Literature Class with Form 2

Today in my form 2 class we started our new class reader, Rehema the Housegirl.  Here in Tanzania, there is a set of class readers, both in English and in Swahili, that students read for the literature part of English and Kiswahili classes.  The ones for form one and two are quite short and written about Tanzanian characters.  

We will read the book together in class, one or two chapters a day (there are nine chapters).  Usually I read the chapter aloud first, and then have students reread it aloud with each person reading one paragraph.  On their national exams, they will have to write essay questions discussing one of the books we have read, so they need to know at least one or two of them really, really well.  

This book is about an 18-year-old from a small village with a poor family and a father that drinks who goes off to the big city of Dar es Salaam to work as a house girl and send money back to her family.  A house girl is a young woman who lives with a family and helps with any type of household work--cooking, laundry, cleaning, childcare, anything of the sort.  Some are treated as a member of the family and called dada (sister) and in fact often are young cousins or nieces of the husband or wife who needs somewhere to go between leaving school and being ready to start a family of their own, but some are treated poorly, expected to work long hours for little pay. This is pretty common in this society.  Many people ask why I don't have at least a part-time housegirl to do my housework, since they assume a foreigner can afford it.  (I could; you can get someone here in Monduli for about five dollars a day, but as I'm only one person and not especially messy, I don't see the need.  It's easier to sweep my own floors than to be home at certain times and set up a schedule with someone).  

In the story, the mother of the family Rehema works for treats her poorly, often withholding pay and blaming her for any little thing that goes wrong.  The father of the family, however, has a thing for young girls, and when she is feeling very alone and unloved in the big city and also dealing with her friend dying of AIDS, he says nice things to her and brings her gifts.  Long story short, his wife throws her out of the house when she gets pregnant.  But the gardener, a kind old man, sees her crying and gives her some advice--he has a niece who works in a place that helps girls like her.  The niece, Mary, helps her to sue the man for child support, which isn't often given without a fight around here.  Her mother thinks her life is over when she has a child out of wedlock and so young and uneducated, but she is inspired to fight for a better life and goes back to school, becomes an interior designer who eventually owns her own business, and volunteers with the program to help other young girls like she had been.

It's a lot to unpack for a bunch of (mostly) fourteen-ish year olds, but it reflects the reality of life for many girls, and there's plenty to have opinions about and learn lessons from.    This is my first year teaching literature (the last couple of years Oscar and I have split classes with me teaching grammar and him teaching literature, but this year I'm doing everything for form 1 and 2 and he's doing everything for form 3 and 4), and I'm really enjoying it so far.  

 

Studying the Eastern Hemisphere

Since May, I've been meeting three or four times a week with the Shorts' younger two daughters to help out with their homeschooling.  I am teaching them history and geography; they have a curriculum from Sonlight that I really like the format of.  We're doing the Eastern Hemisphere curriculum. 

I really like this study because it goes fairly in-depth in the history and culture of countries that American schools don't usually spend much time on.  I remember doing a lot of American history in school, and world history usually seemed to be more just history of Western civilization.  Admittedly, it's been a while since I was in school, but I don't remember doing more than glancing at anything outside the US other than Egypt, Greece and Rome.  I also really like the study because I've been to some of the countries we're discussing, so I can share my experiences, and I'm learning a lot, too, as we study the ones I haven't been to or spent little time in.  

Each unit involves labelling a detailed map, doing a history timeline, discussing cultural items such as religion, art, music and current political structure.  We also have pages to fill out about famous sights in each country. We started with China in May, and then their Aunt Alethea took over while she was visiting in the month of June finishing up China and talking about Taiwan, and Tammy did part of the India unit with them while on a trip to Dodoma. In July we've covered the Koreas and Japan.  We're finishing up Japan now; the photo is from an activity page for Japan.  The girls each made a dictionary of Japanese words and decorated the front with a symbol of Japan--Deborah chose Mt. Fuji and Rebecca chose cherry blossoms.   

Next up: Russia! 

Working Hard

My coworker, Oscar, came over to hang out in the library with me while grading papers.  However, I don't think he's getting too much work done over there... Maybe he shouldn't have gotten quite that comfortable.  :) 

Happy Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 

Students here in Tanzania are not allowed to date while still in secondary school, so we don't do much as a school to celebrate a holiday about romance, but the students remember anyhow.

I have been wished a happy Valentine's by many of my students today, and a couple have even brought me flowers they've picked somewhere or other on campus (I hope the idea doesn't spread too much, or the bushes will look quite sad; we don't have that many flowering things about.) :)  This only-slightly-squashed pink hibiscus my form 1 (first year) student Shadhili brought me is brightening up the library quite nicely.  Shyrose (another first-year student) brought me a little red flower, but I didn't get a photo of it. 

Both Shadhili and Shyrose are going to be part of my 'student family'.  At our recent teacher in-service, the visiting trainers from Mwenge University suggested that boarding schools have "families" with small groups of students, each assigned to one teacher.  The idea is somewhat like Hogwarts houses, if you're familiar with Harry Potter, except we'll have twelve of them with twelve-thirteen students in each.  Since there are twelve, Lewis wants to name them after the twelve tribes of Israel (sigh).  We just organized the groups this week, and we haven't done any activities yet, so we'll see how it goes.  I think we might break up evening devo one night a week into our small groups, but we're still thinking of other ideas.  The point is that with the small family groups each teacher will get to know these few students well and pay attention to how they are doing so that no one gets lost in the shuffle either academically or emotionally. Also, each student will theoretically have one teacher they are close to that they can go to when they have any problems.  I hope that I can use this to encourage these students and be a positive influence for them! 

Exercise Time with Mr. Julius

I was taking a break from studying Swahili with Beth, Twyla, and our very patient Tanzanian friend Elipendo in the dining hall after class when I stepped out on the porch and saw my preform students running around the football (soccer) field.  One of the other teachers, Julius, decided they needed some exercise. They were laughing and having a good time as they ran three laps and then did ‘helicopter arms’. He then had them play several active games like Red Rover (anybody remember that one?).  

Julius leading the way.

Julius is one of my favorite teachers here, and the students love him.  He’s been building a model helicopter out of cardboard, a lot of tape, and other bits and pieces with the preform students, which they have proudly showed off to me whenever I’ve had class with them right after him.  Most teachers tend toward lecture-style teaching and have the students spend a lot of time copying pages of notes off the board, so I’m glad to see such a hands-on lesson that really involves the kids who learn experientially rather than just visually.  And when taking them out for some physical activity, he didn't just stand on the side and order them; he was running first, leading the pack.

Radhia saw me watching and waved as they passed by.

Unfortunately, Julius’s last day with the school will be October 31st.  He is a scientist who works for a research project near Mt Kilimanjaro, and he’s been splitting his time doing that four days and week and coming over (nearly a three-hour drive one way) three days a week to teach math and computer skills for us.   So, he’s been working seven days a week, and he feels that his work is slipping in quality, so it’s time to get back on a more reasonable schedule so he can focus. I can’t blame him for that, but we’ll miss him here at the school.

Week 8…

Well, as soon as I finish this week's classes, the semester will be half over (well, my semester. There's another week of classes that I am not scheduled for, and then exams...) It seems like I and everyone else over the age of twenty-five say it so often it's a cliche, but my, time is flying.  Every semester goes faster than the last. 

This week in my writing classes we started expository essays.  It really is nice teaching the same class for the second year; I did all the hard work last year and now I just have to adapt and edit the lessons.  I also like that I get the opportunity to make my lessons better, with the knowledge of what last year's students did and didn't get and what they found interesting. 

After a short introduction to expository writing, I brought up that there are several types of expository writing, and that we would take a closer look at some of them.  First up: cause and effect. 

Since I have a few hours between my two classes on Tuesdays, I usually stay in the classroom building and get some work done, away from some of the usual distractions at home. It's also much more efficient to plan out next week's lesson while this week's is fresh in my mind.  I am the opposite of ADD; I prefer to spend all day on one thing rather than split it up. 

Today, before I settled down to work in an empty classroom as I usually do, I went over to the Foreign Language Department building to visit the copy room to print some materials for later classes.  On my way back, I walked the long way around, along the Rapeseed fields.  The blooming season is already coming to an end; only a few straggling speckles of yellow are left of the solid sea of shocking...yellow...that made even the sun seem dull for the past few weeks.  I feel like I ought to use another word other than just yellow, but none of the alternatives--lemon, banana, gold--really fits; rapeseed could be the definition of yellow.  

Game Night with Class 1203

Although I often do still play perennially popular Uno during my game nights with students, I try to get that over with as quickly as possible (boy, does that game get old after a while!) and move on to more-interesting-to-me games,   One of my favorites recently has been dominoes. When I first started doing game nights my first semester at HZAU, I stuck with simpler-to-explain games like Uno and Spoons, and while those are still fun, I've found that it's not as challenging as I thought it would be to explain more complicated games.  Many Chinese people play card games, and enjoy learning new ones.

Here a couple of photos of Nathan and some rather blurry girls from class 1203 playing both Spoons (my downstairs neighbors really love it when everyone starts squealing and jumping around over that one...) and dominoes. I already knew Nathan  was a bright student from his work in class, but he really has a talent for games, too, as he beat us all mercilessly in both games.

I don't understand...

I don't understand...

Alright, time for my usual beginning-of-a-new-term mind boggle over the English names students choose.  The most interesting of my sophomore classes:  Milk (a guy), Fish (a girl), a boy named June, Dorvai (a guy...I asked where he found it and he said he made it up himself.), Water, and Aqua.  

Oooh! Shiny!

So, at the end of last semester, one of the classrooms in the language labs that I 

used for three of my freshman oral English classes was dismantled a couple of weeks 

before the end of the term in preparation for the move to the new classroom building 

that was scheduled to be opened for the spring term.  Why in the name of sense they 

couldn't wait another week until classes finished beats me, but there you go. Anyhow, 

the class monitors were put in charge of finding alternate places to meet 

(Sigh...freshmen monitors...it got interesting sometimes.) Anyhow, one of them 

somehow managed to get permission for us to meet in the new building in second-to-

last week of the term.  It wasn't even officially opened yet, although nearly 

everything was in place.  As it turns out, ours turned out to be the first class held 

in the new building.  During the middle, a workman came in sheepishly to add another 

piece of glass to one of the desks.

Anyhow, this semester, most of the English major classes are in the new building.  

The downside is that it's the furthest possible teaching building from my house, so I 

need to be sure to leave the house ten minutes earlier than I have before to give 

myself time to get down there.  But it's super convenient for the students--it's the 

closest to the dorms, and right across from the cafeteria.  The upside is that it's 

brand-new and super modern.  

I'm excited that in my new classrooms, the students have chairs and little tables, 

that can be moved and don't involve crawling over anyone to get in and out.  Much 

better than the long rows of fold-down seats in the older buildings. We can clear 

space of skits, or push desks together for group work.  Another exciting thing is 

that all the classrooms have heat--it's always been a normal part of life in China to 

freeze through classes in drafty buildings, but as new buildings are built heaters 

are becoming more and more common.  I guess with the rising affluence of China it's 

become more feasible to have the luxury of heat, and as conditions rise this 

generation begins to see things like heat as more of a necessity than it was before.  

So, things are getting more comfortable, although I don't think the dorms are heated 

yet.  However, it's not doing me much good so far today as I'm not sure where the 

office is in this building to get the remote to turn the heat on.  Even without it 

isn't on, though, I think the classroom was a bit warmer than in the other buildings, since 

it's new and not yet drafty.  I should have sent one of the students to get it, but I 

didn't think of it until they were gone.  I will in my afternoon class.  

The other fun thing about the new building is the technology.  As I was telling my 

students this morning, every year I'm in China my classrooms get better and better.  

My first year back in Jingzhou I had a large chalkboard and usually chalk.  Here in 

Wuhan, I have at least always had powerpoint.  But this...this is cool.  The screen 

is not just a pull-down white projector screen--it's a huge touch-screen.  I can 

operate the computer from the screen if I want, and there are buttons up the sides to 

bring up a keyboard, a highlighter, drawing and writing tools, etc.  There're even 

buttons to make audio recordings and a camera, but I haven't figured out how those 

work yet.  But with the writing tools and all, I can just use my finger to draw on 

top of my powerpoints, underline things, highlight things, etc.  All I have to do is 

tap the screen to go to the next slide, instead of running back over the the computer 

terminal to use the mouse.  The students got several laughs out of me, though, as 

it's very sensitive and, as this was my first time using it, I kept accidentally 

rifling through the slides when I was just trying to point something out.  I kept 

doing things I didn't mean to do.  After they left, I played with it a while, so I 

should be able to get through the next lessons without so many accidents.   

I love my new classrooms. :)

Working on a Snowy Day

Well, back home in Tennessee, I probably could have rolled over in my nice warm bed (why is it that a bed is never quite so exquisitely comfortable as it is between snoozes when you have to get up early? When I'm sleeping in the sheets get sideways and my back hurts.).  I woke up to, as predicted, about an inch of snow--although even as I left the house the snow was mixing with rain as the temperature is about 34, although it's not supposed to warm up much during the day.  The snow wasn't really sticking to the roads and even on the sidewalks it was already turned to slush, but it was pretty on the trees and rooftops and cars.  Anyhow, instead of a snow day (unfortunately, no need when you're walking to work anyways), I scurried off through the slushy drizzle for my first day back teaching. 

This semester's schedule is crazy as always, although crazy in a good way. Sometimes I can't believe they pay me to do this job...here it is: 

Tuesday:  Sophomore Writing, 2 classes. 8:00 and 2:00

Thursday: Masters Students Oral English. 4 classes, but each only meets every other week, so they alternate.  Two classes on the even weeks, and the other two on the odd weeks. 8:00 and 10:00.  

And that's it.  The Masters Oral English is extremely easy, as this is my third semester teaching that and I can use lessons I've already prepared and know well.  Also, since I only see each class every other week, one lesson lasts two weeks.  

The writing is a bit more work, but it's the same course I taught last spring so I 

don't have to completely reinvent the wheel, although I do hope to improve on my 

lessons from last year as I'm getting another chance at it.  Of course, with writing, 

there will be quite a bit of out-of-class grading and reading of essays to do, but I 

had three classes last year and only two this year so even that won't be quite as 

terrible.  Also, since my classes are at 8:00 and 2:00 on that day, I will probably 

continue the habit I started last semester of just staying in the classroom building 

for the hours in between and using the time for grading and lesson planning.  The 

other teachers think I'm a bit nutty to hang out in the teaching building that long, 

but it works well for me as it's easier for me to focus on work if I am actually at 

work.  At home there are too many distractions; I get a lot more done sitting in a 

classroom. 

I had expected to continue teaching the freshman oral English I was doing last 

semester; I'm a bit sad not to see those students any more as I was finally getting 

to know them all.  I really enjoyed my freshmen, and teaching oral English--so much easier and more fun that writing!  But, I do have a lot fewer classes this way--two writing classes in exchange for eight oral classes.  My coteacher from last term had told me we would definitely be working together again, and we had already split up the curriculum and all.  However, the students had told me that their schedule for this semester listed Michael as their teacher, not me.  (How in the world do they have schedules in December for the next term, and I don't get mine until Saturday before classes start on Monday???  And I'm the one who has to prepare??? Ah, China.) 

Turns out that, as I should have learned already, always listen to the students, not 

the other teachers.  I know that sounds counter-intuitive...the teachers should get 

information first, then pass it on to the students.  But it's been proven over and 

over that the higher-ups who make decisions don't tell my Chinese coteachers things much in advance, either, but somehow the students find things out.  So far, anytime a coteacher and a student have told me conflicting information about scheduling or holidays or what have you, the student has been right.  Ah, China.  

Overall, though, I can't complain about a job in which I work two days a week. Here's to a new semester, on a snowy day. 

Writing, Week 1

The spring semester officially began on February 25th, and I was thrown into it immediately, as I have an 8:00 am class on Mondays.  (That ought to be illegal.)  I have another right after at 10:00, but by then both I and they are waking up.  

Two of my writing classes are the same as last semester, so we just picked up right where we left off.  With 1105, the class that was Micah's last semester, I did take about twenty minutes at the beginning of class to do introductions and let them know who I was a bit.  I find that, while it seems a bit narcissistic and not actually accomplishing any teaching goals, telling them about myself is helpful in the long run.  Many of the students feel a bit intimidated by foreign teachers, or they lack the confidence to speak out much.  If they feel like they know me, that I want to be friends with them, they are a lot more comfortable speaking in class and less hesitant to ask questions.  Turns out, the students in 1105 are pretty comfortable anyhow, introductions or no.  

There was, of course, one first-week kerfluffle (fun word!); my schedule had an error: it said that my 10:00 students would be coming to the same classroom as my 8:00 class, but theirs had them in a classroom two floors down and two doors over.  I was excited to meet my new class, had everything set up and ready to go.  And no one came in...well, maybe their first class is far away.  Two minutes to the bell.  Something's not right...the bell rings and I haven't seen anyone except one startled-looking upperclassman ducking his head in to see if the classroom was empty to be used for a study hall, then retreating quickly when he saw me.  I texted my Chinese colleage, Anna.  Fortunately, she didn't have a class right then, and she rushed to the computer to check the schedules and quickly got it sorted out.  So, I gathered up all my teaching paraphernelia and scuttled downstairs.  And there they were, sitting expectantly in A203, as their schedules said.  Anyhow, we just lost five minutes, and teacher and students were reunited at last.  

Last semester, we did a lot of exercises with the mechanics of writing: diction, sentences, paragraphs of every sort you can imagine and probably a few you can't.  This semester, the focus is essays.  We had a staff meeting the Friday before (before classes started Monday--they don't do planning ahead real well around here) and worked out the basic syllabus.  First, the writing process, then a short overview of descriptive and narrative essays, and then most of the semester split between expository (explaining) essays and argumentative/persuasive essays, as the last two are more useful for future classes and tests they will have.  

So, week 1: thesis sentences.  I know it seems basic for a college-level class, but the writing style in Chinese is, apparently, vastly different, and so they way we English-speakers are used to organizing our thoughts is something that takes a bit more practice for my students.  The thesis sentence is the most important sentence in the essay; if I can get them to get this right, the organization of the rest of the essay will be easy.  So, over and over, I emphasize--your thesis sentence should tell me the topic, the purpose/position you are taking, and give me an idea as to the organization of your essay (list of reasons/details that will become the body paragraphs).  Formulaic, I know, but clarity and good organization are much bigger goals right now than originality.  

Me: 1 Students: 1

April Fool's Update:  I intended to play some sort of joke on my students, but they beat me to it!  I showed up for my 8:00 class and...an empty classroom.  It's Monday, right? I know this is the right classroom; I even checked the schedule by the door.  Did someone forget to pass on the message that class was canceled for some reason?  I'm going to be mad...I got up at the crack of dawn (Okay, 7, but I am not a morning person) for this and slogged all the way over here for nothing...I tried calling two students in the class, but they aren't answering their phones...  

And then Sharon poked her head around the back door to the classroom. They'd all been hanging out in an empty classroom down the hall waiting to April Fool's me. They all trooped in and we got started with only the normal technical difficulties. :)

My second class, however, didn't think of doing anything.  I couldn't resist..after I called role, I announce a pop quiz, get out a sheet of paper, etc...their looks of horror and panic for about thirty seconds were priceless.  Then they realized I was struggling to keep a straight face, and we never have quizzes, and we all had a good laugh.  That's part of the fun of teaching in another culture--"the oldest trick in the book" is new again.  

So, one for me, one for the students...actually, I think they win; class 1103 got me much better than I got class 1105!  

Second 1105 Party

Well, another Friday night, another party!  A few students had to cancel at the last minute, so I had a small group, just three girls.  Different from the usual craziness of seven or eight, but it was nice, because I felt like I really got to talk with everybody.  Not enough people for a shy person to hide.  

The girls and I snacked--we had good popcorn for once, as I bought some Act II buttered microwave popcorn from Metro, and added salt.  We also had the usual, chips ahoy and oreos--well, half the oreos were my usual, double chocolate, but the other half were the strawberry creme ones, just to try.  My advice: stick with the chocolate.  The girls brought some typical Chinese snack food--duck meat, liver, seaweed strips, tofu, and lotus root, all marinated in a really spicy sauce.  I ate several pieces of the lotus root and a bit of the liver. One of the girls, Jennifer, is from a coastal region of China (Shandong Province) where the food isn't spicy, so she and I were both fanning our mouths and grabbing the orange juice bottle for refills.  

Micah joined the party just a bit late, as I was teaching Uno, as has become my custom.  He was really excited about the liver; he loves that stuff.  The students were gratified to see a foreigner enjoying their contribution so much.  

It didn't take near as long to teach and play a game of Uno with just three students, and then they wanted to learn another game.  So, we moved to the dining room for Spoons, which they didn't get as excited about as most groups.  Mom had sent me a dominoes set for Christmas , and here it is March and I still hadn't had the opportunity to use them. I wasn't sure if Mexican train would work with as many people as we usually have, but with this group it was perfect.  

The girls caught on quickly to the concept of dominoes, and we had a good game.  We played double-twelves down to double-eights, but then it was getting late so Micah called the game at that point (while he was winning, of course).   I hope I can get another group to play dominoes with again soon!  

Before the left, I got a picture with the students, as usual:  left to right, Cherry, Rebecca, and Jennifer.  

English Parties are Back Again!

The semester is in full swing now--and I am back to hosting English parties with my students.  I was thinking, before I got my schedule for the semester, that I should have three returning classes (who I had over last fall), and probably just one new class, so just three parties for this semester!  Plus maybe one for a student club that I've gotten involved with a bit (SIFE).  

Micah and I were talking the other day that there are two things you should never say in China, and yet we do all the time:  "Surely not!" and "You would think..."  

So, first of all, for some scheduling reasons (although I'm not sure what, because as far as I can see, the classes do not conflict with either their or our schedules), they swapped one of my writing classes for Micah's writing class.  He already knew my students (1106) because he has had them for oral English, but I hadn't had his (1105) class before.  I had met a few of them when I dropped in on some of his gatherings last semester.  So, there's one new class.  Then, I have two oral English classes to replace the Mythology class I taught last semester (which I enjoyed, but is only a fall class).  

So...three classes of students to have over, and the oral English classes are bigger, about thirty students instead of twenty-one or twenty-two.  Sooo...probably eleven or twelve parties, just like last semester.  So much for my Friday nights...but I enjoy getting to know my students, and we usually have a good time.  I shouldn't complain, it's actually a step up from my ordinary Friday nights, which are usually spent on Pinterest. :)  

The first group of the semester was a group of girls from 1105, plus a guy somebody brought along.  In the picture, they are, from left to right, Vera, Carol, Anne, Paula, Aries (we did have a conversation about the fact that this is the male god of war, and not particularly a nice god, either, but she isn't too concerned, really), Kissy (sigh...), Isabelle, and the guy, whose name I can't remember at the moment.  Jesse?  Jay, maybe?  

We ate snacks, talked, and then I taught them to play Uno.  Most of my students really enjoy it, and it's a game that even beginners can do well at.  For example, I lost the first game, even though I was teaching it.  When playing games here, they all have the idea that the loser should be "punished" in some way--usually along the lines of "the loser should sing a song!" or "the loser has to do the Gangnam style dance!"  Anyways, I lost, but while I was dithering about what in the world I was supposed to sing, Micah broke out in Johnny Cash's "Walk the Line", so I hummed along to a couple of lines and said that counted.  

Spring Semester Schedule

Well, after a nearly two-month break, it's just about time to get back to work.  Classes begin again on Monday, February 25.  And of course, I get to start immediately--Monday morning at 8:00.  My favorite.  (Can you hear the sarcasm?)  I'm just not a morning person...

But, I really have a fantastic work schedule; very few jobs have the kind of flexibility this one does.  I may have to work at 8:00 am, but I just have to do it two days a week.  You'd think I'd appreciate that more after getting up at 5:30 to be at work at 7:15 five days a week for nearly a year (2011).  

Anyhow, I am continuing to teach writing, as it's a full-year course.  However, for some reason they swapped on of my classes with Micah's from last semester, so I will have some different students there, although I met some of them at activities he hosted.  We both taught the same lessons last year, so they are at the same point, so it shouldn't be a problem.  I'm looking forward to seeing all my students from last semester again.

I taught Greek and Roman Mythology last semester, but that course is only offered in the fall. So, I have to find something else to fill my time, and that turns out to be two oral English classes for graduate students.  Most likely these students will be non-English majors getting masters in other subjects; their English probably won't be quite as good, or at least not any better, than my sophomores, since they will likely not have focused on English before.  It should be interesting; I don't get the chance to teach Oral English often.  Anna (our Chinese co-teacher, who helps us out with these things) said that there is no book and no final exam for that course; I just have to give the students one over-all grade, and I can do whatever I like with them, preferably teaching them about American culture as they practice English.  

So, we should be able to do some fun activities.  We can talk about St. Patrick's Day, and April Fool's Day, and Easter--I especially enjoy Easter, as there are so many fun projects to do (I have Easter Egg dye!), as well as teaching about the more important meaning many celebrate on Easter Sunday.  I have pdf files of menus from several American restaurants, so we can do a role-play of ordering at a restaurant and discuss restaurant etiquette, which is quite different from here.  I'm trying not to get too carried away planning until I see what their ability level is.  

Anyhow, my schedule:  Monday, two writing classes, back to back in the same classroom, with one at 8:00 an d one at 10:00.  Thursday, the third writing class at 8:00, then the two oral English classes, one at 10:00 and the other after lunch at 2:00.  A couple of times, the Thursday morning writing class will be rescheduled on Tuesday afternoon.  

The only really annoying thing about the schedule is that on Thursday, my 8:00 class in in building 3 (last in a row of five large classroom buildings), on the fifth floor, and then I have fifteen minutes before my 10:00 class to go down those five flights, five buildings over to Building 1, and up the the fourth floor.  There's my cardio workout for that day... 

Week 15: Definition Paragraphs

And finally...drum roll please...the last paragraph lesson!  This final type of paragraph organization is definition.  I thought this one might be a bit boring, but, as it turns out, I found some quite good material online to supplement what the book taught; I think this is the most thorough and well-thought-out explanation of the concepts that I've done yet.  Which means, it probably was boring.  But anyways...

I won't bore you with all the details of the lesson.  The main gist is to practice writing paragraph that explain the meaning of something: a concept, a holiday, a ceremony, a type of person, an occupation or role.  Objects usually end up just being a description.

Anyhow, the fun part of class was, as usual, after the main lesson.  I made a rather weak tie-in: "I am defining the meaning of a holiday: Thanksgiving."  Really, it was more of just a description...

The students, having already studied English for about eight years now, have of course already heard of Thanksgiving and know the basic idea, so I didn't repeat the whole Pilgrim and Indian story; they heard it last year.  I focused more on what we do on the actual day.  I showed them pictures from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; they were really impressed with the humongous balloons. I also showed them how to trace your hand and make a turkey drawing, which they thought was cute.

Food is always a popular point of discussion; Thanksgiving food especially so, because they don't eat turkey here.  None of my students have ever seen or tasted a turkey.  Also, food here (since you're going to have to eat it with chopsticks) comes to the table already cut into bite-sized pieces. I think the photo I've gotten the biggest reaction out of both in Jingzhou and here is the photo of the whole roasted turkey on the table from Thanksgiving 2009.

I also explained the wishbone tradition, which they thought was just a bit gross, really--pulling on a slimy bone. Probably, I haven't done it myself in years.

Then, of course, it's always good to try to focus minds on the important things in life.  I taught them the phrase "count your blessings,"  and gave them a few minutes to think of things they were thankful for, then I had them take turns telling the things they are thankful for.  You do have to specify that you can't just say "I'm thankful for my family and friends," but intead should be specific.  What about your friend are you thankful for? What does your mother do that makes you thankful for her?  They did really well, though; my students in Jingzhou needed prodding to say more than two or three words, but my students here I more often have to try to cut off; they'll talk and talk.  One students did try to butter me up by saying he was thankful for me and for the English parties I've been organizing.

And one last picture for you...Thanksgiving 2001.  Is 2001 really eleven years ago already?

Anyways, happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Classification in Week 14

Only two more ways to organize paragraphs left, including this one!  I never realized how many someone could come up with.  However, I do agree with with those who put the curriculum together that it is good for the students to get this practice.  As you would expect of students writing in a second language they're not totally comfortable yet, their writing tends to be formulaic and vague; hopefully, looking at different ways to organize their thoughts will help them to write more specifically and clearly.  The vagueness was so bad in their last assignment, though, that I think I need to work specifically on that again at some point.

Anyhow, the 14th (out of 16) lesson of the semester was on organization by classification.  Basically, writing about things in categories. I really liked the examples in the book for this one (the examples, to me, seem to be hit or miss; some don't seem to be very clear illustrations, but this week's were): one example began "There are three kinds of book owners. The first..." Another began "Every educated person has at least two ways of speaking hsi mother tongue. The first..."

I began class with the boring lecture part, reiterating the ideas from the book and going over the vocabulary; I had a little bit of nerdy fan by using the four Hogwarts houses as my first example.  I used another example I found online about the sections at the local video store; it was a bit of an ode to a bygone era--it's hard to find a video store now that everyone uses netflix or gets movies online.

To wake everyone up after the lecture, I had them all get up and move into groups; I wrote paragraphs about the groups of students in the classroom as they organized themselves by birth month, home province, and favorite color.  They always enjoy any opportunity to goof around a bit.

Finally, I gave them a simple personality test to fill out; it was the one that divides people into four groups: lions, otters, golden retrievers, and beavers.  The version I used gave personality traits of each in the categories of relational strengths, strengths out of balance (weaknesses), communication style, relational needs, and relational balance (what to do to overcome the weaknesses).  Just to give you an idea, the first part, relational strengths, for each were:

Lion: takes charge, problem solver; competitive, enjoys change, confrontational
Otter: Optimistic, energetic, motivators, future oriented
Golden Retriever: warm and relational, loyal, enjoy routine, peace-maker, sensitive feelings
Beaver: Accurate and precise, quality control, discering, analytical

It turned out to be a good activity for vocabulary; there were several of the adjectives in the questionaire that they were unfamiliar with, so I spent a while explaining terms; once they had finished, I took a poll of how many we had of each type; we had about five lions (including three of the boys), quite a few otters, a good number of golden retrievers (predictably, many of the sweeter girls), and one beaver.  Blare was looking around bemusedly; was she the only one? Of course, she might not have been; when I tallied up the answers there were about three people who never answered.

Their journal assignment, which I gave them the last ten minutes or so of class to start on, was to discuss whether they agreed or not with the results of the personality test; which traits were accurate? which were not?  Of course, I reminded them that a test with only four types was overly simplistic; many would fall somewhere between the types.   Finally, what is the value of having different personality types? How do they work together?

Hopefully, reading this assignment, I'll be able to get to know my students better! Oh, by the way--I took to quiz myself while the students were working on their journals (I don't know why it didn't occur to me to do that ahead of time), and it turns out I'm a  beaver.  Not surprising, really, and now at least Blare isn't alone.

Two More "Weddings"

Today, I did the week 13 lesson with my other two classes--including acting out the wedding.  Again, no one wanted to volunteer to be the bride or groom (although in my last class, all the girls were staring pointedly at one particular girl, and those close by were elbowing her--she must have a thing for some boy in the class), but I think it's all the funnier when it's random.

Here's some pictures from classes 1103 and 1104:

The Week 13 Wedding

For weeks, we've been practicing writing different kinds of paragraphs in my writing class.  Which frankly, gets a bit boring now and then--so, I like to have an activity that gets students participating now and then.

This week's topic according to the syllabus (well, actually, not according to the syllabus--I swapped a couple of weeks around so that this lesson wouldn't fall the week of Halloween) is Comparison/Contrast.  Certainly a useful type of paragraph...

I decided that we would compare/contrast something fun.  How about American weddings vs. Chinese weddings? So, it's wedding week in writing!  The students are usually really curious about American culture and customs, and nothing gets them talking like romance--students here don't date in high school, so when they get to college the dating scene is new and bewildering.  I sent out a facebook message a few days ago asking if I could borrow anyone's wedding pictures for examples--thanks to everyone who responded!

I rushed through the boring part of the lesson from the textbook, and then showed a power point discussing various wedding customs (clothing, the ceremony, cake, bouquet/garter, throwing stuff as they leave, etc.) illustrated with scenes from the beautiful weddings of several friends.

Then came the really entertaining part--I made them act out a wedding ceremony in class.  I had printed up detailed scripts for them to look at (and keep, to use for their assigment later). I wrote all the parts on little slips of paper and had them draw--if anyone wanted to volunteer for the major parts they could (no one so far has volunteered), but I didn't want to waste ten minutes of class arguing over who had to do what.  By including the seating of the mothers and grandmothers, and a reading by the brother of the bride, I managed to come up with enough parts for everybody, with the guests being imaginary.

I took a lacy white scarf to stand for a veil, and candles and a lighter to act out a unity candle lighting (which of course, the center candle woudn't light--that's why I don't want that particular little part in my wedding if I ever get married; something always goes wrong.) I wished I had something to use as bouquets; I gave them balloons to hold but it didn't work very well, as they turned out to be water balloons and thus quite small.  Maybe I'll come up with something better before I teach the lesson again tomorrow.

I was the wedding director, of course.  I lined everyone up, and we went through the processional, and then the ceremony.  They all got the giggles during the "You may kiss the bride" part.  Of course the two students randomly picked didn't even consider it; in fact, I'm not sure they ever even let their eyes meet.

I think the students had fun; we'll see when I get their assignment back if they learned anything.  

Halloween in Class

The twelth class just happened to fall the week of Halloween--and we ESL teachers rarely miss the chance to work in some American culture by enthusiastically celebrating a holiday.  And isn't the power point background I found online cute?

The lesson itself was pretty straight-forward; writing about cause and effect.  The normal power point, vocabulary, lecture, examples, etc.  However, I rushed through the lesson.  "Anybodygotanyquestions?No?Okay,nextthing..." On to the fun part!

First, because I am an English professor, I introduced them to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven".  I love it.  "While I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore..."  I had to memorize the first stanza in the sixth grade, and I still remember bits of it.  However, the poem is extremely long, and the old-fashioned English way beyond their level.  So, while in general I don't find the Simpsons to be very academically helpful, they did the Raven in the first Treehouse of Horror episode years ago.  I think I remember watching it when I was in high school, even.  I hoped that by showing "The Raven" acted out as a story, at least my students would get the gist of it, even if they didn't get the full impact.  I did read the first stanza out loud to them, and even though they didn't know all the words, they could appreciate the alliteration and rhythm of the words.  Amazingly, however, I couldn't find the video on youtube; here's the link I used: The Simpsons' "The Raven."

When I lived in Jingzhou, I found an small but appropriate pumpking to carve, and took a jack-o-lantern to class.  Unfortunately, I didn't find one this year.  Still, I wore my fortune teller costume to class (although, still not locating anything to serve as a crystal ball, I mostly just looked unidentifiably weird). Although several of my students took pictures of me, somehow I never took one, so no pictures, sorry.

I showed a slide show of pictures; we talked about pumpkins and costumes; I tried to explain Trunk or Treat to them, but I don't think they quite got the point of that.  I also explained bobbing for apples, and at the end I played "Monster Mash" for them.

Finally, their journal for the week was a bit different: instead of something practicing the skills I'd just taught (like a responsible teacher would assign, and I normally do), I gave them this story starter, and told them to finish it:

One Halloween my friends and I were going trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Down the street from us was an old deserted house that everyone thought was haunted. My mother said, "Don't you dare go near that house!" Naturally, her warning made us even more curious. We went to the house and rang the bell. There was no answer. We tried the door. It was unlocked, so we entered the house. The door slammed behind us and...

I found it online somewhere; I don't remember where now; so, no copyright infringement intended...I'm really looking forward to reading their stories; they seemed more excited about this journal assignment that usual, too.  At least they shouldn't all be the same thing!  

Finally, one of my example pictures: my Halloween costume from 2006, at a party at the Bible School in Florence: