“Your daughter...she’s...she’s so creative. So so creative.”

There are a number of things that i’ve learned from being around children and “teaching” for these past few months.  First and foremost, I really don’t know what i’m doing.  I often think to myself as i’m preparing a lesson, or doing something that doesn’t require my full attention, how funny it would be if people knew how much I make up on the spot, or how everything feels a bit like a leap of faith, because i’m never sure if what i’m doing will pan out.  The fact that Cat Class is communicating in English and seem to have learned a significant amount is still baffling to me.  It’s also a fact that not a day goes by that I don’t become a devout christian for about 20 seconds and thank Jesus that I teach kindergarteners, because i’m pretty sure that if I were teaching older kids they’d see me for the sham that I am, and berate me with their words and i’d be ridiculed daily.

Next I realized that my job title should probably be something more like “preventer of complete and utter chaos” rather than “teacher”.  It seems that what I spend most of my day doing is keeping these tiny humans under some sort of control.  In psychology I remember learning about this thing called “the Id”, which is basically that instinctual drive to find pleasure and avoid pain.  As you grow older, people learn that you have to live within boundaries and completely giving into your Id isn’t possible, because instant gratification and living on impulse isn’t possible (some people take this to heart more than others).  I’m no expert so I don’t know if it’s all kids this age, but the member of Cat Class really haven’t grasped the concept of delayed gratification and patience is still very much a word, not a practiced virtue.  I’m in no way saying I don’t understand how this is so, because at 24 i’m still trying to get a grip on both those things.  Maybe they’ll get the hang of it earlier in life then I did, but for now it’s pretty entertaining to watch the Cats struggle with even the most simple of patience requiring tasks....


Note clever little Lara, placing the cookie in her napkin and then putting the whole napkin wrapped cookie in her mouth.  Ah K, Lara, you win.

Probably the most shocking thing i’ve learned from teaching is that some kids are just dumb. Clearly I didn’t come into this expecting every child to be a miniature Bill Gates, or well on their way to a full ride at an Ivy League or MIT, but I guess I wasn’t prepared for such a discrepancy in ability and overall intelligence.  Now i’m not saying that the less then stellar kindergarten students of the world won’t turn out all right, I myself was in the lower reading level for most of my elementary school years (difficulty sounding things out and telling left from right).  I wouldn’t be shocked if Ms. Walker or Mrs. Carlton thought to themselves, “Oh that poor little Hu girl, she’s really gonna have a tough time, that one”, I wouldn’t be shocked because that is exactly what I think about a couple of the little birds in Cat Class. But then I have to take a step back and put myself in their miniature shoes, which are more than likely on the wrong feet, because although it’s not scientific, in my experience, shoes on the wrong feet is a sure fire sign of a lesser intelligence, and realize that they’ll probably turn out alright, and if they don’t, hopefully they inherit some money or marry well.

Below is a picture of Heather and JiAhn, or Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee as I like to call them, holding cakes they made in art class of edible and inedible objects.  Surprisingly both of them have their slippers on correctly.

Next we have a couple pictures of the two little ones right after I discovered that they had eaten a significant amount of the edible AND inedible decorations that were hot glued to the cake.  Their faces really say it all....