Change

Four months does not give one much time to change. However, I have been in China only four months and already I can see many changes in the way I act and think. It is amazing.

Besides the obvious ways (such as my Chinese improving), I have become less afraid of speaking in public. Ever since I was a very small, I was painfully shy. Speaking in front of groups (large or small) made me forget what I wanted to say, blush, and talk very softly. Even last year, when I was a TA for psychology classes, I was nervous whenever I had to go up in front of the students and teach them. Now, however, I have gained an inordinate amount of confidence in front of large groups - both children and adults.

I first noticed this when all of the foreign teachers at the school had to get up in front of everyone at the school (all of the students and all of the faculty) and introduce themselves. Before, I would have been mortified and dreading my minute in front of the hundreds or thousands of people watching me. However, when it was my turn, I was completely fine. I was able to smile, say what I had to say, and not worry at all.

Before, I never sang in front of anyone except my very, very close friends and family. I do not have a good singing voice, so I do not share it. I was shy about teaching in front of big groups of people, let alone singing in front of people. Because I teach small children, though, who love to sing, I have to sing with them everyday. That means that I sing in front of people (the children and their teachers) everyday seven times a day (because I have seven classes a day). Not only have I been desensitized to teaching and speaking loudly in front of large groups of people, but I have become desensitized to singing in front of them as well! I just realized this past week that last year I never could have gotten up in front of a group of 30 people (even if they were all 5 years old) and sung a song. Now it is as easy as playing with them.

The last thing I want to talk about is improvisation. I was, in the past, very bad at improvising. In order to teach anything, I had to think about it, write it down, organize it, etc. However, one thing I have learned here is that you can't always do that. There are surprises and you have to be able to improvise. And now I can. When I was reading an article with a friend and using it to teach her English, I was easily able to improvise a lesson using the article, without ever having seen the article before. In classes, when we have an extra 10 minutes or if I do not have time the night before to make lesson plans, it is now no problem for me to improvise and teach the class. I know that this is a very important skill.

As I said before, four months, which is the amount of time I have been here, is not very long. Already, though, I have changed and learned an extraordinary amount. I am very excited to see how much more I will learn in the next seven months!

The similarity between China and Barcelona

In China, as you may know, most people speak Chinese dialects when they are talking with their family and friends who are from the same city/town that they are from. For example, in Suzhou they speak the Suzhou dialect and in Shanghai they speak the Shanghai dialect. Although these two places are pretty close together, the dialects are different.

I am studying Chinese, but Mandarin - not the dialects. Therefore, when people speak in the dialects, I can rarely understand what they say (even less than when they speak in Mandarin). However, most people here speak the dialect most of the time and only speak in Mandarin when they are speaking with people who do not speak their dialect.

This reminds me of Barcelona, where the native people speak Catalan instead of Spanish when they talk with their friends and family. Only when they talk with outsiders, or people who are not from Cataluna, do they speak in Spanish. In Barcelona, people loved to speak to me in Catalan (even though I couldn't understand it), or speak in Catalan together and then only speak in Spanish when their comments or questions were directed towards me.

I had strong recollections of my time in Barcelona when I went to my friend's house this weekend. She and her family spoke their dialect almost the whole time. Because of this, I could understand very little. My friend was kind enough to translate most of what was said, but I felt like I was in Barcelona again. The only time her friends and family spoke in Mandarin was when they were talking to me - to ask if I understood what they were saying or to tell me to eat more.

Just like in Barcelona, people were not speaking the language I was studying, so unfortunately my listening skills did not improve too much during that weekend. It is interesting, though, to hear the different dialects and how they are different/similar to Mandarin. As of now, I know three different ways to say "thank-you" in Chinese (with three different dialects). Fascinating!

A weekend full of surprises

This past weekend, a friend of mine invited me to her home in a town about two hours from Suzhou, where I live and teach. I had a wonderful time meeting her family, seeing her town, and getting to know her better, but there were many surprises as well.

The first surprise came the first night I was there. We were at dinner (we hadn't even stopped at her place yet) and she asked me if I was ok with going to the public bathrooms. I thought that she meant to ask if I was ok with using the public washrooms to go to bathroom, so I said I was. Then, however, she clarified. She asked if I was ok with using the public bathrooms to take a shower. Oh. I suppose I could have, but I didn't have the right things with me - towel, shampoo, conditioner, etc. And after talking about it with her, she decided that maybe it wasn't a good idea, since I am a foreigner and people would stare at me, as they always stare at foreigners, while I was showering. So I didn't use the public bathrooms in the end, but it surprised me that she and her family used them even though they have a shower their home. It also surprised me that it was such a common thing there. It seemed like many people in that town used it.

The next surprise came when we were driving one of her mom's friends somewhere. As soon as the woman got into the car, she looked at me and said, straight to my face, "Laowai". Yes, I know that I am a laowai, and many people have said that towards me before, but never to my face like that. It really took me aback. I was very surprised and I think that she was too. It is not exactly polite to say that, which is why I was so surprised (as was my friend). Then the woman asked me, in Chinese, if I could eat Chinese food. What an interesting question - can I eat Chinese food? I was very confused about her. She also told me that her son was studying in New Zealand and that I should meet him. So that was the second surprise - the woman and her statements/topics of conversation.

The next two things that surprised me during my weekend trip had to do with food. We were at a restaurant for dinner one night to celebrate one of my friends family member's birthday, so the food was pretty fancy. One of the foods was decorated to look like a platter of fruits and cheeses, but what looked like fruit was actually raw fish. I thought, though, that the cheese could still be cheese. When I asked, hoping that I could eat some cheese (since my meal thus far had consisted of only vegetables), I was told that it was something made out of vegetables - vegetarian, but not cheese. So sad!

Then, at breakfast the next day, we had steamed rolls (baozi) to eat. My friend went to the refrigerator and got out two jars, which she put on the table. She told me that the jars had jam inside. I was so excited - in the United States I don't get excited about jam, but I haven't had jam for four months, it is rare to eat here, and it would have gone really well with the steamed buns, so it was exciting. Then she told me that one of the jars was spicy jam and one was meat jam. Not fruit jam, like I had thought. Again, a surprise with the food being very different than I had anticipated. Oh well. It was still good - I used the spicy jam for my steamed buns and I very much enjoyed them.

And that was my weekend of surprises. Which each surprise, I got to learn more and more about parts of the Chinese culture, food, etc. Surprises are always fun, right?

The Presidential Elections... In China

Watching what happens with the presidential elections, how each state turns red or blue, the outcome, and how the people act as a result of that outcome can be interesting wherever you are. In China, however, I was fascinated by what I saw and talked about with the people.

As the days to November 4th (or, in our case, November 5th) drew nearer and nearer, the foreign teachers talked more and more about the elections, which candidate we wanted to win, and what would happen if each candidate won. And it wasn't just the American foreigners who were discussing this. I teach with Americans, Canadians, Phillipinos, a Kenyan, and Australians and this topic was on everyone's mind. It is amazing how important the presidential candidates were to everyone in the world - and that everyone was hoping for Obama to win!

The day of the elections, not just the foreigners were watching the live feeds. My Chinese friends were glued to their computer screens as well. 20 minutes before I started teaching, my Chinese friend called me and asked if I wanted to come to her office to watch live footage of what was happening in the United States, so I went. Of course, it was all in Chinese!

Later that day, I wanted to find out more up-to-date news about the elections and looking on the internet wasn't helping me, so I decided to call my parents with skype. My parents, who live in the United States, were watching the news on T.V., so they told me everything that was happening as soon as it happened - I could even hear some of it through the microphone. That was the best and quickest way to get up-to-date news! I even heard about Obama's win the minute that it happened this way! My dad told me all about what was happening in Grant Park, with the people crying and singing "We Shall Overcome". It was a very touching moment that I was able to share even though I am all the way in China. Thank you Skype.

After talking with my parents, I invited my Chinese friend to come watch more live news on my computer (in English, this time). We ended up talking a lot and the conversation spread from Obama and McCain to Bush, the economy in the United States, and even to 9/11. It was a very interesting conversation and it was wonderful to hear everything from her point of view.

In order to celebrate the election of Obama, two of my friends and I decided to go out. We went to a bar to have some wine and there we talked with another Chinese person about Obama. He also said that he was glad Obama had won. It seems to be unanimous that Obama was the best choice, at least with the people that I talk to abroad. We realized, though, that he has a lot on his shoulders now. The whole world is looking to him to change the negative things that have happened and to make everything better. He has his work cut out for him and everyone is watching.

I am very glad that I was able to have this experience in China. I think that I learned more being here, talking with my foreign and Chinese friends, than I would have experiencing the elections in the United States.

The Troubling Case of the Noisy Chinese Students

Mystery: Why are my students very noisy when I teach them but when the Chinese teachers teach them, they are so quiet you could hear a pin drop? Why can the Chinese teachers speak in a whisper with the students when I have to yell over them?

Investigation: I have been teaching my Chinese students, who are between two and six years old, for about two months now. Whenever I teach, the Chinese teachers get the children to be quiet at the beginning of the class and then it is my turn: I have the floor to teach the children English. We use flashcards to review vocabulary, we play games to review the vocabulary and the grammar, and we sing songs. I have found that whenever I hold up a card with a picture for the children to say the English word, they yell the word as loud as they can, without stopping. In order for me to get a word in edgewise, either to correct the word or the pronunciation, I have to yell over them. When I switch to the next card, the same thing happens.

Many times during class, if I want them to really listen to me without talking, I have to sing a song. Then they will all start singing nicely and I do not have to yell. If I can get them to sing SOFTLY, then the classroom is really quiet.

However, when there is a Chinese teacher accompanying me in the classroom to keep the children quiet, they are very good. The Chinese teacher can get the children to listen to me without talking all at once, so that I do not have to yell over all of them. When the Chinese teachers teach, the children are always quiet and they do as they are told without question. Why is this? Why will they do this for the Chinese teachers and not for me?

Solution: After careful watch of the Chinese teachers' classes and the way in which the Chinese teachers get the students to be quiet, I have concluded that there are many reasons the students will be quiet for them and very noisy for me. First of all, the Chinese teachers speak their language, so they can tell the children to be quiet and they can threaten the children if they are not quiet. Therefore, there is more incentive for the children to listen to them. Also, many times the children here believe that since we (foreign teachers) cannot speak their language, then we are different and perhaps do not need as much respect as the "real" teachers who do speak their language.

The Chinese teachers also spend more time with the children and know the rhymes, chants, etc., they say that the children have learned to make them quiet. For example, there is one chant (all in Chinese) about opening your eyes and looking at the teacher. When the teacher says it, the students repeat it and become quiet. However, as it is in Chinese, it would be difficult for me to learn it and say it with the children to make them quiet.

Last, and possibly most important, is the fact that the Chinese teachers can punish the children as they want to and need to and I cannot (not that I really want to). The Chinese teachers can take away the childrens' food if they are very bad, they can put them outside the classroom, and they can even physically punish them. I however, cannot. Therefore, the children are more inclined to listen to the Chinese teachers because they know there may be punishment with them, but not with me.

In Conclusion: There are many reasons that the Chinese students are very noisy for me and very good for the Chinese teachers. I would like you to understand, though, that I am not trying to make you think that they are very bad. Usually the children are good. They are loud, they are noisy, and it can be difficult to make them listen, but in general they are lovely children. Just like in any classroom anywhere, some of the children want to learn more and these children listen and some of the children fidget, talk, and are loud. So please don't let this blog make you think negatively towards my students. They are wonderful!

Influence

I am amazed by the amount of influence I have on the people here. Of course, I knew that I would have a large amount of influence over the children I teach, but not only do I influence them and their English, but I also influence their teachers and other Chinese people I am friends with.

For example, Thursday was open classes for many of the Chinese English teachers. During the open classes, the teachers taught the students and many other teachers and faculty members watched them and assessed their performances.

Thankfully, I didn't have to give an open class, but I did get the chance to watch the open classes that were given. I learned a lot about how to teach and how to get the children to listen to me better. I also learned that the teachers learn from me. This surprised me, considering I have been only teaching for about three months and I majored in Spanish and Psychology, whereas most of the teachers have either been teaching for many, many years or have majored in teaching English, or both.

Out of six open classes that I watched, at least four of the teachers used the method of picture cards to indroduce the new vocabulary words that I started using with the children. In one of the classes, the teacher even used two games that I taught her and the children(What's missing and Hide and Seek)! I was very happy to see that I am helping her as well as the children to learn.

Not only am I teaching the teachers inside the classrooms, but I am also influencing them and helping them outside the classrooms. I am frequently surprised by how much my English vocabulary ends up being taken up by the Chinese people I am with. My link teacher invited me to her house for dinner the other night and anytime I said a phrase that was new to her, she used it every chance she got. It was funny to me to hear all of my words popping out of her mouth so often.

This makes me realize that whenever I say anything or do anything, I have to make sure to set a good example. Whether I am in a classroom teaching or just having fun with my friends, I have to make sure to speak well so that the people around me learn the correct English.