Today was the first day of teaching in the Anhui teaching camp. I was the second one to teach and it was a very interesting experience. After the lessons, the group took a break from the classroom and went hiking at JingTing Mountain. When we were done with the hike, we came back to the classroom to continue lessons and plan for the STEM project.
Teaching a lesson was a very unique experience and was different from what I have done before. I had volunteered as a TA for three summers, however it was still challenging in some ways. Before the lesson, it was very stressful and I was nervous, however I enjoyed it at the end. It was fun and I think it was pretty rewarding. During the lesson, I encountered a few difficulties. Beforehand, we did not know the levels of the students. From what I saw, all the students have learned at least a little about my topic (Pronouns and Subject-Verb Agreement) and found it pretty easy. The high school/ college students seemed to know a lot about it and are already very comfortable with my topics, however the middle school students seem to struggle more. I think it was a little difficult to teach with this gap. The students also did not like to raise their hands or volunteer to answer questions. This could of been because they were bored or did not understand what was going on. There was also a lot less time given then I thought, as I did not get to let them do the worksheet and I had to skip over some parts of the lesson.
After the lessons, we ate lunch and went to the JingTing Mountain. It was very tiring to hike up the mountain, and the heat made it worse. There were a lot of bamboos and statues, which a lot of people took pictures of. I did not try to climb to the top of the mountain because I was too tired and dehydrated to go on. When everyone was done, we were all drenched in swear and exhausted. After hiking, some of us went into a temple and prayed. We then walked around the temple and probably made the gods mad because of all the noise we were making. As we were leaving the site, it was already starting to storm.
Before going into the classroom, we stayed outside and watched the storm. We mostly pointed and gazed at the lighting, which was very pretty and cool. The huge lighting bolts flashed across the sky and I was very surprised as I have never seen lighting like this. When the electricity in the classroom was working again, we all went in to start the lessons again. Two of the Chinese students taught us about the culture of the internet in China. Afterwards, we got into our STEM projects groups and decided on the topic of the project.
Sometimes you may surprisely learn that the second language leaner knows the grammar better than the native language speaker.
There is a wonderful experience and a nice description of the experience. Even though I was far away from the event, but I was like that I sat among the students and listenedto your teaching.
I am so impressed that you are such an experienced teacher to teach individually based on the knowledge of individual students. I believe all levels' students would have benefited from your thoughtful teaching.
I, alone with you, prey that God live peacefully in this beautiful bamboo forest （so beautiful picture you took）!
Wonderful teaching! Wonderful writing, Jennifer!
I am so excited to read this post. Great post! It shows your teaching experience, fun activities, team project, learning Chinese culture. Valuable experience. Be safe.