Well, the semesters just seem to keep rolling around! Here we are, winter and almost Christmas and the end of another semester.
I and my students had a lot of fun exploring the intricacies and lunacies of the English language, while I gained a deeper understanding of some of their cultures and customs. This teaching is definitely a two-way process: I try to help them navigate living here while using another language, and they show me (and the rest of the class) what it’s like in other parts of the world. At the end of the semester we tend to be a fairly close bunch and sometimes quite personal insights are shared.
This week a few of the students and I met at a local coffee shop, Paradiso, for a farewell get-together. It was a small group, but a lot of fun—the extremely cold weather (a high temperature of only 15F, or minus 9C, with a very strong wind to add insult to injury) kept some of them at home, plus a few (or their spouses) had exams. Thanks all, and Happy Holidays to all!
(Below inside Paradiso, from left to right: Wen Shao, Nam-byoung, Afarin, me, Noori, Po-chien, Diego)
(Below, outside Paradiso, from left to right: me, Afarin, Noori, Wen Shao, Po-chien, Nam-byoung, Diego)
Whether you’re teaching English, or just giving experience of speaking the language (as we do at Vaughantown) it’s usually a two-way exchange, for a good method is to get your students to stand up and talk about … whatever; their families, homes, jobs, or interests.