Inside the Classroom

Today was the start of my third week of teaching so far. It is hard to say how much progress I have made (if any), but I am continuously making changes in the way I teach and trying to learn from past mistakes.

The first two weeks consisted of introduction and an attempt at lecturing. I did not feel wholly confident that my students understood me last week, so I was motivated to switch up my approach.

My initial thought was that I could pick interesting topics -- such as New York City -- and have discussion with the students. As it turned out, they could barely respond to such questions as, "why is New York City an important place in America?"

I do not blame the students for this, because many of them are finance/economic majors who are only studying English on the side. This was what I learned from one of my students, as well as another student, who explained to me the hectic lifestyle of a college student. Jeez, I should know this, I had just lived the lifestyle not too long ago.

This led me to thinking more about the imbalance of spoken language. I should not overly assume that everyone knows how to speak English. Sometimes, I take this reality -- that most people do speak English -- for granted. It is almost as if, by default, everyone knows my language. Well, whereas I put pressure on Chinese people to speak my language, what about my own attempts?

Sure, I've made some progress in Chinese, but I have a long way to go. Until I can speak the language fluently, I will continue to appreciate the struggles of my students.

In any case, we talked about Thanksgiving in class today. I decided to work with the book today, which I had wanted to avoid. Thing is, a book can only teach you so much -- the rest comes from the bottom of the teacher's heart, if not the back of their head. What's more, the book they are using -- "Family Album USA" -- is a bit old-fashioned. The front cover shows people in 70s getup, and the conversations within the book are somewhat like screenplays for "The Andy Griffith Show." Haha, I'm only kidding, but the books are a bit outdated.

So, I had the students practice the conversation in the Thanksgiving section of the book, which is supposedly where they had left off at since before the summer. I think it worked -- we practiced saying words such as "ingredients" and "recipe." I am only concerned about the pace with which I should take in the class. Of course, the dialogue is ridiculously easy for me, so it is equally easy for me to assume that the students competely understand what we discuss. Any ideas on how quickly I should move along with the book?

Well, here are some pictures of where it all takes place:

The computers are really nice, except, the sound system fails every so often (and without good cause). Here's where the magic takes place:

Because there are compatibility issues with Powerpoint, I have been using Microsoft Word as my method of sharing notes/information with the students. As you can see, the students are able to view what I have displayed on the main computer. I think this works well, because the students seem to be stronger in their reading and writing; so, if I am speaking to fast, they have a frame of referrence.

In other news, National Holiday week is quickly approaching, which means that I will have about 10 days free. I have already bought a ticket to visit Josh in South Korea, so I am really excited about this! I did not get a chance to see Josh before I left for China, so I am greatly anticipating the one-on-one time he and I will share in Busan. Like me, he has jumped off the diving board into the deep end; only thing is, his board was a few feet higher than mine (he has no family in Korea). He seems to be doing really well, and he naturally adjusts quickly to his environment.

More to come on the Korea trip and everything else in between.

Love,

Mike