Today, I taught two Chinese classes in UTA to have my Chinese teaching recorded. One was the beginning level Chinese; the other was the intermediate level Chinese. Although it is not about English teaching, I think it is still relevent to second/foreign language teaching.
In my beginning level Chinese class, I asked students to practice telephone conversations because they just spent one whole month on Chinese telephone conversations. There were two activities; the first one was I assigned, for example, Kevin to call Glady to ask her to help him prepare his Chinese exam on next Mon. They did a good job. They used whatever they had learned to finish the task. Then, I continued assigning different pairs to accomplish different tasks through telephone conversations. Students seemed kind of nervous, but basically excited and enjoying the activities. The second part of the activity was : I pretended using my cell phone to call one of the students at one time. The one got called by me had to pick up his/her cell phone to talk to me. It was fun. Students enjoyed doing that.
As to the intermediate level Chinese class, the atmosphere in that class was very WEIRD. There were two to three Chinese native speakers sitting in the classroom without doing anything except for using their own laptop getting on internet. They looked so indifferent and RUDE. They looked at me as if I were an idiot or a clown something. For the rest of the class, whenever I asked them to repeat some sentences after me, only two to three students followed the direction. (There were 10 students in the class.) I stopped and talked to them. I said, "This is a class of ten, but I only hear three people repeating after me." Then, I heard them read louder. I don't know how to describe the atmosphere in the classroom. I wonder whether that was the atmosphere they have been used to or not (SO COLD!!) or that was just because they were not familiar with me (I am not their TA, but the TA of beginning level class). However, according to my teaching experiences, I think that is exactly the way they have been since 2008 Fall.
Since I was there just for recording my teaching demo, I should not get involved too much in their classroom management. However, I really did not feel comfortable about the classroom atmosphere. (I don't think students can learn a very difficult foreign language like Chinese well under such atmosphere.) That choked me to death!! Now, I realized how different the classroom atmosphere can be in terms of different instructors. Have anyone of you encountered any "COLD" or "FROZEN" classroom atmosphere? Any suggestion?
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There is a lack of motivation for those Chinese native students because their parents must have been pushing them to learn their "native" language from their childhood. Very common problem with foreign-born 2nd generations in picking up their parents' L1.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was teaching at a day-care center in Taiwan, I'd teach one class of 3-4 year old children who'd tell me that I was handsome...and that they loved me!
ReplyDeleteThen, I'd walk 10 steps to the class next door. The same aged children would tell me that I had a big nose...and that I looked like a witch!
That experience taught me an important lesson in life.
"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." --Bill Cosby
As you noted, there was nothing you could do as a one-day instructor. I could not tell from the blog whether the instructor was the same for each class. If so, I agree with the comments regarding the native speakers being pushed along with the fact that you weren't their "real" instructor. However, if the instructors were different the atmosphere may be a reflection of different instructional styles.
ReplyDeleteBasically, what I concerned was not about the native speakers at all. They don't want to and don't need to be there. They are there just to earn easy credits. (It is almost impossible for ESL classes to have English native speakers sitting there, right?) As long as they don't make any noise, it is OK with me. What I concerned was the atmosphere of the whole class.
ReplyDeleteAfter I reviewed my video recording, I found that basically the students' participation was not so bad as I thought. Because the video camera was at the back of the classroom, it collected the students' reponses which I didn't hear at all on the stage. Well, thank you guys for your opinions. It is really hard to get super popular as a one-day instructor, right?
Having students of mixed abilities is an inherent feature of group classes.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that we (as language teachers) are typically more soft-hearted than teachers of other disciplines?
Moreover, is this type of focus on our students necessary to be a truly effective language teacher?
Ruby,
ReplyDeleteWhen I taught in Japan I had class after class of apathetic kids. It was really depressing trying to instill the love of a language when many of them would chat, do other homework, etc. without repercussions. I hoped that US university classes would be different, but I guess not in your case.
Thinking about what Clint said, I think language teachers tend to be passionate about their subject, especially if that teacher has learned a second language in the past. We want our students to experience the joy we felt upon being able to communicate in another language. I think we have to focus on the students to be effective, and in some cases change our teaching methods to fit the students.
Finally, I guess in a class of many apathetic students, try to focus on those who really want to learn!