After only about
a month of time at home I found that my life was falling into a dangerous
pattern of routine. Knowing that I
likely had several more months ahead of me consisting of similar happenings did
nothing to improve my outlook.
Understandably, these combined factors started to create disillusionment
in my life which is something that I never like to feel. Fortunately for me, I was to learn that there
was in fact a great opportunity for professional growth around the corner.
In late August,
I was extremely pleased to learn that the Minnetonka School system was
interested in meeting me in person regarding their Chinese Immersion
program. By this time in my maturation I
was pretty confident in my ability to communicate orally in Mandarin
Chinese. Knowing this made me all the
more willing to accept their invitation to learn more about the program at
Minnetonka.
After our
formative meeting I know that there was a unique opportunity for me within the
district. One trait which all humans
pursue is feeling valued for their work.
Knowing that I was in fact valued for my novel experience and skills
made me very interested in the program at Minnetonka. Only later did the paradox of my situation
enter into my consciousness. It is still
strange to think that I came home to America to teach Chinese to American
students; whereas, I come to China to teach English to Chinese students.
In all honesty,
I was really excited about getting the opportunity to test out my Chinese back
home in a professional environment. I
was also excited to witness and reflect upon the differences in current
educational pedagogy, student behaviors, and content material between the
United States and China. Since both the
ages of students and the content material are vastly different between
countries and jobs it is clearly not wise to make presumptive statements
without mentioning the limits of comparison.
In my opinion,
teaching in both places offer unique challenges and opportunities for personal
growth as a teacher. I was really
impressed by the knowledge and abilities of my middles schools students in the
United States; whereas, I am equally impressed by the discipline and elevated
position learning holds in China.
Did I ever meet
disciplined students who really valued their education in the United
States? Of course I did meet disciplined
students during my time teaching back home.
Where there creative students how had a lot of potential in the
classroom in China? Naturally I have also
met many gifted and talented students in China as well.
To me, this is
where the value of experience positively impacts a determined learner looking
to improve their professional knowledge.
In summary, I found that no one situation did all of the stereotypes,
biases, and prejudices actually end up true.
What this tells me is that a person who is determined to learn from
their experiences must take careful notes and observations. Too often humans think that things are so
obvious or redundant in life. This has
the negative effect of leading some people to the outcome that life is quite
banal and uninteresting. To me, there
could be nothing further from the truth than this, and throughout my life
experience has taught me to always be observant of the minor similarities and
differences between occurrences.
Overall, I know
that I benefited greatly both professionally and academically during my time
working in Minnetonka's Chinese Immersion program. I relished the opportunity to learn from
tried professionals who were already well-versed in the difficulties of
teaching in a foreign language. Since I
had no prior experience working in an immersion setting back home I knew that
this was going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to learn from this
experience; therefore, I took notes often, asked a lot of questions, and tried
my best to challenge myself throughout my time as a Chinese
para-assistant.
The three months
that I worked at the school district really flew by for me. During that period of time I learned a lot
and always tried to come to class with the attitude of the learning
enthusiast.
I am
really indebted to the district for this opportunity and look forward to
hearing more about the Chinese Immersion program as it grows in the
future. At the end of my time in China I
may walk through those school doors once more in pursuit of a full-time
position with the program.
No comments:
Post a Comment