Friday, March 14, 2014
Helpful Teaching Techniques
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Facing my own weakness in teaching 1
1. Uncontrolled presentation of passion. Ironically, my eagerness to communicate SS blinds me during a lesson. I tend to be beside myself when I'm nervous or having too much fun.
2. Limitation for image memorization. I cannot learn from visual input. Logic, abstraction, and language are tools for me when I acquire skills and knowledge. I am incapable of see what's going on in front of me without thinking, and imitate what I see (or hear) without analyzing or occupied with other thoughts. To be present is what I lack. There are some teaching skills that can be best learned seeing and imitating and makes them a routine. Such as the procedure of a lesson.
3. Carelessness and restlessness . I neglect paying attention to what my lesson appear to be. I don't care much for outfit and make-up I wear. WB writing is always messy. My talk is not smooth and doesn't sounds confident. I don't look calm as the way I move is absent minded. I don't hold a picture when SS have to look at it. SS will think that my teaching is not well prepared and I'm not a qualified teacher.
In class, i don't do what SS want me to do but what I want to do.
Teacher Training at ECC
Both training are eye-opening experiences. The reason is:
1. I got to know very ambitious charming women with talent and nice personality.
2. The instructor on Hojin Department, which offers lessons at office- made us realize precious nature of teaching profession. Joe the trainer showed us techniques for eliciting from SS and maximizing SS's learning. Expectation is growing that I may regain my passion for teaching.
3. Mick, the second trainer, showed techniques that make lesson flow. I also learned to memorize things with images. More than teaching skills, I appreciate the training and the failed test showed my weakness in the most clear way.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Bow to Where?
Monday, October 22, 2012
Choices of Dressing
Voices that Annoyed Me
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Welcome Back, Marie!
I was back in California for 10 Days from 1/23/2012 through 2/4/2010. The following is a journal on the second day of my trip.
The next day after I arrived in Bay Area, I had a short walk around a friend’s house in Sunnyvale. It was a fine clear morning. As chilly morning air made my mind clearer, I felt good. Looking up, there was a blue California Sky. The brisk wind said to me, "well come back." The sun, though it was too bright to face, hugged me. Yeah! I am in Bay Area again!
Houses with a larger garden. Higher trees trimmed not so neatly as in Japan. Streets with wide pedestrian roads. All looked totally different from the Japanese town I left a day ago. It’s not dense at all. Even the sky looked wider. I realized this opened scenery was I had been craving for.
It looked familiar. It stays all the same. In fact only one year and four months had passed. But it seemed to be much longer. Walking along the street was extraordinary but felt normal. I enjoyed conflictions. Different but familiar. Special and usual. Out of the rut but on the routine, as if I was in a parallel universe. I heard the clear voice in my mind. I still belong here.
As I walk to Sunnyvale Downtown, I started smiling. I felt my spine was straightened up. The shoulder stiffness had gone. As my chest opened more, the breathing got deeper and easier. I was inhaling freedom.
A man was jogging toward me. I smiled and said hello to him. So he did to me. I felt awkward but confident. In Japan, I tried hard to get rid of this greeting habit. It was like another me surged to take over the role to respond properly. This me had disappeared for a while as if it was diving into the deep see and hidden in a dark cave. Now then the California sunlight reached the den and lured it up on the surface again. Welcome back, Marie! I’m happy you are still alive!