Jay K.
Ep.36 Learn to be an Excellent Teacher; Act as an Exemplary Person
It’s been a while since I wrote the last episode (or letter). I’ve been busy lately. I am taking five courses this semester; two from the school of government and other three from the language school. I’m also taking a HSK prep school on weekends. It takes a whole weekend because the class starts at 10am and ends at 5pm for both Saturday and Sunday. I am so glad that the four weeks program will be over this weekend, but I will be still busy on weekends for different reasons.
I am not actually busy because of these classes. I am busy meeting people. I am happy that I made lots of friend last semester so that I have so many friends to meet this semester, but I have to say that it is tiring sometimes. The only problem is that sometimes I don’t have time to go to the gym or to study because of meeting people. So I decided not to make more friends this semester and just try to keep friendships that I found last semester. Of course I am not going to reject people…
[I went to this park in Chaoyang District last Saturday]
Another thing keeps me busy these days, which is also my topic for this episode. I started to tutor a friend who is a year younger than me. I got to know her in my political science class. She is a Korean international student at PKU. We meet three times a week for 2 hours. This is only the second week that I started tutoring her. Actually, I was supposed to tutor her tonight, but she canceled it because she got sick. It pays me pretty well, but not because price/hour is high but because I do 6 hours a week. I tutor her English.
I am also tutoring another friend but not getting paid for it. I might also tutor another friend on weekends when my HSK prep school’s over. I don’t know why I started to tutor so many people all of sudden. I just want to help friends who want to learn English and I personally like to teach. Moreover, I believe as teaching English to them, I think I will better my English too.
I am not a native speaker, so things I can teach are limited. Nonetheless, I think myself is adequate enough for teaching them, because first their English level is not that high and second I also have experience learning English as a second language so I know what difficulties they have.
The tutoring is going fine actually; sometimes I have hard time explaining some stuff and I sometimes don’t know some words, but for the most time I am doing well. Tutoring my students English actually reminds me of my own tutors.
[This is a luxurious outside shopping mall in China]
“学为人师、行为世范” was the precept of Beijing Normal University where I took a summer school last summer. It means in English: “Learn to be an Excellent Teacher; Act as an Exemplary Person”. Beijing Normal University was used to be a specialized college for training teachers. I’m sure in every country there is an old saying that stresses the importance of having a good teacher. I am actually lucky having awesome tutors in my life.
If you are a junior high or high school student, it is very common to get a tutor or go to a cram school in Korea. I didn’t go to any cram school when I was in Korea, but had few tutors. I had an English tutor right before I was coming to the States. Then, I didn’t know that I would come to the States. I just studied high school English with my tutor. I wasn’t really interested in studying English at that time because it wasn’t any fun. Before I didn’t know why I need to learn how much an American quarter worth.
If I look back, I actually learned a lot from that tutor. She taught me basic pronunciations and grammars that were so useful once I started to live in the States. Because I learned so much during the first year of studying in the States, I often overlook the importance of what I learned before I came to the States. Perhaps I could learn fast in the States because of her, my tutor. She was a truly good tutor. I regret that I lost a contact with her as I was leaving Korea. I really want to meet her again and show her how much better my English is now.
The tutor I met in the States was also an excellent tutor. His name is Ronald, and he is a Chinese American. Ron was preparing for a med-school and he is actually in med-school right now. He is a really nice person. He taught me not only English, but also many life lessons. I had hard time when I first came to the States. I had some tough family problems that first year, and he helped me through many ways. Of course, he was paid to tutor me, but he wasn’t paid to take me to the museums, restaurants and so on. In other words, he wasn’t paid to be my friend.
Ron was not a tutor—he was a mentor for me. The first year in the States, what I needed was not only learning English, but also finding mental peace. I don’t know how to thank for this and how to express how much I owe him. He also helped me a lot academically. He helped me with homework and writing college applications. If it wasn’t him, I am sure I could’ve not got into Cal. I was really lucky to have him as my tutor.
I don’t even want to bother mentioning other school teachers who helped me a lot during the first year. It will take forever to thank them all through this essay.
I also met a good tutor here. Her name is Sandy. She is really nice, but only problem is that she doesn’t want to study. She just wants to hang out with me, which is also fine. I am sure I don’t know what I’m learning right know from her, but later I will realize later.
Being a tutor myself, now I understand my tutors a bit. I hope that I also become like my tutors. My student will study abroad in New Zealand later (that’s why she is learning English from me). I hope when she goes there she remembers what I taught her and thanks me. But I know that I am still not good enough in many aspects to be a good tutor. I guess I still need to learn to be “an excellent teacher”!
to see more pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamadreamer/sets/72157615555077578/
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