Wang Gang took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes vigorously, and looked again, "Is that Zhao Yi?"
He was still sowhat unsure.
He propped himself up on the podium, tilted his body to the left to take a closer look, then tilted to the right for another look. He looked left, right, up, and down.
"No doubt about it!"
"It is indeed Zhao Yi!"
Wang Gang’s sowhat comical actions drew laughter from the students in the classroom, but he didn’t mind at all. Instead, he stepped down from the podium, approached Zhao Yi, stared intently at his face and asked, "Academician Zhao? What are you doing here...?"
His tone was sowhat sorrowful.
Zhao Yi was quite troubled too. Sotis he’d attend lectures, but they were all biology classes where he knew everyone in both classes, so he wasn’t usually sward by people.
But it was different now in the chanical engineering class, where most students didn’t know him or had never seen him before. The arrival of Zhao Yi took them by surprise. He was accustod to sitting in the last row, a place that didn’t attract attention.
However, a large group of students soon surrounded him, so of them taking pictures with their phones, competing for seats next to Zhao Yi.
Upon hearing that Zhao Yi was genuinely there for the lecture, they crowded around him and took him to the front row, explaining, "This is the best spot. Teacher Wang’s lectures are so interesting!"
"Zhao Yi, you’ve definitely made the right choice!"
"Teacher Wang Gang is the best teacher in our departnt. I never miss his classes..."
Zhao Yi, who had hoped for a low profile, found himself sitting quite conspicuously in the front row.
After hearing Wang Gang’s question, Zhao Yi nodded and replied, "Teacher Wang, I’ve recently developed an interest in chanical engineering knowledge. I heard your lectures are quite interesting, so I decided to sit in."
Wang Gang felt sowhat high-spirited after being praised, but the idea of Zhao Yi sitting in his class made him extrely gloomy.
Zhao Yi, Academician Zhao!
Having such a big shot sitting in the front row of his class; How was he ever going to conduct his lecture normally?
Seeing that Zhao Yi’s intention to attend was sincere, Wang Gang couldn’t refuse him and, suppressing his discomfort, said, "Thank you! I’m honored that Academician Zhao would take the ti to attend my class."
"Please, it’s not necessary. Just call Zhao Yi."
Wang Gang exchanged pleasantries with Zhao Yi but in the end, couldn’t bring himself to call him by his na. Unlike Zhou Li and Hu Zhibin, who he was familiar with, it felt awkward addressing Zhao Yi directly. Nevertheless, he returned to the podium and continued, "Today we’re going to...". He hesitated, glanced at Zhao Yi, and continued, "...carry on with the previous topic."
Wang Gang was indeed an outstanding teacher, very appreciated by his chanical engineering students. His classes were not rote lectures. Instead, he expanded on the textbook’s points with practical and interesting examples, encouraged student participation and always kept the atmosphere engaging.
Simultaneously, he had a remarkable ability to pace his curriculum. Students felt that he didn’t cover much in each class, yet inexplicably, a few weeks before the exam, he had covered every key point in the textbook.
This lesson was a continuation of the previous one, focusing on chanical design logic and concepts.
Wang Gang prepared several stories on past inventions. However, upon spotting Zhao Yi in his class, he lost interest in storytelling and started pondering a problem, "How can I make Zhao Yi find my class boring?"
If he achieved that, perhaps Zhao Yi would stop coming.
Otherwise...
If Zhao Yi found his lectures interesting and attended every class, Wang Gang would be totally distraught. He did not want to endure the pressure that teachers from the School of Sciences and the College of Life Sciences experienced.
After careful consideration, Wang Gang ca up with a plan. His students found his classes interesting because of the effort he put into preparing for them, coupled with his teaching experience. He thought, "What if I just stick to the textbook and don’t add any extra content? That would surely be boring!"
Believing this plan could work, Wang Gang paid no mind to what the other students might think. After all, it was just one class, and it wouldn’t be a big deal if it didn’t go well.
So, he began to "read the textbook."
Actually, there was no need to read it word for word. He knew all the points in the textbook and explained them one by one, without any expansion or interaction with the students.
The speed of his lecture increased incredibly.
Ordinary students could hardly keep up with him, even the ones with better grades found it very challenging. It felt more like rote learning. Players who could morize the content could understand it, but if they missed a bit, they would get confused further on.
The hour and a half long class seed like a cram session before an exam rather than a regular lecture.
He could see the majority of his students struggling to understand and so on the verge of falling asleep. However, he didn’t change his approach. He planned to revisit and reinforce the content in his next class.
Anyway...
He had to make Zhao Yi find the class boring!
This was what troubled Wang Gang. While the majority of the students were confused or falling asleep, Zhao Yi seed captivated and genuinely interested in the content.
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