Why Always Me?
So on the first day of class last semester, the teacher asked me to go sit in front of the whole class while they solicited me with questions. First day, new teacher I've never met, and the most familiar I am with anybody in the class is Sara, who I'd met during our entrance ceremony.
So I'm sitting in front of the whole class of about 17, shaking with nervous anticipation - the bad kind, if there's any question in your mind - and the first question I get comes from Yabari. See that link for more info, but it basically ended up with me sitting in front of the class looking like an idiot for fifteen minutes while responding to questions with about as much fluency as my little sister reading a physics textbook. She's 8 years old, by the way... I think...
So today, the teacher wants us to individually volunteer to get up and do and do pretty much what I did the first semester. Of course, nobody volunteers.
Naturally, she picks me to go up to the front of the room and talk. But not for fifteen minutes this time. No, no, no. She just waited until she got bored of asking me questions.
To start with, she asked if I liked sweets, which is like... Well, I like sweets, anyway. After we talked about where you can buy what, and what temples are involved, and how to get there via the train system I haven't used in months, we went on further and someone asked what else I know about Kyoto.
Ten minutes and two maps later, "What other hobbies do you have?"
Ten minutes and probably a diagram or two later, "Where are you from? America, was it?"
Three minutes and a very rectangular map of the US and Washington later...
And this went on for upwards of an hour. Sometimes, it was kind of cool, and I totally got to make maps and diagrams, and we basically spent an hour of the class with me teaching the class a little bit about almost all of my interests. At times when I found my vocabulary particularly lacking, it got a little embarrassing.
Here's my best blunder of the day that I can recall:
宇宙引っ越し うちゅうひっこうし (uchuu hikkoushi) "Change residence to space"
宇宙飛行士 うちゅうひこし (uchuu hikoushi) "Space pilot"
I also got to talk to a math teacher for a while, who strongly recommended I not take his class because it was too easy. That's weird for me. That's like someone telling me not to take a kanji class because I know them too well or something. Shocking, anyway.
Oh, and I got full points on a kanji test today. Also shocking.
Oh, and I think I finally figured out how to cook gyouza and make it come out right.
Despite the title of this post, all in all, today was pretty good.
So I'm sitting in front of the whole class of about 17, shaking with nervous anticipation - the bad kind, if there's any question in your mind - and the first question I get comes from Yabari. See that link for more info, but it basically ended up with me sitting in front of the class looking like an idiot for fifteen minutes while responding to questions with about as much fluency as my little sister reading a physics textbook. She's 8 years old, by the way... I think...
So today, the teacher wants us to individually volunteer to get up and do and do pretty much what I did the first semester. Of course, nobody volunteers.
Naturally, she picks me to go up to the front of the room and talk. But not for fifteen minutes this time. No, no, no. She just waited until she got bored of asking me questions.
To start with, she asked if I liked sweets, which is like... Well, I like sweets, anyway. After we talked about where you can buy what, and what temples are involved, and how to get there via the train system I haven't used in months, we went on further and someone asked what else I know about Kyoto.
Ten minutes and two maps later, "What other hobbies do you have?"
Ten minutes and probably a diagram or two later, "Where are you from? America, was it?"
Three minutes and a very rectangular map of the US and Washington later...
And this went on for upwards of an hour. Sometimes, it was kind of cool, and I totally got to make maps and diagrams, and we basically spent an hour of the class with me teaching the class a little bit about almost all of my interests. At times when I found my vocabulary particularly lacking, it got a little embarrassing.
Here's my best blunder of the day that I can recall:
宇宙引っ越し うちゅうひっこうし (uchuu hikkoushi) "Change residence to space"
宇宙飛行士 うちゅうひこし (uchuu hikoushi) "Space pilot"
I also got to talk to a math teacher for a while, who strongly recommended I not take his class because it was too easy. That's weird for me. That's like someone telling me not to take a kanji class because I know them too well or something. Shocking, anyway.
Oh, and I got full points on a kanji test today. Also shocking.
Oh, and I think I finally figured out how to cook gyouza and make it come out right.
Despite the title of this post, all in all, today was pretty good.
posted by William at
9/24/2008 11:44:00 PM
4 Comments:
Awesome day! I mean...I know that being up in front of everyone had it's scary points, but you did it and that is fabulous! The teacher wouldn't have kept you doing that if it wasn't going well, I believe!
The math thing is cool, too. I recall mentioning you having intuitively good math skills and you not believing me or knowing what I was talking about.
Cool day!
Well, okay...except for the Yabari guy...so did you answer his question?
Actually, I can't wait to hear Komitadjie's recommendation for how to deal with that kind of question.
Hmmm, there'd be a GREAT direct answer to that one, and several indirect ones, but those would require more math than I'd care to put into something like that. Also some solid places to ricochet the rounds off of.
Sounds like a rather interesting way to start off class, actually, and congrats on the test!
I eventually kind-of-sort-of answered it, but the teacher recognized where I was going and was aiming for a light Q&A session, so he stopped me. Good thing, too, because the room consisted largely of Europeans who are wholly in favor of gun control.
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