I arrived in the classroom, ready to share my knowledge and experience with 75 students who would be my English Literature class．Having taught in the US for 17 years, I had no 1 about my ability to hold their attention and to 2 on them my admiration for the literature(文学)of my mother tongue．
I was shocked when the monitor shouted,“ 3 !” and the entire class rose as I entered the room, and I was somewhat 4 about how to get them to sit down again, but once that awkwardness(尴尬)was over, I quickly 5 my calmness and began what I thought was a fact – packed lecture, sure to gain their respect – perhaps 6 their admiration．I went back to my office with the rosy glow which comes from a(n) 7 of achievements．
My students 8 diaries．However, as I read them, the rosy glow was gradually 9 by a strong sense of sadness．The first diary said,“Our literature teacher didn’t teach us anything today． 10 her next lecture will be better．”Greatly surprised, I read diary after diary, each expressing a 11 subject．“Didn’t I teach them anything?I described the entire philosophical framework(哲学体系)of Western thought and laid the historical 12 for all the works we’ll study in class,” I complained．“How 13 they say I didn’t teach them anything?”
It was a long term, and it 14 became clear that my ideas about education were not the same as 15 of my students．I thought a teacher’s job was to raise 16 questions and provide enough background so that students could 17 their own conclusions．My students thought a teacher’s job was to provide 18 information as directly and clearly as possible．What a difference!
19 , I also learned a lot, and my experience with my Chinese students has made me a 20 American teacher, knowing how to teach in a different culture．