Never, never give up.

I have a part time job in Jordan’s Language School in Tamshui. I have been an English teacher there for about one month, and I have noticed that one of my girls in the class, Rita, sometimes glances at peers’ answer when we have exams or exercises in class, and she doesn’t seem to like English. And another junior high boy, Harry, is always late for our class because he wants to stay at school to play basketball with his friends. I am not particularly angry at Rita for cheating in the exam and at Harry for his being late, because I think it is understandable that kids who went to a cram school might not to be really interested in learning English (it’s possible that their parents forced them to join an extra class after school). However, I still want to make some efforts to help these two kids to feel interested or a little bit happier in learning. Hence, I made two phone calls to their parents respectively last Wednesday to try to understand these kids’ learning situation, and I felt so sad after I talked to those parents.

Both of them (Rita and Harry’s moms) told me that they are too busy to pay attention to their kids. To be angry with kids’ grades will be harmful to their health. The tone they talked was so desperate and indifferent, like they have already given up their children. “No. Never, never give up.” I said to them. And this is the only thing I could say to them because I was so angry at that time.

I can not image this! If the attitude of the parents was so negative, how could we ask their children to be positive! Now, it’s only language learning, but after, it’s their life. Are they going to lead their life without any enthusiasm? Are they going to look at the world dispiritedly? I am worried.

I haven’t come up with a perfect idea to solve this problem, but I am trying. For kids, I think I will set a good example with my own conduct, for instance, to show students that learning can be fun and meaningful. But how? I have to think about it and plan it carefully. Besides, communication with parents would be necessary, too. I know I am not good at talking to parents, therefore, I need more time to convince them that their children can be good and confident if parents can approve their children and help children to build up confidence.
Anyway, no one should give up things that they even have not tried. Do your best, then you feel no qualm upon yourselves, no matter for students, parents, or teachers.

Teacher-centered to Learner-centered

From teacher’s perspective, the teacher may have to spend more time on the teaching and learning process because he or she has to help students to figure out what they want to learn by themselves. Hence, we can see that making your classroom learner-centered doesn’t mean that the teacher does less work or preparation for their class. Instead, how to involve students to participate in their own learning will be a complex and challenging task.
In other hand, I think students who used to be in a teacher-centered classroom may step back if the teacher suddenly ask them to speak up and take control over their own learning. Therefore, to cultivate students’ sense of responsibility and courage to speak out their ideas are also important.

Reflection on my presentation

Although I have had several experiences of presenting a lesson during the last two years, I still felt a little bit nervous on stage this time. After all, I was presenting a lesson in front of a group of experts. Once this thought pumped in my mind, I found myself speeded up the teaching procedure unconsciously, and hence, missed lots of important steps in the teaching process.
For example, sometimes I presented the flash cards with the spelling of the vocabulary, but sometimes not. This might confuse students. The better way to do it is to invite students to spell the vocabulary while I presented the flash cards.
As for the conversation practice, actually I should try to motivate students to volunteer to do the role-playing with me instead of picking up some particular students to provide the answer. I guess I couldn’t stand that if I ask students to volunteer but no one was willing to take a risk, so I just singled out some students by name. And it would be better if we read the conversation out loud together after we finished the role-playing exercise.
Finally, I think the game could be more interesting if we could design more challenging questions for students and gave a clearer instruction on how to play the game.

What kind of teacher do you want to be? And why?

I want to be a studious teacher so I can always teach new stuff and introduce not only one particular language but also the amazing world to my students. I want to be a teacher who can always use humor to attract students' attention, and more importantly, to turn the textbooks into an interesting window of knowledge. I want to be a teacher who enjoys life and has a positive attitude towards learning, because I believe that a teacher's way of living has a great impact on students. I deem that any kind of learning should be pleasant, meaningful, and free from anxiety, and that's why I want to be such a teacher.