Culture Week

There is a Sias tradition called Culture Week.  All of the foreign teachers do a presentation each day of the week on different regions. Except for Monday, which is China day and the whole school goes crazy and Chinese.

We split into groups based on regions and I chose the day Latin/South America and Africa.  There is also Asia Day, Europe Day, and North America and Austrailia Day. 

Culture week is awesome, but also infamous.  It is certainly a high stress week for everyone and for some more than others.  Each groups has many big tasks they have to accomplish, and no one really knows if it's going to all come together until five mintues before show time.  It actually reminds me of all the Girl Scout camps I did, only on some serious steroids and minus all the little girls running around.

Each group has two parts: day time booths and a night time performance.  Our booths look pretty awesome, there are a lot of informational boards about different countries and cultural traditions.  We are also going to hand out food samples and mini passports to get stamped with some different countries' stamps.  We have a huge grass hut that people last year made, as well as a huge velvet (don't ask me why) crocodile and anaconda.  Vernon and Ashley also repainted these huge murals of a hippo, zebra, giraffe and water buffalo.  Needless to say, Italian Square looks pretty bomb.

Jess dressed up as an African lady (hiding her blonde hair of course) and was outside for basically the entire afternoon.  She estimates that she has at least one thousand pictures of her now on Chinese cameras and phones.  I love the little girl frowning at me in the picture.

We served some sort of orange drink (I've forgotten the name already), which tasted pretty good. 

We also had a soccer shoot out, which was crazy difficult (for me, anyway).  You had to move the ball through the cones and then hit the smilie face.  I couldn't get enough lift to actually hit the smilie face, but they gave me a peice of candy anway.  (Holly and Danielle, you would have been pro).  Side note: I ironed and hung all of those latin American flags you see in the background hanging off of the balcony.

This was really cute, we had a huge sandbox and toys in front of our Carribean Islands poster board and all the little babies came to play in it.  They are SO adorable. 

I don't think I could find a better example or picture of split pants if I tried.  I feel like I talk about split pants and people can't really imagine what that would even look like, it's so far against our culture and sense of hygine.  However, every baby looks like this and all of them pee on the street.  And you thought that cats peeing in a sandbox was bad, it only gets worse with a baby.... (Note: this baby didn't actually pee in the sandbox but it could have and that is my point.)

Here is our velvet crocodile. There was also a pink dophin (apparently they are only found in the amazon) but it was in really rough shape so we decided not to use him this year.

Our grass hut was a big hit, and now I wonder how many Chinese people it can fit.  It always had a lot of people in it hanging out the sides for pictures.

I love this painting of the Mayan ruins, the bottom three steps are 3D so you can take a picture on them. 

We also had pinatas that we had students hit at every hour.  This one was decorated as Sponge Bob Square Pants (I have no idea why) but there were also traditional style ones too.  I watched this pinata get taken down by really enthusiastic Chinese students, after the first couple solid whacks one of the taller boys actually grabbed hold of it and tore it in half.  It was really effective.

Faith (in the plaid) and Jess decided to compete in soccer and it was really close.  Though, Jess did have the handicap of being in a dress and in cowboy boots but she did pretty awesome.

I don't have any pictures from the night performance (since I was in it) and I'll post some as soon as I get them.  In brief, there was a lot of latin style dancing, soccer, a fashion show, and boxing.

I will post another section about this, probably, but I want to get this one up.  Check out my facebook if you want to see me as Hermione Granger with Harry Potter.

Info Cards

So, I had all of my students fill out "Student Info Cards" so I can keep them straight and contact them if I need something.  Some of the students wrote me a note at the bottom.  Here are my favorites:

"I fancy perfection and pursue eternal happiness.  Perfect fantasy..."  Allen

"Hope Every class Happy!"  Heather (and every other chinese student says "I hope happy every day!")

"By the way, I like your hairstyle, like waves."  Maple

"Opportunities are not wait!"  Angel

"I hope I can learn how to write in English from you.  Esp, how to write the beauty essay."  Clark

"I like English firstly.  Then I like doing sports.  You are perfect."  George

"Hold fast to your dream
for if dreams die/go
life is like a broken-winged bird/barren field
that can never fly/frozen with snow."  Alexander

"In our life, we always meet some troubles, but there is a sentence that encourages me so much.  'Its like a web, sometimes.  You make it, you wait.  And something always comes.'" Lasia (girl)

"Yes, we can!!"  Cenny (girl)

"I believe I can fly." Karsa (guy)

"Do what I like, like what I do.  Interest is the best teacher."  Andy

"I hope u can find ur Mr. Right as soon as possible.  Good luck! (heart) Expect we can be good friends."  Cecilia

"I am a sincere boy."  Fisher

I also have a pretty awesome from my friend Erin's class, from one of her low level athletes.  Green 1 is her husband, Seth.  "Green 1 is very strong.  You would be fatter."  I think this is my favorite one.

It is interesting to note that in Chinese culture, cliches are encouraged and relied upon heavily.  Anything that is a collective saying or phrase is considered to have more weight than something you could make up on your own.  This idea is one we talk about in writing class to help them write in a western style.  I taught them the word cliche and what it meant after they all wrote cliches on their note cards.

I also asked my students to tell me a little about themselves and I got some interesting self assessments.

"I am an outgoing girl and willing to try my best to learn English Writing well!"  Brittany

"I am an easygoing girl.  I am patient.  I love smile."  Doris

"I'm not so confident and easy to be nervous.  I hope I can come over these."  Emily

"I'm bright and I like communicating with others."  Grace

"I am an outgoing girl.  I think my shortage is I am a little lazy sometimes, I will do my best to make full use of time."  Jessica

"I don't like talking.  I am a little shy."  John

"Hi Lane, I'm a diligent and honest girl and I love to spend time with dear family and friends.  However, there is also a self-esteem in my heart and it makes me a little ambitious and independent."  Joyce
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"I want to be a perfect man.  So I will try my best."  David

"I am lovely.  I like smiling.  Be kind and hope make more friends!"  King (girl)

"I am patient and careful.  I would try my best to do things well.  I love dancing.  I hope I can be confident and brave."  Alexis

"I want to be braver!"  Tammy

I think students spend a lot of time describing themselves, or being told about different types of people or virtues of what people should be like.  Something about the whole thing seems very cookie cutter and Chinese, but it's hard for me to articulate it (obviously).  It makes me want to sit in on their high school English classes to get a feel for where some of what they say comes from.

Chinese English is definately different than American English.  Its weird.  And makes for a good blog post.

First Week of Classes

Finally the time has come that I get to do what I've moved here to do.  Teach!

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!