It's a strange, though recommended, experience to spend almost every day with a group of people, and yet never be able to communicate with a wide range of words. To have a conversation. Or just make small talk. I've been with my students for 8 months now, and I've learned a hundred different personalities. A hundred different likes and dislikes. All with a very small collection of words and phrases that I've taught them.
I contend that this is the best way of all to learn someone. Who they are. What they are about. Where they've been and where they're going. Likes and dislikes. Weird quirks and personality defects. It's easy to mask who you really are with words.
Conversely, its open season for creating an opinion of me as well.
I wasn't quite sure what to think when 90% of my students said they thought I was losing my mind. I'm closer to that point than they think.
84% think I need to switch to decaf. 75% think I'm some sort of hairy, Wolf-man freak show. And nearly all those polled wonder how they're supposed to learn biology if I can't even speak their language.
1 in 3 can't figure out why I quit my late night talk show on TBS to come teach them.
The survey ended with the opportunity for students to leave comments. The top two results...
"You know, I can repeat that sentence all day long,
but I don't have a clue what it means."
"It would make so much sense if you had a Korean teacher
with you, just so we could understand what you're trying to teach us."
Hmmm.....maybe they're on to something.
No comments:
Post a Comment