New School Year Cometh

Tomorrow is the beginning of my second year teaching academic writing to graduate students here in Shenzhen. For the next two weeks, I get to have an introductory class (because my classes only meet once every other week). This means everyday for two weeks I get to walk into my classroom and say, "Hello, my name is Matt. I am here to teach you English writing." Or something similar. It's basically the same speech I've had to give at all my other classes over the years (including numerous demo lessons at the training center).

Of course, this year my extended speech will include quite a few classroom rules and hints in the hopes that I can correct the mistakes from the previous year (i.e. plagiarism, ringing cell phones, and other annoyances).

I have been preparing since the end of July for this school year. I know how I'm going to change my teaching methods and tweek my lesson plans in an effort to better educate my students and cut down on my own boredom. I will not, however, take up the recommendation from the previous 600 MSc students that wanted to play more games in class. It's graduate school, there are no classroom games. With any luck, this year will go much smoother than the last.