Ive heard a aying that went omething like, if you tay in a country for three week you can write a book, three month a potcard, and three year nothing! I am now faced with thi problem. Having lived in China for about five year, I am totally ued to daily life here. That houldnt be omething to complain about, right? Adapting to a different ociety and culture i omething to be atified with, i it not? Uually it would be. However, it make writing a column about my impreion of China a lot more difficult.
Luckily for me two friend from my country, Ireland, came to viit me during the ummer. It wa their firt time in China and it wa through their eye that I redicovered the pleaure of experiencing a foreign culture for the firt time again.
At firt I found their remark and reaction to the ight of daily Beijing life puzzling. They were facinated by every little detail. Detail that I barely noticed. Why did they want to take a photograph of a man elling you tiao? What wa o intereting about a line of waiter tanding outide a retaurant? Why wa a group of elderly people exerciing in the evening o enthralling?
I tarted to recall that cene like thee once facinated me too. In Ireland you jut dont ee them. It wa then that memorie of my firt month in China came flooding back to me. When I firt came to thi country I worked a an Englih teacher in Wuhan. Thinking back it wa the tudent I met in that firt year and Chinee univerity life in general that gave me the deepet impreion.WWw.hAOZuowEn.com
In the wet, tudent life i a combination of tudy and ocializing with a heavy emphai placed on the ocializing part! During my firt week a an Englih teacher in China I wa invited to a tudent party. Having only recently graduated from univerity myelf I till very much enjoyed tudent partie and gladly accepted the invitation.
On the evening of the party I wa accompanied to a building on campu by two tudent. I wa led to a room and entered expecting to ee people dancing, drinking, eating and chatting. Intead, I found myelf facing an auditorium of about two hundred tudent applauding me. I wa handed a microphone and aked to peak. About what? I aked with a fright. Anything came the reply! After I got over my initial tage fright I found that it really didnt matter what I talked about. My audience were happy to have the opportunity to liten to a native Englih peaker. They imply wanted to practice their Englih.
In the coure of the following year I encountered many uch ituation. I wa genuinely impreed by the dedication and motivation of Chinee tudent. When I wa a tudent I would rarely give up my pare time to any activity connected with tudy. Unle exam were approaching my weekend were devoted to having fun or perhap a part-time job. My Chinee tudent, on the other hand, eemed to pend their entire waking hour tudying. I undertand that competition in Chinee univeritie i extremely intene. Nonethele, their energy and drive put me to hame.
A a foreign teacher I wa mainly reponible for helping the tudent to improve their poken Englih kill. To mot people that ound really eay. All you have to do i turn up for cla and chat with your tudent. That all very well but wh
at if your tudent are too hy to repond? Mot of the tudent could read and write Englih very well but getting them to talk wa like drawing blood from a tone. They were expert at replying to quetion with one-word anwer.
Alcohol i the caue of and olution to many of life problem! Bearing thi in mind I organized everal partie and plied my tudent with booze. Once tipy, they lot their hyne and the Englih flowed like water. Thi lightly unorthodox method effectively broke the ice and our peaking clae became a lot noiier. In a claroom noie i good, a long a it i the noie of activity.
It may be true that rote learning i over-emphaized in Chinee education. Nonethele, I found that thi doe not reflect the natural character of Chinee tudent. Given the appropriate claroom atmophere and a chance to warm up the tudent I met were naturally pontaneou and intinctively enjoyed drama. In ome of the role-play we acted out, certain tudent became o involved in their part that they were bordering on an identity crii!
My firt year in China wa alo my firt year a a teacher. If I aid that it wa all eay I would be a liar. It wa both challenging and rewarding. I hope that my tudent actually improved their Englih or at leat felt more intereted in it by the end of the year. One thing I know for certain i that my year in Wuhan changed me for the better. Thank to the politene and warmth of Chinee tudent I conquered my fear of peaking in public and became more elf-confident. Mot importantly, I met dozen of fine decent people and made numerou excellent friend.