Toylene CO#2
Listening-1A
Andrew Wilson
2-2:50


Mr. Wilson's class felt easy-going, non-threatening and fun to learn in. I thought his demeanor was encouraging and his class strengthen my resolve to teach English abroad.  He did a couple of things that got my attention.  While explaining the "word of the day"...embarrassed, he actually shared a personal embarrassment that got some chuckles from the class.  It was actually refreshing to see an instructor not fearful to share a "pie in the face" moment.  The other thing was the bell. He chimed the bell a couple of times before my "listening" kicked in. As an English speaker, I automatically made the correction in my mind and I assumed what the student meant to  communicate. The bell was an "Ah ha" reminder that I needed to listen carefully to correct if I'm going to effectively teach the English language.  So, instead of saying a "beautiful mistake" was made, he chimes the bell to indicated an error in speech was made and thus a correction is needed.  I was impressed by the fact that the bell chimed less than five times during the entire class session.  This is just another testament to the effectiveness of the CIES instructional program and the students' commitment to learning the English language. I felt comfortable and welcomed in class, so when he called on me to contribute to the discussion, I didn't feel singled out.  Everyone was attentive and actively participating.  Oh, my contribution when asked, "What I did last week?" because the discussion was on past tense, I said, I babysat my grandson.  Interesting enough, the class didn't know the word; therefore, babysat was added to the vocabulary list once it was explained by Mr. Wilson.  Although the class was mildly warm, no one complained. A very respectful bunch.