On Friday, I finished four days of teaching and, really, they flew by. I had the same three Grade 11 classes that I had last week (I have each of them nine times) in addition to three new Grade 8 and three new Grade 9 classes (who I see four times a piece). The Grade 8’s are full of enthusiasm which is a huge plus (it’s hard to get many of the Grade 11’s to say anything). I really do enjoy the younger ones. It also helps that the Grade 8’s are stronger than my other classes. Each Grade was divided into two groups based on their abilities. I was assigned the weaker half of the Grade 9’s and Grade 11’s and the stronger half of the Grade 8’s. I’m enjoying the teaching and I’m ecstatic to have this opportunity. The fact that I don’t have to grade anything just makes everything so much more fun! My sole job is to get them speaking more so games are often a great avenue for that. How can you complain about that?
After an eventful, tiring week, Jen and I decided to stay put Friday evening so we could get going as early as possible Saturday (we had big plans)! At one point, I heard a lot of chit chat in the lounge below us so I made it an excuse to go get water (to see what was going on). Two of the teachers we’ve gotten to know (Penny and Apple) were just chilling and mentioned that they were bored because the typhoon last weekend took out our TV signal. I then proposed playing cards (I happened to bring a deck on a whim from Canada) and gathered them, an intern named Xiju (she-jew – not sure of the spelling) and Jen. We taught them a game I called Donkey (it’s called something a little more profane) and Spoons, which I will more properly call Chopsticks (maaaan that was funny). They thought our games were rather complicated (although Penny, who is SUPER competitive (unlike myself) ate them up) and taught us two famous games here: Dragon Link (or something to that effect) and Heart Attack.
Game play for Dragon Link:
Game play for Heart Attack:
The evening really brought the five of us together (even while switching between Mandarin and English) and we invited the three Taiwanese girls to come with us Saturday for our day trip to Jiufen and Fulong Beach! Yeah to new friends!
After an eventful, tiring week, Jen and I decided to stay put Friday evening so we could get going as early as possible Saturday (we had big plans)! At one point, I heard a lot of chit chat in the lounge below us so I made it an excuse to go get water (to see what was going on). Two of the teachers we’ve gotten to know (Penny and Apple) were just chilling and mentioned that they were bored because the typhoon last weekend took out our TV signal. I then proposed playing cards (I happened to bring a deck on a whim from Canada) and gathered them, an intern named Xiju (she-jew – not sure of the spelling) and Jen. We taught them a game I called Donkey (it’s called something a little more profane) and Spoons, which I will more properly call Chopsticks (maaaan that was funny). They thought our games were rather complicated (although Penny, who is SUPER competitive (unlike myself) ate them up) and taught us two famous games here: Dragon Link (or something to that effect) and Heart Attack.
Game play for Dragon Link:
- You deal out the whole pack. Whoever has the 7 of clubs goes first and lays that card down.
- The next person then plays a six or eight of clubs on the seven (build on either side of it) or another 7. If they do not have any of those cards, they must place a card from their hand face down in front of them. The object of the game is to have the lowest total from these cards that had to be thrown out by the end of the game (for example, if you can manage not to throw out any, you win. You do not want to put high cards in front of you).
- Play proceeds in this manner until cards run out.
- You can always build on what is on the table or lay down a new 7.
Game play for Heart Attack:
- You deal out the whole pack. One arbitrary person starts by flipping over their first card in the center. This person says “one”. If an ace is turned, everyone piles their hand on this card as fast as possible. The last person to do so must take whatever cards are in that pile. If it not an ace, play continues with “two” and so on until the number called matches the number flipped.
- Once someone runs out of cards, they must survive one last round before they are safely out of the game.
- The person who has all the cards left at the end wins
The evening really brought the five of us together (even while switching between Mandarin and English) and we invited the three Taiwanese girls to come with us Saturday for our day trip to Jiufen and Fulong Beach! Yeah to new friends!