February 20, 2004

I blagged my way through, reading a torn-up textbook and ad libbing

Ohhhh - this is good!!! From SemiSkinned comes a link to this story in the UK Telegraph: bq. An Oxford engineering student was surprised but undaunted when he was approached to deliver a series of lectures in Beijing on global economics. bq. Matthew Richardson knew "next to nothing" about the subject but, believing he would be addressing a sixth-form audience, he felt he could "carry it off". bq. Mr Richardson, 23, borrowed an A-level textbook entitled An Introduction to Global Financial Markets from a library and swotted up on its contents on the flight from London to China. And of course, there is another Matthew Richardson and you guessed it - he's a New York University professor who is a leading authority on international financial markets... Says Matthew the Engineering student: bq. He said: "It became clear to me that my audience was not students, but people from the world of commerce studying for a PhD in business studies having already gained an MBA. And more (talking about the lectures themselves): bq. "Because I was speaking through an interpreter I had the time to glance at the pages and prepare myself for what I was going to say next. I ad libbed a bit and really got into the subject. I was learning as much as my audience." bq. To add authenticity to his delivery, he used his laptop computer to make it appear that he was reading from his own material and made notes on a board to emphasise points he was making. And more (the audience's reaction and Matthew's problem): bq. The following day he made it through to the lunch break when several students told him, through the interpreter, how informative they were finding his lectures. "The problem was that I was running out of chapters. By mid-afternoon on the second day I was already on chapter 15 of 16 and I still had the rest of the day and the following morning to go. I realised I wasn't going to make it." Fun stuff... He has a long and distinguished career of teaching ahead of him. Posted by DaveH at February 20, 2004 9:53 AM