Friday 26 December 2008

Marks are done

Well, the semester is over. All I can say is that being here now has a remarkably “short timer” feel to it. I have been doing this for two and a half years and I have gotten a lot of experience. Not only in living in China; but also the professional experience I came here for. Very simply, I am comfortable, and competent, standing in front of a classroom.

Unlike when I arrived (and I was reviewing some of my first writings from China this morning) when I stand in front of the class I am prepared (because I have prepared) and I know it. The students have commented on my level of preparation, it shows. It shows in both confidence but also in an ability to change plans quickly. I develop several modules and if one fails to engage a particular student, while interesting others, the next one will will work with that student (while I do not develop modules with particular students in mind, I do develop them with the various learning styles in mind).

The finals went well and, again, relied on several different learning styles. There were sections involving quick research ( a crossword with the word list given; however, the word list was not related to the order in the puzzle leaving the students looking up words and then matching the definitions to the hints in the puzzle). One section in involved short answer questions with the option to answer the questions orally for more credits (after all, it is a oral English class). There was also a short speech given as a part of a group.

Very simply, it worked quite well. If course most of my students got good marks. The class was very “A” heavy, but there were still some lower grades. The lower grades were almost always easily correlated to poor class attendance.

It is interesting, I often wonder how much good these classes do for the students. However, I have had these same students for about a year and a half and I can have had the opportunity to speak informally with most of them during the school year. The students who have not come to class (and there are not may of those this year) on a regular basis have, simply, not shown the same level of improvement.

I still believe that informal conversation is one of the best teaching tools we have; however, to us that approach properly relies on the teacher being approachable. One of the things I have done in order to make myself approachable has been, simply, to eat my lunches in the cafeteria.

The Grinch

I felt like a total Grinch in Christmas. I have told most of the students that I am not returning; but some didn't get the word. As it happened, Christmas was the last day of classes, before I started my exams, for many of the students in my classes (regular exams started the next week). On that day I made sure that they understood that I would not be their teacher next term by stating it clearly. As stated, many students were expecting it, they were still saddened to hear it explicitly stated.

It was class six that made me feel like such a caitiff. They, as a class, had made me a card for Christmas, which the had all signed. A group of very pretty girls (of course, there all beautiful) had given it to me at the beginning of class (I do not know if I ever mentioned it, they prefer “Girls.” “Woman” implies that someone is married, or if applied to an unmarried woman... is improper)

Then (not directly, at the beginning of the second half of class) I gave them the news that I was not returning, like I had done in my other classes. They started crying. All I can say is that I felt terrible. It seems that, for them, this had been unexpected. What thing to do to them on Christmas.