Dr. Laura Wedman, who is accompany her husband, the Chair professor, Dr. John F. Wedman from the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies of University of Missouri-Columbia, offered an English conversation class between Nov.6 and 23 to the students and staff at the College of Education. For the College, this is a heaven-sent perfect arrangement that by inviting one Dr. Wedman, they get another Dr. Wedman free!

Her class, which trained learners’ fluency in spoken English, proved to be extremely popular and was packed with eager and delighted learners in each lesson. She was also pleased with the learners who turned out to be outgoing and enthusiastic, quite contrary to her prior expectation. She had heard that Taiwanese learners tended to be shy, introverted, and passive during classes, but she was surprised to find that her students all responded to her teaching very positively.

She usually prepared various topical issues written on different slips of paper for learners to draw. After some moments of brief planning, students would have to speak spontaneously and freely about the topic on the slip they got for some minutes. Such a teaching style, according to Chen Chuan-hsin, a secretary working at the college, allowed her and other learners speak English without fear or any embarrassment. Dr. Wedman, she added, was also attuned to their needs as she was very adept in adjusting her teaching pace and contents based on students’ responses. Thanks to her popularity, she has been asked to offer more classes to staff of other colleges and units. ( ~Ying-hsueh Hu )