Prompt: “Technology”
It allows me to talk to people on the other side of the world in real time, “face to face.” Having been born mid 20th Century when I had to write letters to my cousins in CA or pay for an expensive long-distance phone call, this advancement in technology is thrilling to me.
Prompt: “A Personality Trait of Yours”
Empathy
My students tell me I should have been a therapist.
When someone gets hurt physically, even characters in movies/TV, I get an electric shock type of feeling in my body that is very unpleasant.
I soak up the mood of people surrounding me and feel it conforming me instead of just observing it.
Prompt: “A Life Lesson”
“When you’re nervous about stepping outside of your comfort zone, remind yourself:
‘It feels scary because it’s unfamiliar, not because I’m incapable.'”
Mitchell C. Clark
Prompt: “An Ability of Yours”
Ability doesn’t equal skill or expertise, correct? I read this example: I have the ability to run. True for me that I’m physically able. I have the proficiency to run because proficiency relates to experience/skill. Also true for me because I’ve run many miles in my lifetime. I do not have the capability to run a marathon because I have not trained. The most true of all. At this moment, I would not be capable of running 26.2 miles.
I would say all of those apply to me.
In this sense, I have the amateur (for love, not with great skill) ability to:
Run
Decorate cakes
Write
Make creative holiday or party events
I have a knack (intuition?) for:
Remembering lyrics of 70s music
Recalling Bible verses but not verbatim
Receiving/sending messages to people who are also contacting me or thinking about me (they say)
Chatting with strangers (this is my job, actually)
Writing
Zero ability:
Math, except I constantly count things
Drive with ease on the interstate
I believe I might have had my last class with a Chinese student, and the company canceled my class mid-class due to IT issues. The student could not see me. Despite this impediment and not being paid, I taught the entire class so that the student would benefit. Before class ever started this morning, I saw that his other classes which were booked for this month had been canceled. They were canceled before there was an IT issue, so I’m taking it as a sign that this is indeed the cut off date for teaching students in mainland China.
I will miss you, China! The good news is, the company has launched a global initiative to tutor children living in other countries. This might mean, if I’m retained and invited, that I could be teaching during regular daytime hours and not so early every time.
In the meantime, I have the other little gig to do if I choose (tutoring adults on line).
This sweet little four-year-old girl (“K”) whom I taught this morning will be one of my last Chinese students, due to new regulations from the Chinese Ministry of Education. I’ve been tutoring online since February, but rumor has it that October 1 is the last date for all American teachers. It is hard to say goodbye. (To some, that is. ha ha.)
This child brings her stuffed “Fishy” to class every time to interact with my giraffe puppet. Giraffe often teaches Fishy for the entire lesson. Fishy is pretty smart, but he takes LOTS of potty breaks (“Fishy is going to the TOILET!”) which always gets a laugh from Giraffe and K. Sometimes I teach K’s bare foot or giant eye or hand; sometimes I teach a blank screen with her voice in the background telling me all kinds of things that have nothing to do with the lesson at all. Can you imagine any 4 year old American child that you know speaking to an adult in a second language for 25 minutes? Think of how fast her little brain is processing my words into her language then recalling the English words for the Chinese words and then proclaiming the new sentences with lots of expression and confidence. This. is. amazing.
I will miss her and her older brother, “S.” One of the best lessons I ever taught (most fun, most productive) was with S: “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” My wolf puppet was the STAR of that show!
Here we are howling goodbye to each other.
Well, “goodbye” is an appropriate place to end this post. I have a couple of other favorites I want to remember this way. I wonder if someday when they are adults, the millions of Chinese children taught by tens of thousands of American teachers will remember our smiling faces, props, puppets, etc., and think, “Some Americans I have known are very, very nice.”
Goodbye K and S!
One Hoosier Life 