Exams.

Every students' dream: an exam on a Saturday.

Parents want the best for their children. They want to give them every advantage possible to get ahead. I've never seen this more true than in China. With the rising middle class in China comes more disposable income. Many parents use that towards getting their children ahead. Putting them in the best schools. Putting them in dance classes, music classes, sports classes and commonly English classes. I fall into the last category. I teach children at a language center on the weekends. Public schools during the week and language school on Saturdays.

It's an interesting contrast between teaching a class full of 50 students and one with only 12. Larger classes usually come down more so to classroom management and often leave me feeling like a zookeeper. I get that feeling sometimes more in the smaller classes, but with 12 students, it is possible to learn each student's name and give them the attention necessary to make sure they are making some improvement over the semester.

Well today was the last day of the term at the language center so the day was spent giving the kids exams. They were of course thrilled, but at the end of the day, it was nice to know they learned something over the past 15 weeks.