China update...

Greetings from Nanchang,­

The winter coats have been carefully stowed away and the umbrellas have been brought out in anticipation of the rainy season here in southern China . I'll spend a few moments in my dry apartment to send you a sampling of the experiences I've had this past month.

Excuse me Mr. Cottrell, can we talk for a moment?

We're now in our sixth week of our spring semester and I've been having a wonderful time with our new group of students. Having been an adult learner I've become more in tune in assisting our students as I understand from personal experience what it means to be an older student.

Our students and the Chinese people I interact with don't have a lot of opportunities to practice speaking English with native speaker's people. Depending on the topics or my free time I'm able to be a conversation partner for my students or Chinese friends who ask to speak with me on a one on one basis or even in a group setting. As you could probably imagine saying no is a difficult response when I want to help as many people as I can. In this scenario our students have priority over who requests to practice English with me.

Lesson Planning:

This aspect of teaching has provided me with both challenging and stretching experiences. "It's easier said than done" being in teacher role instead of sitting comfortably in the student role. I had a rough time with lesson planning during our Pasadena summer training as we had practice teaching two to three times a week along with an assortment of other sessions. To alleviate the stress of planning I'm taking more time preparing lessons while keeping the individual students needs in mine.

Joey and I teach beginning and advanced level students so I have to be mindful in how much time I fill a class period up with. This term I started with the beginner level class for a total of sixteen hours and the advanced level class for a total of four hours each week. At the mid-point mark of our semester Joey and I will switch classes and I'll take the advanced class for the same amount of time I had the beginner class during the opening weeks.

Student - Centered Approach:

In our organization we try to create an interactive environment for our students to be able to learn and practice English. What we try to do in our class each day is make sure our students have a safe and comfortable environment so they can try their best to make a progress in learning English.

We not only create a comfortable environment but make learning fun by planning out of class activities where our students can practice English during a meal, shopping excursions, or taking walks around a Nanchang lake.

In addition to having a student centered classroom I invite our students to contact me by phone and/or email so they aware that I'm available to assist with their English questions or other subjects.

Student Led Activities: Practicum 101

Having spent this year with University teachers Joey and I have had the unique privilege of watching our student's present English lessons in our classrooms in the course called Student Led activities. This weekly class entails our students pairing up with a classmate and teaching an English activity to their classmates.

This is by far my favorite course to facilitate as I get to exchange teaching ideas with students. I also have the privilege to witness from a distance and close-up the preparation and delivery of a finished product from our teaching teams. What's been an added highlight for me is I'm able to share about my previous team teaching experiences and about my role as co-teacher with Joey.

Common Question: Is there a McDonald's in your city?

There are two McDonald's in Nanchang and both are located near the pedestrian-only shopping street. There are also several McDonald's stores that serve only ice cream cones and beverages. There are also number of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and two Pizza Hut restaurants.

Sadly there are no Starbucks's in Nanchang but my Joey, my team mate, can probably pinpoint within a few meters the exact locations of the stores in Hong Kong . To emphasize this fact I'm willing to place a friendly bet that he can find the stores while being blindfolded.

Cultural highlight: weighing in

Life in China has created memorable experiences wherever I happen to be. One aspect of living in China is the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables that are sold at sidewalk stores or in the supermarket. In America before we purchase our fruits and/or vegetables we must use the store provided weight scale to determine how much the food will cost at the checkout stand.

In China there is a different procedure that must be followed. For example, if I want a pound of tangerines I fill up my plastic bag with what can be considered a pound and then I take the filled bag to a weight counter where a store employee weighs the items for me and attaches a tag giving the weight and cost of the items. This procedure works well but I've caught myself several times forgetting to visit the weight counter. Luckily for me the store employees have assisted and led me to the weight scales.

This concludes my monthly China update. Thanks for taking time to stop to read this and my other updates. I'll look forward to sharing more with you about our students and experiences next month.

Until then, have a safe week.

Brian