The First Class

Today I met two of the classes for the first time. As usual, I didn't just get directly to the textbook and teach. First, I broke the ice by introducing myself and then having them write some information about themselves on the back of a small card, including their name, mobile phone number, how long they'd been learning English, how they liked English, and what they loved doing. On the front of the card is their number. I told them if no one volunteers to answer questions in class, I'll draw a number for the mission.

Then I gave a pep talk about attitude. I tried to convince them of the effect of positive thinking by giving them the example of taking an errand as exercise. Then I asked them whether they studied for themselves or others, followed by the story of "The Carpenter." After finishing telling the inspiring story, I invited someone to summarize it in Chinese to make sure everyone had got the point.

Next, I talked about how to learn English. The following is what I tried to get across to them:

1. Read what you like/love in English. (At this point, I asked several students what they loved.) For example. if you like pop music, read English articles/stories about your favorite pop singer(s)

2. Listen to /Watch Studio Classroom, which they are using as a supplementary material this school year, instead of just reading the magazine. I tried to talk them into starting this good habit as soon as pposible by mentioning the benefits of listening to or watching the program. For example, if they had listened to/watched yesterday's program, they would have learned the difference between Hi and Hey. I even showed them part of the daily TV online.

3. Read aloud.

4. Learn collocations.

After all these were done, we opened the textbook and continued where they left off last week.

Well, since we didn't have enough time for the TED talk on Google Glass, we'll probably watch it later during this week.

The story of "The Carpenter" was handed out as a reading assignment.