At the end of the semester, I solicited comments from my students to get their anonymous input on what they liked about my class, and what they thought I could do better. Of course it felt good to read the ridiculously positive reviews, but I was more interested in the negative reviews and suggestions for improvement. One thing that really struck me was how many contradictory viewpoints I got. Many said the class was boring, and many said it was lively and interesting. Some wanted more games, others thought the games were a waste of time. I hope that means that I've successfully balanced those things. Many students requested things that are quite obviously out of my control, more boys in the classrooms, more comfortable seats, and a better teacher-student ratio. Three other requests that came up a lot I think deserve special attention.

The first was to move the class outside. Probably a quarter of the students recommended we go outside where 'the environment is better for learning," and they can "enjoy the sunshine." On the first day that we were here, Clark warned us that the students would ask for this, and that it would fail miserably. The students, who have no washing machines, are extremely averse to getting their clothes dirty by doing anything like sitting on the ground. Most of the grass on campus, like most of the grass in China, comes with signs that say keep off. It's only for looking at. Finally, the girls all want white porcelain skin, and hence fear the sun more than even public speaking. Clark's wise assessment was confirmed by Ken, who took one class outside, and said that it was a total disaster as the students jockeyed for non-existant clean spots in the shade that weren't on the grass. So, sorry students, we'll stay indoors.

The second big request was to watch English films. I have been opposed to this since the beginning. Every student has an enormous library of illegal English films a few clicks away on the internet. Most of them already watch a handful every week. Watching movies is a very passive activity, and where the students really lack practice is in forming English sentences on the spot in real conversations. Every student also already has a listening class, where they watch movies. Finally, the school paid a great deal of money to bring a "foreign expert" here. I think they'd have a line from here to Beijing if they offered my salary and apartment to anyone willing to press play on a DVD player a few times each week. Ken and I did show one movie outside of class, and had maybe 30 out of our combined 500 students attended. So I think they are less interested in watching a movie, and more interested in not having to pay attention during class. Still, I think it could be useful to show a short movie clip as a way to introduce a discussion topic, which leads me to the biggest and most important gripe I received: give us more interesting topics!

Finding topics that are interesting to college girls (my classes are 90% female) whose emotional maturity levels are around that of an American middle schooler, whose English is not well equipped to deal with highly controversial subjects, whose interest in politics and history is not great, who are scared to death to give an individual opinion, and who have been educated in a society where dissent is highly discouraged has been the most difficult part of my job. It's impossible to have class discussions (which I tried in all of my classes in the vain hope of finding one that would be different) because the students are too shy to speak in front of all of their peers. In small group discussions, their opinions are too similar to create anything approaching a lively discussion. I asked every class to give me topics or ideas that they would find interesting, and the only suggestion I received was superstars. I'll admit that it's probably an interesting topic for them, but, in my humble opinion, there's not a lot of meat to it. So I suppose next semester I will try to incorporate something about superstars into my lessons, while continuing to search for topics that interest them. In the mean time, I'll continue to follow the approach that Ken stated:

Students will not answer a question in fear of being wrong, will not speak in front of the class in fear of being embarrassed, will not attempt to construct a new sentence in fear of being wrong, will not express an alternative viewpoint in fear of being different (and thus embarrassed). The list goes on. So, I do my best to put them in small groups and give them hypothetical or outlandish situations so that they can act like what they say isn't their own opinion.

In the end, I think it was mostly a positive review, but still gave me some good points to work on for next semester.

Here is a sampling of the prompts and responses I got (errors included):

If you could change one thing about this class, what would it be and why?
Cancel the games, because they are not so interesting and I feel that I don't learn much from them
Play more games, because it's interesting and meaningful.
More games. Learning happily.
Singing or dancing should be added.
You can participate our discussion, so we have more chances to talk with you, Because you are a real foreigner.

How would you describe this class to a student who will be taking it next semester?
In this class your mind will keep working
A lot of fun with a “Confucian”
The teacher is very handsome, though strict
Interesting but a little nervous because we couldn't say any Chinese in this oral class.
The teacher is a kindful, handsome boy, he is easygoing, and he will be your faithful friend.
Mr. Wacker is cute & very serious.
It's a relaxed class. No worries, no strick rules.
It feels so good to talk to a foreigner

Do you have any other comments, suggestions, thoughts, ideas, criticisms, gripes, etc., that you would like me to know about?
You are too strict with us. I know it's good for us, but we don't like.
You're good enough. That's all. Thank you!
You are too serious, but I like you.
Actually I'm very satisfied with what you have done. Stick to it.
You forced us to speak English in the classes. I want to tell you that I thanks for it.
How can I avoid being awkward when talking with foreigners?
I want you to keep the amazed style
You are the most handsome foreigner I have ever seen. I think you are a perfect teacher, so I have no advice to you.
I wish you can find more interesting topics for us to talk about.
Please be a little mature.
Please pick out more interesting topics.
I think your class is a little childish. We just play games and speak English. You know, we are 19 years old, not 9, though our spoken English just like a 9 years old child.
You are too ease in the class. You should be more strict with us.
Our class is not optimic. I know that you tried your best to cheer us up. But please believe us. We're also trying. So don't give up please.