I have switched the topic that I'm teaching from Oral English to Western Composition and have moved into the academic realm. Does that make me a professor now? I hope so.
I got my schedule and found that I had been scheduled for one more class than my boss, Nathan, had promised. He said that my contract stated that I need to teach 12 hours and so the school is enforcing that. So, that is going to be approximately 282 students and 282 papers I will need to grade at midterm and at the final. Joy. Thank goodness for rubrics.
The blessing for me is that I don't have any 8 AM classes. And I only have one 10 am class. Here is my schedule for the week:
Monday: 4-6 PM
Tuesday: 2-4PM
Wednesday: 10-12 AM; 2-4 PM; 4-6 PM
Thursday: 4-6 PM
Fridays: FREE!
So Wednesday is my heavy load, but I'll just wear my dansko shoes and get through the day well supported.
My friend Jess also has mornings free, so we've been doing coffee in my room in the mornings. (Send me Stumptown coffee ground for french press!!) This first week is pretty chill for me since I teach the same lesson every day, so it has given me time to post blogs and have leisurely mornings drinking coffee with Jess (who only teaches Thursdays and Fridays) and cleaning my apartment (between having people over and the fact that China get so dirty so fast, I'm cleaning something almost every day).
The two majors that I teach are Business English and English Translation. My Business English students are called Bridge students. They have been at university for three years earning their AA degree, but they got a high enough GPA that they had the option to continue to get their bachelors degree in another two years. I have found my bridge students to be more outgoing than my English Translation students, even if their English isn't necessarily better. Maybe it has to do with the fact that there are a higher number of men in the Business English classes, the average number of men in the English translation classes is 2.5 out of 49 students. English related majors tend to be heavily female dominated, except for buiness English. Chinese women are notoriously shy at first in the classroom, it was like pulling teeth to get them to say anything on Wednesday.
I planned a class discussion about writing to get their juices flowing about writing and its uses, but having had experience in Chinese classrooms, I knew I needed to warm them up to speaking in class first. Chinese students rarely speak in their normal classes. The teaching style in China tends to be based on the idea that the teacher is the teapot of knowledge and the students are the cups into which it is poured. There is no 'cooperative discovery' of knowledge that is so prevent in many classrooms in America. So students really like that the classes taught by American teachers not only have the glamour of being taught by an American but also much more interactive and interesting.
So, I had students break the ice by asking me questions they wrote down about America, or what I think about China, or what hobbies I have, etc. Questions Chinese students ask are pretty typical, and I now can predict what is coming. There is always a question on how I like China, do I like Chinese food, what is the most impressive thing I have seen in China? How is China different than America? Is America like what they have seen in American movies? (NO, I do NOT sleep with a gun under my pillow).
Then all the really cute little girls will start to whisper and giggle behind their hands and I know either: a) that question is coming next if one of them is brave enough to voice it, or b) that one isn't brave enough but they really do want to know if I have a boyfriend.
Keep in mind, that while these students are 19 and 20 years old, Chinese young people under the age of 25 are incredibly sheltered and repressed. They are forbidden from dating in high school and college by their parents, who want them to study and get good grades on their final exams to be able to get a good job. Some students do date, but they absolutely keep it secret from their parents. And Chinese students are pretty amaturish when it comes to this; in many aspects teaching Chinese university students is like teaching middle school in the States. Both the language and the emotional maturity are about the same, though Chinese students have life skills and smarts that are certainly in level or higher with their counterparts in the States.
Anyway, usually some girl (and occasionally guy) gathers up enough courage to ask me if I have a boyfriend. But this time, two classes asked it in a totally Chinese, clever, indirect, and roundabout way.
One girl said she knew that rings could be significant in American culture (they are not in Chinese culture), did I have any rings that had any special meaning or that was given to me by a special person? Needless to say, I was impressed. I told her no, that I was not wearing a ring on my left ring finger so that meant I was single, and no I do not have a boyfriend (which I said with a dramatic sigh and got a laugh). Of course, the next question that comes is always: Do you like Chinese boys? and everyone snickers again. And I say that it doesn't matter is he is Chinese or American, if I meet a good man that I like, then maybe I would date him.
The second class went about it a different way. After a long discussion of countries I have been to, one girl stood up and asked if my boyfriend got annoyed that I traveled so much and we were parted for so long. Then the same conversation followed as before, and everyone had their curiosity satisfied.
There is a sort of tension that builds up during this question time, so I feel its better to get it out of the way so they stop thinking about it.
Chinese people are also incredibly romantic. Something that is totally corny in America would get a warm welcome here in China. In some ways its really cute and in some ways its a set up for failure because of the unreasonable expectations tossed around. You thought America was bad. China is worse.
I'll take a picture of my favorite dating custom at a later date and post it for you to see.
Here are some pictures of one of the buildings I teach in, building 13. I teach on the third and sixth floor (uh!) and also in building 12 which is the next one over that is identical.
Here are some of my students and what the inside of my classroom looks like. This is an English translation class, so pretty much all of the students are girls.
Coming next: Top Five Favorite Chinglish Student Names. Stay tuned!
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