The Rain Man Cometh

Last night I turned on the TV in my room before I was going to bed and the movie "Rain Man" was playing. I came in on the part where Tom Cruise's character Charlie Babbit was meeting his brother for the first time. He was also finding out that Raymond was actually his brother and not just a beneficiary named in their father's will. I'm still not quite clear on how he didn't know Raymond because I have seen the whole movie, just not at the same time. Charlie was trying to convince Raymond to come back to L.A. with him by tempting him with a Dodgers game. He was trying to say this to Ray and Ray kept going on about what days they were scheduled to play, what pitchers were in the rotation for what day. Finally Charlie landed on seeing a Dodgers game next Wednesday and they started walking back inside. While they were walking, Ray starts talking about his show coming on soon and it is a long way to L.A. and that he can't be off the ground for more than two or three hours tops. Everything he says is spoken in a sort of unaffected mumble with no expression while Charlie is talking over him and trying to steer him in the conversation. Ray cannot be steered though and this frustrates Charlie because Ray is impervious to logic and Charlie must realize this and slow down to find Ray's line of thinking.

Today, two days after Chinese New Year, only one of my students showed up to my intermediate English class. She happens to be the student who knows the least English in the whole class. She is a sweet girl named Navy (pronounced NarEE) and she really wants to learn English; I can tell this because she does not miss a class. When I ask her a question she looks around like she does not know who I am talking to. It is a true effort to talk to her because of her limited understanding. I feel bad too because she is always apologizing for her English. When I ask her how she is doing she always says "Yes". I'll take that as an "I'm doing fine." The challenge, however, is simply that she is in a class with people who are far beyond her. My other students are nearly conversational with their English. I can't just teach to the rest and ignore her though because she is so consistent. I, in times of short perspective, get a little frustrated that she was placed in an intermediate class when she belongs in a beginner one class.

As I said before, she was the only student to show up today. I had a worksheet prepared for the students today to review nouns, subjects, and objects. I feel that I made it pretty simple so that we could walk through it. She did very well in the first section after I explained to her the concept of an "example", like give me an example of a place (nouns are person, place, thing, or idea and I asked for examples of these things). The trouble came when I asked her to tell me the difference between a subject and an object. I asked her what a subject was and she said "Navy plays football," which is an example sentence that I used last week. I went with it and asked her what the subject was and she answered "Navy." I thought we were getting somewhere and asked why Navy was the subject in that sentence. She repeated the sentence. I said yes and then just told her what to write after a few more tries. She ended up remembering the concept but just could not tell what I was asking her. Then I made the mistake of creating a practice sentence that was a command with an "Understood You" for the subject. This was a bad idea as I found out that it might be a little advanced. She obviously wasn't going to get this one because it is for more advanced speakers, but, like a fool, I tried to teach it to her anyway instead of moving on the simpler concepts.

Let me underscore the fact that this whole class session was highlighted by the sheer effort we were both putting into trying to understand each other and be understood. About halfway through the explanation of "understood you" I asked her a question and she started mumbling the sentence to herself and saying the word's verb, subject, and object intermittently. This was happening as I was trying to ask her pointed questions to lead her to the answer. It began to remind me of the scene from "Rain Man" that I described earlier. She was mumbling like I almost wasn't there and I was asking her questions and talking over her. Keep in mind that I am not saying that this girl has any mental retardation or deficiency. That is not the point. She is actually pretty smart when you can speak her language I think. It just reminded me of it because as she was mumbling her thoughts and possible answers nonstop, I was plodding right ahead with my questions and statements. I paused for a second and realized what was happening. She knew that she was not even close to following me and she wanted me to see that she was working very hard to understand. So she was mumbling like Raymond because she didn't want to disappoint me. I would not make the same mistake that Charlie Babbit made with his brother for half the movie. I wanted to communicate and to find out what she is missing. I wanted her to know that I am not frustrated, and she is not failing me.

I told her to stop and take a deep breath with me. I told her it was okay that she didn't have the answer. I told her that she would learn because she comes everyday. I know I am a fast moving person in thought and conversation from time to time. I have to slow down however if I desire my students to learn. I like Navy a lot. I feel like I want to be her big brother. She is one of the oldest students in the class and yet she is behind everyone. I know she is ashamed of her English because she apologizes nearly every five minutes. The teacher is an intimidating figure in the East. It is not like the West. Students are afraid of their teacher and do not talk. The teacher tells them what to remember and they try not to look stupid in front of the teacher. I am working hard to set up an environment where they are not afraid to be wrong in front of me.

We took a break. I told her she was doing a good job and that I would see her tomorrow. We did not tackle the "understood you" and I think that I will cross that one off the curriculum. However, I understand Navy a little more now. She wants me to know how hard she is trying to understand. She has more notes in her pad than anyone else in the class. She does everything that I ask, which, if you are a teacher, you know is a nice break from the usual. We will tackle subjects and Objects another day.