the revolt of class 9B

this new semester has been going well. i'm energized, the students have been energized, i had a good lesson plan...and then 9B happened. with a vengeance.

they are my toughest class, and i have them monday mornings. i have two students i think who are on a listening comprehension of the rest of my 8th grade classes. the rest tune out immediately, chatting with each other, reading chinese books, and working on other homework. i try to get them chatting with each other to explain to me the traditions associated with chinese new year. in past classes, they have fallen right into it, excited to explain to the laowai about their culture.

here, they sit dejected in their seats. after five minutes of chatting in chinese, i ask for some answers. blank stares. one girl raises her hand and starts speaking to me in chinese. i ignore her, and sigh with relief when one of my two students prepared for my class puts his hand up. i call on him, and he tells me, with defiance, that this plan is boring.

not what i expected. luckily, the second half of my lesson plan is a survey trying to figure out what my students want to learn this coming semester. i explain this in simple terms to the class and to my defiant student who is still standing. i hand out the survey, emphasizing that this will make class less boring, and more about what they want to learn.

my defiant student finally sits down, luckily, they did not applaud him, and i tell him if he thinks this class is boring, i need his help to make it more exciting. his solution is that he acts as my interpreter, translating my english instructions into chinese. i explain to him he may be missing the point of having a foreign teacher.

the bell finally rings, and i collect the surveys. a collection of poignant insights to help the class be more enjoyable they are not.

what would you like to learn about american culture?
i don't want to learn. i love china.

i'm afraid what we have here is a classic case of miscommunication. i gotta figure out how to bridge this gap. i know they can do this, i just got to get to them somehow.

luckily, i'm optimistic.