My impression on St. Paul's Grammar School Part IIUnforgettable trip in English and History staff I stayed in this department for only two days. But I don’t know why I feel much attached to it. It seemed that I didn’t need to think about anything else but to enjoy my cultural trip in their classes. I like my life to be simple and easy like that. I am a simple upright person and a bit literary. I can’t handle too many etiquettes, formalities or restrictions. I arrived there on Tuesday morning. Cameron was there at the moment. I told him I had to meet Mrs Holland at ten O’clock as usual. He said it was OK because there was no class for me in the morning. He also told me he would give me my schedule before recess. I was rereading my report at the computer when Ann came over and told me there were spare cups and coffee or milk in this office. She said I could help myself to them. I felt very home and warm exactly like the days when I stayed in the library with Cathy’s group.Recess time came everyone was back from their classes. Cameron started to ask who would like to take me with them for the next two periods. Many teachers said no because they all proclaimed their classes were ugly. Cameron reminded them of my existing. When they noticed me behind computers they all laughed and some of them said sorry. “It’s OK, I am a teacher too.” I could understand that no one would like to be observed without any preparations in advance. As a result poor Cameron had to take me by himself. I thought it was funny. So when he came over to tell me he would like to take me, but his classes were not well organized too, I joked him, “it’s OK, I am not your boss.” He seemed a bit shocked. I thought I might have misunderstood him, he might have said my schedule hasn ’t been well organized, or perhaps he didn’t notice I was just joking. I felt a little bit upset about it. But I don’t think he really minded it or he wouldn’t take me into his poetry world.I love listening to literary appreciation, I was fascinated with ancient history and I was curious about the westerners’ thinking of world wars. To stay with English and History staff was more like a literary and historical trip. My track covered poetry appreciation, classical works analysis, ancient history discovery and modern history reflection. These two days reminded me a lot of my own college life. I sat in the classrooms listening to my teachers, devotedly. I felt I was bathed in the sea of knowledge. To leave this department was the last thing I would love to do. I left there suddenly because I was told my schedule was changed. I was so fascinated in their classes that I tried to ask for a longer stay. But I was called in front of Mr. Collier for my request, seriously. From then on I have never had a day to involve in a group homely. I feel there are pebbles in my shoes and I just have no ability to get them out. The distance in my heart will never be shortened. 1. Literary trip in English classI started my trip with Cameron’s English class and ended it with Gareth’s English Class. Before I went into their classes I supposed Cameron should be suitable to teach classical works. He looked so serious and noble like a gentle man who came from English novels Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. And Gareth must be a master of Comedy. He looks cool but it seems that there is no such a time when he opens his mouth he won’t gain others’ laughter. To my surprise Cameron illustrated his poetic side by introducing us two sentimental poems written by Peter Skrzynecki, a Poland Australian poet, while Gareth opened me a window through which I could see how he explained the classical works in his funny way.

(5) To tell your own experience is very important.Students indeed can bring in lots of new ideas. But some of them might be proved many times by experienced people that they just don’t work. So teachers have the advantage to tell students escape from the wrong way or a tougher way, which leaves students more opportunities to try something new. They are using our experiences. This means they are walking on a paved road so they can go further than us without wasting their energies or time. They are certain to explore much further. More discoveries are added to human being’s storehouse of knowledge. It is amazing, isn’t it? To tell you the truth I didn’t make a lot more improvement in my knowledge about Macbeth in Gareth’s class. The clearest thing to me is that his students laughed and laughed. But he held it until his students stopped laughing. Then a new round of laughing came again. He illustrated the classical in such a funny way that who would deny he is creating another classical for English teaching? 2. Historical moment in History classesI observed only two classes in History, an ancient history class by Laurance and a modern history class by Rowena. But I was so deeply impressed by their creativities in teaching that the miracles they made in their classes will never be gone in my memory. In Laurance’s class I witnessed how Pompeii was restored and in Rowena’s class I was feasted with students’ stories about World War.(1)How Pompeii was restoredThe second person who would like to take me into the classroom is Laurance, a young charming girl. I first saw her at devotion time in the morning. She happened to sit in front of me. I was so attracted by her beauty that I must have looked at her for a while. I thought I might get a smile from her if she noticed I was so crazy about her. Then she would prove me Môn Elisa was still alive and she was so close to me. But to my disappointment she turned her face away without a slight of smile. So I changed my mind to present Môn Elisa as her name. I renamed her as the statue beauty or the icy beauty. She would never win that beautiful name back unless she could give me a smile, I decided. But it didn’t take a long time before I returned Mon Elisa to her. As soon as I stepped into English and History staff room my eyes met her eyes and she smiled immediately. That was just a very slight smile. But it was gentle, natural and full of tenderness. I surrendered. She won Môn Elisa back. On the way to the classroom she explained to me she taught ancient history and nowadays they came to visit Pompeii. “Pompeii? The vanished city Pompeii?” I was interested. “Yes, ” she answered, still gently. “But we have finished it. Now I would like them to remember the year. They are supposed to show me how Pompeii was pictured in their mind.” I was confused and a little disappointed. Obviously she didn’t prepare to reveal the mystery of the city to me. In addition to help students to remember the historical years must be very boring. But you know what? Môn Elisa feasted me another surprise by her creativity in teaching. Thanks to it I got a chance to witness how Pompeii was restored by her students.

Step One A planned trap for her studentsAt the beginning of the class, Laurance put forward a couple of questions about Pompeii. The students couldn’t give concrete answers without looking at textbooks. I didn’t realize the meaning of this step until the end of this class. There were at least two purposes involved. First it helped students know it necessary to follow her requirement in this class because they still have a lot to remember. Secondly it was going to be a very convincing proof that what difference had been made through the activities in this class. This was no more than a trap for her students. They tripped over, they got hurt, they got to know where their own weakness located, they realized what they needed, they accepted training and they got the skills to survive. This is a magic in teaching.Step Two InspirationShe divided students into a few groups. She told me some students are very artistic, they like drawing. So she asked them to draw what Pompeii was like before it had fallen. Some students are very imaginative so she encouraged them to illustrate what was going to happen if Pompeii survived from the eruption of Vesuvius volcano. Some students are actionists. So she allowed them to move the history in front of themselves and then found out the solutions to solve the problem. Step Three Enjoy the resultFrom the point of my view it is the advantage of a creative teacher that he or she will be awarded to enjoy the exiting moment by students’ tremendous spectacular achievements as a result of their effort to be creative. There came Laurence ’s moment. Students were inspired. Some of them came to the front and they explained how prosperous Pompeii used to be before its disappearance by their scratching. Some described Pompeii survived from the disaster and how it stepped into this modern world century by century. Others got ready to take actions in rescuing Pompeii from the volcanic corruption. Graceful Laurence was just patrolling around the class. Seemingly she had got nothing else to do but smile. I knew she deserved it, didn’t she? (2) Try to be a student as a teacherLaurence was lazy enough in class to be a teacher like that. But it didn’t take me long before I got to know an even lazier one, who is Rowena, the head of History staff. But after that I decided I would try my best to be the laziest teacher in the world. This is because in this way my students are going to be the most creative chosen citizens in this world. It must be hard for you to understand what I am talking about until I tell you how I got a companion in her class. I have transferred myself to be a student from a teacher since I came to this school. But I was the only adult student in this school until Rowena joined me in her class. In her class? She joined you as a student? You are getting more and more confused and more and more tempted I think. All right here is the story. At the first sight her I thought she must be a very disciplining teacher because she was trim and beautiful. She looked tidy highly-educated and reputable. But as soon as I heard her tender voice I started to doubt if I should reset my ability of judgement that was proved wrong twice in a single group.

She told me she likes this group of students very much. They are intelligent attentive and very interested in history before we stepped into the classroom.. This made me find something common among the good teachers. They love their students. They can always find the positive points on their students and they never mind being generous in giving their students encouraging compliments. “Woo, let me have a look at what you have brought to me today.” She cheered while she went over to the cluster of her students. It seemed to be her birthday and her students were expected to bring her some presents. But she turned back to tell me they were supposed to bring here anything they could find in their life that were related to the wars. “So they are going to tell the history instead of you?” “Yes, exactly.” She smiled, trickly, “but they love this. ” she added. There was no need for her to tell me this. Apparently her students were fully-fledged to be our teachers now. Their anxious eyes were telling us they couldn’t wait any longer. One of the students brought all the pictures and the other connections of her grandfather, who used to be a soldier during the war. When looking at his school things, some of which were tiny but beautifully designed , you can’t help thinking that that was a delicate age and they used to have golden times when they were very young as well as we did. But the young glorious faces had to witness the cruelty of the war. Their young precious body had to be prepared to meet the bullets. The girl student told us the handsome young man beside her grandfather in the picture died in the war. This is unbelievable. At least it is too hard for me to accept. But this is real. A young radiant life was swallowed by the smoke of the war. I was overwhelmed by the sadness created by her for quite a moment. I realized my feeling was shared commonly because the whole class fell into silence at that moment. Time seemed to stop there until another student took out the pictures that her parents brought back from Europe. She said they took a visit to original European war fronts. Some evidences of the wars were still there thanks to the ruins and the memorials built for the soldiers who lost their lives in the war. But in most of the places the scenery was quiet, peaceful and pleasant, which makes it a bit hard to imagine the most tragic event in human history, the brutal war used to happen here. It is nice to see this because the trauma of the war was partly covered and we were filled with the hope that the rainbow will definitely turn up after the heavy rain.In Rowena’s class we were taught that the war was such a cruel game that we human beings should never play it again and we are so blessed by God that we are living in the tranquillity of peace luxuriously. There is no reason for us to involve in any type of confliction because it has incomparable attraction to the returning of the war history. Rowena took great interest in the history that her students told. It means she behaved very well as a student. So did I. As you can see how much I have learnt in this class. I feel like wanting a break now. I would rather finish this breathlessly. I couldn’t make it unless I stayed up day and night. It really took me a long time. But compared to what I have learnt it is just worth it. Thanks God for being so patient with me. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------[1] I add the concrete definition to it for the readers to have a better understanding.