First Day of Class

Yes, class finally started. The freshmen come in quite late, 8 weeks after the other students. And some more are still coming, so the classes have not been solidified yet. As of this week, there were only two freshmen classes with 60 students in each, and I taught one of them. Next week there will be another one with 50 coming in. Then the week after that, I was told that these three classes will be reorganized into four classes, and I will be teaching three of them. What does this all mean? It means some the students I taught this week may not end up being my students, and vice versa. Some will have missed one week of class.

I walked into a big class this past week. I asked how many students were supposed to be in this class, and they said 60. But I counted around 80! Since I didn't have the roster, I had no clue who were supposed to be there and who weren't. Where did the other 20 come from? How do you teach speaking to a class of 80 students? You try your best, I guess. My goal for the first week was just introduction, getting to know each other, loosening them up, creating a fun and non-threatening environment, and encouraging them to open their mouths. There were some students that understood virtually everything I said, and some were just totally in the dark. Who do I aim at? What do I do, what do I do? This is probably the most challenging thing for me.

Class started at 1pm. Each period was 50 minutes. I taught 3 periods. There was a 10 minute break between second and third periods. So I calculated that class should end at 3:40pm. When it was 3:40pm, I didn't hear the bell ring and wondered if I did the calculation right. So I asked the students what time class was supposed to be over, and they all shook their heads saying they didn't know. I then went for 10 more minutes and told them it was time to go. They packed up their bags but still sat there, so I asked them what they were waiting for? I finally motioned with my arms and shooed them out of the classroom. Here are two pictures of the class.