My Engaged Life at Tombaugh
How time flies! Two months have passed since my arrival at my host school community. Fortunately, I've already been accustomed to my schedule here.
Monday through Thursday, I give seven lessons each day, 25 minutes per lesson, so that all the students of grades 3rd to 5th, 14 classes in total, have two Chinese lessons every week. Since I'm a volunteer teacher at Tombaugh Elementary, all the classroom teachers have to observe and supervise my every lesson. Anyway, it's a good thing for me, because whenever I encounter a problem, either in communication with the kids or in classroom management, I can turn to classroom teachers for help.
So far, I get along well with all the 14 classroom teachers and their sub-teachers, and I take turns talking to them about how my plans are going, the kids engaged and new problems surfaced. Besides, the differences between American and Chinese culture are a standing topic which is always interesting.
Students here are rather like their counterparts in my hometown: obedient and respectful to teachers, shy when trying new Chinese words and curious about everything strange. I did encounter situations when several kids were not respectful, but those were not blank walls in front of me at all, I just thought they were kind of like tests to challenge my wisdom and teaching wit. I believe wherever there's a problem, there must be NO-LESS-THAN-ONE way.
Now, I'm pleased to hear more and more students greeting me in Chinese outside classrooms, I'm delighted when a child opens the door for my floating to another classroom with my cart, I'm even more excited when a classroom teacher suggests me how to teach a Chinese vowel which is much difficult for American kids to pronounce (thanks to her Chinese learning experience).
Before I came to America, I had imagined all kinds of difficulties which would depress me. And now only two months passed when I have become an active member at Tombaugh Elementary. Aren't I lucky!
"Yesterday is history
Tomorrow is a mystery
But today is a gift
That is why it's called the present"
So, why not enjoy the present?
RESPONSIBILITY
On his first school day to kindergarten, Gaige, one of my host family children, was told to go back and take his schoolbag on his own, when he had excitedly climbed into the van. His mother said to him seriously,'Sweetie,this is your responsibility, not mama's.'
In one of my Chinese lessons, when a boy kept silent while other students were practicing new language, his classroom teacher called his attention, saying,'You should know it's your responsibility to do more practice as Mr Zhu required."
In his national address to America's schoolchildren, President Obama said, 'Every single one of you has something that you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is.'
In the United States, I've met so many people who are taking their responsibilities, by taking actions, not merely talking.
My Game Time
Tonight I joined a volleyball game between my host school and Sunrise Elementary. There should be 13 teachers at my school signed up for the game, though in fact only six of them went to the gym, the main reason probably lies that it's too late to start the game at 8 pm. So we had 6 Vs 11 from our rival school.
Most of the time we didn't play well and missed many many balls, but no one complained about it. The most frequent words should be 'good try', which really encouraged us to take over the serves.
Although we lost the game finally, all of the teachers there enjoyed lots of fun. After all, we cared more for process than result.
I learned what I\'ve taught!
Last Saturday evening, I went to watch an American football game with colleagues at Sunland Park--New Mexico State University stadium. To tell the truth, the game didn't interest me much, but one thing happened during the game really excited me a lot.
It was about ten minutes after the game began, when a little girl came to me and smiled. She spoke to me very slowly,but unhurriedly, in Chinese, 'ni hao, wo shi Katy'.
Until she had finished her self-introduction, I recognized she's one of my students at Tombaugh Elementary. Then I saw her parents waving at me, obviously they're proud of their daughter, cause she's taken only two 25-minute Chinese lessons. I immediately praised her good Chinese pronunciation and she 'xiexie' ed me and said 'zaijian' to me, which made me feel sense of achievement.
During the first teaching week, I taught the students how to say hello and goodbye in Chinese, also how to introduce themselves politely in Chinese. I succeeded in adopting a newly-made song and a social presentation to practice new language focus, thus interested my 296 students to a considerable extent.
After all, last week was history, and tomorrow I will continue my magic Chinese with happiness.
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