Teaching!

I've finished my first full week of teaching now. I technically started last week but the postgrads and PhDs didn't start until this week. Overall I have to say that I really like my students and I felt very comfortable in the role of a teacher. But it definitely made me miss Chicago, the kids I worked with there, and working with kids in general. This teaching experience will be decidedly different than the one I had last year.

On Mondays and Tuesdays I teach Sophomore Oral English. I meet with each section just once a week. I have two sections each day and each section has 36-38 students. Three out of four of the sections had an American teacher last year and I can definitely tell the difference between them and the one section that has never had a foreign teacher. Those that have experience with an American teacher speak much more and are more willing to answer questions and slip up and switch to Chinese much less. Still all the sections are very excited to have me as their teacher and they all are very diligent students. They are all English majors and some of them want to be English teachers, some were pushed into the major by their parents or their entrance exam scores. There are two text books for the class, one on speech and debate and one entitled "Encounters with Westerners". They aren't the best but will definitely provide some good jumping off points for discussions.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I teach Listening and Speaking for PhDs. They are not English majors but rather have to take this English course in order to get a doctoral degree from the university. Needless to say, I've heard that the roster has 18 students (I don't actually have any of the rosters for my classes yet) but only 10-12 people show up. Their English abilities vary greatly but they are all extremely brilliant people getting doctoral degrees in things like non-linear math and Marxism. The book for that class is very troublesome. Half of it is just scripts that I am supposed to read and the other half is mainly a fill in the blank style workbook for the students. All of the scripts are taken from actual news reports or interviews which sound like an interesting idea but for students just learning English hearing me read Bill Clinton's radio address on prostate cancer might not be the most helpful. Another American teacher who has been here for 4 years is teaching them in the Reading and Writing course and we have been trying to collaborate/commiserate on what to do. Still, the students are very nice people and try their best to make conversation with me when we see each other in passing.

On Fridays I have two sections of Listening and Speaking for postgrads. Each section is 42 students and they are also not English majors that I will see once a week. It was really fun getting to know them because they are all my age and they reciprocate my humor in ways that the other students do not. The textbook for that class has a CD with listening exercises on it and is similar to the PhD textbook but much, much better. Another teacher from Skidmore is also teaching them Reading and Writing so they are doubly excited to have 2 American teachers who are the same age as them.

The schedule feels pretty light, but that's what my contract is for! I will also be holding office hours in the foreign teachers' communal office in the Department of Foreign Languages building and I will be holding Free Talk sessions at my apartment where students can drop in during a designated time to just hang out and practice speaking English. But having a less hectic work week than in America is really helpful as my apartment is always clean. And the extra time to revel in the fact that it is MY apartment will never get old. Also in China I tend to buy food for a meal or two, cook it, and then go out to the market again so it's nice to have the flexibility in my schedule to do that. I also plan to go for more bike rides and set up some Chinese lesson and of course write lesson plans!