As I have been preparing for my classes and grading homework.... I have been asking myself why they chose ME to teach this class... I mean why me over a qualified Chinese teacher that may have a PhD in composition??? I know the common answer is because, I am a native English speaker, but I have no formal training in composition (beyond English Comp I and II in college) and I have no teaching experience.... The writing class that I teach is the highest level of English writing that these students will take before they graduate with a degree in English!!! This is a huge responsibility and burden on me and have been bothering me quite a lot lately... part of me feels as though someone with a formal background in writing should be teaching them... so I still ask myself the question: Why me?
the closest thing that I can come up with to convince myself why I am doing this is NOT to teach them, but rather to guide them and to help them... As I mentioned above, I feel that I am unqualified as a formal instructor, but what I am good at is being a natural English speaker.... This also means that I have been exposed to natural English writing and I can easily recognize it... SO I tell myself that I am more of a coach than a formal instructor... Rather than worry myself with presenting them with the best type of instruction, I will concern myself individual improvement.... Therefore, I want my classroom to be more like a discussion than a lecture... I will also implement the Socratic Method into my teaching style... With this, I will put a tiny dent into what I believe to be a huge problem of the Chinese education system... (tomorrows blog topic.)
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