Day 8 - 3rd Day of Teaching

Day 8 - 3rd Day of Teaching

Baoding, China
No. 17 Middle School

Thursday, July 10

So I tried something new with the students today. First thing this morning I lined the students up outside of the classroom door. I did a brief, 1-2 minute, interview with them each, individually as they came inside. We shook hands, I asked them "How are you?", "What did you do last night?", "What did you have for dinner?" and any appropriate follow up questions that results from the information they gave me about their lives outsides of school. I really enjoyed the individual time with each of them. Most importantly, I got a really good assessment of each student's speaking ability. Much like in my math classroom, I used this information to decide how to group and pair students, as well as to know which students I should focus more attention on during the course of this summer camp.

You would not believe how impressive their speaking ability is, even the worst of them. Not to say that it's perfect, because its far from it. But I'm constantly in awe of their ability to communicate so effectively in a second language. So few Americans can do the same. I know that I can't. I can have a very basic conversation, in the present tense only, in Spanish. It's kind of embarrassing. We Americans need to take our foreign language studies more seriously. The rest of the world is showing us up.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my "morning interviews":

Yesterday we did a money lesson, where I showed and gave the students US coins and we talked about the value of each. We counted coins and did conversions into Chinese currency, known as either RMB or Yuan. Today, one of my students brought me one of each Chinese coin. He put them in a little bag and brought them to me during one of our breaks. I was so touched. His thoughtfulness was really impressive, and honestly, it was one of the best gifts ever. Of course, I wanted some Chinese coins to bring home - and he set me up with what I needed. No need to search and hoard coins every time I make a purchase. During one of the breaks several students sat with me and explained each coins value and it's name. I taught them and they taught me - what fun!

Later in the day I broke out the conversation dice I bought at the teacher supply store in Columbia. It's a set of 6 large foam dice with conversation starter questions. They are designed for ESOL classrooms and ice breaker activities. I put the students in groups and asked each student to take a turn with the dice. He or she rolled and then asked her person in his group the question - and they answered in a complete sentence. Then the next person took a turn. After a few minutes the groups traded dice with another group and started again (each di had a different set of questions). As the groups talked, I walked around and listened to conversations. I stopped and took a turn with a group to assess how it was going. I answered questions about myself. I answered questions about vocabulary and unknown words. The students enjoyed it. They learn english out of a textbook and very rarely get to play games or have real conversations. They love the change of pace. With that said - what they are doing is working. It may be boring and probably wouldn't be allowed in most US schools, the students are learning. They enjoyed the break from the norm, though. I was happy to provide it :)

me with the class

me talking to a small group of precious girls. Sarah is facing the camera, and we see Yuki from behind 

My class and amazing assistant teacher, Mrs. Deng.

Yuki and me.

Me doing my teaching thing :)

One of the most important things about this teaching experience to me was to provide the students with meaningful, enriching, learning experiences that are fun, engaging, and memorable. But I also wanted to show my students some western food and culture. These are the things that students enjoy. So, today I did a lesson on descriptive words and opposites using Fruit Roll-Ups as my motivator.

I gave each student a fruit roll-up. Before I allowed them to open it we studied it's package. We looked at unknown words, colors, pictures, and even the nutrition facts. MANY students were shocked that the fruit roll-up didn't have any protein. This made me laugh. Why on earth would they think that candy has protein? Does Chinese candy have protein in it? Why do middle schoolers even care about protein content of food? (we all know American middle schoolers don't.) We made a list of descriptive words. We then opened the fruit roll-ups. Students tasted a small piece and listed descriptive words. THEN,  I showed them the tongue tattoo. I walked from group to group, placing a small piece of fruit roll-up with a picture on my tongue for a few seconds, then showing them the "tattoo". You would have thought I made someone disappear; they were so impressed! They had fun doing this themselves for awhile. 

After a few minutes,we wrapped up the tasting session. What stood out to me most about this lesson was that about 5 students chose not to eat theirs. I thought perhaps they were picky eaters and were nervous to try new foods. (I can relate as I am so scared to try new foods. especially foreign ones.) However, when I asked about it, they all explained that they wanted to take it home to share with their parents and grandparents. None of them have siblings. They participated in the observation part of the lesson, but not the tasting. I was so impressed with their thoughtfulness and kindness towards their families. I can't imagine US students doing the same thing -they'd eat it right up without a second thought. 

At the end of the lesson we took our list of describing words and listed the opposites - looking them up as necessary.

After lunch we ( my fellow teachers and I) taught the students foursquare and then let them play other outdoor games:

After outside time, we did a song study of Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" and then worked on our performance of Pharrell's "Happy". 

Here are a few pics taken around the school (by Mark). Everyone was taking pictures of the sky today because they NEVER see blue sky. Because of the big pollution problem in China, they mostly see foggy smoggy sky. After about a week and a half I was starting to feeling like I was living in a bubble, or "under the dome". This beautiful blue sky was such a welcomed surprise. They told us it had literally been months seen they'd last seen a blue sky. It's weird to imagine. I'll never take it  for granted again :)