Another in my occasional series of "Flashbacks" looking back at blog entries made before this Weebly version started.
Today was another teacher-training trip to a remote school in XiaoCaoBa village.
Despite a hold up from an accident ahead and two small landslides we arrived in under two hours. After the debacle of my last school visit (“teaching a lesson” to 600 students in a playground), I had made it very clear that I wanted to teach my well-prepared model lesson to a single Grade 1 class using textbooks and a blackboard. So my heart sank when we drove into the school to see another playground full of students waiting excitedly for a lesson. I calmly explained yet again the differences between a model lesson (primarily for teachers to see new teaching methods) and shouting at 800 students in the open air (primarily for “look at the strange foreigner” reasons). As ever, I compromised - 20 minutes chat and a song for everybody, then Grade 2 and 3 students left so that I could give my model lesson to the remaining 250(!) Grade 1 students, sharing textbooks, aided by a tiny blackboard! Not ideal, but what can you do?
Despite a hold up from an accident ahead and two small landslides we arrived in under two hours. After the debacle of my last school visit (“teaching a lesson” to 600 students in a playground), I had made it very clear that I wanted to teach my well-prepared model lesson to a single Grade 1 class using textbooks and a blackboard. So my heart sank when we drove into the school to see another playground full of students waiting excitedly for a lesson. I calmly explained yet again the differences between a model lesson (primarily for teachers to see new teaching methods) and shouting at 800 students in the open air (primarily for “look at the strange foreigner” reasons). As ever, I compromised - 20 minutes chat and a song for everybody, then Grade 2 and 3 students left so that I could give my model lesson to the remaining 250(!) Grade 1 students, sharing textbooks, aided by a tiny blackboard! Not ideal, but what can you do?
In the afternoon, I observed two very different lessons. The first was a 45 minute grammar monologue totally in Chinese – simply appalling! By contrast, the second was a fantastic lesson with a song, a game, flashcards and superbly executed pairwork. One of the things I like about my job is the frequent need to think on your feet and solve problems given very little time. So, as all the English teachers and I walked back to the staffroom for my feedback session, I had to think of a way to tackle the “excellent/excrement” nature of the lessons without leaving anyone upset!! I started with a big smile (always helps!) and congratulated both teachers on the clever way they had shown us the differences between the old and new teaching methods! I went on to contrast all the bad things about the old way with all the good things about the new way. And finally, I thanked both teachers once again for making this so clear to us all in their lessons! Amazingly, both left with big smiles on their faces as if it had, after all, simply been a well-coordinated demonstration!
