First Day of Class
Yesterday I taught my first class ever. I teach two one and a half hour classes about American culture with a fifteen minute break in the middle. Overall it was a very interesting experience and gave me an introduction to the academic world that I had never known.
It's amazing how much a teacher can tell about the students from standing up in front of them. Being a student for all of my academic career, there have been times when I have thought that the teacher has not caught me sleeping or day dreaming but I now see I was wrong. Within fifteen minutes of the start of class I could immediately tell who the good students were and who didn't care at all. I can also understand that it is pretty offensive for a student to sit there and check their cell phone during class. Also, I wanted to kick out the kid who was sleeping while I was talking.
I lectured for 40 minutes about dating in America and then for thirty minutes the students had to come up with examples of different kinds of dates to go on. For the last fifteen minutes each group of 4 to 5 had to present what they discussed. There were 8 groups so I found out how hard it can be to get through assignments because there were some students who wanted to talk the entire fifteen minutes about their own personal experience. I hated to do this but I had to cut them off and move on.
I found that dating was a subject that most of the students were shy and reserved on, preferring not to talk about it. As I stated at one point in class, it was like pulling teeth to get them to talk.
Overall, it was a great experience and an educational one on my behalf. I am looking forward to planning my lessons for next weeks topic, "money and managing finances in America."
On a side note: I went to dinner to a restaurant that served a hot pot and it came with big bones in the middle of the pot. They gave us a plastic glove and a straw. I then noticed from looking at the other table that you were suppose to stick your straw into the bone and suck all of the marrow out with the straw. I politely declined to do this and just ate the other vegetables and meat in the hot pot.
and another one... I woke up today to torrential down pours, the type that only Forest Gump could describe.
Yesterday I taught my first class ever. I teach two one and a half hour classes about American culture with a fifteen minute break in the middle. Overall it was a very interesting experience and gave me an introduction to the academic world that I had never known.
It's amazing how much a teacher can tell about the students from standing up in front of them. Being a student for all of my academic career, there have been times when I have thought that the teacher has not caught me sleeping or day dreaming but I now see I was wrong. Within fifteen minutes of the start of class I could immediately tell who the good students were and who didn't care at all. I can also understand that it is pretty offensive for a student to sit there and check their cell phone during class. Also, I wanted to kick out the kid who was sleeping while I was talking.
I lectured for 40 minutes about dating in America and then for thirty minutes the students had to come up with examples of different kinds of dates to go on. For the last fifteen minutes each group of 4 to 5 had to present what they discussed. There were 8 groups so I found out how hard it can be to get through assignments because there were some students who wanted to talk the entire fifteen minutes about their own personal experience. I hated to do this but I had to cut them off and move on.
I found that dating was a subject that most of the students were shy and reserved on, preferring not to talk about it. As I stated at one point in class, it was like pulling teeth to get them to talk.
Overall, it was a great experience and an educational one on my behalf. I am looking forward to planning my lessons for next weeks topic, "money and managing finances in America."
On a side note: I went to dinner to a restaurant that served a hot pot and it came with big bones in the middle of the pot. They gave us a plastic glove and a straw. I then noticed from looking at the other table that you were suppose to stick your straw into the bone and suck all of the marrow out with the straw. I politely declined to do this and just ate the other vegetables and meat in the hot pot.
and another one... I woke up today to torrential down pours, the type that only Forest Gump could describe.
posted by Johnston King at 12:02 PM
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