A Small Chinese Village

Good morning,

We are going to spend the first part of this lesson evaluating this written language class, my teaching and your learning, and in doing so, I hope we can clarify some misunderstandings and improve our communication so that the rest of the term will run smoothly, as demonstrated by you having improved your writing in accord with the outcome-based teaching and learning for this course. This mid-term evaluation will consist of a reintroduction of your teacher, an individual questionnaire to complete, as well as group discussion during which time we can suggest significant improvements for my teaching and your learning.

First of all, I am a very passionate, straight-forward person who cuts to the heart of the matter instead of skirting around an issue. You know I have been very forthcoming and enthusiastic about my opinions, about what I consider right, and what I consider wrong; and I’ve asked you, too, to share in this openness, by answering challenging questions during class, and by providing valuable feedback at the end of the lesson when I ask you, “How was the class? What can be improved?” Indeed, I ask you these questions because I expect direct answers, as I shall always provide direct answers when you ask me a question. This is how I communicate.

Furthermore, we share different learning backgrounds, which enables us to share valuable cultural and pedagogical insight when we are in class. I am without a doubt an American who is a product of a Western education; please keep in mind that I am not a Hong Kong person who has studied overseas. However, I have worked in secondary schools in Hong Kong for five years, having not only taught local students but learnt the Cantonese language to help facilitate my understanding of your unique culture. It is these insights that I share readily and prolifically with you in class, in the hope that by making you more aware of how your previous learning has affected your current learning, you can become a more effective learner in the future. Never have I said that Chinese students are worse than Western students; nor have I said, in absolute terms, that Chinese teaching and learning is worse than Western teaching and learning. I have said, though, that learning English using a Chinese style is going to help you less than using a Western approach to this Western language. If you have ever considered my words to be a slight to your race, I’m sorry, because I am not trying to offend you. In fact, I am trying to inspire you, to challenge you to set higher learning expectations for yourself by trying something different.

To encourage you more, I certainly have used Chinese learning methodology when learning to speak, to read and to write Cantonese. It has been the most effective way to learn your first language!

There are two more points, related to the workings of our class, that I want to discuss: my teaching style; and homework.

Anyone who observes this class doubtless knows that not only are we learning about English, but we are also learning about our learning cultures. As we read in the unit two passage, “Any Questions?”, although we look alike and share the same room, our expectations regarding what actually transpires in the room can be, at times, quite divergent. I mentioned before that I enjoy asking you questions, leading questions to be exact, in order to promote your critical thinking, to lead you to the answer rather than to feed it to you directly; and we all know that sometimes there is dead silence in the room. Consequently, I’m working diligently to improve this incongruity, not by feeding you answers, as that would be against the ELC’s teaching and learning policies, but by getting your groups to discuss these questions first and then appointing a group representative to report on the topic. This new collaborative, model, I think, will help us to generate more ideas, and make you more confident of them. And certainly I will be sitting in your groups to listen more than to lead.

Finally, I would like to quickly clarify my homework expectations and my purpose for assigning homework, as perhaps there has been much misunderstanding in our class about this topic. The homework is extra practice, and not assessment. It exists solely for your benefit, and you can choose to do it, or you don’t have to do it – I really don’t mind; you are busy adults, I know, and have many important things to do in 24 hours – definitely do not spend more than an hour on my homework! Sometimes we edit each other’s assignments in class, which I find sufficient in providing you with general feedback; yet I will consciously attempt in the future to lecture directly from a student’s assignment, so that I can conveniently provide my specific comments to the entire class. To reiterate, please, if you do the homework, do it for yourself and not for me – I can advise individually if you ask.

I hope that these words will soothe your heart and resonate in your mind. I care about your learning and making the most out of the time that we have together. If you have any feedback, please let me know so we can work something out together. He who is seeking to improve his teaching, as much as you strive to improve your learning, is,

Your Loyal and Faithful Servant,

David Woo.

Tags: evaluation, introduction, UE: Written Language

Trackback URI | Comments RSS