2015-16: Another Awesome Year

I have not posted anything on my blog for some time.  I actually lost control of my account for quite a few months, as Google did not recognize my login information.  However, after numerous attempts to regain control of my own account, I am back . . . just in time to sum up the 2015-16 school year.  So here it goes.

Naturally, the quality of any year at Kunming International Academy comes down to my own family.  Suli's continued support at home has made my teaching life much easier.  There are numerous times we have to have the talk about what time I will return home from grading papers or coaching soccer, but I thoroughly thank the Lord for her willingness to bring the boys up to my classroom before they head home after Oswin gets out of class or her willingness to bring Oswin and August out to the soccer field to "play" with the older students.  Next year, Oswin will be entering kindergarten and August will be heading to pre-junior-kindergarten.  Suli has helped both boys be more than just prepared for school.  She sings with them, reads stories to them, paints with them, makes paper airplanes with them, colors with them, plays the memory game with them . . . .  I join in when I get home, and they all love it.  But Suli is really the one who takes care of them.  (Next year will be a bit different, but I will get to that at the end.)

Oswin entered junior kindergarten this year, and he truly benefitted from a full day of classes.  (Suli also benefitted from having a full day away from this energetic boy.)  The photo above shows Oswin and I participating in the annual American Thanksgiving Turkey Trot that our primary students do each year.  I took time off from teaching AP English Language and Composition to pace Oswin through the course.  Suli, on the left of the picture, took time to snap some shots of us running together.  One of my British Literature students actually took this photo of all of us.  In any case, Oswin is quite gifted at physical activities (not so much at coloring and drawing), and if he is allowed to run or ride or kick or swim he will do it all the way until he has to sleep.  He is our active boy, and he keeps his little brother running as well.

August desperately wanted to be in school with his big brother.  For weeks, at the beginning of the school day, a handful of Oswin's classmates cried when being dropped off by their parents.  However, August cried when he was told that he and Suli would be leaving campus so Oswin could go to class.  August wanted to run the Turkey Trot.  He wanted to go to the farm with Oswin's class.  He wanted to ride the bikes and paint with Oswin's class.  It is a good thing that next year the little man will be entering his own half-day class.  This will give Suli half a day off from both boys and a half day with her "sweet baobei."  August has already shown quicker development in the area of language, but it remains to be seen what will spark his interest at school.

For me, outside of my family and my teaching, football remains my passion.  During the first semester, I signed on to be the "team manager" for one of the co-ed adult teams in our Kunming International Academy (KIA) Friends of KIA Adult Fun League.  The theme for this edition of the league was "Chinese School Supplies."  After consulting my wife and a couple other Chinese colleagues, I decided to name our team "The Red Scarf."  (Chinese students traditionally receive a red scarf when they have demonstrated an understanding and acceptance of Party doctrine, and if a student who has been honored with a red scarf arrives at school without it that student must return home to get it.  In a way, it is more important than any other school supply.)  Our team was comprised of Chinese (mainland and Taiwan), English, Norwegian, and Americans (USA).  Our difficulty was having everyone present, but we still competed well and took third place.

Naturally, without students, teachers would be unnecessary.  So a part of every year is seeing which students will be graduating.  This year's class is small, but they get along well.  Plus (and this is a big plus), of the ten students KIA will be graduating this year, eight of them played for either the boys' football team or the girls' football team.  (I will be making a special blog entry for football.)  Thank you to all the seniors, and special thanks to Nic, Kai, Nathaniel, Ling Fung, Marie, Hannah, Julie, and Sarah for kickin' it with the Flying Tiger squad(ron)s.  Congratulations to the graduating class of 2016!

Now, for a little preview of next year.  Because I have been with KIA for ten years, I am eligible for a sabbatical year, and I will be taking one next school term.  However, this will not be a return-to-the-U.S type of sabbatical.  In a way, I will still be helping the school, and the school will definitely be helping me.  Suli, the boys, and I will be remaining in Kunming, and I will still be teaching AP English Language and Composition.  In return, the school will continue to provide us an apartment, pay my salary, pay our insurance, and . . . KIA will also be paying for the course work for me to receive my Master Degree in Literature.  Next year, I will be taking courses to receive my graduate degree.  This will still mean a lot of work, but I look forward to being able to share what I learn with my students--my AP students immediately, and later my other students.  This will also mean that I will be at home a bit more.  Naturally, I will be studying a lot at home, but I will also be around more for those special moments of singing, stories, paper airplanes, kites, bikes, parks . . . .  It will be a different year!

It's hard to believe it has been ten years since I began my China adventure.  I do not know when (or if) the adventure will ever lose the "China," but I continue to love it nonetheless.  Plus, with my wife, my life will always have a bit of the "China," wherever we may be.