Sunday, April 12, 2015

Elementary School Vs. Junior High 國小Vs.國中

I spent two years teaching at Tung Hai Junior High School, and I also taught (VERY briefly) at a junior high in Seattle. These days I am teaching elementary, but this is not because I think junior high kids are horrible! 我在臺東市的東海國中任教兩年. 也在美國西雅圖短時間當過國中老師. 我目前在國小教美語, 可是這並不是因為我不喜歡教國中生.

Most junior high kids have short attention spans. You might think they would be able to concentrate more than younger kids, but I have never found this to be the case. Hormones are often blamed for this, and surely the long, embarrassing process of becoming an "adult" plays a part. 大部分的國中生沒辦法專心上課. 也許你認為他們的專心度應該比國小生好很多. 也許這情況跟他們年紀有關係. 隨著賀爾蒙的變化,他們的身體和想法在改變, 也影響他們沒法專心上課.

In my elementary school, I would never pursue any activity for longer than fifteen minutes. In junior high, I wouldn't do anything longer than ten minutes. When junior high kids get bored, things can get really, really ugly. 在我任教的國小, 我不會讓任何課程活動超過十五分鐘. 在國中, 則是不超過十分鐘. 因為當國中生覺得無聊的時候,那就是真的很恐怖的時候.

One great thing about teaching in an elementary school is not having to break up fights as often. In my one and a half years at Tung Hai Elementary, I have broken up exactly one fight. In two years at Tung Hai Junior High, I broke up MANY fights, often involving students who were much larger than I was. 教國小的好處就是學生不那麼容易打架. 我已經在國小一年半, 我只看過一次學生打架. 而在國中那兩年則發生很多打架事件, 而且很多學生比我還高.

The biggest difference between elementary and junior high is, of course, the "sex issue." Sometimes girls and boys in my elementary will tell me they "love me," but they just mean in the way that they love many other adults. Girls in junior high have told me they "loved me," but that was in a strange, psuedo-adult way that made me VERY uncomfortable. 國中生跟國小生最明顯的不同是對性別的敏感度. 在國小,很多學生會跟我說"我愛你", 他們這麼說只是因為喜歡我. 而國中女生跟我說"我愛你"時, 卻不只是對老師的單純喜歡. 在這種狀況下,我覺得非常得不舒服與困擾.

Boys in junior high are fascinated by sex, and they will always try to use English class to find out about sex words they learned in movies. During my first year, it took me about a month to eliminate the word "fuck" from my presence, and even still I was pestered with questions related to words like "fag," "penis," and (strangest of all) "motel." 國中男生最喜歡使用他們在電影裡學的髒話. 我剛開始教國中時, 一直聽到"fuck"這個字. 花了我將近一個月的時間請他們不要說這個字. 除了它, 他們也很喜歡用"fag," "penis,"還有"motel"這樣的生字.

All of this said, teaching junior high kids really isn't all that different from teaching elementary kids. They have their own, weird sense of humor, and once you learn how to "speak their language" it's not so bad. They also have their own way of looking at the world, and there is a lot to be learned from it. 大致上教國小和教國中很像. 國中生有自己的看法, 自己的溝通語言和自己的幽默感. 只要你學會他們的語言,他們並不是人們想的那麼恐怖. 而且大人也可以從他們獨特的世界觀中獲得收或.



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