First Week of Classes

The night before and the morning of my first class I got pretty anxious. Dressed in my Sunday best, I made the five minute walk to the building I would be teaching at and walked into the hustle and bustle of my classroom. As soon as I walked in, the room came to a hush besides some whispers and giggles. I look at the faces of my first class and there are about has 25 grinning, giggling, faces while there are also about 5 that appear indifferent. That's 25 girls and 5 boys if you were wondering. As I've mentioned before, the girls at my school look incredibly young, and the girls in my class are no different.

The first class goes surprisingly well. I introduced myself, laid out some expectations for the class on both an individual and group basis, had the students introduce themselves. I asked each student to tell me their Chinese name and their English names (most already have both.) One girl introduced her English name as Laura, but said, "You can call me Potato."

In talking with other Drake teachers, many of the Chinese have chosen English names that are...unique. Willie said that two of his students were named "Monkey" and both said their favorite food were bananas. Another one of Willie's was named "Darkness." In my experiences so far, there has been "Pudding," "Oscar," "Lemon,", "Echo" and "Hammy." I thought Hammy's name was particularly funny because she was a short, stout girl, who's smile revealed a bright row of braces. She said that a Drake teacher last year had chosen the name for her! But then I talked to the Drake teacher and she said she had given the girl two choices, and the girl chose Hammy. It's not uncommon to hear girls with boy names. I had a female "Justin" in one of my classes today. I guess whatever floats their boat...

I then asked the students to help me make a list of topics they would like to discuss this semester concerning American Culture (I am teaching Oral English with an emphasis on American Culture.) Two different girls both said that they would like to know how to improve on their ping pong skills. I'm not sure how that relates to either Oral English or American Culture, but I told them I would do what I can.

Strangely enough, there were two girls in one of my classes who claimed to be merely auditing the class because they "had heard I was teaching it." One went on to say that I "had a very beautiful way of speaking." Things are getting a little strange...

Also, in my last class of the week today, I walked in and there was a collective "ooohh" and "aaahhh" from all the girls.

In each of my classes so far. I've been asked for my contact information by at least one girl, and following the advice of others, I have told my students only to contact me during my office hours in the same building...

Now I walk around campus and girls from my classes will say "Hello" and "Hi Josh" to me. Now I guess I know what it's like to be the teacher that all the girls have a crush on.

- Josh