The Purdue Essay

This was the essay I wrote for my Purdue application, and I thought it would be another great opportunity for me to rub it in everyone's faces. The topic I chose was: If you had a second chance -- the opportunity to do something over and do it differently -- what would you choose to do over and what changes would you make? Of course, I made most up most of what I wrote. I did go teach English over in China, but I hardly had any of those 'epiphanies' or 'experiences'. We sang songs and had a good time, basically. Damian, evil as he is, suggested I write it at this angle, and write it I did.

I walked through the gates of Nanping High School with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension. I was beginning my one month stint at Nanping High, a high school in China I volunteered to teach English at. I was thrilled about fulfilling a fantasy I always had; to be a teacher. At the same time, I was worried if I would be well received by the students. I knew that this was probably one of the only instances in my life where I would be given such a prime opportunity, and I did not want to waste it. I was determined to teach them the best I could.

I guessed I knew there was going to be a problem within minutes of entering the class. I had initially expected the students to have a sufficient standard in English, but what I had encountered instead was a classic example of a classroom-trained second language. Sure, the students were able to read and write, but it was all very inflexible, and their oral and listening skills were not as refined as it could have been, if they had learnt the language in an English speaking environment instead. Ignoring the warning signs, I forged on with the material I had prepared. I had worked too hard on this, and was too caught up in my fantasy, to give up now.

At that moment, I sincerely believed that I was doing a good job. I pronounced the verbs clearly and expressively, covered the bulk of my planned work, my classes were attentive, I got along admirably with the teachers and the students even asked me along for their outings. Fueled by this delusion of success, I quickened the pace of my classes and lectured with even more vigor.

I only realized my mistake a week before I was scheduled to return to Singapore. A student asked me a question regarding the use of a word I was sure I had covered. I decided to quiz the students on some of the other lessons I went through, and the response was both disheartening and alarming. It suddenly hit me that I wasn’t teaching them anything with my full-fledged battle-mode style of educating. By overloading the students with too much, they had ended up with next to nothing.

On retrospect, I should have encouraged them to ask more during class, and to actively participate in lessons. My classes involved only me and my voice, reading the notes to, as I now know, myself. It was only after I began interacting more with the students, engaging them, encouraging them to participate more in the class, did I see an improvement. I have now come to learn that students can only learn well if they have experienced the joy of ‘connecting-the-dots’ themselves, and it is fruitless to have someone else do it for them.