It was the 45th anniversary of Wuci Junior High School last week. The classes show school pride and compete against each other in sports. The winning classes get cash awards to spend on their class (materials or a class dinner or something like that). The school board changes on this day too. The school board is not elected and doesn't have much power over the school's curriculum. People get on the school board by donating money to the school. Show me the money, eh. The activities include a student parade around the track with each class performing a dance and a chant. They also compete in various races like the 100m, a relay-race, and the three-legged race. There is a teachers relay-race too which I had to run in. I guess I ran fast, or so I was told. My team got second place.




I was asked to walk in the parade with the advanced 6th grade class. They made Indian uniforms. Here I am doing my serious Indian look.

Some of the boys running the 100 meter race.


The three-legged race is always good for laughs. I've been teaching the students about rhythm and language. I told them they needed rhythm for the three-legged race too.

Some of the girls running the 100 meter race.


Here are the students in formation after the parade listening to board members and administrators. You'll notice that each class has their own flag. The green flags are for the 1st grade classes (6th graders), the blue flags are for the 2nd grade classes (7th graders), and the red flags are for the 3rd grade classes (8th graders). Each class stays together from year to year and they stay in the same room all year. Teachers move around from class to class, but the students stay in the same classroom together. I teach all the 1st and 2nd graders. That's about 500 students I see every two weeks. Oh yeah, and the students standing on the blocks to each side of the stage are not being punished, well, at least not formally. They're the student 'guards' who stand at attention during the entire ceremony. I don't know how they did it.
Here is the advanced 1st grade (class 106) posing for the camera. The two finger salute is like making a Y for "Oh, yeah!" It's not the 'peace' gesture.Here I am posing with class 106. The student on my right lives next door to me. He loaned me a decent adolescent book called George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt by Lucy and Stephen Hawking. Yes, it's that Stephen Hawking.
This is class 107 posing before the parade.
This is class 104 posing before the parade. They were wearing some great hats. Budweiser and Keep On Trucking hats made an appearance.Here is another 1st grade class getting ready to march in the parade.