Meow and Squeak

     I feel so at home at "my" new school here.  I got to play the same old cat and mouse game that I sometimes get to play in Minneapolis classrooms.  Several times, in fact, these last few days while I was subbing in a technology class.  Each middle and high school student at this school gets a very new MacBook Pro to use.  While the usual cat is away, some of the mice are inclined to play on their laptop instead of using it to do their assignments.  And the sub cat likes these mice to know that she's on to them.  She can't see what's on their screen most of the time, but just from watching them she pretty well knows what's going on.   She's not going to pounce.  She's not even going to say anything.  No.  Catching the mouse's eye and giving a certain lingering look works best.  Keep 'em guessing about how much she knows and what she's going to do.  Which is ultimately not much, besides mentioning it in summary notes to the usual cat.

     These students all have a project deadline coming up, and if they play around in class they'll just have to put in more time at home.  But it's my job to try to keep them on task in the classroom.  That sometimes means playing the cat.  It's even better to ask a wayward mouse some questions and show some interest in what he's/she's interested in.  I do that, too.  Some of each.

     The most fun class today was a group of middle schoolers who viewed and critiqued the short video tutorials that each student in class created to show how to use one feature on their Mac.  Some were quite good, and a few were downright entertaining.  They generally had excellent critical comments.  These kids really know what they like and don't like when they're looking at a computer screen.

     Students' English proficiency at this international school is very good.  I didn't hear any side conversations in home tongues as was the case at the 2 American international schools where I subbed last year in Shenzhen.  At those 2 schools there were many students from South Korea and also many Chinese students (with non-Chinese passports--students residing in the People's Republic of China were not allowed to attend a foreign school in China).  So you heard lots of Korean and Chinese conversations, especially in the halls and the lunchroom.  Teachers and staff were constantly reminding students to speak in English, otherwise segregation and exclusion became issues.  This school is much more international, and English is their common language.  So far I've met students from Germany, France, Holland, Sweden, Spain, Israel, India, Columbia, the Philippines, South Africa, Australia, Ireland, the U.K., Canada and the U.S.   

     This school also accepts students with special needs, which was not the case last year.  Today I had a visually impaired student and 2 boys that I'm guessing were on the autism spectrum.  The principal had told me last week that this school prides itself on being inclusive, more like a U.S. public school in  this respect, which distinguishes it from the usual ultra-competitive private schools in Hong Kong.  Another thing that makes me feel at home at this school.