Teaching French Is Hard

I had one of those infuriating reoccurring dreams last night.  You know the kind.  The dream that dogs you for hours.  The dream that wakes you up but when you fall asleep again you are still in the dream.  I literally have a headache this morning from teaching French all night.  French!   What the what?  I have never studied French.  I do not speak or understand French, yet I was teaching it--all night long!  I woke up, finally,  wondering what that was about.  What was my brain trying to work out?  I got up and started making coffee and then it hit me:  my dream was about learning.  

昨晚，我做了一个让人恼火的梦。你懂的。这种梦会纠缠你好几个小时。它会把你唤醒，但当你再次入睡时，你仍在梦中。我今天早上真有点头痛，因为昨天晚上梦见自己教了一个晚上的法语。

法语!什么？什么?我从未学过法语。我既不讲法语，也不懂法语，可我整夜都在教法语!

我终于醒了，不知道这是怎么回事。我的脑子到底在想什么?我起床后开始煮咖啡，然后我突然意识到:

我的梦是关于学习的。

Learning is hard.  I don’t mean memorization of facts.   Memorization has the illusion of difficulty.   Memorization consumes time and it looks like hard work.  But real learning,  the kind of learning that results in deep understanding of topics and issues and systems and ideas,  that kind of learning, is freaking hard work.  It’s frustratingly hard work ,and that, my friends,  is what my brain was trying to tell me.

学习是困难的，我不是指死记硬背。记忆给人一种很困难的错觉。死记硬背很费时间，看起来是件苦差事。但是真正的学习，是那种能让你深刻理解主题、问题、系统和思想的学习，那种学习，是非常艰苦的工作。这是一项困难至极以至令人沮丧的工作，我的朋友们，这就是我的大脑想要告诉我的。

On February 10, the staff of Shanghai HongrunBoyuan School had its first online staff meeting in preparation for re-opening school --on line--a week later.  Beau and I were still in the US at that time but we had made the decision to return to China.  It was a hard choice to make right now but I’m glad that we did.  Especially considering what we are trying to do for our students.

We all began experimenting and practicing with the platform - figuring out how to be long-distance teachers.

2月10日，上海宏润博源学校的教职工召开了第一次网上教职工会议，为一周后学校的复课做准备。那时我和Beau还在美国，但我们已经决定回中国了。这是一个艰难的选择，但我很高兴我们做到了，尤其是考虑到我们正努力为我们的学生做什么的时候。

我们都开始在线上教学平台上进行试验教学——想办法成为远程教师。

Friday (February 21), we completed the first week of this online teaching and learning endeavor.  It was challenging.  The learning curve is steep for everyone, but there was a sense of accomplishment at our Friday afternoon staff meeting-online staff meeting.  We did it.  We can do it.  We will do it.  I was exhausted but feeling like this was a cool experience. Then Saturday came, and it was time to plan for next week.

Beau and I walked over to the school building after lunch about 12:30.  I sat at my desk in the office and started to think about next week.  My first class of the week is the entry level ESL class. I began there. 

星期五(2月21日)，我们完成了这充满挑战的在线教学的第一周。每个人的学习曲线都是陡峭的，但在周五下午的在线教师会议上，我们都收获了一种成就感。我们做到了。我们可以做到。我们会做到的。我很累，但感觉这是一次很酷的经历。星期六到了，该为下周做计划了。

午饭后，我和Beau大约12:30去了教学楼。我坐在办公桌前，开始考虑下周的事情。我这周的第一堂课是初级ESL课程，新的一周也会从那儿开始。

I pushed papers around my desk.  I clicked in and out of documents.  I decided on and discarded resources.  I created resources that I could share online and could be worked on and sent back.  I discarded those and made more.  At 5 pm, as I sat at my desk, sobbing, an outline for Monday morning’s 80 minute session that I was not happy with in front of me,  Beau called and asked if I were going to eat dinner.  I had just spent 4.5 hours trying to plan an effective class to deliver online.  4.5 hours to plan 80 minutes.   I was frustrated and still had 7 more 80 minute blocks to plan.  My head hurt.  I was crying, feeling defeated, inept, and humiliated that I was having so much trouble.  I went to dinner,  took one look,  left my tray on the table and returned to my “home.”  I vowed I would not think about school until this morning.  But, as you know,  I dreamed about it all night.

我把文件摊在办公桌上。我又打开电脑对着文件点进点出。我选定了一些资源但后面又决定放弃一些。我创作了一些可以在线共享的资源，不过后面又给删掉了，又重新写了一些。下午5点，我坐在办公桌前，一边抽泣着，一边构思着周一上午的80分钟的课，但我对我的设计并不满意。这时Beau打来电话，问我要不要一起去吃晚饭。我刚刚花了四五个小时来设计一个有效的线上课。四五个小时去设计80分钟的内容，这让我很沮丧，因为还有7个80分钟的课时要设计。我的头很疼。我哭了，感到挫败、无能和丢脸，因为我有这么多的麻烦。我去食堂，看了一眼，把餐盘留在了桌上，然后回到了住处。我发誓不到第二天早上绝不去想备课的事。但是，你已经知道了，我整晚做的梦都是关于教学。

Three years ago,  I embraced Understanding By Design and committed to transforming my approach to teaching and learning.   I mistakenly thought that I was a student centered teacher.  It was hard to look at myself and analyzing what I had been doing for more than 30 years.  More hard to realize how a lot of my teaching was about me and not so much about kids.  That’s another blog post but my point is that the process of redefining who I am as a teacher and the topics, issues, systems and ideas I needed to understand, deeply understand, was hard work.  Really difficult, frustrating,  time consuming, ego busting, hard work.  As part of the process ,I read a book, Make It Stick, by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel. (Check it out at: www.retrievalpractice.org/make-it-stick)  Probably many educators out there have already read it.  Just the first chapter could be useful to everyone, especially parents and students .

Make It Stick explains the authors’ research into the science of how we learn in language that is accessible to us un-scientific types.  And guess what,  learning is freaking hard work.  Learning to understand is frustrating.  It gives you a headache.  It takes a long time,  lots of repetition, trial and error,  practice,  thinking.  And re-educating myself to teach students how to be students, how to learn effectively and reach deep understanding of topics, issues, systems and ideas was just as hard as what my students were going to need to embrace in response to my changes.  I cried a lot.  I got headaches. It was exhausting.  Just writing the unit plans made me scream.  But now....now I cannot  work effectively without those unit plans that show me how to connect the standards I want to teach with essential questions and enduring understandings.   It took about a year to transform myself, my classroom, and my students.

三年前，我开始尝试理解性教学设计教学法，并致力于改变我的教学方法。我错误地认为我是一个以学生为中心的老师。我很难正视自己并分析自己30多年来一直在做的事情。更难以理解的是，我的很多教学是关于我自己的，而不是关于孩子们的。我另一篇博客文章有写，但我的观点是，重新定义我作为一名教师的身份，以及我需要深入理解的主题、问题、系统和思想的过程是艰难的。这非常困难，令人沮丧，耗费时间，需要重新自我构建，努力工作。在这个过程中，我读了布朗、罗迪格和麦克丹尼尔写的书《认知天性》。(参见:www.retrievalpractice.org/make-it-stick)可能很多教育者都读过这本书。仅仅是阅读第一章的内容就会对每个人非常有好处，尤其是家长和孩子。

《认知天性》这本书对我们这些普通人通过语言学习既有知识进行了科学研究。你猜怎么着，学习是一件非常辛苦的工作。学习如何理解是令人沮丧的。它会让你头疼，并且这需要很长的时间，大量的重复，尝试错误，实践，思考。重新教育我自己，教学生如何成为学生，如何有效地学习，如何深入理解主题、问题、系统和思想，这和我的学生需要接受我的变化一样困难。我经常大哭，还伴有头疼。这很累人。光是写单元计划就让我抓狂。但是现在….现在我还没有可以让我有效工作的单元计划，因为它可以指导我如何把我想教的标准与根本性问题和持久的理解联系起来。我花了大约一年的时间来改变我自己、我的课堂和我的学生。

And now I find myself in this position again.  The essential question is how do I maintain a student centered classroom in 80 minute blocks, long distance.  Learning to do this is hard.   I don’t think I will have it accomplished by the end of June, but my dream last night reminded me that the process of learning and understanding takes time, tears, and trials.  Today I can go back to my desk with the deep understanding that I am learning,  that it takes time and I don’t have to get it right the first time,  I just have to work at it,  sweat and cry.  It will happen.

现在我发现自己又陷入了这种境地。关键的问题是我如何能够在80分钟内保持一个以学生为中心的课堂，而且还是远程教学。学习如何去做这件事很难，我想我不可能在六月底之前完全实现它，但我昨晚的梦提醒我。学习和理解的过程需要时间、泪水和考验。今天可以带着深刻的理解回到我的办公桌前，我正在学习，而这需要时间。我不需要第一次就做好，我只需要带着努力，汗水和眼泪去工作，而我的目标终究会实现。

翻译：钱晨鸿（G12）

Translator: Mike Qian (G12)

The Coronavirus has affected each of us in our ways: some feel trapped, some have families extremely worried, many are on the front lines putting themselves in grave danger, and most of us have felt some sort of anxiety. In my case, this is unfamiliar territory, nothing I’ve ever been through. The never-ending stream of newscasts and endless We-chat groups of incorrect information. Most meant well, but it was definitely, an overload of the senses. After the initial shock subsided and knowing that many people will lose loved ones and friends, for some life will never be the same. There came a sense of National pride throughout China. A unification that everyone needs to pull their weight and play their part. Everyone in China serves a purpose, function, or part of this epidemic. There was a sense of beauty and sadness in this that people came together, people supported each other, and people check on their neighbors.

My role is little in this event. I am a teacher and teach at Shanghai HongrunBoyuan School. I take much pride in what I do, and my concerns were on the students I have gotten to know and love. Even with the many messages daily I was pleaded with to go home, I told my family this is my home. I am not better nor any worse than any individual in China. If I practice safe health habits; wear a mask, wash hands constantly, stay indoors for as long as possible, limit contact with the outside while shopping for food, and make meals that would last for many days, then I should be okay. I have cleaned so much and become very sanitize conscious that I have learned so many things. As a teacher, every situation has a lesson to be learned including this one.

When it was time to teach again and learn a platform most of us never used, it came with some anxiety, but it also came with some hope. We will be teaching again, working without students and it will be bringing much joy to see their faces and all their personalities again. It will also bring us together and help everyone remain vigilant of what is going on around us, but also keep learning. Our administrative team pulled all this together over and beyond their normal parameters as the administrative team. This is one place in my life that it truly feels like a family during tough times and we all pull together to get the job done. Teaching, when I am good at it, brings fulfillment to me. There is no material item that can replace a student who will always remember you. The first week of online teaching for me was very enjoyable even with some glitches. The reward again is being able to teach and teaching to my students. As I previously stated there is only a small role for me to play, but I am very prideful of my role and do my best to keep China safe and with a bright future.

May China be Blessed

Justin Dalley

冠状病毒以不同的方式影响着我们每个人：有的人感觉被困住了，有的人让家人f极度担忧，许多人奋战在前线将自己置于重重危险之中，我们大多数人都感到了某种焦虑。对我来说，这是一个我从未经历过的事情。我们接受着源源不断的关于疫情的新闻和以及微信里面的不实信息。多数信息的本意是好的，但给我们造成信息负荷。在最初的震惊平息后，知道许多人会失去亲人和朋友、许多人的生活就此改变。全中国上下都有一种民族自豪感，那是一种每个人都尽本分、发挥作用的团结。在中国，每个人在疫情中都能发挥自己的作用。这既美丽又悲伤的感觉使人们走到一起、相互支持、关照邻居。

在这个疫情中我的作用微不足道。我是上海宏润博源学校的一名教师。我为自己的职业自豪，关心我所认识和喜爱的学生们。虽然每天家人都恳求我回家，但我告诉他们这里也是我的家。我并不比中国任何一个人更好或更差。如果我保持良好的卫生习惯——戴口罩、勤洗手、尽可能多的呆在室内、购物时减少与外界的接触并准备好足够的饭菜，那么我就应该没问题。我已经打扫得够干净了，变得非常有卫生意识，这让我学到了很多东西。对一名教师来说，我们需要有能力从每件事情中学到东西，包括这一次。

线上开学之前，我们学习了如何操作一个大多数人从未使用过的平台，这带来了一些焦虑，但也带来了希望。我们将再次上课，在没有学生在校园的情况下工作，再次看到他们的脸，感受到他们的个性会给我带来很多快乐。这次危机也将把我们团结在一起，帮助大家保持对现状的警惕，帮助大家学习。我们学校的管理团队将也非常出色地应对了这次挑战，很好地统筹和落实了我们的线上教学方案。在我的生命中，宏润博源是唯一一个让我感觉到是真正的大家庭的学校，大家都齐心协力完成工作。当我感到一节课上地很好的时候，我就很有满足感，没有任何物质奖励可以比走入同学们的心灵和记忆里去更让人有满足感。虽然有一些不尽如人意的地方，第一周的在线教学对我来说还是非常愉快的。这次的奖励也是让我能够上课，让我教我的学生。就像我之前说的，我的作用微不足道，但我为它骄傲，我会尽最大努力保证中国的安全和光明的未来。

愿中国蒙福。

Translator： Nicole Jin （G9） 

翻译：金翰文（G9）