Sunday, January 23, 2011

Pleasantly Surprised!

      Surprisingly, our first class wasn't a complete failure. Though I have never in my life been more nervous, managed to lose my roster, barely made it to class on time, and chose a craft that fell apart in mere moments, in retrospect it was actually a pretty successful first class. Thank goodness for Mrs. Dalton and Mrs. Ford!  After the whirlwind of activity that involved meeting the parents and ushering all thirteen (12 girls, 1 boy, grades K-2) of our eager students into our designated room, things went relatively smoothly. Never in my life have I felt more nervous than when I saw those thirteen sets of bright eyes smiling up at me. I froze for a moment, who was I to be teaching these children? I've only been studying Mandarin for four years, and my own language skills aren't particularly advanced. Luckily, with the support of my friend Meg (who I could do none of this without), I was able to choke back my feelings of insecurity and lead the class.
      To my great surprise the children were really excited and interested in what we were learning. It seemed completley natural to them to learn "ni hao" "wo jiao..." "xie xie" "zai jian." Everyone seemed really happy to be there and picked up the phrases in no time, easily mastering our "ni hao" song. Four of our students are apart of the Central Mississippi Chinese Culture and Language School, an absolutely amazing program I have been working with for the last three years. It was formed by a group of parents who, after adopting children from China, decided it would be good for their children to learn about their native language, culture, and heritage. I think having those girls, who I know and have taught Mandarin to before, in the class really helped me to relax and get into the groove of teaching. I also think a big part of the reason this class went so well was due to the fact that Meg and I are both still in high school. As strange as it sounds, I think the children respond to us and our energy positiviley because we are younger than the other authority figures they are used to. We connect on a different level, and I think this will be a very positive thing as our class progresses.
     Wish us luck next week as we will explore the mysteries of counting and *cross your fingers* writing! 再见, 佐伊姐姐!

2 comments:

  1. I rarely ever comment on blog posts but this totally merits a comment! This is great and Georgetown (or whatever school you end up at) is so incredibly lucky to have you!

    我叫李依玲。你好,佐伊! 如果我们两个都去Georgetown,我们可以一起学中文!

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  2. Thank you so much Elaine! I am planning on attending Georgetown! So you study Mandarin also? I hope to see you at the GAAP weekend!


    我希望我们可以是好朋友!我的中文一点日都不好,可是我可以明白你和我非常高新!

    (p.s. I hoped I typed my pinyin correctly ;)

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