Uncomfortable

Today was the first day that I taught a class alone. There is just one catch:

I’d never had this class before. Instead of older English teachers, they were a new class of students. Some middle school , but mainly university. Now their English was very good, but I had a bad feeling when walked into the room…

And the girls started giggling and whispering.

Did I mention that 90% of the room was girls?

In my almost 22 years on this earth, I fear a few things. One is girls when they giggle and whisper.

Did I say fear? I meant I get really uncomfortable.

So I taught the class. It wasn’t my best one, but that’s how we learn. On the schedule was a dumb song, “Scarborough Fair.” Man, I can hardly SAY Scarborough, let alone teach it. I listened to it, looked at it, and realized I did not want to teach that.

So I didn’t.

But that left me with some extra time. So I have a “filler” activity up my sleeve: I ask them questions. It gets them talking in English. The one I have used so far is: “Where in China would you like to visit and why?” I tell you what, I’ve learned a lot about different places in China from this. This activity went very well because these folks were not afraid to talk. We then went into English Corner where there is one foreign teacher to maybe 6 – 8 participants. This is their time to ask questions. It’s very fun and I’ve been asked some really great questions. Today things started out with, “Do you have many wolves where you are from in Alaska?”

I’ll be honest, I was a bit taken aback.

So far the class has been good, right? Nothing too bad. English Corner went very well.

But then the class ended. I was asked several times for my email, which I gave out. However, at this point, something inside me was unsettled. Perhaps it was the severe paranoia that my brother has instilled in me about electronic things. Something didn’t set well with giving my email out, so I decided to make a separate email to give people. So I now have a third email account on gmail.

After this, I had a few more photos (I think I’m past 10 now). Two gals asked for a photo, and I really didn’t want to do it IN the class, so we went into the hall and took the photo. Afterwards, the conversation went something like this:

Girl 1: “I think you are very handsome.”
Me: “Uh, thank you. You are too kind to me.” (The Chinese are very modest, so I was trying to act Chinese throughout this. It fit)
Girl 2: “Me too!”
Me: “Oh, uh, no no, you are too kind.” (I may have been looking for the exit at this point)
Girl 1 looks me dead in the eye: “I am telling the truth.”
Me: “Oh, thank you, you are too kind to me. I must go. Have a good day!” (In the middle of this, I was walking away slowly)

At this point I headed for the door VERY quickly. I think I was blushing. And stammering. And VERY uncomfortable. Luckily, on the way out, I ran into another of my team.

What have I learned from this? The Chinese are VERY indirect about somethings…

And very direct about others.