Perfect English Class

Last Thursday was definitely an interesting class whether for better or for worse. This class was definitely a wakeup call for me as to understanding the students in the class. Since it was the last class, we agreed on having “best and worst moment” during the second half of the class with the idea of ending the class on a nice note. The theme of the class for the day was to discuss on the perception of what is meant by a perfect English. The class started off with the right momentum, everybody was engaged and involved in the discussion. Interns and facilitators knew that the conclusion to the discussion was to reach a consensus with students that there is no such thing as a perfect English and at the end, what mattered was a perfect grammar. Perhaps it was because we were less prepared in determining the scope of the discussion, we ended up slightly touching on the subject of “perfect English” and diverted off course to racism.

Honestly, there were a lot of pros and cons when the situation took place the way it did. One of the pros would definitely be that I was given a wakeup call as to how, many of the students, perceived the issue of racism. If political correctness was stripped out from the conversation, I could definitely see many of the students actually identifying with subtle forms of racism. The issues
If I were to be honest, it really became a show about a particular student. Though I felt regretful that this student had such standings, I could not help but feel sorry, in a conflicting way, because obviously, everyone (at least facilitator, coordinator and interns) were in opposition with his views and it became an “us against him” situation. I felt that it was unprofessional on our side for the purpose of this course is to educate. The class ended definitely with a bittersweet feeling. Nevertheless, it will be a good lesson for future