2009卫生英语A补全短文

h****6

I LEARNED very quickly that being a teaching assistant (TA) at the University of Iowa would be different from life as a teacher at Renmin University.

Back at Renda, I had walked into my first classes feeling like a celebrity. Eyes staring, mouths open, students examining my big nose, hands nervous, people whispering while I wrote my name on the blackboard.

At Iowa, when my first classes began, half my students still hadn't arrived. When everyone finally found a seat, ringing cellphones and loud yawns interrupted my opening remarks.

It's not that American students were disrespectful. Most were polite or, at least, indifferent. They were, however, far more skeptical than the students I had at Renda. The truth is I couldn't fault them for their skepticism. Undergraduates at large US universities -especially freshmen and sophomores ? often have several classes a semester handled by TAs. In some cases, the TA sets the course content. In others, the TA works as a grader and discussion leader. Most have good intentions, but only a few are as effective as flesh-and-blood professors.

Every teacher has to confront obstacles to learning - no matter what the culture. Students who talk during lectures, students who cheat, students who question the grade they get for a paper or project - dealing with these is all part of the job. I encountered these in China, and I faced them in the US.

The difference, I think - at least in my experience is that in the US I had to swallow more of my pride. In my students' minds, I had little to offer them, except perhaps some sample questions for the mid-term exam.

I had a responsibility to teach them, of course, but I had to do so indirectly-as a guide who himself had a few things to learn from the students.

m****6

我都对了啊。