Wednesday noon

It is between classes again and I have about another hour and a half before the next one starts. Let me explain. my first class starts at 8:30 and goes to 11:40. There should be a twenty minute break in the middle but none of the students get up. They do not want to take the rest so I keep right on. The second class begins at 2:30 and ends at 5:40. The same thing is true for the afternoon break. I have designed the programs so they are both the same. I was afraid that it would get boring doing the same stuff all over again but because the students are all different and their reactions are different, I am often led down a different path. But I try to get back to the lesson so that I finish the same material for both.

The rule of the class is that no Chinese is spoken inside the four walls of the room. However, I do take the privilege of the teacher to say, AN JING (pronounces ahn jin) and it means Be Quiet.The students all laugh when I say it just as my old Russian students laughed when I said, TEE KHA which also means Quiet. (or at least I hope so in both languages. Who knows? With my pronunciation, it could mean something else.) I then welcome them all in English and ask them about their evening (or morning) and make trivial conversation. It is all about getting them to speak English. (American English!) I plan to start each class as I did today and yesterday, with an Articulation lession. Yesterday was L and R, Today was P and F. They mispronounce many words and I will correct them if the error they make is important to correct. For example, if they say STAH instead of Stop or LITTA insteat of little, I make them repeat it correctly.

Then we broke into groups of 5 (25 students) and they discussed among themselves their homework that involved American Idioms. I walked around the room, joined each group, answered questions and encouraged them to keep the conversation going. I must say that no one seems to need encouragement. All of the students are highly motivated and eager to learn and contribute. They have filled out Self-evaluation forms and almost everyone said that they have a strong desire to learn English, talk to foreigners, learn about American culture and improve their ability to have a discussion in English. After the group discussion, they retook their original seats and each student stood up and explained the three idioms that they were assigned. Almost all of them found out the meanings from Google by typing in "what means horse of a different color." or the like. Google is remarkable. However, even with a full Google explanation, their understanding of the explanation often needed further explanation. That is where I help and demonstrate the use of the idiom by giving them an example of how it is used. This is when the actor in me comes out the the students like that very much. We finished about 1/2 of the assigned idioms when I had to stop it and move on. We will finish tomorrow. Everyone will get a chance to speak to the whole class.

Instead of a break, I taught them "Row, Row, Row your boat" and we all sang it together. Then I called up one student to help lead the song with one half of the class and we sang it in a two part round. Then I broke the class into four groups and we sang in four part. It was a little noisy but fun. Still with time, I taught themn the Hokey Pokey and they loved it. I will have to look for more of that kind of activity.

I continued the class by breaking them into groups again, (but different people is each group this time) to discuss the American money that they researched. And we finished by having each pair of students explain the money they investigated. Unfortunately, they do TOO MUCH work and we ran out of time before we got to the bills. We did the Jefferson nickle, the FDR dime, the JFK half dollar, the Sacagewea dollar coin with one student explaing what is on the front and what is on the back. They are extremely thorough and love the chance to practice speaking. Even I am learning. I never knew that Sacagewea is holding her baby and the baby's name is Baptiste. One is never too old to learn!!!!

I ate with Harry, my TA, and really enjoyed my lunch. My lunch, his lunch, another ice cream(of course) and a water cost about 1 and a half dollars. That is about 11 Yuan. That is my expense for the day. Considering I got half my stipend of 3000 Yuan last evening, I had better get active and spend more money!!!!

Shelley is joining me for this afternoon's class and we are going out for an expensive dinner tonight with some other teachers, to the Ramada Inn. I think that I may have to spend about 50 Yuan tonght, (about $7.00) but I could be wrong. I will try to remember to report what we ate and what it cost.

Mitch and Robyn, thanks for the notes. It is nice to see that someone is reading this nonsense but nevertheless, I am enjoying writing it. This is an exhilerating experience and is only the third day of the teaching experience.

My love to all and if you get a minute, please post a comment on my blog.