Being   a   Little   Teacher

By Zhong Wanting

Have you ever experienced being a teacher? A real teacher? Yes, I have. And now I truly know the duty and meaning of being a teacher.

On Friday, our English teacher, Miss Zeng, would be out, so she asked me to teach provisionally instead. Yes, I would do some real teaching that day!

I was very exited and nervous before the English class. This certainly would be something remarkable. I have gathered my books and I was ready. Just before the bell rang, I became alarmed. Would anybody care to listen to what I say? Would they take this seriously? What if it turned out to be a noisy class with everything in chaos? Would my classmates, who would be my students in a minute, support my work? I was a little worried and felt more and more anxious.

However, before I could consider these questions in full detail, the bell rang. Now, many students were busy getting out their textbooks, looking forward to seeing the teacher coming in through the door. I slipped onto the dais secretly. The student on duty that day was getting out of his seat and coming up to the teacher’s desk. He started to quiet the others down. It wasn’t until that moment that most of the students realized I was the temporary teacher.

As the fact sank in, a small commotion spread out in the class, while some students became restless. They seemed to be amused by the truth that I was teaching, yet they also appeared expectant.

Then I knew why. I threw several perturbed looks at the boy on duty, whispering urgently, ‘Do I have to go through that “CLASS BEGINS GOOD MORNING BOYS AND GIRLS” procedure?’

He wasn’t disturbed ‘Yes, of course!’ There was an absolute determination in his voice. ‘It’s time for class!’

I was still hesitating while everybody stared up into my face. It was curious to survey the whole class from this view. It was such a strange feeling to be so high up, while in the previous closed, I had been a member of the others sitting in the classroom. It was no use trying to dodge them. I was still doubtful, making the others impatient.

‘Quick! Say “class begins”!’ The boy on duty handed me the microphone.

It was an awkward situation. Suddenly, I gave up the effort of keeping a straight face and broke into an incontrollable series of giggles, and quite a few others followed suit. The seriousness in the air dispersed rapidly. ‘OK, I’m decided.’ I thought. ‘Class begins!’

Everybody’s face broke into a relieved and seemingly mischievous smile when they stood up at the boy-on-duty’s ‘stand up please’. After I said ‘Good morning, everybody,’ they echoed in a loud, cheerful ‘Good morning, Miss Zhong.’ which was definitely on the brink of wild laughter.

I waited until every one calmed down to draw their attention to me. ‘Turn to page 33, please.’

‘Pardon?’

‘Turn to page 33, page 33, please.’

There was a ruffle of books.

‘Yes, Miss Zhong!’

What should I say next? I paused to think. Everything fell silent.

‘What should we do now, Miss Zhong?’

I felt rather uneasy at the name. ‘Well, er, finish Exercise 2.1 please.’

The students lowered their eyes to read the instructions. They began to scribble on their books.

By chance, many teachers from all over Guangzhou had come to visit our school that day. During the class, a teacher came into the classroom and sat down at the back. A student told me secretly, ‘A teacher from another school has come into your class, Miss Zhong.’

I simply smiled. ‘Yes, I know that.’

Gradually, the students looked up. I asked, ‘Have you all finished?’

‘Yes!’

‘Then can anybody answer the questions? Who can answer question No.1?’

There was silence for a few seconds. I scanned the class, repeating the question. A hand went up at last. The question was answered correctly. This went on. Sometimes I would correct the student’s pronunciation, and sometimes I had to pick somebody to answer the question at random when nobody would come forward in the first place.

After we finished Exercise 2.1, I paused again. ‘Now, look at Exercise 3. Work in groups. Talk about what you are and aren’t able to do on Earth and on the moon.’

Not many students could understand, so I repeated my words slowly, and finally, I gave the orders in Chinese. After they got my meaning, the students set into a brief discussion.

A student pointed out, ‘A real teacher usually walks around the room during group discussions.’ Thus, I did that, giving advice to the students and answering their questions in the meantime.

‘All right, everybody! Time’s up!’ I said loudly, attempting to quiet them down. The babbling slowly faded and their attention was on me again.

‘Can any group announce the results? Anybody who would like to try?’ I requested.

‘We’re able to play basketball on Earth. We aren’t able to play basketball on the moon.’ A girl said.

‘Good. Well, does anybody know the difference between “can” and “be able to”?’

‘No!’

‘Then I’ll explain it to you. When “can” and “be able to” share the same meaning, we mean “have the ability to do something”, but when these two are different, “be able to” means “somebody has already succeeded in doing something.” This time, we commonly use the past tense.’

The students looked puzzled. Obviously, they didn’t understand the concept completely. ‘Could you say it in Chinese? I didn’t understand.’

‘All right ……’ I explained the difference to them in Chinese carefully. After this, the students started shooting many questions and inquiries at me.

‘Could you please slow down? I didn’t catch the last bit.’

‘Oh, yes.’ I repeated what I’d said again in full detail.

‘I have a question. In this exercise, there’s a sentence, “We’re able to jump very high on the moon.” Yet we haven’t tried that. Why?’

‘When you compare the sentences, you’ll see that here, “be able to” means “somebody has the ability to do something.” Probably, we haven’t done it now, but we still have the potential, and in this case, if you reach the moon someday, then definitely you’ll have the ability to jump very high.’

‘How can I know when “be able to” means this and when it means that?’

‘You need a context in most cases. You can also use your logic to judge it. And there’re also the tenses.’ I replied.

‘What if I haven’t succeeded in doing something or don’t have the ability? What expression do I use?’

‘In both cases, the negative forms of “can” and “be able to” are appropriate. Yet, in the former case, you’d better use the past tense which would be more suitable.’

‘Oh! I see!’ A student let out a long exclamation of understanding and quickly bent down to make notes. Such cries immediately issued from every corner. I was satisfied and relieved at this. Certainly, it had taken them a long time to comprehend. Nevertheless, I was able to accomplish this first task!

Next, the students did some exercises. I played the recording of the listening section which was saved in the computer and helped them check the answers. They did ask me to write down the words on the blackboard though. Following this, more questions were asked.

The recess bell marked the end of my short teaching career. With the final ‘Class is over’ and ‘Good-bye, Miss Zhong,’ I walked down the dais, sighing happily. I have fully enjoyed this lesson, which would be the one that I’d never forget. During this class, I felt the trust my classmates had shown toward me, the support they had provided and the confidence of standing and speaking on the dais like a teacher. Also, I understood what it took to be a good, beloved teacher. These invaluable qualities included patience, courage, intelligence, friendliness and diligence.

During this class, the best reward was the feeling of being a teacher, the approval of my classmates, their true, faithful nods and the intent look on everybody’s face.

       广东实验中学   初一（1）班    钟琬婷