Teach English in Laozhou Zhen - Anqing Shi

Establishing RapportStudents will often have a love/hate relationship with School and University. Students will most defintely love their teacher or hate them. Why would a teacher hate their teacher? Well, for many reasons. He?s boring, and he puts everyone to sleep. He speaks in a droll, monotone voice. And worst of all, he?s mean, gives off bad vibes, and doesn?t make an effort to connect with his students. This is a big problem for both the student and the teacher. Though it?s been forever since I?ve been in school and university, I can fondly remember all the teachers I?ve had in the past that I dearly love. I tend to remember them vividly, because they?ve left an impression on me, and learning under them was a pleasure. There?s a handfull of teachers that I remember enjoying their classes, and in each of their classes, I can defintely remember that I had passing grades in them. Mr. Musgrave was my junior year High School History teacher. He was a big man, with a thick full beard, that spoke in a matter-of-fact manner. I remember the first day of his class, I felt that he was like one of my favorite uncles. I didn?t realize it at the time, but I remember he wasted no time telling us about his hobbies, or his interests. In his case, he loved to discuss movies, as did I. What did movies have to do with History class? Perhaps not alot. Sometimes he?d bring up a movie that might have something to do with the topic of the day. Other times, he?d just talk about movies before class, and I?d be there discussing it with him. He even loved photography, and used to show us his new digital camera. But, the point is, I loved going to his class every day. The class with start out with random talking, or a movie discussion. And then he?d say, ?Ok, let?s get right onto the lesson...?. We?d all give him our undivided attention. History could be a boring subject. But somehow he managed to get us engrossed to whatever he was going to teach. Unfortunately I don?t remember his name, but I had a fantastic philosophy teacher back in my first year of college. I remember we had a classroom full of different types of people. There were students fresh out of high school, and older adults just trying to get more education. And we all had different backgrounds. Yet somehow, after the first class, every student was interacting with each other, and having a good time doing it. How did this happen? I like to think our teacher had a great deal of reason behind it. He was a young man in his 30?s, easy going, smart, and talked on our level. He even seemed like a brother. After making his introductions, we made ours, and the rest is history. Everyone wanted to be in that class, every week, and we were learning. He certainly knew what he was talking about, and he made the subject the most intriuging subjec,t next to music, for me. I even asked him to write a Letter of Recommendation. I could go on forever, but then there?s the other side: The mean teachers. The strict ones. The teachers who seemed so impatient, so old fashioned, so unlikable. Most often than naught, I could definitely remember not having good grades in their classes. My 8th grade teacher, Ms Sullivan, was an old, dusty, crotchety woman. I have nothing against old teachers, mind you. I?ve had plenty of old teachers that I remember who were great. But this lady didn?t make learning fun. Now that I mention her, I could tell she was tired. Perhaps, tired of us young, misbehaved kids. She?d teach the lesson, yet I haven?t really retained anything she taught. Then again, she taught math, which isn?t my best subject. She didn?t make the subject fun, and none of us wanted to be there. And just to let you know, I?ve taken an algebra course in high school, and I remember loving it, because our teacher was this sweetheart, middle aged woman. I absoluely loved her class. And then there was the business teacher from college, a big, old, english man, with the dullest personality out of them all. He was very old fashioned, strict, sour, and was like an unfunny John Cleese. Or even duller Alfred Hitchcock. I don?t really remember him trying to get to know us. I remember him making a big deal out of a student being late, giving us all guilt trips. I don?t remember any laughter, or any smiles. I think I passed his class though. Teachers these days, cannot be like the last two examples I gave. Students, young and old, don?t want to be in that enviroment. It makes learning hard, and unexciting. It doesn?t motivate me to go to class early, or work hard on my assignments. It?s as if there only there for the paycheck, or to just get the day over with. They?ve made no effort to establish rapport with the students. If there is no rapport, how will we want to be in that class? When I have a teacher who starts the day with him asking how I am, it is extremely heartwarming. Why should he care how my day is? Because he simply does. He wants to be in that class with us, he wants to get to know us, and he wants to teach us. When a teacher takes me aside to just chat, it makes me happy. If I have a problem, a good teacher isn?t going to scold me, but he?s going to do everything in his power to help me . When students and teachers have good rapport with each other, the rest is literally history. Teachers are able to do their job, and students are doing theirs also, learning. And at the same time, they are enjoying each other?s company, and the student is enjoying school. School is supposed to be fun. And people should enjoy and love what they do. In this case, Teachers should love what they do.