Teaching the First Class Here

I taught my first class last night -- research methods for the 4th year, senior English majors. I had thought that this meant a kind of senior review class (a review of the literature and major theories and perhaps involving a research project), but in fact it seems to mean a kind of research paper writing class. I did bring a few books appropriate for teaching that, but could have brought more had I realized sooner what the course involves. Additionally, this class carries no requirements in terms of writing assignments the students must do or exams. They just need to attend 50% of the classes, and it meets for 1.5 hours every two weeks (on Wednesday evenings). It's meant to be a preparation for writing their senior theses (40-50 pages on a topic of their choice), which they must defend orally before receiving a diploma. It's a new class that hasn't been taught before.

The students were very nice and their English was exceptionally good. I make this assessment as someone who taught English as a Second Language to students from all over the world for 8 years. I would compare these students favorably with the very best speakers we had from elsewhere in Europe. In fact a British colleague here told me they were comparable to English speakers from Holland and Scandinavia (typically the best non-native English speakers), and I would agree. This high level of English among the English majors at university might also be connected to the overall high level of English I've found among the people generally (as I am doing errands and so on).

The students last night were all waiting in the hallway (though the door was open) outside the classroom at a minute to 6 pm (when we were due to start). Once I went into the classroom, they all filed in. The class room had rows of little tables that two people could share lined up two on each side of the aisle with 4 chairs per pair of tables. There was another table in the front of the room with a podium where I stood. But I also walked around the room most of the time and sat on a desk facing the students, as I often do in the States too. There was a chalkboard, and a box of chalk and a slightly damp sponge in a box attached to the wall next to the chalkboard. All the students went straight for the back of the room. There are 39 students on the roll, and probably room for 50 in the classroom. But not all students attended last night. So in fact there were about 3-4 free rows of desks. Usually in the States students will kind of scatter themselves in a classroom. Some always sit right up front, others way in the back, some near the window, some near the door. But here, they all filled up the rows completely starting from the back, leaving all the front desks free.

I tried to read the roll, but my pronunciation of Croatian names, especially family names, was terrible. They finally told me to just read their first names. So I must have been really butchering the pronunciation. I really have to try to learn a little Croatian.

Anyway, I think we had a pretty good first class. They seem very smart and dedicated, and all about the same age, early twenties, from what I could tell. At one point toward the end of class we were just talking a little and they asked me if I like Croatian food. I told them I'm a vegetarian and so have not eaten much Croatian food. They seemed disappointed. I told them I had eaten a lot of Croatian food growing up, since that's what my mom often cooked. And I told them that when I came home one day here I noticed a very strong smell in my building that I recognized as stuffed cabbage, a dish I knew the smell of well from childhood. And they all kind of laughed and seemed really surprised, about more than just that I would know that food. So I asked them what was up. And they said that they were surprised by my name for the dish, "stuffed cabbage." They told me their name for it in Croatian -- I think it's "sarma" -- and that I should say this instead of stuffed cabbage. I asked why, and they said, "Stuffed cabbage! That just makes it sound so awful!" I said but that's really what we call it and it has no negative connotation. But they really disliked that name. It's funny that I grew up eating this dish, but never thought the name for it was in any way bad; in fact I preferred it to the name some of my friends used for the same dish, "pigs in a blanket," which to me sounded unappealing. Just last night on TV I saw some British show where they called this same dish cabbage rolls. I wonder if the students would find that less objectionable. It seemed it was the "stuffed" part that bothered them. Anyway they definitely prefer their Croatian name for it, sarma.