My favourite class

 

Some of my classes are a pain in the neck. But I don't blame them, why should they be forced into a classroom to memorise pointless sentence fragments that they will never be able to use anyway. Why should they spend the best, most innocent, most care-free years of their life forced to follow the teacher's orders. If I ever had kids, I think I would follow the Sudbery Valley School (Massachusetts) model, where the kids are left to follow their own curiosity and learn according to what they find a need for, not force fed information as I have to do at the school I work at here in China.

 

These students don't seem to mind being in a class, they are always so happy and cheerful, it's a pleasure to be in their company.

 But I think it has a lot to do with their Chinese English teacher. All of my classes with her, have a quality lacking in the other classes I teach. I think she injects so much love into her classes that her students are happy and secure. In other classes, the students are restless and agitated and I can tell that they don't have as strong an emotional connection with their teacher. This Chinese teacher is always giving out stamps, stickers and toys to her students and during the 10-minute breaks between lessons there is always a cluster of students surrounding her.

Another observation I made recently, was how some intelligent, promising students who impressed me when I first started teaching them, have drifted into the background and make fewer contributions and don't try as hard. After searching for an answer I came to an idea that it was because I don't give them any special attention. As best as I can, I never show who is my favourite, and I give every student an equal chance to contribute. This may have had a negative effect on the most talented students, who may have felt frustrated at not being able to contribute as much as they felt they needed to.

I likened it to a flower that is not watered enough. Some flowers, need more water than others to thrive, and perhaps these students need more water to bring out their best.