Deforestation: Yes, I went there.

Cullen and I have been completely consumed with our lesson planning as of late, as we began practicum on Monday, which means that we "team teach" with a group of other volunteers in preparation for our jobs come September. Well, as all of you know, I'm an environmental protection zealot, so it only seemed fitting that I find a way to preach to my helpless students. This was my second lesson to them not counting the activity that I co-created and executed with my teammate Allison. My first lesson was on movie-going culture in America, which went well until I ran out of things to talk about. For this lesson, I was over-prepared. Cullen snuck in (we are in different practicum groups) and took photos. Of course, I look ravishing in my sweat-drenched clothing.Here I am forcing poor Cathy to tell me the difference between deciduous forests in the summer versus the winter. It's hard to see the PowerPoint presentation in these photos, but in the classroom they are clear for the most part, and a HUGE help in bridging the language barrier. This way, instead of translating Chinese to English, they can associate photos and images directly with English words that help them to conceptualize the language more directly. After discussing deciduous forests, I went into coniferous forests, and finally rainforests. When I made them tell me one by one which was their favorite forest and why, I was shocked to find that only about 60% of the class went for the old standby, rainforest, since I knew that would be the one that was easiest for them to pronounce. Instead, I got answers like, "I like the coniferous forest the best because it is very cold there, and so the trees and animals that live there are very brave."
That tree represents the deciduous tree in the wintertime, which has enough energy to hold the snow up on its branches but not to feed it's leaves. Then I had them move their desks to the sides of the room and we played a game:
Stand, the boy on the left, was my co-logger. Here I am, taking my first tree victim, my student Sweet. The other trees are standing with their hands on their hips, and the 7 or 8 monkeys were to swing from tree to tree when the music was on ("Big Yellow Taxi", the Counting Crows version). Then I would turn off the music, like musical chairs, and the monkeys had to be on a tree or perish. Musical trees, if you will. Over all, a successful lesson plan that I could never use once we move to site, because I'll have three times the students in every class and the desks don't move. Stay tuned for a lesson plan by Cullen, I plan on taking many photos on the sly.