Came to Taipei under the belief I would only stay here a year to help family sort out some issues and took a job teaching at an American preschool during my sabbatical from the States. I signed a one year contract.
I’ve been with them since Chinese New Year and I have gotten really attached to the kids, the kids love me, and the parents love me too…BUT
I wasn’t actively searching for it, but an amazing job opportunity in Taipei in a different industry was offered to me. I made the very difficult choice of accepting it, and now I need to tell my school, the parents and the students I will be leaving after half a year. I don’t care about the money I will lose on the deposit. I don’t care if my bosses get mad at me. BUT-
Very concerned about how this will affect my kids. I am the first teacher some of these kids have ever had. We’ve come a long way from the first day of school, and 3-5 is such an impressionable age. Wondering how I can mitigate the damage and ease their transition to a new teacher.
Advice? I’d appreciate it. I really love the kids. :help:
[quote=“Hell_in_Jen”]
Very concerned about how this will affect my kids. I am the first teacher some of these kids have ever had. We’ve come a long way from the first day of school, and 3-5 is such an impressionable age. Wondering how I can mitigate the damage and ease their transition to a new teacher.
Advice? I’d appreciate it. I really love the kids. :help:[/quote]
Show up with your camera and take some pics, have them developed and make special cards for them, hand them out on your last day.
kids are pretty forgiving at that age and will probably have forgotten about the whole ordeal by the end of the week… they bounce back pretty quick so don’t worry about it “scarring” them for life.
Honestly, they will forget you very soon after you’re gone. I went back and visited some of my old students once after a year long absence and they really only had vague recollections of me.
Children at that age are very self-centered and tend to care most about their immediate enviroment. I suggest you try to make your leaving exciting for everyone. You’re going to an wondeful new job, they’re getting a fun new teacher. Make them believe things will be great for them.
Yep it’s true: you are not the center of their little universes. At most you can hope that they will retain a positive attitude towards foreigners in general from their exposure to you.
However, having said that, I have been back to my first school a few times in the two years since leaving and there are still a couple of kids who come screaming down the hall at me when they see me, to tell me they love me.
