We had our first class on family at the coffee shop rather than in the classroom in honor of Vietnamese Teachers' Day. The faculty members presented me with a bouquet of roses and material for a lovely new ao dai. Then we went around the table and everyone talked about their families and answered questions from the group.
In my mind, it was not particularly stimulating, challenging, or entertaining for the 5 advanced students, since many already know their peers and the sentence structures and vocabulary are elementary. Though useful in building the confidence of the 7 beginner students, I feel that there are better ways to do this within a structured lesson. While, of course, this lesson was adapted for the holiday, I make these observations because some seemed to prefer an abbreviated coffee to actual class. Since I am keen on listening to the faculty members' diverse wants and needs (and unmet wants or needs generally means lower attendance), this revelation bothered me.
As one could guess, I am still struggling to find the correct balance with this class. Some want a textbook, most do not. Some want structured lessons, others simply want conversation topics. They all want to learn, but they have a seemingly unquenchable desire for games and songs. Of course I want the class to be fun and engaging, but I want to facilitate productive fun and engagement, which is sort of like offering a kid healthy dessert. When students have a choice about whether they're coming to the table (and often have other activities planned during "dinner"), it's hard to entice them without giving in to their demands.
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