James Nguyen
Reflecting on ³Ô¹ÏÍø Hill
This has been such an amazing experience that has directly impacted the wellbeing of my weeks. There are plenty of times when my mental health is not there, and I consider informing my teacher that I won't be able to make it just to get a bit of extra sleep- each of those times, I end up going regardless, and my week instantly becomes ten times better. It's a very humbling experience to be able to help someone, especially someone in such early stages of development. It's fun to exchange different viewpoints on the world- I hardly remember what I was like as a second grader, so seeing the chaotic little ball of energy that I likely was when I was younger is very amusing! It's also built my awareness of knowledge gaps- a proud teaching-specific moment was when I showed how I add numbers of tens (like 26 + 54 for example) with a student, and it turned into them being able to do it at an insanely quick pace in their heads just by pattern recognition. The students themselves are so heartwarming, hilarious, and very chaotic while still very respectful. I hope that by approaching my own culture (especially when their first instinct is to assume I am Chinese) in a very silly way with them, I can show them that there can be a lot of diverse cultures, experiences, and more! In a way, my engineering cohort is very competitive- even if people are very kind, there is an air of "how did you do on the last exam? How is the internship hunt?" etc. Being able to go to Literacy Practicum and interact with the lovely staff and students makes my week, and is easily the most stress-free part of my week.Ìý
As for suggestions or advice for LING1900 students at Uni Hill- enter with a similar mind to the students you're teaching. Allow yourself to be sidetracked by silly but meaningful conversations about a student "eating your DNA," or how a student owned 30 types of gemstones, or playing rock paper scissors (I always get destroyed, they don't realize I always pick rock). It'll be more fun for both parties!
As for changes to the program, I think it'd be cool to do events as a LING1900 class- it'd be really fun to hear stories from other people, especially since it's such a unique program that has potential for infinite stories. Not necessarily required meetups, but optional events sound really fun!Ìý