Disclaimer: Given that we spend so much of our time at our jobs, I thought I would start a new blog titled "CryptoSensei". "Sensei" means teacher in Japanese, so I want to explore how my full-time job impacts the way I look upon the crypto world. This first entry, however, has nothing to do with crypto. So read this at your own risk, lest you feel that your time is wasted.
It’s a happy coincidence that the year where I teach a graduating class of sixth graders Foundation English is aligned with the Tokyo Olympics. Or perhaps the Universe wants me to fancy myself as a coach who is adept at putting his athletes through effective deliberate practice and pushing them towards peak performance at the right time.
Foundation English suggests that the English level for some of my charges is low enough for them to be excluded from the mainstream curriculum. But even this rudimentary form is too difficult for a minority of them. I’m talking about twelve-year-old kids who are struggling with the reading of sight words.
I am invested in getting them to pass. Of course, a high percentage of passes will go towards preserving my rice bowl and reputation but I view attaining a pass as symbolic.
Symbolic in the sense that no matter how weak their English is, I want my students to march confidently into the examination hall, knowing that they have a plan, know how to execute it and most importantly, can harness their limited skills to communicate effectively on paper. This is my duty towards them.
So how did they perform for the letter-writing portion during their preliminary exam? The weakest girl in my class still wrote phrases instead of sentences, but even that was a spectacular feat in itself. The weakest boy fared worse as he literally copied chunks of the question - but let’s just say that his copying was strategic.
The second weakest girl whose IQ was slightly below normal actually did well. She apparently memorized the model letter I had given the class one week before. She included an idiom "lend a helping hand", no less. She exhibited the ability to learn and retain stuff!
As for the average-performing students in the class, two of them used ‘eager’ and ‘magnificent’ (which are the two words I have been stressing throughout this entire year, no kidding). Another two used exclamation marks because I mentioned during a random lesson that exclamation marks enliven our writing. 3 other students sprinkled “lend a helping hand” in their letters.
Given how boisterous they are, I am amazed that some of them actually took my writing tips to heart. Maybe they won’t improve sufficiently enough to win prizes at the podium but they are accomplishing Personal Bests. Which I hope is enough to sustain my morale for the final month before their Primary School Leaving Examination, which is the national examination they need to clear before they can enroll in middle school.
Teaching this class of graduating students Foundation English is nerve-wracking, yet rewarding. I hope my students will have similar sentiments towards my subject.
