ABSTRACT
Teaching interpersonal communication is somewhat like a romantic relationship on a slow boat to China: The teacher has some hopes about an arrangement that might be pleasant, has some preconceived notions about the topics and people, meets and gets acquainted with the class (romantic partner), has a meaning system and ways of thinking about the topic (or about life) that are quite well developed but not immediately obvious, tries to make her or his own meaning system relate to the meaning systems of the students (partner), and progressively reveals deeper and deeper layers of the topic (self) to the students in ways that are related to previously revealed information (Duck, 1994)—but you cannot easily get off the boat. Like two strangers becoming acquainted, the class and teacher may approach each other with some prejudices, may get to know things they do not like, may form a close bond that lasts beyond the initial task, may fail to understand one another, can get a lot of personal pleasure out of the meeting of minds that is represented by the teaching and learning experience, and can experience the teacher–pupil relationship as a bond or a bind (Wiseman, 1986).
