At the start of this past week (May 9th and 10th) was Parent’s Day for the grade 1’s at my school. It was interesting, but went well. So, this particular school that I am teaching at is at the beginning with their relationship with the company I work for. The school hosted a Parent’s Day so the parents could see not only what their students are learning, but to also observe English teachers teaching their children. We (Shelbi and I) were on display and so were the students. This class was supposed to represent a typical class, so I wasn’t going to plan on doing anything differently. Except our coordinator said we had to send her our lesson plan for this class a week in advance instead of the night before, so “necessary changes could be made”. Hmm okay so not a regular class. Instead, we had to teach a review lesson of past units so Parents could see what their children have learned. Fair enough. Except it had to be done a certain way and we had to do 2 practice classes with the material before the Parent’s Day. Now the class was rehearsed and the students are bored with the material.
Parent’s Day came and so
on top of all my students, I now had all their parents, other teachers, my
coordinator watching me, and a huge video camera recording the entire class. We
were not told about the video camera. I’m so use to last minute surprises that
I just have to sigh and move on. But now, reflecting back on it, I should’ve
told them no they can’t film my class because that was not originally discussed
with me. Next time.
The first class went
smoothly like it was rehearsed. The second class had a few bumps, but I
welcomed them because it was a clearer representation of a regular class,
although I felt a little embarrassed when things didn’t go as planned. One of
the parent’s chatted with me afterwards and said that it was a great class and
his daughter loves it. That made me happy. The parents also had to fill out
surveys to rate my teaching. What was interesting was some of the comments
about 2 of the activities that didn’t go perfectly were the activities my
coordinator insisted I do. Hmmm, I think that says something. After the class,
my coordinator talked to me about the activities and questioned why I did them
the way I did. Seriously? I literally did what you told me to do and now you’re
not taking responsibility for it. K. Rather you admit it or not, we both know
the reality of what happened. And that alone allows me to shrug it off. As T
swift says, just shake it off cause the haters are gunna hate. Regardless, at
the end of the day, I know my students are learning English, and them being
perfect at it isn’t what’s important (although I can understand them pretty
well). What’s important is that the students want to learn and try their best.
Side note. When
originally signing up to teach in China I was told that it would be all lower
levels (opps, a lot of us are also teaching high grades). We were told that we
were to play games and sing songs with them (opps, we have at least 2 books to
teach from for each grade, have to teach everything in the book, and have to
test grade 1 kids). So, for me, the end of the day success comes from the kids
simply trying to speak English. If I can help them become more comfortable with
the language and not be afraid to try, then I have reached my personal goal.
It’s great if they can, but I don’t want my students to tell me the difference
between the sentence structures we use or to tell me the grammar rules; I want
my students to say hi to me in English, I want to hear in English what their
favourite colour and favourite animal is, I want them to learn an English song
(they love “Oh Mr. Golden Sun”), and I want my students to feel comfortable
speaking English to me if they see me outside of school (some live in the same
complex area as me). I think those goals are way more important and useful to
my students at this moment in their life than grammar rules. Native English
speakers don’t even know the actual grammar rules.
Comments from Students
Over this past, busy,
stressful, and feeling under the weather week, I have two cute stories to
share.
Story 1 is about Jenny. I
was passing out the test papers for my grade 1’s and some kids moaned. However,
when I gave Jenny her test paper, she stood up and said “Thank you Ms. C, I
love you, I love English, it is my favourite class”. Then she sat down. It’s as
simple as that. She’s pretty good at English too. Also, because I was sick this
week, I told the class that I hope they can be quieter and listen even more so
I don’t have to shout to settle them down. Jenny every day this week since then
has asked me if I’m still ill and she asks how I’m feeling. It’s nice to know
that a grade 1 student can care so much and can show it. Bless her.
Story 2 is about Ashley.
Again, it’s nice to see kids at this age really care about people and the
littlest actions do help. It really shows that even though there are
differences between us in many ways, that we are all the same deep down and
have compassion for each other. Not only was Ashley on her best behaviour after
my Ms. C isn’t feeling well speech (and she has really been focused and
participating much more in class lately), she came up to the front of the classroom
and not only gave me a hug, but also gave me one of her Barbie kleenexes from a
pack that she clearly just opened for me. How sweet is that! She gave me a
kleenex and I was on the verge of tearing up. I’m starting to believe that kids
(with less sense and experience) care more for others than adults (who
supposedly have more sense and have had more life experiences) do. Bless her.
UPDATE:
(Written May 16th)
Cute story #3 that
happened today. I have Monday’s off, so today was my first day back to teaching
from my weekend. Sometimes students forget things over the weekend and I have
to reteach/refresh their memory come the start of the week. This is no big deal
and eventually they will remember. Well, I was surprised today. Not only did
the students remember the material, but one student remembered something else.
(Remember last week I wasn’t feeling well). One of my grade 1 students, Daniel,
ran up to me when he saw me today, gave me a hug, and asked if I was still sick
and if I was feeling better. He may not have used those exact words, but he did
more or less and also gestured to his throat, pointed at mine, and made a
sad/puzzled face. Bless him. For the record, I am feeling much better. Even if
I cough from time to time, my moral and energy has lifted thanks to my
students.
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