Mid-course Corrections

Hard to believe, but we are halfway through the English program. What at the beginning seems insurmountable is suddenly halfway done. Relationships are thriving between teachers and learners, and there are good discussions in process.

But with the comfort comes a tendency to ride on the relationship building and not push as hard on the teaching of English. So today we had a mid-course correction reminder meeting for all the teachers at lunchtime. Don’t forget to get your students talking far more than you are talking. Move them into groups as often as possible. Remember you are here to facilitate their speaking ability, not to educate them on all they need to know about the English language. Launch an exercise, get them talking to each other, and then take time to sit back and watch them do it. And the classic TESOL mantra, “You should be able to sip a cup of tea during an exercise if they are doing it right.”

Hard for talkative Americans to do, but absolutely necessary for the learning of English with excellence. It is the teacher’s job to provide the opportunity to speak, to structure the exercises for maximum conversation, and to step back and let the students learn.

Yesterday our administrator came to me with a “little problem.”  “You see,” he said, “some of the non-English teachers are wondering if they could have lessons to prepare the night before so they can come to class more prepared. They are high level teachers but low level English speakers and they feel they are losing face, you know, if they make mistakes.”

“But there is nothing that our teachers can give them to prepare,” I said. “They are here to improve their spoken English and if they come with it all written down ahead of time, they have learned nothing.”

“I know,” he said. “Your program forces them to speak spontaneously and that makes them learn. But still…”

So this morning I spoke to the three men teaching non-English teachers and told them of the conversation. “Don’t change what you are doing,” I said, “but be aware of the losing face.” They brainstormed a few things they could do to give back some face, while not compromising their teaching program.

Last night we were out to dinner with top administrators at an incredible restaurant, complete with Chinese opera, magic show, king of masks performer, jugglers, kung fu, and acrobatics. Wonderful food, many toasts back and forth between EESI and the university officials, and great conversations around the tables.

The previous night though was even better. Not as spectacular a restaurant or food, but deep conversation with one of our assistants, a staff woman we met earlier this spring. She is with the team constantly, watching, interacting, learning. The restaurant is owned by Christians and the placemats are maps of the Sea of Galilee. Hard not to generate spiritual conversations when you are eating your way around Capernaum, Nazareth, loaves and fishes. Our conversation turned, as it often does, to the distinction between religion and faith.

“I feel in some way I would betray my Chinese culture if I were to become a Christian,” she said. This is the young woman who told me in April that she had become a Buddhist last year in a search for peace, but it wasn’t working.

Then ensued a deep discussion around the table of foreign teachers, and this young woman plus a younger guy who is on the journey too, of how Jesus is different from Buddha, how God is not western or Chinese but above culture, the creator of culture, the one who judges our cultures.

Mid-course corrections. Not just in teaching but in understanding each other and learning how to adjust our language to the ears that are hearing them.