Teaching by Principles

After scanning those crucial chapters like "The Four Teaching Skills," I am befuddled by some of its " VAGUE" and "IMPALPABLE" teaching doctrines, for I fail to find enough "CONCRETE METHODS" of teaching listening, speaking, reading, and writing in that book. Some of its teaching principles proposed by that savant are too general and dogmatic. For instance, as reading the chapter on " TEACHING WRITING," I expect that the author would have told me practical ways of teaching students how to indite a well-organized essay made up of "TOPIC SENTENCES," " SUPPORTING SENTENCES," and "CONCLUSIONS." Moreover, I anticipate that he'd have revealed me some tree diagrams, through which students can undergo logical training and learn how to put all the relevant ideas into a coherent essay. Much to my chagrin, nevertheless, this Teaching Bible doesn't come up to my expectations. It only tells us to bear in mind "the differences between composing and writing," "Process and Product," Contrastive Rhetoric," and "the Role of the Teacher," when we are teaching writing. These doctrines, I think, might not be of great use in a virtual writing class, because what I need is not so much the ethereal theories or jargons as the constructive teaching skills or activities. After flicking through part of this book, I am very curious to know why Professor Douglas Brown, who writes that book, is acclaimed by many Taiwanese teachers as a leading authority in English pedagogy.

To go, or not to go; that's a question.

I am confronted with a dilemma of obeying or brushing off my superior's mandate. My superior, the chief leader of the Office of Students' Affairs, asked me to participate in the jobs of Examinations Production Facilities (基測闈場), where I would be imprisioned for 21 days from May 13 to May 27. She told me that it was a good administrative experience that not everyone could enjoy, so she urged me to cherish this chance and take this challenging job. As far as I am concerned, I do desire to have an experience of being incarcerated in the Examinations Production Facilities, for I will not just get handsome emoluments (more than NT$10,000) through this job but also observe the precedures of producing test papers or other administrative tasks. This kind of experience, I believe, might be helpful to my teachers' examinations. However, there are two reasons that make me falter. First, I must ask for a long leave in my tutoring jobs if I do take part in the job of "Basic Competence Test for Junior High School Students." I worry my aunts will be incensed at my absence, and then they will air their grievances to my mother, who will in turn chide me for my negligence. Second, I might lose some chances of taking the teachers' exams provided I do work in that examination facilities. I am now in a quandary over whether I should go or not. This kind of feeling is really annoying.

Indolence

Terribly assailed by several bouts of somnolence this lovely morning whose azure sky could invigorate a man's pensive mood, I found it hard to submerge myself in my GRE vocabulary, Teaching Bible, TIME, or THE ECONOMIST. Giving up my studies, I tried to read Buddha's Scriptures in the dingy office, where the vociferous sounds of those staffs and students were able to engulf the small space. But, again, Morpheus seemed to lay his hand on me, propelling me to take an excursion with him, so I apologized to Buddha for my indolence and switched to do something else. I started to think of that lovely damsel, imagining that she dated with me and that we frolicked in a beautiful meadow. However, this whimsical thought didn't last for a long time because a sense of uncertainty and insecurity intruded into my fragile heart whenever I worried she would harshly reject me. After making several unsuccessful attempts to resist against my somnolence, I rummaged around in my pocket, took out my cell phone, sent a text message to Mary, and asked her if she's willing to have lunch with me next Friday afternoon. I can't ascertain whether she will deign to dine with me, but I'll feel exhilarated if she grants my request. Now, my watch shows me 11:05 a.m., and that means I need to feed something to my stomach.

Teaching "INVERSION"

An affable, convivial, and enthusiastic English teacher at Second High, Ms. Jing-yi Ma, whole-heartedly invited me to observe her teaching a grammatical demon entitled "Inversion," a complicated grammar which sometimes obfuscates students who do not have an excellent command of English. Her exceptional pedagogy, which embodied at least three striking characteristics, was deeply etched in my mind. Well-organized handouts and systematical teaching procedure, first and the foremost, were her sharp teaching ammunition that was able to rout a lot of callow teachers. The ways she lectured the grammar was always transparent and riveting to her students. For example, this creative teacher applied some protagonists derived from Jin-yung's novels to her teaching. She ingeniously classified "Inversion" into three groups, called "Wu-dang Pai (武當派)," "2-may Pai (峨嵋派)," and "Gai-bang Pai (丐幫派)," through which students were not only willing to pay attention to her lecture but also unconsciously mesmerized by these funny terms. No redundancy, I think, was her second teaching weapon. She articulated her MAIN POINTS without hesitancy, clearly conveying the usage of that grammar as a teaching machine. Once she desisted teaching one particular section, she would never reiterate that which she had mentioned. Provided students raised their hands begging her to repeat again, they would be severely reprehended and lambasted for their absent-mindedness. Owing to her strident broadside and sternness, most of her students dare not play chess with Morpheus in class; instead, they would devote all of their energy to their study for fear of being castigated. Cooperative teaching methodology, of which I was deeply appreciative, was her third armament. In lieu of asking students to squeeze grammatical rules into their minds, this English-teaching authority, who has won the accolade of many professors at NTNU, enjoyed encouraging students to generate some sentences spontaneously by using "Inversion." As students made grammatical mistakes ( i.e., Student: Never I saw her again), they would be rectified immediately (i.e., Teacher: Never did I see her again). Moreover, they were assigned to memorize some simple "INVERSION" sentences after school, and they would be given a quizz the next day morning. If they failed to write down the correct sentences, that austere teacher would tell on them to their parents, asking their parents to pay more attention their indolent kids' studies.