Rediscovery

Finally in Wuhu, A Look Back at Beijing

I have finally arrived in Wuhu after a month long process of orientation and training. I have begun to settle into my own room in a spacious and relatively well kept apartment on the central campus of Anhui Normal University with my new teammate, Dan Routh. I like the man a lot, he carries the soft heart of an artist. I think we will get along well. We've talked to Dad together and share every night about our current experiences so far. I told him that I was just happy to finally be here, to be settled in and begin the teaching process. At the same time, it is the teaching process that scares the death out of me. The whole team sat for hours dividing up classes. It looks like I will be teaching Public Speaking, Newspaper and Magazine Reading, and Freshmen Conversation. My communication profs would be proud. I might send them an email asking for tips and syllabus design. So, like always, things are a mix. I feel simply like I should be flexible, taking it all a day at a time and living the way I know I should.

The journey to this point has already been filled with many good stories.. . let’s flashback to Beijing and talk a little bit about my first educational experience...

From the desk to the podium, that third week of August I made the difficult and interesting crossover from student to teacher. For four days I taught English to a small class of Beijing natives alongside two other new teachers, Harold (an African American brother from Florida with real charm) and Sheldon (he had a great Boston accent). Teaching, planning, and finally befriending real Chinese students in the profession I will be holding for the next year was a refreshing and needed change in the fast paced transition of the last month. I finally got a taste of what is to come.

There were a good many things to learn from this process. For one, I know I am not as good or comfortable in front of the classroom as I thought I was. Out of the four days of teaching, I was most happy with my first. The others were a mix of good and bad, triumphs and failures. It is so hard to describe the experiences, to know how to start expressing these first baby steps.

Here is a fundamental element that makes up the spiritual construction of my soul. I am a relationally driven person. Having real students finally put flesh and blood purpose into my life again. It was an honor to teach (however badly I did) these eight students and to actually build real relationships. It is a shame that it was only to last a few days. Austin seemed to be a deep man along with Calvin, whom was a graphic designer from TsingHua University. April, a fellow communications major dreaming to make it big in the world of journalism and her best friend Gia, a champion swimmer. They shared wonderful stories about how they did everything together, including busting their chins and getting stitches. Harry, a real laid back guy, interested in the dances I did in college. Freda, rather girlish with the flailing of arms and hopping up and down to show her nervousness but real sweet in the way she tried to learn. Sarah was a real cutie, loved anime, and was the daughter of the hotel owner. She'd occasionally drop the Japanese phrase here or there. Ring was pretty quiet, seeking to be with her own friends often. Ellen and Diana dipped out early, maybe because they were the older ones and felt the curriculum being taught was beneath them. It's true though, the lessons was under their level and we spent some time trying to adjust and make it more challenging. These are just a scratch to each of their personalities. It is too bad a scratch is all I will get. I hope to keep in touch. They will always be remembered as my first students.

What else about teaching? I am pretty nervous most of the time. I work off the energy of the room and when I know people are tired I lose it. Most of the time lesson plans were scribbled all over my notebook and hard to glance down and follow. Organization is key. Often I didn’t make clear the purposes I had in mind for each activity and ended up losing the plot. Somehow I’d try and tie things back to the main point, but it felt pretty forced. I can’t spell or do grammar to save my life, this will prove my biggest loss of face in the classroom. I talk too much, not giving enough student talk to take place. My instructions unclear. I can’t hear my students right leaving me feel crippled and just as embarrassed as the student speaking up. Time management is another huge problem, most of the time I can’t get through everything I’ve planned. They say it is better to have more than less though. There just feels like too much stuff to keep track of.

I’ve got a lot to learn.. .

So here I am in Wuhu teaching full 2 hour classes with 45-65 student classrooms.. . yikes.

posted by Unknown @ 2:36 PM