(Display Name not set)September 2004 Archives

Good evening, why don’t you come in and have a seat? Let me tell you about my experiences the last few days.
My normal routine for a weekday is as follows:
6:30 am – rise and prepare for the day.
7:30 am – leave Ying Pan for the school I will be teaching at for the day.
7:50 or 8:40 am – teach first class, followed by 3 or 4 more, depending on the day. Usually with 10 or 15 minute breaks in between.
12:00 pm – Lunch at the school with my teachers.
1:30 pm – Teach afternoon classes (Mondays); head back to Ying Pan for study or preparation for the next day.
4:00 pm – School ends.

I spend my evenings with my team, cooking dinner, playing the piano, writing letters, and preparing lessons for the next day(s). My schedule is kind of unique, I only have 1 day (Monday) where I have afternoon classes. This is possible because I teach 5 morning classes on Tuesday (starting at 7:50 am), and 4 on Wednesdays and Thursdays. It is kind of tiring sometimes having all those classes in the morning, but I am grateful that I have the afternoons as open as I do.

The school I teach at on Wednesdays is named Tsao Tun. I teach 4 of the 6th grade classes. Christina also teaches at Tsao Tun, she has 5 5th grade classes. Tsao Tun is a large school; it has over 1000 students, and is the oldest school in its area (Tsao Tun city).

I like it though, the teachers are friendly, the students are (generally) well behaved, and I am able to get to know a lot of the kids, even though the school is so large. Today, I was able to play ball with some of the 5th graders. I like these opportunities because I am able to actually get to know some of the kids on a personal basis, not just as the teacher in English class.
The rest of my team (Christina Moody, Mai Lewis, Joel Feig, and Isaac Mazur) follow similar routines with their schools. I enjoy coming home in the afternoon and hearing funny stories about things that happened at their school that day. A good laugh is encouraging after a long day of teaching.

We walk in the strength of the Lord, and go forth by His might. Pray that we will continue to draw on the Lord’s strength as we carry out our responsibilities here.

Chase Hiebsch
Ying Pan

Once again I find my fingers hovering over the keys, writing you all an update. It is Tuesday, September 07, 2004, the second day of my first week of teaching. So far I have been impressed with how well the teaching is going (give me a week and ask me again :)).

Yesterday I taught at a small school about 20 minutes from Ying Pan. There are only about 120 students at the school. I taught 5 classes, 2nd through 6th grades. The school only has one class of each grade; this makes it much easier to get to know some of the kids. Joel however, has been teaching at larger schools with 600 – 700 students; it is much harder for him to interact with his students on a personal level.

My school today was a little larger, about 270 students, but it was still small enough for me to be able to meet many of the students. I taught 4 classes today, but starting next week I will have 5 classes at this school also. I had 2 5th grade classes, 2 6th grade classes, and the 5th class will be a mixture of beginning level 5th and 6th graders.

Tomorrow I go to the 3rd of 4 schools I will be teaching at all year. I will be teaching 4 classes, and Christina will teach 4 classes as well.

Fridays for the Nantou county teams (Jiji and Ying Pan) will be different than originally thought. There is a new director of education for Nantou County, and he has designated Fridays as Character English days. I’m not sure what all we will be doing, but I think it will involve traveling to different schools around the area and teaching English with more of a character emphasis.

I was really glad to see the way that God blessed our teaching efforts the last two days. For me, Monday morning didn’t get off to a good start, but as soon as I got to the school I was filled with peace. I could sense God’s presence, and I watched with gladness as he orchestrated the whole day. Monday evening I came home feeling blessed, and grateful for God’s provision. It was wonderful to know that my Creator was taking care of me.

Keep praying for us, and all the other teams. God is at work here, and we appreciate and covet all of your prayers encouraging us on in His work.

Pressing on,
Chase Hiebsch