I’m going to teach my first lesson at TAFE today! Am a little nervous. It’s rather unnerving when teaching a new class and with a teacher observing me as I teach. But I guess nerves are something I have to learn to cope with and I think for teaching, it’s really practice that one needs. I suppose nerves are something most trainee teachers will have.
I’m planning to spend a little time talking about the Mid-Autumn Festival (aka Moon Festival / Harvest Festival) since today happens to be the Mid-Autumn Festival for the Chinese. I did some research, and apparently the Vietnamese & Koreans celebrate this day as well. However, the way it is celebrated differs in the food eaten and the legends and folklores that are attached to the festival.
There are some Vietnamese and Chinese students in the class so I plan to get them to tell us how the festival is celebrated in their culture. I also hope to get the Tibetian and Turkish student to share stories of their countries as well. Thanks to Google, I now know that the Tibetian’s Harvest Festival is called the OngKor Festival and the Turkish have their own Harvest Festival as well.
I intend to start off the topic by showing the class the lantern my auntie & cousin sent me from Singapore. It’s a very lovely goldfish lantern made of different-coloured cellophane paper. I used to play with such lanterns as a kid, and these traditional lanterns which have to be lit by a candle still remain my favourite. Blah to those plastic ones which emit awful synthesized tunes and are lit by a bulb!
Anyway, I hope the discussion goes well! I like classes with mixed nationalities ‘cos there’s so much we can learn from each other. And I think teachers should recognise the merits of a class with mixed nationalities and exploit this characteristic to its fullest.
Tonight I have a class from 7 – 9pm so I won’t be able to join my uncle’s family or my friends for dinner. My friends are planning to go to North Head at Manly to view the full moon. Hmm….I will call them after class and hopefully I’ll be able to join them. I would ssoooooo love to go to North Head again and what’s more I want to show off my lantern! :p However, I don’t really want to miss class either ‘cos I really enjoy Phonology & Pronunciation class. My lecturer is talking about Intonation today. I read the readings, but didn’t understand a thing (there’s so much technicality you won’t believe it!). So I think it’s better to attend class.
Ok, time to head out of the house and go to TAFE! *fingers crossed*
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!