Yuan Tengfei, That Guy is Awesome

While waiting for my flight at the airport today, I was bored and bought a book called “What the Hell is History.” The author is a Beijing high school history teacher named Yuan Tengfei.

The book came with a CD containing 8 hours of his teaching videos. I couldn’t access the internet in Wuhai, so I hid in my room bored and started watching Yuan Tengfei’s classes.

This guy truly inherits the fine tradition of Beijing smooth talkers. He’s not fighting alone — even when giving college entrance exam coaching to senior high students, he’s articulate and eloquent. He can turn the most boring textbook knowledge into something so engaging. He’s definitely born for teaching. What’s even more commendable is that he does it all on camera.

Recalling the school’s promotion of a podcast blogging system to record every teacher’s classes — oh my, everyone’s biggest fear was that they’d never be able to tell jokes in class again, because being recorded would leave solid evidence. Everyone would have to sit up straight. What a tragedy…

Actually, I think the most important thing about a good class is whether it can capture students’ attention first. No matter how well you teach, if everyone’s asleep, you’re not much of a teacher.