![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I don't mean in the schlocky sense of some six year-old girl telling me something innocent and yet profound that made me a better teacher. No. I was actually shown how to better control my first grade class by one of my first grade students, with her little badge with two green bars that marks her as a class leader. Sushu and El, are these badges in every Chinese school? Did you ever wear one?
She stood up and directed her classmates to sing, speaking briskly and calmly with absolute authority, ignoring the low-level noise and controlling the volume level by clapping her hands or calling out "yi ar san!" (one two three) to which the kids responded "san ar yi!" and quieted for a minute. When all the English songs had been properly sung, the girl went back to her seat and was suddenly a normal first grader again, waving her hand in the air when she wanted to be called on and poking her classmates, though less than many of the others did. I copied her hand-clapping and "one two three!" (in English), but I haven't managed to mimic her aura of confidence and authority quite as well, and instead went for amusing the kids. Overall, the lesson went better than the previous ones. I can't bring myself to act the way some Chinese teachers do, scolding, insulting, hitting things and geenrally terrifying the kids into submission. And yet, while I hate to admit it, it works. The kids are better behaved and tend to be quicker to answer questions. It's rather depressing, actually.
I had a fun experience in my Saturday class. I had the kids making cootie catchers, since it worked so well with the 7th graders, and I overheard one girl say the word "feiji" (airplane) to her neighbor. I turned around, and cheerfully told her, "No, we're not making paper airplanes." She stared at me, eyes wide with shock and said, "Laoshi, ni ting de dong Zhongwen ma!?" (Teacher, you speak Chinese!?)
I just smiled.
She stood up and directed her classmates to sing, speaking briskly and calmly with absolute authority, ignoring the low-level noise and controlling the volume level by clapping her hands or calling out "yi ar san!" (one two three) to which the kids responded "san ar yi!" and quieted for a minute. When all the English songs had been properly sung, the girl went back to her seat and was suddenly a normal first grader again, waving her hand in the air when she wanted to be called on and poking her classmates, though less than many of the others did. I copied her hand-clapping and "one two three!" (in English), but I haven't managed to mimic her aura of confidence and authority quite as well, and instead went for amusing the kids. Overall, the lesson went better than the previous ones. I can't bring myself to act the way some Chinese teachers do, scolding, insulting, hitting things and geenrally terrifying the kids into submission. And yet, while I hate to admit it, it works. The kids are better behaved and tend to be quicker to answer questions. It's rather depressing, actually.
I had a fun experience in my Saturday class. I had the kids making cootie catchers, since it worked so well with the 7th graders, and I overheard one girl say the word "feiji" (airplane) to her neighbor. I turned around, and cheerfully told her, "No, we're not making paper airplanes." She stared at me, eyes wide with shock and said, "Laoshi, ni ting de dong Zhongwen ma!?" (Teacher, you speak Chinese!?)
I just smiled.