always work on and I hope that is something that I improve on for the next year.
     I feel like I have also gotten used to the flow of things at the school. I really have learned how things work in the school and how things should run in the classroom. I have gotten used to how fast paced the subject material is and and how the lessons need to be done. The pupils have to have so much information covered in a short amount of time for a test. I have been able to cover all the material needed with my students before the tests. I was having troubles with that during the first couple of terms.
     This first week back has gone pretty smoothly. I feel like it was so calm, but I am sure things will pick up soon. We start remedial and co-curricular activities again next week, so that will be two days that I have to stay back after school. It has been really nice to come home at 2:45 pm everyday this week. I have been keeping up with my marking so that I don't have a ton to do on the weekends or at night (that was my New Year's Resolution).
     Just before the term break, we had the annual Sports Festival Week. The school is divided into 4 houses (Blue, Green, Red and Yellow) and they compete in sports events throughout the week to earn points for their house. I am in the Blue house and we got 2nd place this year. I guess in the past years, our house has always lost. We are improving! Yay :)
     They participated in events such as soccer, badminton, sack race, basketball, shoer race and the tug-of-war, just to name some of them. I think sometimes I was more excited than the students! Haha. Although they can be pretty competitive, they still have a lot of fun.
     You're probably wondering what the shoer race is. I didn't know what it was either until the day of the event. The students have to take their shoes off and put them in a box at the end of the court and mix them with the others on their team.  They must run down to the box from the starting line, put their shoes on as fast as they can and tie them, and then run back and tag the next person in line. I could not believe how many kids in Primary 3 and 4 that could not tie their shoes! The Blue team lost because there was a student who could not tie his shoes properly. He was sitting there forever. Their nannies tie their shoes for them, so they don't know how. I just couldn't believe it....Haha!
     We also had some very sad news this week. One of the other American teachers that worked at the KJ campus passed away. He fell from the 29th floor of his apartment building. They are not real sure what happened yet. That was so sad to hear. I only met him at orientation and maybe saw him a couple of other times at meetings. I feel so sorry for his family and his friends that were close to him. It was such sad news to hear after the term break. Please keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers as they are going through this hard time.
     Well, the weekend is here and I am going to relax, do some lesson plans, and get ready for the next week of teaching. I hope that everyone has a good weekend :)