Memoir of the 1st Semester, 2009-2010
I’ve never thought of a semester to be so short, but it indeed seems to be shorter than ever. Wondering why, I really have got no answer, or maybe I’m getting to be more used to be a teacher and the working life here.
As usual, we have new challenges when a semester begins. The same is true to the past 150 days. This was the first time for to teach a large-scale class- 44 students together. So a great obstacle fell on me that I found it hard to cater to everyone’s needs in class. Inevitably, students couldn’t get so many chances to stand up and practice in one class, and sometimes silent students were easily neglected. That’s why I always reminded myself to be more conscious about those students and give them opportunities to speak. Besides, my partner- Fish also reminded me after class if I didn’t pay enough attention to those introverted kids. When designing the class activities, we always took very serious consideration on its practicality and efficiency. We tried our best to make every student join in class activities to practice and reinforce what they learned in class within each 40-min. period.
Students do have tremendous potentials-a lot of them may be far beyond our expectations. What we need is acute eyesight to see. Take an example of Victoria, a student from Class One, who had got the first prize in the ATTT imitation competition. Previously, she was not so confident of herself, and even didn’t have any plan to take part in the competition. I knew very well that she was qualified and had the talent. Then I encouraged her, more exactly, I forced her to join in the class tryout and she succeeded. Finally, she got excellent achievement not only in the competition, but also in her mind more significantly. She sent me a short message afterwards, which I think is a priceless bonus to me, telling that she was much more confident about herself and would never miss any chance in the future. And then I also found one more passionate English-learning girl in my class.
Another very important thing I’ve learned is that cooperation plays such a vital role in good work, especially when we adopt the so-called Two-Teacher-System this semester, which means two teachers in the classroom during each lecturing period. One teacher is supposed to lecture while the other walk around to maintain the discipline and answer questions raised. I was very lucky and grateful that I really got a smart and experienced partner-Fish. He offered me much unselfish help in preparing classes, making PowerPoint slides, and even solving technical computer emergencies. I also learned from him that I should slow down when speaking, try to give short and clear directions, and design tasks based on the different difficulty levels. These really meant a lot to me in teaching. “ Two heads are better than one”. Working in one’s own world never works. I still remember Miss Wu used to tell me seeking others’ help was also a kind of capability. Now I gradually get what its true meaning is. “ Virtue is its own reward.” Be cooperative and always try my best to help others whenever and wherever I can as reward to those who helps and trusts me.
A new semester is approaching, I know the new challenges are waiting for me and for all of us. Let’s have a Za_Za fighting.
