Watching the National Day parade in Beijing on TV, I couldn't help but notice how the anchors kept mentioning the groundbreaking new advances in "information-technology" on each piece of military equipment. This seemed a bit odd at first, but then it hit me--it's to block the enemy's Twitter. Utterly devastating. I think the idea would be funnier if it wasn't so true. Have you noticed how many American politicians are tweeting these days? The military can't be far behind.
Teaching has been an adjustment this semester. Though I've managed to plan things better and achieve a respectable degree of standardization in my lessons, their are new problems here at JTUT. My Oral English classes are bigger here than in Jiaxing. I now have about 30 names to memorize. I've started using naming themes an mnemonics--for instance one class is made up entirely of Tolkien characters--but it only helps a little. Also, having over 30 students demands new techniques for keeping order and the use of Chinese to a minimum.
As usual there are 2 or 3 students that dominate each class discussion, mostly due to their higher confidence and language-ability (each of these traits greatly benefits the other). I try to use star-students like Sunny and Radagast the Brown to encourage the rest of the class without intimidating them. However, it's become clear that some student's are way behind the rest, which creates a conundrum which I am sure many teachers have faced: how do you create a learning environment for every type of student without shortchanging some?
Handwritten notes and postcards
4 years ago
Radagast the Brown, eh? Who's Gollum? Pics pls? Kthx.
ReplyDeleteI taught a small, adorable Sunny who had excellent English. I wonder if it's the same one. Her English name was well chosen - always smiling! I miss them.
ReplyDeleteI understand that some students don't want to speak English in class because when we were having oral English classes, some of my classmates don't do well in class. Usually the teacher would push us to form a group and discuss one topic. Then each of us must speak in front of everyone to give his/her opinion. Or we would give some performances which were quite funny each time.
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