Teacher Voice

It must be resurrected at the beginning of each year. It isn’t a voice for normal conversation. Trust my friend, her husband often told her to talk quieter after she got home from school.

I had to find mine today for 7th period. I have 61 students in that one class. That’s right, sixty-one. Crazy, huh? Even Yvonne was surprised when I told her. I told the class that is 2 separate classes in America. Phew. I had to tell myself not to think about it or it might have freaked me out while I was standing in front of all those curious eyes.

This class was the first time I’ve used my teacher voice. I should probably use it in other classes (guilty smile). I was told to speak up so I did, but it felt like I was shouting. A moment later I had slipped into my “teacher voice” and was near the same volume level but did not feel like I was shouting. I chuckled when I realized it afterward.

MISSING CLASS
I went to my 5th period class after lunch today and no one was in the room. Odd. I heard the bell ring to indicate the start of class. Luckily a native teacher I know walked by and I asked her what was going on. It was a first year class and she informed me they were out practicing their marching. She couldn’t say when they would be done (seems to be a normal thing). She did help me find a seat in a teacher’s office nearby. That was nice. Instead of standing in the heat, I was sitting in an air-conditioned room.

And I sat there for quite some time. About 25 minutes. Then I walked around the classroom outside. Still no sign of the students and only 10 more minutes left of class. Safe to go back to my office, right? I did just that (a bit of the walk since it’s on the other side of campus). And I asked the intern Sarah if it was okay that I walked away from my empty classroom. She wasn’t sure. I waffled in indecision – return to class or stay in the office? It looked like some people were going back to classrooms. By the time I was done waffling (what a cool word!), there were only 5 minutes left in class. It would take me about that much time to walk to the building.

So I stayed in the office. It was quite an experience. My class is missing! Ah! I’ve lost an entire group of first year students! Not really. And the homeroom teacher should have informed me of the schedule interruption. Ah well. Not a huge deal. I just hope it isn’t another class of 61. Yikes.

TEACHER = STUDENT
I have someone to teach me Chinese!! Yeah. She is another teacher at the school, and she helps coach the volleyball team. We met for the first time tonight. 1 hour of me practicing strange sounds and looking at lines on paper that will soon (hopefully) look like characters and connect to sounds in my brain. We’ll see! I know a few more words and can say the 37 letters of the Chinese alphabet. Of course that is only to help people learn. I wouldn’t see them in any books or newspapers.

My teacher laughed at how I use my entire body to speak Chinese. If I do the 3rd tone (rise-fall-rise) then I usually move my neck and head in a scoop shape. If I do the 2nd tone (small fall-rise) I often raise my eyebrow. And if I do the 4th tone (fall) I often move my head down in a short jerk.

I thought it was a good lesson overall. She would write characters and I would try to write English letters so I know how to say them later, when she isn’t around. It’s hard to write out the sounds you make!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS
To be continued…