I am long overdue for a blog post.
Not only is the semester winding down, but I am closing the book on my time as an English teacher in China. The former offers plenty of fodder for laughter and frustration, but the latter has not yet provoked reflections that I could put clearly into words. That may not come until, as Papa Z. says, I am sitting on a windy Himalayan peak.
Fingers are crossed that our Tibet travel permits are approved. There have been new restrictions about group sizes, countries of origin, and modes of entry into the area. I've heard about a few friends being denied. Not to mention that foreigners are getting really bad press in China at the moment.
Hopefully cooler heads will prevail, and hopefully I will be in Tibet 6/8-6/20.
And while I know I will gain perspective on my experiences and time in China over the coming weeks (and months and years), I can definitely say that I have learned at least two things about myself over the past two years:
1) The more I learn about China, the less I understand; and
2) my greatest pet peeves are crowds and when eating mouths are unnecessarily noisy.
These pet peeves were on display during a recent weekend to Yellow Mountain. Heralded as one of the better tourist attractions in China, Yellow Mountain has unique rock formations and colorful cliff faces. As with all famous tourist attractions and popular mountains in China, Yellow Mountain was annoyingly crowded. After summiting, my friends and I had to wait in line just to see each vista on the peak circuit. While in line, I gave some stink-eyes to a couple of guys eating cake and shrink-wrapped tofu. Their mouths snapped and slurped so much, my personal space felt invaded. Also, food was falling all over this guy's mouth and clinging to his sweaty face to form a handlebar mustache made of cake. Eventually, I couldn't suppress the shivers running down my back; the pain and exhaustion after climbing miles of stairs, the claustrophobia-inducing line, and these guys' mouths pushed me too far: "你嘴很吵."
I am ready to leave China. Many friends and colleagues ask me if I am feeling ambivalent. No.
It's not as if I am feeling overly antsy to leave China, but I am excited to reunite with friends and family. Also, I am excited about what's next in my life.
Since my last post, I was hired to help lead an English as a Second Language program at UCLA for the summer. 13-to-17-year-olds will partake in intensive English classes every morning and will have practical and experiential opportunities to learn about America every afternoon. I will be mostly responsible for planning the afternoon and weekend outings: museums, Santa Monica, Disney Land, Universal Studios, etc.
Also since my last post, I was hired to participate as an AVODAH Corps member in Chicago. Beginning in August, I will live with several other twenty-something Jewish social justice advocates and teach with Free Spirit Media. I am actually in the middle of fundraising for the program, and I would be thrilled if any of you, my dear dear readers, could chip-in. There's more info about my position at the link.
So, whatever ambivalence I have about leaving China and closing this chapter is overshadowed by my excitement to laugh with old friends, to hug my family, to get paid to go to Disney Land, to reconnect with a Jewish community, and to get involved in an amazing educational project. Basically, I feel like this.
***
I decided to be generous to my students and give a basic final exam assignment: use new vocabulary in an advertisement. I encouraged my students to be creative by giving these commercials as examples:
Some students gave hilarious and impressive live performances. One student gave a real advertisement for a restaurant he is opening with his girlfriend--this student also happens to be the one with whom I regularly discuss "Game of Thrones." He brought samples to class. By pure coincidence, this student received an "A."
However, some students did attempt a video. Because of formatting issues and my need to respect student privacy, I cannot show most of the videos. Most were advertisements to help women lose weight with quick-and-easy solutions (pills, special pants, magic milk, etc.). However, here is one of my favorites:
Turn off your faucets, people. Any given drop of water could be the one that inevitably leads to the downfall of Hitler?
***
During a presentation about "The Philosophy of Harry Potter," Mushroom (female) posed this intriguing question:
"How do you think about Professor Dumbeldore?"
Fondly and mournfully.
'Shrooms (her self-appointed nickname) also offered this as a key tenet of the Harry Potter series: "Stay true to your nerdy friends."
***
The instances of plagiarism dropped in the second round of papers submitted by my Literature students. No one submitted an Amazon.com review, so I would like to think that I got through to them about academic integrity.
However, one student was so bold as to submit a paper about the role of first impressions in Pride and Prejudice with this introduction:
"To tell you the truth , I didn't read the origin book of Pride and Prejudice, I just learned from the movie . The movie watching is a convenient way to get the information we need . OK ,let's get the point...of why Elizabeth Bennet is my favorite woman."
I generously gave this off-topic essay a 60%. Still, the student responded with an e-mail:
"I cry silently , I cry inside of me ... But at the final record , i can still get the regular achievement ,right ? May be i will fail in this subject. Frankly speaking, you are responsible to us."
Without that last sentence, I would have been significantly more sympathetic to her plea. Her words, though, reflect a widespread belief at my university that a student's success hinges much more on a teacher's ability to impose material on students' minds rather than on the student's ability to learn or understand the material. I am hesitant to generalize this pedagogical culture to the entire Chinese academic system, but I have heard accounts from colleagues supporting the notion that this is a cultural staple.
After encouraging my bashful students to write questions and pass them to the front of the class instead of subjecting their fragile confidences to hand raising during a final exam review session, I began rolling through sample questions for the exam. And despite 3/4 of my students writing essay about first impressions in Pride and Prejudice, they could not easily answer this question:
The first time they meet, why is Elizabeth offended by Mr. Darcy?
a) Mr. Darcy insults Elizabeth's momma.
b) Mr. Darcy writes something mean on Elizabeth's Facebook wall.
c) Mr. Darcy refuses to dance with Elizabeth.
d) Mr. Darcy slaps Elizabeth.
I give my students credit for knowing the first two were preposterous. But I was devastated to see that the class was 50/50 on (c) and (d).
This was foreboding for ensuing sample questions about who survived Hamlet (Prince Hamlet, King Hamlet, Prince Hamlet's uncle, or Fortinbras), Oliver Twist (What did Oliver want "some more" of?) and about any other text from the term.
Questions began rolling-in.
"What authors and texts will be on the final exam?" Good question. I read the contents section of our textbook. And as more groans joined the caucus of complaints, I admittedly felt a twinge of vindictive pleasure to match self-doubt and fear that I had unrealistic expectations of the students.
"Will these questions be on the exam? Can you give us questions and answers for the exam?" No all around. This evoked an enormous collective groan. But the ensuing moments gave me such pleasure that outweighed any frustration with this typical struggle between a teacher and his or her students.
As rote memorization is typical of Chinese education, my students have constantly struggled trying to understand and appreciate the purpose of English literature. And since only one student actually wanted to take the course, I can hardly blame my students for being resistant to the curriculum or me as a representative thereof. And not only am I a representative of that which nags at my students' beings, but also I am an uncooperative representative who will not give them the answers. Woe is them.
The awareness to all that was actually required of them was a whip crack of reality snapping fluency into my students. In perfectly expressed words, my students eloquently articulated how unjust my expectations of them were; even though they would admit to not reading any or most of the assigned reading throughout the 14-week term, they argued that the exam would cover too much material and would be too difficult if the questions were like the ones I was asking. They used intellectual vocabulary and complex grammar structures while extemporaneously expressing themselves at a fast pace. Essentially, they were all revealing how they had been scamming me for a semester by pretending they were babes in the woods that is the English language. All my frustrations, sympathies, and self-doubts melted: My students had deceived themselves and dug their own academic graves.
I should make it clear that my students do not hold part-time jobs to help fund school. They participate in very few extracurricular activities, and those that they do indulge demand nothing of them. And most students admittedly spend their outside-of-class time invested in computer games and shopping.
"How many of you have read a chapter in our textbook?" Not one student. I couldn't help but smile. The smile had traces of vindictive pleasure over knowing how much my students would be working to catch-up for an exam one-week-away, but the smile also had traces of amusement at how disconnected the university's expectations of their students were from the students' actual work ethics. After all, I was planning to administer an exam approved by my department chair and by a colleague teaching the same course.
Before the end of the day, however, my supervisor informed me that the exam date had been delayed several weeks after my departure. Because of the timing of this announcement, I suspect that this was due to students complaining over my head and a university system sympathetic to traditional Chinese educational methods.
As explicated by my student who watched the movie instead of reading the book, my university students tend to think their acquisition of knowledge (as measured by a grade) is almost entirely the responsibility of the teacher. And their acquisition of knowledge is performed through rote memorization or using the words of someone else--my students believe there is always one (and only one) correct answer.
Which brings me to the third lesson I've learned in China:
3) In China, I am wrong.
Music, Movies, Books, T.V.: "Hate on Me" by Jill Scott, "1977" by Ana Tijoux, Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators, "You Rascal You" by Hanni El Khatib, JD McPherson, Blunderbus by Jack White, "Worker's Comp." by Mos Def, "Amos Moses" by Primus, BADBADNOTGOOD, Breakbot, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Mati Zundel, Robert Randolph; Cabin in the Woods, The Big Bang, The Avengers, Crime after Crime, Meek's Cutoff; A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin, Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin; Game of Thrones, Mad Men, The Legend of Korra.
China Reads: Chen (A proud Chinese patriot against Party policy); Boys in class (mentions naught of the millennia of a culture favoring boys); White Face Syndrome (seeking tall, handsome, Jewish men who graduated from a prestigious university and can speak Mandarin); Ordering-In ('za with tentacles and mayo); Parasitic (and it feels so good).
Not only is the semester winding down, but I am closing the book on my time as an English teacher in China. The former offers plenty of fodder for laughter and frustration, but the latter has not yet provoked reflections that I could put clearly into words. That may not come until, as Papa Z. says, I am sitting on a windy Himalayan peak.
Fingers are crossed that our Tibet travel permits are approved. There have been new restrictions about group sizes, countries of origin, and modes of entry into the area. I've heard about a few friends being denied. Not to mention that foreigners are getting really bad press in China at the moment.
Hopefully cooler heads will prevail, and hopefully I will be in Tibet 6/8-6/20.
 |
| Yellow Mtn. |
And while I know I will gain perspective on my experiences and time in China over the coming weeks (and months and years), I can definitely say that I have learned at least two things about myself over the past two years:
1) The more I learn about China, the less I understand; and
2) my greatest pet peeves are crowds and when eating mouths are unnecessarily noisy.
These pet peeves were on display during a recent weekend to Yellow Mountain. Heralded as one of the better tourist attractions in China, Yellow Mountain has unique rock formations and colorful cliff faces. As with all famous tourist attractions and popular mountains in China, Yellow Mountain was annoyingly crowded. After summiting, my friends and I had to wait in line just to see each vista on the peak circuit. While in line, I gave some stink-eyes to a couple of guys eating cake and shrink-wrapped tofu. Their mouths snapped and slurped so much, my personal space felt invaded. Also, food was falling all over this guy's mouth and clinging to his sweaty face to form a handlebar mustache made of cake. Eventually, I couldn't suppress the shivers running down my back; the pain and exhaustion after climbing miles of stairs, the claustrophobia-inducing line, and these guys' mouths pushed me too far: "你嘴很吵."
I am ready to leave China. Many friends and colleagues ask me if I am feeling ambivalent. No.
It's not as if I am feeling overly antsy to leave China, but I am excited to reunite with friends and family. Also, I am excited about what's next in my life.
Since my last post, I was hired to help lead an English as a Second Language program at UCLA for the summer. 13-to-17-year-olds will partake in intensive English classes every morning and will have practical and experiential opportunities to learn about America every afternoon. I will be mostly responsible for planning the afternoon and weekend outings: museums, Santa Monica, Disney Land, Universal Studios, etc.
Also since my last post, I was hired to participate as an AVODAH Corps member in Chicago. Beginning in August, I will live with several other twenty-something Jewish social justice advocates and teach with Free Spirit Media. I am actually in the middle of fundraising for the program, and I would be thrilled if any of you, my dear dear readers, could chip-in. There's more info about my position at the link.
So, whatever ambivalence I have about leaving China and closing this chapter is overshadowed by my excitement to laugh with old friends, to hug my family, to get paid to go to Disney Land, to reconnect with a Jewish community, and to get involved in an amazing educational project. Basically, I feel like this.
***
 |
| Kate and Tracy advertising a lamp with a penis |
However, some students did attempt a video. Because of formatting issues and my need to respect student privacy, I cannot show most of the videos. Most were advertisements to help women lose weight with quick-and-easy solutions (pills, special pants, magic milk, etc.). However, here is one of my favorites:
Turn off your faucets, people. Any given drop of water could be the one that inevitably leads to the downfall of Hitler?
***
During a presentation about "The Philosophy of Harry Potter," Mushroom (female) posed this intriguing question:
"How do you think about Professor Dumbeldore?"
Fondly and mournfully.
'Shrooms (her self-appointed nickname) also offered this as a key tenet of the Harry Potter series: "Stay true to your nerdy friends."
***
The instances of plagiarism dropped in the second round of papers submitted by my Literature students. No one submitted an Amazon.com review, so I would like to think that I got through to them about academic integrity.
However, one student was so bold as to submit a paper about the role of first impressions in Pride and Prejudice with this introduction:
"To tell you the truth , I didn't read the origin book of Pride and Prejudice, I just learned from the movie . The movie watching is a convenient way to get the information we need . OK ,let's get the point...of why Elizabeth Bennet is my favorite woman."
I generously gave this off-topic essay a 60%. Still, the student responded with an e-mail:
"I cry silently , I cry inside of me ... But at the final record , i can still get the regular achievement ,right ? May be i will fail in this subject. Frankly speaking, you are responsible to us."
Without that last sentence, I would have been significantly more sympathetic to her plea. Her words, though, reflect a widespread belief at my university that a student's success hinges much more on a teacher's ability to impose material on students' minds rather than on the student's ability to learn or understand the material. I am hesitant to generalize this pedagogical culture to the entire Chinese academic system, but I have heard accounts from colleagues supporting the notion that this is a cultural staple.
After encouraging my bashful students to write questions and pass them to the front of the class instead of subjecting their fragile confidences to hand raising during a final exam review session, I began rolling through sample questions for the exam. And despite 3/4 of my students writing essay about first impressions in Pride and Prejudice, they could not easily answer this question:
The first time they meet, why is Elizabeth offended by Mr. Darcy?
a) Mr. Darcy insults Elizabeth's momma.
b) Mr. Darcy writes something mean on Elizabeth's Facebook wall.
c) Mr. Darcy refuses to dance with Elizabeth.
d) Mr. Darcy slaps Elizabeth.
I give my students credit for knowing the first two were preposterous. But I was devastated to see that the class was 50/50 on (c) and (d).
This was foreboding for ensuing sample questions about who survived Hamlet (Prince Hamlet, King Hamlet, Prince Hamlet's uncle, or Fortinbras), Oliver Twist (What did Oliver want "some more" of?) and about any other text from the term.
 |
| Hung out to dry |
"What authors and texts will be on the final exam?" Good question. I read the contents section of our textbook. And as more groans joined the caucus of complaints, I admittedly felt a twinge of vindictive pleasure to match self-doubt and fear that I had unrealistic expectations of the students.
"Will these questions be on the exam? Can you give us questions and answers for the exam?" No all around. This evoked an enormous collective groan. But the ensuing moments gave me such pleasure that outweighed any frustration with this typical struggle between a teacher and his or her students.
As rote memorization is typical of Chinese education, my students have constantly struggled trying to understand and appreciate the purpose of English literature. And since only one student actually wanted to take the course, I can hardly blame my students for being resistant to the curriculum or me as a representative thereof. And not only am I a representative of that which nags at my students' beings, but also I am an uncooperative representative who will not give them the answers. Woe is them.
The awareness to all that was actually required of them was a whip crack of reality snapping fluency into my students. In perfectly expressed words, my students eloquently articulated how unjust my expectations of them were; even though they would admit to not reading any or most of the assigned reading throughout the 14-week term, they argued that the exam would cover too much material and would be too difficult if the questions were like the ones I was asking. They used intellectual vocabulary and complex grammar structures while extemporaneously expressing themselves at a fast pace. Essentially, they were all revealing how they had been scamming me for a semester by pretending they were babes in the woods that is the English language. All my frustrations, sympathies, and self-doubts melted: My students had deceived themselves and dug their own academic graves.
I should make it clear that my students do not hold part-time jobs to help fund school. They participate in very few extracurricular activities, and those that they do indulge demand nothing of them. And most students admittedly spend their outside-of-class time invested in computer games and shopping.
"How many of you have read a chapter in our textbook?" Not one student. I couldn't help but smile. The smile had traces of vindictive pleasure over knowing how much my students would be working to catch-up for an exam one-week-away, but the smile also had traces of amusement at how disconnected the university's expectations of their students were from the students' actual work ethics. After all, I was planning to administer an exam approved by my department chair and by a colleague teaching the same course.
Before the end of the day, however, my supervisor informed me that the exam date had been delayed several weeks after my departure. Because of the timing of this announcement, I suspect that this was due to students complaining over my head and a university system sympathetic to traditional Chinese educational methods.
As explicated by my student who watched the movie instead of reading the book, my university students tend to think their acquisition of knowledge (as measured by a grade) is almost entirely the responsibility of the teacher. And their acquisition of knowledge is performed through rote memorization or using the words of someone else--my students believe there is always one (and only one) correct answer.
Which brings me to the third lesson I've learned in China:
3) In China, I am wrong.
Music, Movies, Books, T.V.: "Hate on Me" by Jill Scott, "1977" by Ana Tijoux, Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators, "You Rascal You" by Hanni El Khatib, JD McPherson, Blunderbus by Jack White, "Worker's Comp." by Mos Def, "Amos Moses" by Primus, BADBADNOTGOOD, Breakbot, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Mati Zundel, Robert Randolph; Cabin in the Woods, The Big Bang, The Avengers, Crime after Crime, Meek's Cutoff; A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin, Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin; Game of Thrones, Mad Men, The Legend of Korra.
China Reads: Chen (A proud Chinese patriot against Party policy); Boys in class (mentions naught of the millennia of a culture favoring boys); White Face Syndrome (seeking tall, handsome, Jewish men who graduated from a prestigious university and can speak Mandarin); Ordering-In ('za with tentacles and mayo); Parasitic (and it feels so good).
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