Teaching

Xiasha Campus

So I just finished my second full-week of teaching (my week technically starts Wednesday). I’m sure you’re wondering, “Does she still love it?” To answer your question simply, I say “YES!!” To answer your question in more detail, I say:

My classes have been responding very well to my teaching method (which involves a lot of class participation – it’s a conversation class right? You can’t learn to converse by listening to a lecture.) I prepare a lesson plan for each week (flexible plans, of course. You never know what could happen). And so far I think I have set a good pace for my classes. I can’t take all the credit for this, however, because I’ve had a lot of help from the other foreign teachers – especially those who have been here before. For instance, I teach most of the same classes as a man named Edward. He is a 60-something-year-old Australian man who has been teaching in China for at least ten years. He has taught these classes before, so he’s been helping me to set a good pace and also given me some really great ideas for running the class. For example, in my English major classes, we are focusing on interviewing. He recommended having the students do a lot of role-playing exercises – taking turns as the interviewers & interviewees. I think this is a great idea because the students will get a chance to think from both perspectives, giving them an insight to what their future interviewers are looking/listening for.

Bldg A where I teach all my classes

For my other class (the first-year English minors), I’ve been having a lot of fun. Last week, our class topic was “Giving & Receiving Directions.” The students learned new vocabulary, had class discussion & practiced giving each other directions (based on a made-up map I drew on the board). I also had them play the human knot (when people stand in a circle, cross their arms & grab hands with two different people – in essence, a knot. Then, everybody has to work together to untangle their arms so the group is back in a circle – we played this when I was at band camp as a team-building exercise). The only rule was that the students had to direct each other in English ONLY! (Using Chinese disqualified the team). They had a great time and it kept class more interesting (it’s a night class – it has to be interesting!). This week in that class, we will be discussing China (culture, traditions, concepts) because what’s the number one thing people want to know when they meet a foreigner? Facts about their country! These students probably haven’t encountered a situation when they have to explain these concepts in English – it’ll be interesting to see what they come up with.

So, all in all, I’ve been having a great time and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing my students make progress and learn new things. It’s been incredibly gratifying so far.

When I’m not teaching or preparing for teaching, I’ve been spending time with my friend Rachel (from Syracuse) and Dave (from San Francisco). They both live in my building, so it’s convenient to spend time with them. I also (finally!) got some cushions for my wooden furniture!! I got fairly inexpensive ones, so they aren’t the most attractive things. But at least I don’t have to sit on wood when I want to watch TV anymore. I’ll get past the ugly brown design.

I’m really enjoying myself (and the food, and that everything is so cheap, and my job, pretty much everything!). But it’s been great to hear from home too. I hope everything is going well for everyone, I think about home all the time.

Much love! Zaijian!

Olivia