In my last 'Stories from China' article was entitled: Teaching English Summer Camps in China and was published on July 13th. Now today two months later, I can finally finish what that article started out to say.
In that article I stated:
So here I sit, (with packed bags to go nowhere), killing time until tomorrow 3:30pm, when I will meet with the WuHan representative of Global Access, to see whether or not I have a Summer Job here in Wuhan.
I wish I could happily say that I did in fact spend a month teaching summer school in Wuhan, for while I did in fact teach for a month, neither that experience nor the whole summer experience, nor subsequent events have turned out happily.
Moshan Park Statue.
To recap on events leading up to the last story.
I sought a Summer Teaching position, and one was lined up. Unfortunately, that organisation was so disorganised that by the time the camp was due to start, no 'actual' arrangements had been made, and no real information had been provided. The organisation which arranged for the position, offered to send me to somewhere near Shanghai, but before that happened, I had agreed to go to JingZhou. That job fell flat, when, after organising the hiring and transport to China of 5 New Zealanders, the camp ended up with only 100 students.
While this was all going on, my Chinese American friend Judy had arranged to go on a sightseeing tour for a week, and I was unable to go, because I would not be back in time for camp. By the time she arrived back, my plans had changed to a camp in Xi'an, and I was unable to go with her to Hong Hu.
By the time she arrived back and set off for Guangdong, I was twiddling my thumbs waiting for a job in Wuhan, but determined that if things didn't go well, I would go with her to Beijing. My third tentative position in Wuhan came through, and I ended up teaching where I study, albeit, for a different school. So while Judy set off for Beijing (en route back home to the USA), I settled in to teaching.
Chu Village re-creation at Morshan Park East Lake Wuhan
Teaching Summer Camp:
Overall I would have to say that I was surprised by the abilities of most of the staff and most of the students at this particular Summer Camp, although I did have to go to a class every second day, that had in it, six boys (average 15 years), who seemed to make a habit of drinking beer at lunchtime. This class was definately a challenge. They were nice kids but hopeless.
Summer Camp consisted of two different 12 day sessions, teaching each class once every two days. On the day of the 4th class during the first camp, I was advised that the parents had complained about my teaching. 'They think that what you teach is useless (like having the students stand and actually speak English), and that you should teach 'new words' (that they will never use if they don't actually speak), and that you should teach them about Australia".
I was so incensed at this, that in my very first class that day (average age about 16 years), I announced that their parents were unhappy with my teaching, and had insisted that I teach about Australia. This then is what I told them.
'Australians LOVE the Chinese, especially the Falun Gong'
'Australia believes in the 'One China Policy' - Taiwan belongs to China; and if China attacks Taiwan, WE WILL ATTACK YOU!
'Every year, Australia welcomes thousands of Chinese students into our universities; and every year we throw hundreds out and send them back home, because they love to CHEAT!'
'Now today, when you go home, be sure to tell your parents what I taught you about Australia'.
One teacher who was sitting at the back of the classroom, listening to his MP3, happened to notice the words 'Falun Gong' on the blackboard. He sat bolt upright, pulled the ear plugs from his ears and fixed his attention onto what I was saying. Despite the anger that was motivating me, the strangest thing actually happened. With each statement, the students asked for elaboration. They were genuinely interested in knowing 'the other side of the story' so to speak.
I've actually found this with my Stories from China. So many Chinese people have said that they enjoy reading them, because it gives them a fresh perspective on how 'foreigners'view all things Chinese.
(I often think of the guy from the U.N. who wrote and told me that I was a racist, and that he himself was coming to China to teach. Boy does he have a lot to learn. But the thing is, there is nothing that you as a foreigner can say about China, they the average Chinese 'joe' [or should that be Zhou] does not also think and say).
Zhang Mingxing from Hong Hu at Moshan Park.
I have not named the particular and justifiably noteworthy organisation for which I taught, because While I could say quite a number of praiseworthy things about it, I could not do so without also pointing out some significant behavioural flaws. Based on some of those quite serious flaws, given the tuition fees, I would not actually recommend it to anyone.
Over and above my unstated poor opinions, is the generally observable point within the educational system here, that a foreign teacher is generally unable to introduce methodology designed to maximise teaching effectiveness (making the students actually speak would be one example), because the system usually falls back on the oft repeated phrase, 'But we are Chinese'.
By this it is stated that 'we do things differently' but which means 'we are superior'. Generally speaking, the educational aim, and therefore the criteria by which expertise is measured, comes down to 'how many words have you learned', and 'what was your grammar exam result?'. (Grammar exams have a multiple choice format).
Another Sculptor at Moshan Park Wuhan
Nevertheless, within the Summer School students, there were a number of exceptional students, including ten year old 'Anna'. Extremely Bright, with an equally 'extremely precocious' attitude.
My personal highlight, was my very last lesson. The students had an average age of 17 years, and because we had no VCR on which to play some Australian folk music, I had arranged to have them do a demonstration 'group discussion' exercise.
The volunteers, about six of them, grabbed the opportunity with a vengeance, and while I did need to intervene to teach them 'how' to discuss, they needed almost no help expressing themselves.
While the introductory question was 'What do you think of Taiwan', the discussion soon found it's way to the issue of Women's rights in China, the Davinci Code and finally the Bible. These students were excited I think, to finally be able to express their opinions on issues with which they personally identified.
It is just a pity that I could not have had a few more lessons with them, for it is finally within these group discussions, that students begin to discover 'what they do not know'. By this I do not mean to refer to 'information', but rather to their personal abilities.
All of my teaching is geared toward arriving at 'group discussions'. It gives each student a 'real' understanding of where they are at as far as ability is concerned, and moreover, allows them to use English in a natural way. Unfortunately, far too many students just 'learn what they are taught', without ever considering 'how to use what they have learned'.
Gateway along path to Chu Tower MoShan Tower.
I was just reading today Harry Leichter's Jewish Humor, about one Chinese boy who learned to speak perfect Yiddish. Let me share it:
During the first day of Hanukah, two elderly Jewish men were sitting in a wonderful deli frequented almost exclusively by Jews in New York City. They were talking amongst themselves in Yiddish - the colorful language of Jews who came over from Eastern Europe. A Chinese waiter, only one year in New York, came up and in fluent impeccable Yiddish asked them if everything was okay and if they were enjoying the holiday. The Jewish men were dumbfounded. "Where did he ever learn such perfect Yiddish?" they both thought. After they paid the bill they asked the restaurant manager, an old friend of theirs, "Where did our waiter learn such fabulous Yiddish?" The manager looked around and leaned in so no one else will hear and said... "Shhhh. He thinks we're teaching him English."
Well at Least he was using what he was learning!
Guo Heyun
Summer School finished two weeks before I had to return to teaching, and during those two weeks, I was fortunate to return briefly to Hong Hu, to attend two different celebrations for students preparing to leave for University. Naturally at such times, one is required to contribute money toward the student's expenses.
Now I could tell you about both of these parties, but that would mean sharing the highlights, and between those involved in the stories, and the readership here at Magic City, perhaps it might not be such a good idea. Frankly I thought it was quite hilarious, when one young man who had been happily involved in the Chinese tradition of skolling beer, finally threw up over the dinner table. It appears that I was the only one who managed to spot 'that moment' before the regurgitation, and managed to make an appropriate retreat. (I, happily, did not end up needing to wash my clothes).
Hengji Village Hong Hu.
I would have loved to talk about my afternoon playing majiang (Mahjong), but that would involve questioning the honesty of those I was playing with. I still can't figure out why, when someone else won, WE ALL had to pay 2 yuan, but when I won, either just one person paid me JUST ONE YUAN, or for some mysterious Chinese reason, I HAD TO PAY SOMEONE ELSE FOUR YUAN. They told me it was because I was a bad player and didn't understand the rules. MMMMMM?????? They can stick to their version! I have my own explanation!
Zhang Mingxing's Grandmother.
Anyway, the day finally arrived when I was called to the University Teaching Office, to DISCUSS my teaching schedule. It was an extremely interesting discussion, that involved being told over and over again, which classes I would teach, and with each telling, the story changed.
I got the impression that the students themselves were of little consideration. One minute I would be teaching all the third year students (my former 2nd year students), then I was teaching none of them, then I was teaching 2 classes of them, etc etc. The most significant announcement was that the First year classes, of which there are five, would be doing Military training for the first month, and so I would not be teaching them during September.
Naturally, the school was taking pains to ensure that ALL OF MY classes would be held in the afternoons, so that I COULD ATTEND WuHan University to continue my Chinese Lessons. - Ahah!
Chu Village at MoShan Park East Lake Wuhan
Chinese Lessons!
At the beginning of August, I sent an email to WuHan University, asking for the class schedules, the total fees I need to pay, and of course, when I might re-enrol. I received a very rapid response.
Well, they advised me about the fees and the procedure for re-enrolling, but mentioned nothing about the schedule, except to state that classes began again on September 12th.
Off I went on Friday 9th to enrol and pay my fees. There was a big notice that we were expected to attend a special ceremony at 7:30am on the 12th. I decided to skip that, and turn up for class at 8am, just like I did last semester. So on Monday 12th, I turned up at the NEW BUILDING, to discover that I was just one of dozens of students aimlessly wandering around trying to find at least a 'teacher'.
We did find classrooms filled with Chinese students, but they were no help. The security boys could not assist us with any information, and so finally we all headed back to the Language Office, to discover, that this semester, all the classes would be held in the afternoons.
WONDERFUL! I had arranged all my teaching classes for the afternoons so that I could not go to Chinese Class?
East Lake Wuhan
I spoke to the office staff who gave me pen and paper to write my reasons for canceling my enrollment, and now I have to go back and try and get my money. As a Chinese friend who has been staying with me said: 'Go back and get your money quickly or Maybe they lose it! They often do this you know!'
In the meantime, I informed my school of the situation, so now they have decided to spread my classes out, but can't tell me what my schedule will be until during the National Holiday week (Oct 1st to 7th). Additionally, they have decided to give me two extra classes of first year students. Some third year students have also informed me that they have made complaints to the university over not being able to have me as their Oral teacher this semester. So I might end up teaching them after all.
Well at least I have my new set of Chinese Study books, and if I can get off my derriere, perhaps I can start studying.
So there you have it. Spent the entire Summer in Wuhan, going no where and doing nothing really.
All the people (whose telephone numbers and email addresses I do not have) who had invited me to go visit them in their hometowns during summer, having assumed that I had left Wuhan, made no effort to contact me at all, and all expressed surprise and regret that I had ended up staying at home.
And to add insult to injury, I put on so much weight that I can no longer fit my jeans. "Oh! You have got so fat in Summer!" announced one student when I walked into class.
So that was my summer. SNAFU Chinese Style!
Additional photographs Moshan Park in Wuhan Villages of Jianshi & Hengji (near Fengkou - Hong Hu City
MoShan Park re-creation of the JingZhou City Wall.
R.P.BenDedek is from Brisbane Australia and is the author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' at http://www.kingscalendar.com His academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
He writes photographic 'Stories from China' and social editorial commentaries, both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing newspaper columnist. He currently teaches Conversational English in China and in addition to his English Lessons at KingsCalendar, he has created specific sites for Students of English.
I came across a site on the internet recently that began with something like 'Stuff copyright law' and then proceeded to post the text from this article, as it appeared at Magic City.
The site was dedicated to its promotion of ESL teachers as opposed to Conversational English teachers. These professional people were not impressed with my comments about the summer camp, calling me an 'irresponsible dickhead' (I think dickhead was the term used).
Firstly, for those who have no sense of humor, my description of my discussion about Taiwan, Falun Gong and 'Go tell your parents what I taught', was a condensed version meant to provide some humour.
The actual teaching session was in fact a teaching session about 'the two sides of a coin', and how by presenting one side of 'truth', a lie is created, because it does not give the whole picture.
Secondly, I admire ESL teachers who teach the little kids great English. My brother does this and says 'While they don't know a great deal, they can used it extremely well'.
One of the things I objected to in the ESL article, was what I perceived to be arrogance. It is only the RICH schools and RICH KIDS who get to go to such schools.
The majority of schools have no program and just DUMP the foreign teachers into overloaded classrooms full of kids not interested in speaking English.
My focus is always to get them to use the English they have. By way of example, my 3rd year University students for the last two weeks discussed this topic:
Should the Japanese people be forgiven for what the Japanese soldiers did in China 60 -70 years ago? Is Japan still a threat? How long does a nation stay angry?
This one minute topic test saw most of the students being stopped by me after 3 minutes.
I introduce topics from China People's Daily Newspaper English Edition, to get the students to talk about current topics.
In a week or two I will post the University Standard research assignment that I am giving these students. ESL teachers will be shocked or disgusted I imagine, however, the object of learning English is to READ, WRITE AND SPEAK the language.
Any method that achieves this is a good method.
Only members of KingsCalendar may post comments but if any ESL teacher wants to post a comment here they can send me an email and I will paste it's content for all to see.
