Tempest7: Blogger

Again At Hong Kong U

Today I must say was a good day at work. I guess this happens when you start off, I was told by Ada that she had similar emotions like this when she first started. I had 2 new students, Natalie and Chloe, they were 2 very shy students. I was warned that they probably won't say much but actually because I needed to cover a class for Rosalind I had them for 3 hours. They seem to enjoy me as a teacher and I managed to get them out of their shell. It helps that the class is small, I have one other boy in the class and he is very well behaved so it really is an easy class. I don't know why but I really like the name Chloe. I think it is because of the animation "Noir" I saw a while back which featured a lead character Chloe. The girls are cousins actually so they are really tight and because they are shy they tend to be well behaved. In the afternoon I taught my first writing class, which turned out quite well. I was expecting a class but I only had 1 student, a new student name Kerry. Kerry is a bright girl and that always makes me happy. I guess it is a little unfair but I just love teaching bright children, I can push at them and test their limits. It takes a lot of paitence to deal with children and maybe as an ENTJ or even as an ENTP that can be a bit difficult for me. I don't tend to show it outwards but if you understand the personality types it is really draining. Teaching writting is as hard as I thought it might be. Our own school gave us so much experience with it, and I actually remember one of my English teachers to be really good, which is surprising since I barely remember anyone from that time period.

But, back to the insitute of higher learning, I had a lot of energy left after work so I gave Ada a call who had class that night. I don't mind her classes, infact I find them interesting since I can just listen and I don't need to worry about assignments, etc. The instructor today was suppose to be a Chinese prof who likes to start off in English but eventually has to fall back on his Chinese to teach the class. I heard stories that he started his class of teaching them what "媽媽" and "爸爸" were in English ("mother","father", etc). The class was basically a case study on a learning disabled child that was not spotted early. He apparently likes to play videos and has a PBS video on a boy from Boston who of course has a learning disability with English and he wasn't spotted until he was in grade 5. It followed his life as he struggled with it and environment around him. Actually it is pretty sad, the parents really do love and care for him. They had a feeling that he had a problem but because the teachers did not agree they really did nothing until it was too late. It makes me think as an educator how important this role is. Probably half of your child's early childhood is spent with these people. I learn a lot through the children and the parents that come in and out of reader-ship. Growing up in Sarnia I never saw the motivation or drive associated with famous schools, but in Hong Kong I can clearly see the difference sometimes. The schools, and specifically the educators mean everything. Even for those with a learning disability if given the properly attention they can over come a lot of that handicap. I was a bit playful today so I was faking a Chinese English accent in class. For some strange reason the prof really liked asking me questions, I managed to guess the initial ones right but afterwards he was in a full Chinese mode and I really got lost. I am amazed that these students can take classes in pure English even though it isn't their native language. But I suppose it really helps them to improve. I wonder what would happen if our French teachers were all native speaking French teachers. There probably should have been some sort of guideline that would suggest that they communicate to us totally in French and I'm sure it would have stuck better then. Well Ada's classmates seem to like me so they want me to show up again next time! Its the last class which is too bad, I think they just want help reading their assignment.

We parted ways afterwards, I've been avoiding making a situtation between Ada's boyfriend and myself who I think is uncomfortable with me being around Ada so often. I don't have much of an option though I need good friends and she lives so close to me. She works even closer actually so it really is convient for us to meet up. I have learned a lot from her so far so I owe the majority of my Chinese acomplishments to her.

posted by Tempest7 @ 11:00