Classroom Routines

Chinese students will come to the GCC camp with established routines.  Some will be desirable to keep and some extinguished for the purpose of an American immersion.  For example, at the end of the day with the last ten minutes of class, students will automatically clean the classroom.  The teacher will be expected to do nothing but take care of their own materials.  Students will sweep, mop, clean the blackboard, and straighten desks.  This is a desirable routine activity.

DAY ONE of REGULAR CASSES

Morning Classes.

First Period:  Language/Culture Lesson

Materials: Daily schedule, Journals, Material for table names

Procedure: 1. Go over the daily schedule (with classes and times) with the students and either post a copy or write it on the board. Begin each day with the schedule when rotations begin.
2. If this has not yet been done, have students make name tags for their desks for all to see.
3. Engage their journals.

With the help of the national Teacher, discuss expected behavior for the three weeks and how it can differ from activity to activity and when GCC behavior can be different from behavior during a regular school year. For example:

• when watching a movie — no talking, complete quiet
• during class – raise hands, wait for turn, participate, if not ready to participate, it’s o.k. to say “pass” (but not all the time!)
• evening activities can be crazy; teach signal for quiet such as one hand over mouth and other hand raised
• don’t talk when someone else is talking

It’s important to discuss how this may/may not be different in their culture. This can be the first opportunity to establish the give and take of cultural exchange, which we hope will be part of most every lesson. With the help of the National teacher, ask them what’s expected of them in their regular classes. This is also a good time to explain that the GCC atmosphere is somewhat different from that of American schools during a regular school year . . . that the “camp” atmosphere is more relaxed.

Discuss how the two cultures might differ in body language and touch. You might have the National Teacher tell them that you are going to show them some gestures from American culture and see if they know what they mean. You could then have them to do the same with gestures from their culture, a counterpart gesture in their culture. Some ideas (some previously mentioned):

• Come here (beckon with finger)
• Good work (o.k sign, high five, thumbs up,)
• Eye contact (what it means in each culture)
• Shoulder shrug (I don’t know)
• Hugging (when appropriate and how it varies from person to person)
• Nod (yes) & Shake head (no) – not the same in all cultures
• How to say good-by (words and gestures)
• Shake hands (men tend not to kiss and hug each other, their culture?)
• Appropriate for teachers to show approval to students (pat on the back)

Second Period:  Activity or State Class

Present your state or activity lesson to your home room.  This classroom will be known as the ___(Your State)_ room.

Third Period:  Craft Class

Present you craft to your home room. As with your state lesson, there is no urgency, as you will have these students throughout the fifteen days of camp.

Afternoon classes.

Fourth Period:  Activity or State Class

Fifth Period:  Language/Culture Lesson

The teacher will wisely establish routines appropriate to their classroom.  Some ideas for starting the morning class may include a song, news, weather, sports, a recitation of today’s date, sharing of homework.  Furthermore, the day’s schedule should be written on the board and reviewed for the class.  The schedule will include information regarding the rotations for the day:  Where will they be going (what room number)?  What state will they be visiting?  What is the evening activity?  It is recommended that students be required to keep a journal.  So, the teacher may have a prompt written on the board such as “What do you hope will happen during your summer Language/Culture camp?”  “What do you most miss about your home?”  On Friday:  “What are you going to do during the weekend?”

At the end of the day, when you’re the homeroom students return to their “State-of-Origin,” students may record the experiences of the day in their journals.  They may write about what they learned; they may write a letter to their teacher.  The teacher may choose to collect journals to read and respond overnight.