Day 19: Feel free to make a lot of mistakes as we learn

I was addicted to Andrew Matthews' books like "Being happy" and "Making friends" when I was still a high school student, and I think it's probably where I was first introduced to the concept "learning to fail".

It's such a long time and I really can't remember very well how I learnt my second and third langauge, especially the tough part. And today, in the elementary Japanese class, I just asked my students about things they did during the Easter break. Instead of giving simple answers using phrases they have already learnt, many used their smartphones to look up some new expressions and tried to put together their thoughts in a foreign language.

Some of their "experiments" didn't work out, but they tried over and over again, as if they were babies who were learning how to walk and looked quite excited about the new ways to say something in Japanese.

So maybe I should try and appreciate the mistakes that we make as we learn, and then, think about what we can do to make things work.

Maybe this is what I should do about my own final paper too hahaha
"What can I do to make it work?" instead of "How come it doesn't seem the work the way I want it to be?"

Day 18: Listen more, speak more and write better

Some of my students have  a lot interesting ideas for writing. During the break in the lesson today, I asked N how she came up with so many great ideas in her article. N told me that she actually didn't learn how to write by writing or reading, but listening and speaking!

She enjoys listening to American talk shows and learnt most of the expressions there, plus the skills to create a climax in story, just like what people do when giving a humourous speech, and these skills are transferred to her writing and speaking.

Without N, I would have never thought about the miraculous relationship between listening, speaking and writing. We often think that when we read more, we'd naturally become better writers, but there seems to be an alternative for people who are not into reading.

This is such an interesting topic!

Day 17: Timing is important

It's the last day of my Easter break, a short one when compared with the primary and secondary schools but a rather long one for the post-secondary sector.

Today I hanged out with E, who took my Japanese interest class a couple of years ago. At first we thought E must be a housewife, but it turned out that she was a member of the management board in a famous bank! We didn't know that until one day when we had a hotpot gathering and happened to talk about investment. To our surprise, E was well versed with stocks and other investment products, in and out of Hong Kong!

Now I still meet E a few times a year, sometimes with Y, the writer. We often exchange our views about life and the current economy. I enjoy reading the news and just regurgitate what I read plus a bit of my own opinions, and E would give me her analysis. It seems that both E and Y are successful investors, but today E pointed out a very important point: the key is not just about what you buy, but when you buy it. As soon as everyone's getting crazy about something, it's too late, she said.

Does this resonate with Warren Buffett's famous quote, "Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful"?

Day 16: Look at things from another perspective

When teaching in the computer lab, I often put my screen "on show", which means the students can see the powerpoint slides and the videos easily, and more importantly, they wouldn't be distracted with other stuffs on their own computer, say, using facebook and playing games online.

But there's one strange thing that I failed to understand.

I often tell the students before putting my screen "on show" that "10 seconds later I'm going to lock your computers so please save your files and other important documents".

But the thing is, whenever I click on the button "teacher show", there comes a bit of strange noise like "argh...", as if they are feeling surprised about the "lock".

I told them in advance and gave them time to save things, so how come they are still sounding a bit surprised, as if it's a completely new idea?

I had no idea why until Wednesday night.

I didn't even know there's the same computer program in university - to put the instructor's screen on show. I always thought it's just a tool for classroom management for school teachers.

This time I played the student role and had my lecture in a computer lab. Some of the other students (who are supposed to be teachers!) became a bit distracted with other stuffs on their own computers and the professor suddenly put his screen on show.

"arghh....", suddenly I heard this on my mind. I was paying full attention to the lecture but when the screen changed into something uncontrollable, I felt as if some of my freedom was being taken away (this might sound a bit exaggerated... hahaha)

It was such a strange experience but it helped me look at things from the students' perspective. Now I wouldn't feel strange at all about their reaction.

I were in their shoes and I knew how it was like.

Day 15: Be ready for learning

There is a course that I enjoy teaching quite a bit, and it has a lot with do with the students. I'd say they are a bit different from the others. There are of course a few who are a bit detached or distracted, but whenever I went into the lecture room, they were always ready. Always.

I hardly have to say anything to help them settle down as I usually do in the other classes. Instead, what I often do in this class is smiling at the students as I walk into the room (and some smile back to me!), and sometimes even saying "it's nice to see you all again" from the bottom of my heart.

Not only me, some other colleagues also said that they enjoy teaching this particular group of students. There're a lot I can learn from them, particularly about their readiness for learning. Not everyone is great in this course, but the overall atmosphere is excellent.

I just wonder, why are they always ready for learning? What's the secret behind?

Day 14: Create surprises for others

The room was dark. The whole group of students were standing around something...

It was another birthday celebration!

There were not only the cake, but also lots of presents, including a large board with messages from everyone and photos they took together.

The birthday girl, obviously, was thrilled with all the surprises.

The presents are not expensive, but they all look like what a late teen would love to have.

Isn't it nice to make surprises like that once in a while?

Eさん、お誕生日おめでと う！

Day 13: My sources of motivation

There's no class but whole-day meetings these few days, and I've been thinking whether teaching is what I truly want to do.

On Saturday I was reorganising some backup files at home, when I found emails from Y, a former student of mine. I started to teach her Japanese for almost 2 years when I was still a fresh graduate, and she was already a famous writer (only that we didn't know) who had her own column in a popular newspaper in Hong Kong.

In her emails, she mentioned more than once that I should be teaching and mentioned how special I was, especially for...

My passion for what I teach
My smile
My willingness to motivate and help students
My creativity

I should really thank Y for encouraging me to teach - and reminding me of how good I was.

All I need now is a bit of encouragement and recognition - but since when have I become a person with DEPENDENT self-esteem?

Maybe it's the conversation going around, officially and unofficially that reminds me constantly of the possible layoff?

Maybe it's the drive for the school to change that ignores the basic needs of the teachers?

Maybe...

Whatever it is, all I need now is just a bit of encouragement and recognition, and I should thank Y for giving me the motivation to teach.

PS In the Japanese drama, the employees would be really touched and cry when the boss or the manager says to them "あなたは必要なんだ！" (Our company needs you!) It looks a bit over the top to me, but sometimes maybe we do need some sort of recognition like that. Strangely sometimes the schools do things the other way round.

Day 12: Show the subtitles on youtube videos

I was about to show an interview about tourism, and the speakers had a rather strong accent. In order to help students understand what it's all about, I chose a version with English subtitles at home.

But when it's played in class today, the subtitles disappeared!
"The subtitles disappeared! When I watched this at home it was there!", I said. Then one of the students said, calmly, "Just clicked on 'CC'".

And there came the subtitles again!

Thanks M for telling me about the subtitle function on youtube.

Day 11: Offer help to those in need

I've twisted my ankle and can barely manage to walk... real slowly. At the end of today's lesson, a few students submitted their portfolio to me and S and C offered to help me bring them back to my office.

There were more than 30 students in the same room but without a second thought, S came over and said she'll carry all the files for me. I was really touched.

When I thanked S and C for their help, they simply said it's what they should do. Wow! What seems to be a small deed to them is indeed a big help to me!

Thanks S and C for teaching me to offer help to the others.

Day 10: Know what you want

I left school a bit late tonight, and happened to see W and R on the train. I'm rather curious about what teenagers like to do after school. 

Just like other teenagers, W and R like going shopping with friends and family when they are free, but when I asked whether they're going shopping from now, they said they're actually on their way to work - 4 hours every day after school! So why are they working this hard while their classmates are having an easy life thinking about what to do to have fun?

R said, "I'd rather be busy and sieze the opportunities to learn and work, than having to do something to kill time". I'm a bit surprised having heard this from a 17-year-old, who is very clear about what she wants.

What do I want? This can be a difficult question.
It's nice to have some inspiration from R.

Day 9: Learn about what students want to learn

I like to say hi to the students whenever we bump into each other at school. A simple "hi" might eventually bring about a chat, questions from the students... and even some teaching ideas.

On Friday I saw N and M in the common area when I was heading to the elevator. We started with "how are you?", which later developed into a sharing about things that they want to learn for presentation.

It turned out that they want to know how to do away with the "set phrases" in their presentation, which is something I've never thought of.

Thank you for such an amazing idea. I'll go to the library to search for books about presentations and work this out.

Day 8: Be creative

In a Japanese conversation practice, students were encouraged to change some of the words in the original script and play the roles themselves. There was quite a bit of improvisation.

I think I'm a rather creative person but I'll learn to be creative at all times, even for the routines.

Day 7: Make some effort for things that you really want

My college has a scholarship for students who are taking the initiatives to help the others and serve the community. Recently a lot of students have been asking the teaching staff to write recommendation letters, and S and T approached me for that last week.

S is a very efficient student. She told me what makes her a good candidate for the scholarship and her past experience orally, and asked if I need further details immediately.

T was a bit shy and asked if I could write the recommendation letter for her. Afterwards, she sent me an email giving me a list of voluntary work that she has done over the years together with a number of pictures. Later she came over to my office to see if I would like to learn more about her stories and share with me the satisfaction that she had by helping the others.

Thanks S and T for showing me two entirely different approaches to go for things that you want.

Day 6: Do something before it is too late

K came over to hand in her assignment when I was in the office earlier today. As she passed it to me, I couldn't help saying 'Wow! It's short!'. All of a sudden, K seemed to have realized something and asked if she could hand in the assignment later today.

A few hours later, K came again, with another piece - handwritten this time, but with good quality. Indeed I didn't say anything else in order to make it fair to the other students, but K was quick enough to have spotted the problem and managed to fix it.

It was a last-minute rush, but K taught me to be sensitive about the hints around and seize the chance to improve before it's too late.

Day 5: Learning takes time

L saw my entry about M and suddenly thanked me. I'm glad that my own reflection helps the others learn something too.

L said sorry to me but in fact she doesn't have to. School is a place for students to learn so it's ok not to be having the best shape all the time. There are things that my teachers taught me but I never understood until I became a teacher myself. So L, you're way better than me because you've realised the importance to show gratitude when you're still in school.

I remember that in my last year of undergraduate studies, Dr C taught me a lot about the cohesion in a passage. It was my English translation which lacked the cohesion, and Dr C gave me specific suggestions for improvement in the one-on-one tutorials. At that time I had a rough idea what he meant but the idea of cohesion remained rather abstract to me.

It was not until earlier last year, when I started to give specific feedback to students' writing, then I realised what students lack in their writing was very similar to what Dr C taught me back then!

On Nov 18, 2010, the day that I made the big discovery, I emailed Dr C immediately and told him all about it, and thanked him. He wrote in response, "I am glad to know you are still your old lively self. Keep well."

This says that learning takes time, and not everyone is a fast learner. So L, you don't have to be apologetic at all, just keep going and give yourself some time.

Day 4: Show your gratitude

M is a problem student. She often comes to class late and is often distracted or even totally detached during the lessons. I found her a bit troublesome too, but I didn't dislike her or ignore her. Instead, I tried to involve her and gave her a lot of chances.

Last Saturday many of my students from M's class took IELTS. During the break today, many of them shared with me what they were asked, how they performed and so on. All the questions they got in the speaking test were within the 10 themes that I had picked for them and they were grateful having prepared in advance.

Then M suddenly came over with a big smile and told me how happy she was. She said the question she got was exactly the same question that I assigned in the first semester and she thanked me for that.

No one thanked me but M. It's a bit unbelievable.
M taught me not to be shy about showing gratitude towards other people.

Day 3: Make my expectations clear to the students

Today I didn't meet any student, but V, a teacher. She told me a lot about teaching in Mexico and the dysfunctional schools there. It made her so upset and I realised how important it is to have high expectations on the students and establish that through different classes.

Most students from V's school in Mexico come from the underpriviledged families, and students are playing, singing, laughing, running... doing virtually anything they want but learning. Not only V's lessons, but all lessons are messy. It seems that students are not aware of the reason why they are in school, and the teachers did not make it clear what is expected from the students since the first day.

While many consider that having high expectation on the students is good, how to make it clear to them?

Day 2: Ask specific questions

In yesterday's writing class, I gave every single one of the students some specific advice for improvement and told them what they were good at. Most of them nodded as they listen and did not ask anything. A few of them asked very broad questions like "What should I do about this?". Some thanked for my advice.

A handful of them asked me questions referring to what I had said, but A was different. On top of responding to my advice, she asked questions that were very specific and clear:

1) How can my answer here (referring to a specific section) be better organised?
2) How much time do you recommend for planning the writing? From analysing the question to organising my ideas...

Thanks to A's questions, I found it easier to give her suggestions relevant to her case.

So do I often ask specific questions like A?

Day 1b: We all learn from our students

In a long chat with two students, L and W today, I learnt that W is working as a part-time tutorial teacher. She shared with me some interesting things in her lessons and what she learnt from her students.

Through teaching, W had the opportunity to study again what she already knew, and discovered some new things as she taught. Her students learnt better, and so did she.

By taking a look at what teachers knew already, as though it were something new, we are likely to come up with something new. This is what W taught me.

Day 1: Be excited about changes

In today's elementary Japanese class, I taught the new sentence patterns and conversation in Japanese. It was the first time we did everything in only Japanese. 

The students tried their best to speak to each other in Japanese in the speaking activities and most of them looked really excited. It wasn't easy but they welcomed the change and made a huge effort to understand what they hear and got their message across in Japanese.

See changes the positive way and be excited. This is what I learnt today.

Kick off of an experiment

I teach.
I care about how well my students learn.
I think back on how I teach.

So who's learning?
Students? Yes.
Me? Hmmmmmmm......

After reading Dr Sze's blog entry
"Do teachers become more stupid after teaching for a few years? ",
I've got a flash of idea.

Why don't we learn from the students?
And this is what I'll do:

For the coming 60 days, I will put down at least one thing that I have learnt from my students during the day.

Two months later, let's decide whether I've become more stupid or not.