D - Keeping It Real

We have now completed two weeks of our 18 week semester here in DMU's spring semester. Both C and I had a tough time moving from full time vacation for two months to the partial vacation that we have while teaching. The two of us have different causes for our frustrations. C, never one to impose her will, did not request anything specific from the English department in terms of classes. Her reward was a full complement of maritime engineering students, who are either starry-eyed at her blonde hair, or trying to demonstrate that Chinese kids have ADD as well. I on the other hand, have quiet, dutiful students and a nice mix of guys and gals, because I specifically requested NO martime students. The trouble for me is the common tendency of students to remain stone faced and stubbornly unwilling to talk unless called upon by their esteemed teacher. There are times that one wants to grab them by the collar and yell "Good God man, say something! anything that's not completely predictable and boring!" Thus, although I occasionally scowl at two boys in one of my classes for their ridiculous chosen English names of "X-Boy" and "Butcher", I must confess that they make class a little more interesting. Finding a lack of conformity in this culture, even in the form of class clown behavior can make class more rewarding. So while C is shouting over the din in her classes, I'm trying to stir the pot. One of my most recent efforts included rapping "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" to demonstrate the importance of speaking rhythm. Eminem is not impressed.

Despite our frustrations and the slight adjustment period, things are going better now. We've slipped back into the routine of lesson planning and dealing with the students as they are. Although I am not particularly thrilled about the teaching component of our adventure here, it's excellent for making me better on my feet and significantly less nervous about public speaking. So while my enthusiasm for the work itself may be reduced a bit, I am also much confident. On balance I would say things are better than last term. Knowing what you're doing to an extent makes it a lot easier.

In addition to feeling more comfortable, I am also teaching a Writing class for English majors. They can actually speak and write a good bit in that class and although I'm no English professor, I'm enjoying throwing new things at them. For example, in my first class we read Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-tale Heart", which is a charming story about a psychopath who kills an old man because he has a diseased eye. Horror stories exist in China of course, but Poe gets inside the mind of terrible people like no one else, so it was a little shocking to them. My second class we started using the book, which was written in the US and isn't half bad. Our first chapter is about the compare and contrast essay. To begin our practice, I had them describe pictures of a Dachshund and a Bassett Hound together with me in class. Next, we wrote basic sentences describing each dog breed, and finally we added transitional expresions such as "while", "although", "on the other hand", and so on. It sounds silly to use dogs for a compare and contrast essay, but I think it went rather well. They were probably just relieved that I didn't break out a Stephen King short story next. I found it amusing when a majority of students in the class described Doxies and Bassetts as "ridiculous looking". I also enjoyed when one girl said Bassett Hounds look "miserable". But of course they are. That's why we love them.