First Day of Classes

So today was my first day of class! At most I have four hours of class in one day, two classes. There is a break every hour, which is nice, but I didn't leave or do anything during any of the breaks. Some of the students left briefly.

I think it went okay. The classes today were from the Nursing school which I think are going to be my lowest level of English students. I spoke too fast at first, and on the survey a few of them wrote I should speak slower. I haven't looked at the surveys yet, but that was what I saw as I collected them.

For the first hour, I talked about myself a little, and then went over the syllabus. I handed out the survey for them to fill out, in class, so I have something to work with for next week. Then introductions from each of them of their name, hobby, and favorite animal. So so so many of them said “little dog” was their favorite. I said a phoenix which may have confused them. But I drew a picture, so I think they understood what I meant.

Most of the students are girls. Of the 70 some students today, I think 6 were male. I could pretty quickly find the ones who will do fairly well, since they were the ones who talked more and more clearly in English during introductions.

After the break, I played Bohemian Rhapsody for them. I had the lyrics in a word document, but I had some lyrics missing. I had them listen and respond to me what they heard. I then would explain the lyrics, or in some cases, the idiom used. (Like “I'm easy come, easy go.” and “any way the wind blows”.) The first class, I got partway through the song, and it took the whole hour. For the second class, which I think is the slower of the two, I had over twenty minutes still left. Uh oh! So I had them watch the little video for the first unit in preparation (it had Chinese subtitles) and fill out the checklist which I made homework for the first class. The second class still got out early, but at least now I have an idea for pacing for two hours.

I'm hoping my other classes (which will be freshmen) will be smarter and faster. I'm afraid that these first two classes only understood about 40% of what I said. I may have more Chinese in my lessons that I thought for Thursdays. At the very least, I'll have some of the harder words prepared in Chinese.

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Just had the best afternoon ever. Hilarious lunch, for whatever reason. We've added more background to my true identity of “Vamparia”. I come from the old country, likely Sweden. (Sorry weird inside joke I can explain later...)

We also played the longest amount of football toss/frisbee toss with a few real bouts of football ever. We had to switch fields twice. Our regular place, the track field, was being overrun by the comrades gearing up for the rest of their training. Then the grass (very WET grass) by the lake. Then in the park, and we even got two guys to play with us! I'm dubbing one guy grasshopper. He would jump even when it wasn't necessary, and always did a jumping throw. Awesome guy. Too bad we couldn't get their names. They said they had a meeting that we probably made them late for. Ah well, we probably made their week!

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I'm going through the survey sheets, and the last question I asked was “Do you have anything else to tell me?” and I got plenty of funny Chinglish. A TON of “You are so beautiful!” But some of my favorites are:

“I need your help Marija Ferber” (I'm Obi-wan?)
“More importantly, you are so beautiful.”

But by far the sweetest was:
“Thank you my dear teacher. Because of you, I want to learn my English well again. You spirit my enthusiasm. Once a time I think it's useless to study English well, but now I change my thought. It is always important and necessary for me to learn it well.” Thanks Eileen!

I also don't have any of the best English names. Among the five of us, the “best” are:
Page Eleven
Cola
Journey
Shmily (mine!)
Cinderella
and a girl named Henry.

More later!! Off to dinner! (I'll have a picture post in one of the next posts.)