Lesson #1

I had some success with my sixth grade students this week.  Teaching here is not at all like teaching in the U.S., and it isn’t like what I had imagined, either.

Shenyang Experimental School is very big.  There are twelve sections of sixth grade, with about fifty students in each.  The students are assigned to a classroom with a base teacher who covers math and Chinese, and then the subject area teachers rotate into to the classrooms in thirty-five minute periods.  There are about six periods a day, with fifteen minute breaks in between classes, when, as far as I can tell, the students are mostly unattended in their base rooms and expected to do some sort of self-directed activity.  The school bell rings with many different melodies, each signaling something different.  Twice a day the students are to do eye exercises in between lessons.  During one break they are to clean the blackboard and the floors.  Thirty minutes are set aside every morning for the students to do exercises outside.  These exercises are lead by a P.E. teacher and look like military drills – lots of marching in formation.  Also, the students can sometimes go outside in between lessons.

This school is very urban, and from what I gather, has a student body that is quite diverse.  It reminds me in many ways of a public elementary school in the Bronx where I used to volunteer while I was in college.  The students seem tough and street-savvy.  They are noisy and naughty and silly.  They are very physical, and they often rough house, even though there are rules posted all over the hallways to discourage this.  The teachers here seem to tolerate a lot of shenanigans.  I was totally surprised by this.  I expected things to be crowded in the school, but I expected the students to be quiet and attentive.  This is just not so.  The first class that I observed was an English lesson.  Some of the students were completely attentive and eagerly raised their hands to participate, but many did not even have their books out to follow along, and several were talking, playing, and passing notes.  The teacher leading the lesson ignored the misbehavior and talked right over it.  She did not issue any warnings or consequences to the rude students and did not walk around the room to see what was going on.  I was shocked.

Going into my first lesson, I wondered about how to manage the misbehavior. I hate feeling run-over by my students, and I just can’t face four weeks of that sort of thing. The wise teacher who mentored me during my certification always said that a fun, challenging lesson plan is the best classroom discipline plan, and so I put together something I thought they would like and that would keep them busy.

In this lesson I wanted to give the students an opportunity to use spoken English.  They have very little opportunity to practice the vocabulary and grammar that they learn in their textbooks.  I also wanted them to have a chance to hear me speak.  Many of them have never heard an American speak.  And, I wanted to introduce myself, and my school.  Before I left for China, I made a beautiful PowerPoint presentation with all sorts of pictures of my school to show to my new colleagues.  I never meant to use it in class, but I thought the students would be impressed and intrigued by my gorgeous school at home.  I thought it could be a jumping off place for a conversation with them about the similarities and differences between our schools.  I even brought along a cute plush toy (my school’s mascot) to use as an incentive.

So, the melodic bell rang.  Although the clock had already started running on the period, the teachers were still shuffling into their rooms.  The bell is a reminder that one should go to the classroom, not that one should already be there. I pushed into my classroom to find my students talking, out of their seats, playing on the teacher’s computer, and drawing on the chalkboard.  This class had definitely not done their eye exercises in the fifteen minute break before the lesson, even though their base teacher was right there!  It took me a minute to set up the presentation and write on the board. I tried to explain to the base teacher that she could leave, but she didn’t understand, and all the children laughed at us.  I introduced myself by saying “Good morning, class!” and gestured for them to respond, which they did.  “Good morning, teacher!”  I taught them to say my name and asked them to say good morning to me again, using my name. So far, so good, I thought. I told them I was from Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States, and that I wanted them to know about my school.  I showed the slides and narrated what they were seeing in each picture.  There was lots of talking, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t on topic talking, or a reaction to the slides.  I stopped to wait for them to be quiet, and gestured for them to be quiet, and gave them a countdown to be quiet, and shushed them to be quiet, to no avail.  The base teacher sat and did nothing.  I walked over to the boys who were especially loud and stared at them, and they finally got the point, at least for a while.

When we had looked at all of the pictures and reviewed some school-related vocabulary words, I asked them to brainstorm other school words they knew in English, and I made a list on the board.  The talking was back. This time staring didn’t work.  So, I took out the toy.  I tried to explain that whoever wanted to hold the toy, had to say a sentence about his school in English.  I modeled some very simple sentences on the board. “My school has a basketball court.”  “I like to play games at school.” “My school has lots of teachers.”  At first they were into it.  A few students loved throwing and catching the toy, and did a pretty good job with their sentences, but I’d say that about half the class was totally tuned out and off task.  It was no good.

The next class I was smarter. During the fifteen minute break, I simplified the slide show and labeled each picture with a simple vocabulary word.  Instead of “campus” I wrote “big.”  Instead of “technology lab” I wrote “computers.”  As soon as the bell rang, I came into the room to take charge.  This time there was no base teacher.  To get their attention I clapped my hands and pointed to their seats.  After saying good morning and introducing my name, I told them there were two rules in my class: 1. No talking.  2. English only.  They nodded.  I let the kids look at the slides longer to enjoy the pictures before I made them practice the words.  I told the kids that it would be hard, but that everyone was going to say a sentence in English about his school.  I gave them a minute to think and whisper to their neighbors so they would feel safe, and then I put on my coat and walked out the door.  How surprised they were!  They followed me down to the playground where I gestured for them to form a big circle, facing in.  They were blown away that I would take them outside during a lesson, and they giggled and wiggled, and talked on task!  I wanted each of them to say a complete sentence about their school, loud and clear, and I modeled what it should look like. I tossed the toy to an especially eager student who proudly declared that his school had “a very small garden.”  He threw the toy to another student who shouted that her school had “lots of books!”  She threw it to another little girl who shrank away from the toy in fear.  When I put it in her hands, I coaxed her, saying, “My school has…” The other kids giggled and pointed.  She blushed, but said quietly, “My school has a library.”  Yay!  I praised her for choosing a hard vocabulary word, and the game went on.  The rowdy boys fought over who could hold the toy next, and pretty soon, everyone had said at least one sentence in English.  They followed me back into the classroom.  As they filed in, I gave every student a high-five.  They had no idea what that was, and so when they were seated again, I explained that a high-five is something you do to celebrate when you feel happy.  I told them how happy I felt because their sentences and behavior had been so good.  I taught them to say “Gimme five!”  and we practiced high-fiving each other for another minute.  It was an awesome class.

I repeated what I had done in the second class ten more times, and most of the lessons went well.  There were some classes that were more difficult than others, and I seemed to have a harder time managing classroom behavior when the base teacher was present.  I couldn’t open my PowerPoint in one class and had to just brainstorm vocabulary words on the board.  That one was a bust.  In another class the students were so rude that I wouldn’t take them outside and made them write their sentences instead.  But overall, things went well, and I think I met my goal of having the students practice their spoken English, even if it was just a little bit.