Currently it is Tuesday night and like the title claims, I have already taught 3 of the 4 classes that I need to teach this week. My 3 classes so far have been " The Society and Culture of English-Speaking Countries" and the first classes went ok. The students are mostly female, sophomore English majors who happen to still be completely enamored with their previous foreign teachers, Peter and Dave. It is pretty funny - they ask me all the time if I know them and if I think they are attractive. In my Monday 8:00 class I have 33 students, in my 2:00 class I have 35 and in my 10:00 class today I had 37. I think this class will be more of a challenge for me to teach and maybe not quite as much fun as oral English. For one thing, I don't really know that much about the society and culture of England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. And for another thing, I have never really had a class where I have had to lecture before. I am going to try to make it as fun and interactive as I can, but it is still going to be a big switch from teaching conversational English. The other thing to get used to is the classrooms. Now all of my classrooms have media/technology and are held in larger auditoriums with multiple chalkboards that can be rolled up and down. Considering I always had issues with using technology at OSU when all of the buttons were in English, I am a little apprehensive of how using media is going to go here.
I always get nervous before the first day of class, but really, first days are the most fun and easy days out of the whole semester. Before class I had written some different words on the board that in some way or another referred to an English-Speaking country (i.e. baseball, 2010 winter Olympics, the Beatles, the Great Barrier Reef etc.) and after going over what everything was, I asked the students why they thought I had written those things down. They had obviously figured out by now that everything related to the title of the course. Then we broke into groups and discussed some of the main points one might look at when studying major English-speaking countries. Their top picks where: history, music, fashion, places to visit, food, famous people and sports. Finally, we had a competition to see which group could think of the most countries that used English as an official language. We finished the first hour with a partner guessing game using some of the main information of the major English-speaking countries.
In the second part of the class I went over the format, grading and rules of the course and then introduced myself. I showed maps and pictures of Michigan along with pictures of my family and friends back home. Then I let them ask me any question they wanted. In comparison to the freshmen, the sophomores were a lot bolder and were mainly interested in my political opinions, boys, my love life and my college life. Here are some of my favorites:
"Do you like the food in China? What's your favorite?"
"How many Disney parks are there in America? Have you ever gone?"
"How many Chinese words can you speak?"
"Do you mind telling us your life goal?"
"Can you tell me something about American life? Is it nearly the same as the TV show 'Friends'?"
"I want to know the college life in USA? If they don't want to enter to college, what will they do?"
"Can I become your friend?"
"How do you think about Chinese boys?"
"Do you like our class so far?"
"Have you ever dissected the frogs? What did you feel at that time?"
"Do you have boyfriend?"
"What food does American eat every day?"
"Who do you think is the most handsome man among foreign teachers? Peter?"
"Which country do you like better USA or China?"
"What do you think about Obama?"
"Your hair is very beautiful, is it nature?"
"Do you have any Chinese friends yet? Who?"
"How many countries have you traveled?"
"What's your habit?"
"What's your attitude that the USA sell weapons to Taiwan?"
"As an American, what's your attitude to China?"
"We want to know your love stories"
"Do you like Chinese boys?"
"What do you think of Chinese men? Are you willing to get married with a Chinese man?"
"What's your attitude to Taiwan?"
After answering their questions we talked a little about symbols that represent ourselves and our countries. They explained what the Chinese flag meant and I went over the meaning of the American flag. Then I drew a flag on the board that represented me and included pictures of different things that are important to my life. For the rest of the class, the students worked on making their own personal flags as well and then explained what they meant to the class. It was really fun and some of the drawings were pretty hilarious. I found the idea online here if you want to try it in your class.
It was really cold teaching today and I am trying to get over a cold so I spent the rest of the day napping, watching movies and drinking tea. It's nice to be back on campus where I can enjoy a custom-made hot soup for 60 cents and a milk tea for 30 cents.
the students sound sweetly, adorably naive
Hi Sarah,
I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading about your classes. How much preparation did you go through before heading to China to teach? Specifically, did you take any Chinese language classes?
God I hope you wrote down "America's Hat" for Canada!