Friday December 28, 2012

4:45 a.m. at the 7-11 on Chang-An Road, Taipei

It’s pretty early this morning, as you can see. I was totally wiped out by the work this week and the classes I had to teach yesterday, so I collapsed into bed early. I never mind doing that, especially since my eyes pop open at a nice early hour the next morning and I feel rested. Then I have a couple of good hours to myself when I’m rested – hours that don’t belong to “the man.”

I suppose since I’ve already mentioned the classes I had to teach, I’ll keep going with that story. I had all my material prepared and I hopped on the MRT in good time to get to Yongning station for 12:20. I was there a few minutes early – as planned – and I hopped across the street to the 7-11 to pick up some kind of prize for my students. I planned to have them play a game and I wanted to offer some kind of prize. I often select boxes of Pocky for that – that chocolate on a stick. I suppose I could charge my company for that, but I’ve never bothered. Such prizes help me get through the classes and so I don’t mind the bit of expense. I tend not to charge them for my MRT fares either. I suppose if I did this full time, the MRT fares would add up and I’d charge them. But for now, the paperwork is too much. I don’t want to spend an hour filling out forms for just that. And it would easily take that long. I’d have to find the form, figure it out, fill it out, and then track down people to sign it. Then I have to bring it up to the right department and give it to the woman there. Then I have to wait a week and then go back up to pick up the money. Too much hassle for NT$16 or whatever it is.

My first class – the 2-hour class – went fairly well this time. At least I think it did. We had a warm-up exercise. Then I introduced the material for the day – cleverly, I thought. Then I reviewed my handout with them. And then we played a game to practice the new material. The kids did well and seemed to enjoy it in a vague sort of way. They liked the Pocky prize. And then I went through a series of individual exercises where the students had to get up in turn and tell a story using the techniques we had practiced.

The timing of each exercise worked out fairly well and there was enough time at the end to get a nice solid chunk of students doing individual practice. Some students – a select few – even demonstrated a little bit of what I had been trying to get them to learn. It was like pulling teeth, though.

Class 2 – the 1-hour class – did not go so well. I had to take my 2-hour lesson plan and reduce it to one hour. I made some decisions about that, and, in my opinion, I did not choose well. I kept the warm-up exercise, and I shouldn’t have. It took too long, and I ended up having to rush through the setup and teaching part so the practice session at the end didn’t work at all. It was a very clunky and pointless class. The students seemed happy though. The game I had put together worked quite well, and perhaps they enjoyed that. And maybe that is what they remembered about the class. It’s hard to see a class from a student’s point of view.

However the classes really went, I was exhausted by the end. I was absolutely spent and I had a pounding headache. I was also more than a little wound up. The vast majority of the students in these two classes are good. I only have one troublemaker. I mentioned him before. He’s a boy with a strange English name. No surprise there. No matter how many times I discipline him, he continues to behave badly. And he’s a smart kid. That might be the problem. He’s smart enough to be one step ahead of most, and he probably thinks everything is beneath him. So he doesn’t have to try or pay attention.

I have trouble imposing discipline, because I can sense that my type of class is unusual for these students, and perhaps they don’t know now to behave. In their normal classes, the teacher is the center of attention. They are trained to pay attention to the teacher. In my classes, individual students are the focus, and I don’t think students here are used to paying attention to other students. So when another student is speaking or telling a story or answering a question, they simply tune out. Why should they pay attention to another student? And they naturally start to talk among themselves.

I can understand it. When a student gets up to tell a story, I can barely understand them myself. They are so quiet and their English is so awful that I have to work really hard to hear them and understand what they’re talking about. I jump around like a madman and expend enough energy to power the universe just trying to get them to up their energy output – speak loudly and clearly, for example. But they simply cannot do it. No matter how many times I push for it and demonstrate what I want, nothing ever changes. They just mumble. So it must be pretty boring for the other students to just sit there.

The troublemaker is in the first class. The second class is dominated by this energetic and charismatic young woman I’ll call Katherine. She is very westernized and has spent time overseas. So her English is at nearly a native speaker level. The funny thing is that she is totally in charge of the class. All the students defer to her. They all follow her lead, and do whatever she wants. I have no control at all. So if I get her on my side, things work well. If we are at cross-purposes, I lose. It’s not even a competition. It’s odd how certain people exude that kind of charisma and leadership. The students sit at three tables in this class – about 7 students at each table. And when I do a big warm-up activity where the students have to get up and walk around the class to ask and answer questions, they all go to Katherine’s table. She never gets up. She just stays in her seat, and the entire class gathers in a circle around her. It’s amazing.

It’s also interesting how the students form these groups at the three different tables. That happened organically on the first day of classes. They aren’t assigned seats. Katherine and all the cool kids just plunked down at table 1 right beside the door. The earnest and hardworking students all sat down together at table 2 in the middle right in front of the teacher. And the flotsam and jetsam with nothing in common – including the only two boys in the class – sat at table 3 by the window.

I went back to the teacher’s room at the end of the class, but the regular teachers weren’t there. I left copies of my handouts and other material on the teacher’s desk and then went out to the front of the school. The sales rep was there and I got in the front seat and we took off.

I was really hoping that our journey back would mirror the previous week’s and I could hop out at a convenient MRT station. It wasn’t to be, though, and the sales rep stuck to a bewildering and crazy set of highways to take us all the way back to Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station. It took forever and I sat there in agony the whole time – just yearning to be free of that car and in a nice MRT train where I could read a book. The sales rep is also a terrible and very dangerous driver. I was quite close to speaking up this time, but I just let it go. Next week, I’m going to make a point of getting the sales rep to drop me off at the nearest MRT station. I probably shouldn’t mention the reason – that the sales rep is a lunatic behind the wheel. That could cause endless trouble. I’ll just make up another reason.

 

In other news, I watched a half-decent documentary. It was called “The Imposter.” I’m not sure I’d call it a true documentary, though. The whole story was true, of course, and it was a fascinating story. However, it had a very cinematic quality to it. The story was being told in interviews and the actual events of the story were recreated with actors or something. It really was fascinating. I didn’t know anything about it, so as I started watching it I was wondering if it was real or fake or what. I won’t say anything more, but if you’re interested in the vagaries of human nature, it’s a compelling documentary.

I’ve been reading a bit more these days. I probably mentioned that I read all the Dexter books. I really enjoyed those – especially seeing how they differed completely from the TV show. I’m now reading a bunch of Elmore Leonard books. They’re an acquired taste, but they can be good.

While working on my bike and packing, I also watched the latest Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises. I don’t understand all the hype around that movie. It was AWFUL. Truly, truly, truly bad in every conceivable way. It was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. I was astonished at how awful it was.

I’m so happy that this is a Friday. And then there is the 4-day long weekend. I don’t have plans for the weekend other than a New Year’s Day concert and assorted other things. I’m going to take advantage of the four days to really come to grips with getting ready to leave Taiwan. I’ve got to do the final sweep through the apartment and box up everything that I’m shipping to Canada and pack up all my travel gear and get it ready. That should be fun. I love planning trips and organizing gear and going over maps.

 

Tags: AWFUL, Friday December, MRT, TV