Observing Kristy Perry's Teaching Process

         
    On both Wednesday and Thursday mornings, from 9 a.m to 10:45 a.m, I observed the teaching processes of Kristy Perry, a very interesting ethnic teacher who would laugh from time to time during the lessons, and I think I have learned a lot from her in the two lessons.
    The first thingI have learned is involving students in speaking by preparing for them very personal questions.  In the first lesson,  she first asked her students from different countries to use a questionaire she had given to them and change partners, so that they could get to know more clasmates. I had a chance to get a glimpse of the questions prepared by Kristy for her students, such as "Where are you from?", "What is your name?", "What do you love about yourself?", "What is the greatest fear in your life?",etc.
    The second thing I have learned is the oral presentation work. She  asked each of them to present the interesting things they have found out about one person they had interviewed to. These two activities involved all the students in speaking and listening and also their persosnal opinions of each other, the second task made the whole class get to know better about each other.
 

    She even encouraged her student to ask her personal questions, and when she was asked "What is your greatest fear in life?" She told them it was fire and she told the reason with her own life experience, which was very interesting, and the atmosphere she created was lively and intimate.
    The third thing I have learned is the reading practice in class and then ask students to explain the new words and the content of the passage they have read.
    As for me, I seldom ask my students to read in class. I often assign them reading tasks outside the class. Maybe I should try this teaching style when I get back home.
    But what impressed me most in the first lesson was her metaphorical explanation of the grammar and writing skills teaching.
    To illustrate Dependent Clause, and Independent Clause, she compared them to a dependent child and an independent Child, the former can not live alone, she or her must live with her or his parents, while the latter can live independently from her or his parents. A vivid illustration, indeed. I believe every student can understand the use of these two kinds of clauses.
 
    As for the basic writing skills, she asked students about the structure of paragraph writing, beginning, body and conclusion. Then she asked them the meaning of each of them, always getting them involved.
    she drew a conclusion about the function of using a topic sentence to control their ideas.
    She asked students questions about the meaning of a topic sentence, getting them to think about it, then writing down a general sentence to illustrate what is a topic sentence: Cats make wonderful pets.
    She underlineed "Cats" and "Wonderful pets" separately, and below the underlined parts, she wrote the word "Topic" and "Controlling Idea" separately. I am sure everyone has grasped the simple way of writing a topic sentence and basic paragraph writing.
    She also asked them about the meaning of body and conclusion."Body", composed of at least three sentences to support thee topic sentence, and conclusion, your ideas about the topic.
     By constantly asking questions, she got them constantly involved and set them thingking quickly and making responses in class.
    About homework assignment, she asked students to read a short story entitled "The New Negro", from a book entitled Growing Up Ethnnic in America and to find out about the background information of the story, the American Civil Rights movement.
    The second lesson Kristy gave focussed on the study of the short story assigned to the students the previous day.
    At the beginning of the class, Kristy wrote several phrases on the blackboard--The Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jogn F. Kennedy, Rosa Parks, and Malcohm X. She asked students to tell what they know about them.
    These questions are vital to understanding the text and Afro-American culture.
    A boy from Italy seemed to know the answers to the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy. The other students may know a little about Martgin Luther King and J. F. Kennedy, but they never heard of Malcolm X.
Nor did I about Malcohm X.
    Kristy asked students questions about Martin Luther King, his role in the Civil Rights movement, his famous speech "I Have a Dream" and explained the content of this famous speech, suggesting their reading the speech. She also asked about Martin Luther King's philosophy. A white girl from Russia offered the correct answer--nonviolence.
    Then Kristy began to ask students questions about some typical American black people's language, "What is the meaning of the dark blue blazers?" This presented a challenge to me too. She explained the meaning of it. She also asked about the meaning of a "New Frontier", and when students failed to come up with the answer, she had to explain again.
    I learned a great deal from her lessons. The mixture of old knowldge and new challenges about the American history, the typical African American language, their life and aspirations, enriched my knowledge. I felt I am really an ignorant student in her class. My knowledge of the English languange is very Limited.
 

    Her mention of her shcock at American sitting President Barack Obama's victory in the Democratic Candidate Campaign over Hillary Clinton impressed me a great deal. She said she had thought the American people would love to see a white woman in Presidency rather than a black man, but she was wrong.
    I thought of the text I chose to teach my non-English majors two years ago. It was written by the first black American Congress woman. The very title of the essay is "I'd be black than a Female", and I admired the black Afro-American woman very much for her insight into the human nature--lack of trust for women politicians.
    I learned that her choice of the book and the short story has something to do with her racial background. But it aslo acquaints students from different cultural and racial backgrounds with the American history, especially the history of the Afro-American people.
 

    After I talked about the things I have learned from Kristy last Thursday, in Room 014, Carrie suggested to the wholebody of Group A that we should choose the materials that we are good at. I like her idea. It is true. If you were not good at the materials you are going to teaach your students, how could you convince your students of the quality and beauty of the them?
    Communication with Carrie in class is really profitable, too.
 

    I know many of my colleagues don't have the freedom that I have in choosing the materials to teach my stdents. I am fortunate enough to be given the freedom because I teach Advanced English for Non-English Majors and English Majors on the subject of Appreciation of Works in English.