July 29 - The Breakfast Club - Saturday Middle School in Bijie

Ni Hao, Dear Readers,

After having the opportunity to observe the lesson on humor, Nancy and I were each given a classroom of students to teach. Mr. Tang briefly introduced us, and then simply let us begin to teach. We were given no agenda or lesson plan, so our objectives for the day were left entirely up to us. The students were here for language enrichment in hopes of becoming better prepared for upcoming exams, so any type of English language immersion, especially from a native English speaker, was welcome.

I briefly repeated my name, country of origin, and shared with the 60-some students the fact that I was a middle school teacher at home in America. I had brought a bowl of objects from the apartment, thinking that we might use the objects for a language lesson. I quickly discovered that much of the class was at the word or phrase level of language learning, so the basket of items proved to be a valuable teaching tool.

The first item I held up was a toothbrush. When I asked them to tell me what it was, many flashed beautiful smiles at me, but no one was able to attach “toothbrush” to the object. I proceeded to ask them what they item was used for, which was met with bewildered looks. I proceeded to scrub my hands with the toothbrush, and a roaring “no” emerged from the class. Then I pantomimed scrubbing my armpits with the brush, and this time a roaring “no” along with laughter erupted from the class. I continued to apply the toothbrush to other body parts, eliciting more and more protesting laughter. Once the toothbrush finally landed on my teeth, the all shouted “yes” with unanimous approval.

I then proceeded to step down off the podium area, which I found to be a barrier between myself and the class, and move around the room. Aisle space is small, but I was able to ask several students, one at a time, to stand and say the full phrase, “This is a toothbrush.” All of the students spoke in almost inaudible soft voices, so we practiced speaking both loudly and clearly so that the whole class could hear and practice together. We moved from ball to chalk to towel, etc… naming each one, writing the name on the board, and then practicing words to describe the function of each object. I’ve never had so much fun with a bowl of household objects…

Next, it was time to learn a song. Preparing them to learn the choreography to that old children’s favorite “Skidamirink,” I asked them to place their hands in a hand to elbow “L,” modeling this position with my own arms. No one moved. I quickly discovered that they were very unaccustomed to physical movement in the classroom, so again I moved about the room, randomly positioning the arms of several students. Once again, smiles and laughter erupted, and very soon everyone in the room was physically ready to begin “Skidamirink.” Aside from the fact that “skidamirink” is a pure nonsense word, something akin to “sha na na na na,” we learned the remainder of the sensical English words, writing them on the board as we learned each line of the song. After several minutes, everyone was singing and dancing, and the room was rocking with the rhythm of “Skidamirink.”

Next, we reviewed body parts, again naming them on the board as we went along. This was preparation for an innocent round of The Hokey Pokey. The classroom, stuffed full with desks, did not lend itself to the choreography that accompanies this song, so I asked the students to follow me as I Pied Piper-ed them out to a large courtyard area on the roof. In short order, they formed a very large circle, and we began to Hokey Pokey. The “shake it all about” directions were met with much laughter, too, especially as we placed our “bottoms” both in and out of the circle. Because of our new position on the roof courtyard, several classes were interested in our antics, and the teachers allowed their students to come out and observe. Cell phone flashed photos as we continued to boogie our way through the open air Hokey Pokey.

We ended with a combined class picture, with Nancy and I in the center of over one hundred middle schoolers on a very hot Saturday morning. This was “on your feet” teaching, truly in the moment, creating a lesson plan by the seat of our pants.

The experience was an absolute joy, and I would have happily given up another Saturday morning to visit these delightful, enthusiastic young people once again.