HBA Teachers: A Brief Introduction
I'm planning to make this post a bit longer eventually... right now I've only got the head honchos covered here, but I'd eventually also like to introduce you to our xiao ban ke and dang ban ke teachers. Not sure how possible this is, given how very many teachers we have, but, hey, I can dream. :)
Feng Laoshi
Feng Laoshi is the head of HBA, benevolent father figure with a reputation for almost fanatical enforcement of rules (most notably our Language Pledge, which forbids students from using any language other than Chinese except in dire emergency situations and when speaking to family back home -- and even then, only out of earshot of other students).
Yan Laoshi
Yan Laoshi is like a friendly little panda bear who just wants to hug you and love you and teach you lots and lots of good Chinese. Her kind manner and chirpy voice belie a formidable intellect and a fierce strictness -- students lucky enough to find themselves under her tutelage are almost incessantly corrected in their grammar, pronunciation, phrasing, and so on, but mind far
less than they normally would. If you ask Yan Laoshi to explain a grammar point to you, you will not only receive a thoughtfuland precise answer but will find yourself tested on it -- probably in sentences involving recently-studied grammar patterns and this lesson's new vocab words -- several times in a row, gently corrected until you've got it perfectly down.
Wang Laoshi
While Yan Laoshi rules her Chinese classroom on charm and perkiness, Wang Laoshi rules with the old "iron fist in the velvet glove." As I've never had the occasion to observe anything less than perfect classroom behavior from anyone at HBA (literally, never, it's a little creepy what good little boys and girls we are), I don't know how (or if) Yan Laoshi would cope with problems in the classroom. I have no such reservation about Wang Laoshi -- in her classroom, she is the law. A tall woman, whose lazy eye and mild duck-footedness somehow do not detract from her stateliness, Wang Laoshi is apparently the only teacher not deathly afraid of Feng Laoshi, and apparently calls him by his first name and tells him he's talking rubbish if she thinks he is. I would imagine that Wang Laoshi is a bit like the Chinese version of the Unsinkable Molly Brown,
with a great stentorian voice and a jovial, if autocratic manner. She is, as my mom would say, "a big softy" on the inside, who cares deeply about her students and their well-being as well as their Chinese skill. Still, I would not want to cross Wang Laoshi.
Tian Laoshi
Tian Laoshi is the only male da ban ke teacher, and lags somewhat behind the other two in terms of teaching method, ability to explain tricky concepts, and overall style. I don't blame him, of course -- he's the newcomer, and the other two teachers weren't born with those skills, so he's got time. His pronunciation is less than clear a good deal of the time, which is a pretty big
flaw in a foreign language teacher, particularly one teaching Chinese, as writing the character on the board for us does nothing if we don't know how to say it properly. During dictation this is also a pretty big drawback. However, he's quite good at explaining things, most notably one-on-one, as his classes are invariably about three times more boring than the others' classes, and sometimes begin to drag. However, he's a good guy -- I think he's on his way.
posted by Kelly @ 6:26 下午
<< Home