Friday’s lessons went well; in the morning, Carol and I taught our group about the organization of individual paragraphs by giving groups of 2 a paragraph each (from the essay we’ve been “recycling” since their diagnostic test, “The Deadly Noodle”), and then each group had to identify 1.) the paragraph’s topic sentence, 2.) its supporting details, and 3.) its conclusion. But, here’s what made it fun—we cut up each paragraph so that all they received were individual strips of sentences [bundled together]. So, first they had to unscramble the sentences and try to figure out which one was the first (and the topic sentence), the second, etc. This was fun to watch; each group worked furiously for a good half hour on this task, and then we had each group present their results to the rest of the class (classic jigsaw approach—my favorite!). We also had them define any words they did not know, and there were several in each paragraph. You wouldn’t think that a task so simple could take up over two hours of a lesson, but it certainly can and does when you are working with low intermediate students.
On Friday afternoon, we held another clinic (similar to the grammar clinic we did on Wednesday), but this time we did a pronunciation clinic. This wasn’t really true pronunciation practice though; as Dr. Folse would say, we emphasized fluency (practice with saying idioms that Dr. Hall taught them) over accuracy (focusing on individual sounds). This seemed to amuse them. We also taught them thought groups in sentences so that they could get some practice with the prosidy (i.e., rhythm) of English. And once again, simple though these activities may seem, they easily took up the 2 and a half hours we had with them in the afternoon.
Tomorrow (Monday) morning, we will receive the first drafts of their first writing assignment: a narrative. The prompt we used was once again based on the topic of “The Deadly Noodle:” Write about someone you know (it could even be yourself!) who got addicted to fast food and changed in some way because of it. I am very curious to see what my group comes up with.
I should mention before I write any more entries that I am very much an apprentice in this experience; although Carol, Dr. Hall, and Stephanie Dickey see me as a colleague, I am very much still a student learning from her teachers. Although I co-teach with Carol and contribute lesson ideas, I do not pretend for one minute that I’m a ringleader of any sort. But I like it this way, actually; I am learning so much from my colleagues, and I think that when I get another opportunity to teach abroad (hopefully for a much longer period of time, in which I can bring Stephen!), I will have no problem “running the show” then.
This weekend was exhausting, so I am going to bed soon. (We had to attend two ceremonies; one on Saturday afternoon in which we met with the WSU Provost, Dr. Stephen Angle, and all of the WSU college deans—this one celebrated the grand opening of the “Wright State Science and Technology Institute” building on Dalian Jiaotong University’s campus—and another one this morning, in which the entire university (including all 20,000+ students!) attended to welcome all of the “big guys” and praise various academic and government leaders for allowing a partnership with Wright State; although these were very enlightening experiences, they took up a lot of what would otherwise be our spare time.) Lots of exciting things are being proposed for WSU; the Dalian Jiaotong University president has pledged that in 3 years, he will have built an entire WSU campus (which will become an official branch of Wright State!). This is certainly good news for me; I’m sure that if I wanted to, a few years from now I could be an English teacher at this very university!
J. Rowe
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