Happy Teacher's Day! (Especially in Taiwan)
Happy teachers day to all teachers out there! Everybody, whether it's Maths, Painting, Cinematography, IT, Geography, Geology, Engineering, and on an on. But especially for teachers here in Taiwan, HAPPY TEACHERS DAY! While you're slaving away trying to keep everybody focused, or even if you are doing your office hours sitting there staring at the walls for no reason at all (except that it makes your employer feel satisfied that he/she is working you to death, thus making your work in the classroom less effective and your life more of a drag) just remember, this is Teacher's Day, and you will feel better.
And let's not forget the EFL teachers here in Taiwan. I want to give a special HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY! to all the teachers at cram schools making your day just a little more joyous. But even more importantly, I want to send a real super special HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY! to all of the foreign EFL kindergarten teachers out there teaching illegally in Taipei, Gaoxiong, Yilan, Taizhong, Hualian, and everywhere else as you're singing and dancing your way through the morning (You put your right foot in, you put your left foot in, you put your right foot and you shake it all about... That's what it's all about. You do the hokey pokey...) hoping you don't get deported at a moment's notice. Just keep up the tap dancing and whatever. The show must go on! No, Johnny Law is NOT going to show up today and escort you away. Certainly not on teacher's day. THIS IS YOUR DAY!
And for all the PhD's slaving away working on those research papers that are about absolutely nothing at all, but YOU MUST PUBLISH! YOU MUST PUBLISH! Take a break, this is your special day. And also, don't do it, and you know what I mean when I say 'don't do it.' I mean don't top yourself! Just keep putting one foot in front of the other moving forward.
And lastly, if there are any EFL teachers out there in a country you've just moved to and you're daunted buy the culture, daunted by the language, daunted, thoroughly daunted, and this is your first day teaching and you don't have a clue what you're doing and so scared that you are afraid you might make pee-pee in your pants, I just would have to tell you to just keep moving around the classroom, be light on your feet, keep the pages turning, talk slow, talk real, real slow and you'll make it through that seemingly endless first forty-five minute class. And HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY!
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