Joyce Zhou at Yale---a Frustrating Presentation at New Haven Free Public Library

      On the third Thursday of my stay at Yale University，I experienced something extremely upset and I have been in a regretful and frustrating feeling ever since. 

     It happened in a presentation at New Haven free public library. We 15 people were invited to deliver a series of public speech about China's culture from different aspects such as history，traditions，festivals，families and the latest development. I joined in the first group. The task was assigned a week ago and I should have got enough time to deal with it properly，but unfortunately I didn't，which might be the main reason for my disapointing experience.

     Before I was told to join in the first group chiefly talking about family planning policy and the aging society in China，I had formed a plan concerning the relationship between people and animals in families both in the past and at present，a topic I am more intested in，so  I was totally at a loss about what to do when I was informed of the topic. Hearing the ideas of my group partners，I thought over and over about what I could possibly continue. Finally，I decided to show some pictures as a continuation and conclusion of what Jason would say about the aging society. If I had started my preparation earlier，I could have done it better. However，it had been arranged that there would be a dinner party on Tuesday，two days before the speech. Worse still，I am not a person who can be devoted to different tasks at the same time.Therefore，when I was hogtied by different trifles before the dinner party，I just couldn't spare enough effort to focus on my pre-work of the speech. So I didn't do much before the dinner party was over.

     It was  after the class on Monday afternoon that I actually started my work. When I got it started，I was startled to find there were so many things to do including searching for different pictures and organizing a variety of scripts for them，so I could only show a rough draft at Tuesday's rehearsal. If I had done more on Tuesday evening，I could have escaped the disaster. But troubles never come singly. There was a terrible coincidence that night：the internet was unvailable！I couldn't surf on line to find more pictures，so I had to go to bed early. Fortunately，it turned out the next morning that the router was not broken. I decided to continue my job in the afternoon right after the class. I stayed up very late on Wednesday night searching for pictures，editing the words and making revisions. On Thursday morning，being afraid that there might be a need for another revision，I woke up very early and checked all the pictures and scripts again. After finishing all the work，I took a deep breath，but anxiety kept haunting in my mind frequently. In the afternoon，my roomate Cherry helped me do the work of picture editting on PPT as  I was not good at it；Jennifer and Lyli came along to my apartment，and I rehearsed again with the revised contents based. The time was approaching when  I made the final revision based on their advice. I tried my best to remember the words，but I found myself frequently distracted by the feeling of tiredness，anxiety and pressure. You could imagine how terrible I did when it was my turn. I pretended to be calm at first，but when it came to something that I didn't get quite familiar with，I couldn't resist the stressful and dizzy feelings. My mouth was so parched and my throat so scorched that I felt myself unable to say a word at times！It was a horrible and suffering feeling I have never had before，but it occurred exactly at the moment when I was making the speech. After I finished，I even felt I was in a fever，a rather abnormal phenomenon I myself have not even thought to occur in my life. I almost ruined our teamwork even though the other four did quite well.

     Afterwards，I thought a lot about it. My unsual feeling of tension might be caused by the immature preparation and a lack of confidence. I could have avoided the occurrence of such a bad feeling  if I had been more ready for the speech. As is known to us，there won't be any satisfactory outcome without sufficient preparation. My disastrous experience in the presentation is absolutely a proof for this saying. 

Joyce Zhou at Yale --a Stressful Preparation but a Gorgeous Dinner Party

     Jason，Cherry，Marina and I，the four who share an apartment，have been planning for the dinner party since our second Tuesday at Yale when Jason declared the news after consulting with Carrie and Siggy about the proper time at the end of the class. To our delight，both Carrie and Siggy accepted our invitation，so we decided to begin our preparation. Since we all seem to be tightened up by the schedule on all weekdays，we had to prepare for it at weekend. Friday afternoon we four went to Stop&Shop，a supermarket near the campus. We lingered in the market for more than one hour，put whatever necessary into the carts till the two carts were piled up with meat，chicken，beef，fish，vegetables，fruits，beverages and many other things. We bought so many bags of things that we four could hardly carry them back to our apartment！    

     Tuesday morning，considering that there might be too many things to do，we got up very early. Marina，Cherry，Jason and I were busy with the preparation the whole morning and we didn't notice it was almost late for class. I knocked into a corner of a tea table above my suitcase when I was in a rush looking for my stockings and soon there was a small bump on my forehead . I had no time to deal with it before rushing to the classroom

    After Carrie's class，we hurried back to our apartment to continue the  preparation， and Jason，the only gentleman in our apartment，went to Hong Kong Supermarket to buy something necessary. Linda，Leoking，Julia，Ann，Rachel，Polly and Cecilia came early to help us. When they were making dumplings，Carrie and Siggy arrived and joined them. Marina the chef，with Cherry and I as her assistants，cooked most of the dishes. After a while，most guests arrived. Soon our apartment was full of laughing，chatting，chopping and frying as well as the symphony of cooking utensils. With a joint effort of all，16 dishes were ready （ including  the two prepared by Jennifer，Lyli and Lorean who live in another apartment nearby）. Jason was caught in the heavy  rain and went back all wet. When everybody was present，the long-awaited dinner party began.

     It lasted a few hours. Everybody was so excited that we all forgot our home-sickness. We took a lot of photos when we were chatting，laughing，toasting and doing the square dance after dinner. To our gratitude，Neoking helped collecting and cleaning up.

     Preparing  for such a big dinner party was really a hard job，but it was truly worthwhile. I hope it would be one of the most memorable days during our stay at Yale.

    

     

    

Observation of Kristy's Classes

      We fifteen people were assigned the task of observing some teachers' clsasses of Yale FLI from Monday of the second week. 

     Last Thursday when Siggy gave us the name list of observation groups, I didn't find my name in it, so I was told to join Lily as group and we two would go to the same class to observe. 

     Monday and Tuesday we were in Kristy' class, the first class we observed. Kristy, who teaches reading and writing,  is a very responsible teacher for she goes to the classroom very early. Her lectures are also delivered in an most impressive way. She shows great passion for her work and there is always a kind of relaxing atmosphere in her classes. Furthermore, she treats her students including Lily and I in an amicable way. She smiles a lot in class, which would help relieve the stressful feelings among the students. Whenever some students have difficulties, she would go up and explain for them carefully and patiently. She is also very generous to praise her students, and we find that almost all her students could present themselves with confidence and fluency, which might be one of the positive results brought by her frequent praises. Instead of explaining the writing techniqes and grammatical rules in a complicated way, Kristy instructs the students to learn more efficiently. For example, after some students write their sentences of paraphrasing on the blackboard, Kristy reminds them of the  appropriate methods or grammar rules，so the students can find their own mistakes and correct them by themselves. In this way they would not forget the rules and techniques easily.

     In addition to her attitudes towards her students and her work, I find Kristy is very good at orgnizing her classes and applying the theories about teaching to classroom practice. Before the class begins, she asks the students who come early to read the articles silently, which may be called the reviewing or previewing process. In this process, she waits there for students' questions about the articles. When the class begins, realizing that there are some newcomers, she helps the students to do ice-breaking activities such as introducing themselves to each other and saying something about their countries. After that, she explains something about paraphrasing and asks the students to tell what they have done about their homework. After the discussion, some students are asked to write down their answers on the blackboard and the others are observing. She then helps them realize their errors in writing and grammar mistakes, and most of them are able to correct their mistakes. By means of this, Kristy tries to help the students improve themselves in a self-introspective way, which would be more helpful to them than being simply told about the principles.  

     All in all,  I find myself benefitted from the first observation class, and I am expecting to learn more teaching methods from other teachers at Yale.

 

Joyce Zhou's Fifth Day at Yale--a Day for Fun and Relaxation

      Several days after we arrived at Yale，the Summer Session arranged for us to go for an outing by taking a ship tour around a beautiful and awesome place called Thimble Island. The are a lot of houses built on the rocks，small or big，ancient or modern，simple or luxurious，which is one of the striking features of the island. The island is amazingly attractive，and it is one of the great summer resorts. 

     When we were waiting for our turn to go aboard，we took photos for each other and we also took some group pictures. I noticed a father was taking pictures for his retarded teenage son and I went up to them，doing some small talk about the beautiful scene of the island. The father told me that his son loves the island so much that he and his son come here almost every year and they have been enjoy their trips all the time. I was moved by their story，so I offered to take pictures for them two. The father appreciated that very much and expressed his thankfulness to me. I was glad that I did  sonething good for them to help them remember some moment of their happy get-togerther.

     Carrie and Siggy went together with us and we took a lot of photos over there. We really had a wonderful time.

Joyce Zhou's Second Day at Yale-- A Really Busy and Dizzy Day

     I had quite a tight schedule today.

     We had both Siggy's and Carrie's classes in the morning, went back to our rented home to have lunch, and then hurried back to the classroom at 1:30. After all the classes,we four roomates went to a leacture hall called Sudler Hall (in William L. Harkness Hall on Cross Campus) to attend a lecture given by Daniel Prober，a professor of applied physics. The professor explained how the consumption of energy has affected the environment and how Yale is taking new energy strategies. The professor tried every means to make the lecture vivid and impressive by showing us many examples about what has happened and what is going on with regards of energy and I could follow him with curiosity at first. Unfortunately，in the middle of the lecture，jet lag came to disturb me，and I couldn't fight it back，so I dozed off and even snored. I didn't realize I was snapping till Leoking elbowed me. She told me some students who heard my sound of snoring were looking at and jeering at me. What a shame！

    Without any breaktime，we went directly to the Planetarium right after the lecture. We saw the amazing Evening Sky Map. The map is so life-like that we seemed to be travelling in the sky！Un fortunately，I was dazed by the stars around so much so that I fell asleep again！It was really a peculiar and unforgettable evening even though we were totally exhausted with the long walk to and from the Observatory Tower .

     

Joyce Zhou' first day at Yale--a Dreary but Fresh Day

After a long and exhausting journey, three of my colleagues and I finally arrived at Yale, a world-renown and prestigious university which many people would long to visit. My first day at Yale was busy and dizzy but full of curiosity and excitement.  It was busy because we had to deal with many things in a new place including going to the registration offices, looking for a supermarket to buy daily necessities, and tiding up my new room. I felt dizzy the whole day just because of the long journey all the way from Changsha to New Haven and a nearly sleepless night caused by the troublesome jet lag.  

Nevertheless, my first day at Yale was filled with curiosity and excitement. People would usually feel curious about a new place, and I am of no exception. As is known to all, Yale University has been enjoying a high reputation all over the world, so I would like to grasp the opportunity to explore everything interesting, particular and impressive, including its history, culture and the people around it. Excitement is another typical feeling of mine on this special day. I was offered  the chance to attend classes at Yale, so it is not strange for me to have such a cheerful feelings. Another reason for me to be elated is that we have two wonderful teachers whom I have heard a lot from my colleagues who came here last year. Both of them were shining with smiles all the time in today’s classes, which impresed me very much. What made me feel more delighted is the moment when the teachers told us that we would have a lot of fun in the first few days instead of being tightened up with busy schedules!

     There was another exciting thing I would like to mention on my first day at Yale because I was  first frightened but later I felt proud. It happened on my way to the supermarket at noon. One of my roommates and I were in a hurry to go to the market when a black young man came up to us and asked whether we came from China. After knowing we are Chinese, the young man said smilingly that he loves China very much and he is saving money to go to visit China. My first reaction was that he wanted to ask for money from us, for Siggy discussed with us in the morning about professional beggars in America, but I soon realized that his only intention was to tell us how much he loves China. Being aware of that, I echoed him with a smile and encouraged him to go to visit China as soon as possible. What a fantastic experience!

     My first day ended with tiredness and excitement. I am so fascinated by the blue sky, fresh air and amicable people at Yale that I am now expecting more gorgeous days to come.