Learning Curves at 4:02 AM

So, I got an email from a guy at China Horizons (the group that set me up at my school) and he wanted to make a newsletter and asked me to write about something significant that had happened to me in China. So I wrote this.


So the first day I taught an English class in China things had worked out in such a way that I only had to teach one class (That'll never happen again). So I head for my class and I'm feeling pretty confident, I mean, how hard can it be to teach my native language right? Wrong. I got to class and got started and for the most part, those kids caught maybe 20 or 30% percent of my lesson. I figured I had landed somewhere between "These kids don't understand enough English to learn" and "I have zero English teaching skills". I consider that first lesson to be a dismal failure. Probably one of the bigger failures in the last few years.  I went home and sat on my couch and zoned into what I call "Sam mode," where there is no interaction, only deep thought and all I could think about was how if my teaching level was where I thought it was (Level 0), and if all my classes are like this one, then my time in China is going to be pretty rough. So I decided it was time to ramp up my learning curve. I started plowing into this book I bought about how to teach english as a second language and was surprised at how much I could learn in a short amount of time. Now most of my classes have actually been amazing. I love these kids and am impressed with how much English they know, but that first day really spurred me into a different mindset while I'm here. I want to improve myself now and give these kids everything I can in the little time I have with them, and now that I feel that way I can recognize significant development in myself even in the last few days.
Now during the first week at Yongzhou #1 middleschool, I gave each class I taught some class rules and one of the rules I gave to them was, "It is good to make mistakes." I made them all repeat it and explain it to me to make sure they understood. About my third day I asked why it is important to make mistakes (ask this every class).  One of my students gave me an answer that dropped my jaw. He said, "Failure is the mother of success" (in English). I have no idea where that proverb comes from, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that this was true for my students AND for me.
To make a long story short (too late I know), China has been a paradigm shift for me. I'm usually the kind of kid who won't try until he knows he can kick butt. But, failure is the mother of success. So just like I want my kids to try english and make mistakes, I will study and then do the same. I will try, and I will make mistakes and learn. I'll do this when I teach, and when I speak Chinese, and in a lot of other areas of my life. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy here.

I'm going to try to put up another post tomorrow. Hopefully I can pull off adding pictures
Thanks again for the emails. You guys are great.
If the last two sentences make you feel guilty, here is my email address.
Gadiandi@gmail.com
=)