David on Conversation Class.

I love teaching my Jiaotong University students in EF81.  EF stands for English/French and these second-year students are majoring in both English and French.  I have 17 students total and meet with them for 100 minutes on both Mondays and Tuesdays, from 8AM to 10AM.  So far, we have had two really fun weeks together.  They are interested in learning English, come to class on time and are ready to practice speaking.  Little by little, I have been learning their English names. Everyone in the class has one since their Chinese names are too difficult for most non-Mandarin speakers to pronounce.  Wendy, my wife and the creator of this blog, recommended I have them write their names on a piece of paper and fold it up into a name plate to put on their desk.  I recommend this to all teachers to consider!  It really helps to get to know them.  My students are Ann, Anna, Daisy, David, Doris, Estella, Jasper, Julvina, Lilian, Lynn, Mary, Pat, Sally, Sophia, Tiffany, Ursula and Zoey. 

I am getting to know them and their families through their conversations.  When I arrived here, I was given a textbook that has 16 topics I am to cover for the semester.  Week one was “Jobs and Occupations” and week two was “Artistic Issues”.  In the process of covering these topics, I have found out that they come from hardworking families that mostly do not have much time for artistic issues.  Their parents have taken them to some music lessons, but mostly the students have gotten the message that they need to focus on their academic work.

Many of my students love pop music, especially American and Korean (K-pop) as well as Korean and Chinese dramas.  We have something in common there😊.  They are happy to share their favorites with me.  I had them write their recommendations in a notebook I passed around to the class.

Daisy showed me the music video, “Try” by Colbie Caillat.  The video is a smart critique of the way women are forced to adapt their looks to certain narrow beauty standards.  Julvina likes “Lay” by a Chinese rapper called “Sheep”.  This video is a weird mashup of American urban rap with Chinese culture.  Someone a lot smarter than I am has probably already written a critique of this one.   Check it out.

I am a trained medical doctor, not a specialist in teaching English.  However, I am glad to have this opportunity teach to teach English conversation to such wonderful students.  I know that there is a problem with “burn out” among teachers in the US.  If you are a teacher in America and are reading this blog, think about teaching in a Chinese university.  Teachers are respected and appreciated here.  If your students are anything like mine, you will really love it.