"Gong Xi Ni" Song Again... and My First Class

Here we go again. This is the time of year when we are forced to hear that “恭嬉, 恭嬉, 恭嬉你” song. I can’t quite explain why, but I hate the song. It just irritates me. Is it because of the melody? Everywhere, it’s “♫ 恭嬉, 恭嬉, 恭嬉你”!! Who created the music???

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This afternoon, I went to an extra class in Kallang where I and my classmates were supposed to observe a lesson to be conducted by a trainee teacher. It turned out that we, not yet teachers, would conduct the class!!

This has been my very first time to teach English in English. A nice experience, but I had great hesitation to sing a song… (I wish to have a higher voice. It’s not good to sing songs in a depressingly low voice in class, maybe unless I am a Zappa. Well, perhaps I should do some karaoke exercise.)

The students (we had three) are all from the mainland China. One of them really can’t count numbers in English! One hundred, two hundred… and ordinal numbers, first, second, third… This is exactly one of the situations where creativity counts to elicit just about anything from them. That’s the reality about mainlanders here, I guess. Although I know that I could have been more “uninhibited,” some nervousness crept into me…

As I recall the days when I was teaching in Japan, it is very important to connect with students. If I have a good rapport with them, it certainly facilitates for moving a class forward. It takes time, I know, to get to know the students. But it was fun today.