Yan'an Revolutions

Welcome to Yan'an

The Nursery of Chinese Revolutions

Last weekend, the headmaster of the school invited me to join him and some other teachers from the school on a trip to Yan'an. The trip aimed to combine sightseeing, food tourism, and meet-n-greets with schools in Yan'an Prefecture. Now find your maps and guide your eyes to northern Shaanxi Province. Yan'an will be not too, too far to the north of Xi'an. Yan'an is important enough to be on your map.

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On the map, it would appear that Yan'an is not far from my HuaiYa neighborhood. Six-hour drive by car, maybe. But in every way, Yan'an is a different world. The geography is dramatically different. I hope to have an entry on that in the near future. The food is different. They have a wide variety of mutton/lamb/goat entrees (including lamb hoof meat and goat head meat served in the cracked-open and hollowed skull of an adult goat), a potato'y local special food, and squash (in April!). The Yan'an folk have never heard of our local special food (mianpi'er). And their best chefs attempt to imitate saozi mian (our local, China-wide famous noodle), but the word "dud" comes to mind when I think of it. HuaiYa and Yan'an may be in the same province, but they are different worlds.

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Anyways, talking about food has pushed us to the brink of eternal aimlessness. Let's return to planet earth. Yan'an is famous as the site of revolution. One revolution changed China 70 years ago. A contemporary revolution may change China in the decades to come.

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Revolution #1:

I am by no means an expert on China's communist revolution. To be honest, reading about this critical period of modern Chinese history makes my eyelids heavy. You know what I mean? Let me explain: it bores the life out of me. In fact, I did not even want to go to Yan'an, but I sensed the headmaster's "offer" was something of a request.

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Old ideas, new ideas, merging and pounding of ideologies, propaganda, legends of godly men, blah, blah, blah. I don't know why, but it bores me. And I suspect it bores you too. So let's condense the history and make it colorful.

Communist thought arrived in China and evolved in China and was ultimately accepted in China as the antidote to the toxic 'poisons' of feudalism, capitalism, and imperialism. In the infant years, an assortment of Chinese intellectuals created a rainbow of communist thought. This rainbow was the backdrop of a dark foreground: corruption, drugs, warlords, civil war, foreign exploitation, and bold aggression at the barrel tips of the Japanese military. The conservative leaders in China despised communism (and the associated threats against their leadership) and therefore attempted to purge the country of communist thought. They shot from the hip and killed many people. But although the surviving Chinese communists dwindled in number, they strengthed in unity. Facing the threat of extermination, this nugget of revolutionary diehards went on a long, long march across China to escape persecution.

At long last, these fleeing communists arrived and found safety in Yan'an. They unpacked their rainbow and put in the skies over China once again. But this particular rainbow coming from Yan'an began to lose its colors. Soon there was no more violet in the rainbow of Chinese communist thought. They next day no more blue. No more green. No more yellow. No more orange! The variety of ideologies and policies that once existed were being streamlined into one pure thought at the hands of a small group of increasingly influential communist leaders in Yan'an. By the mid1940s, the rainbow of Chinese communist thought shining from Yan'an cast a single, pure shade of red. And by the end of the 1940s, the Chinese communists defeated the Chinese nationalists and so cast Mao Zedong's red rainbow all over mainland China.

The point is that the political revolution, which began as a hundred schools of thought from places all over the world, was molded into a focused vision there in Yan'an. Afterwards, this vision was applied across China and hence profoundly changed Chinese society and culture.

After a long day of scheming about how to take the future of China into his hands, Mao Zedong ate dinner and slept here.

Important decisions about the future of Chinese communism and China in general were discussed and debated here. In the beginning they were probably genuine discussions and debates. In the end, maybe not so much. I imagine scenes of yes-men praising and rubber stamping everything Mao Zedong says. Maybe I'm unfairly critical of Mao?

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Revolution #2

Well another revolution may be brewing in Yan'an these days. And it could be very, very influential. This revolution is not political. It is a revolution in education methodology.

Get this! The students at Yichuan Junior Middle School arrange their desks in formations that put the students face-to-face! The teachers give students assignments, projects, and opportunities to practice what they have learned during class! Students create things. Students discuss things. Students even give speaches and attempt to teach things! And students get to display their creations inside and outside of the classroom. What else but a revolution?!!!! Have a look:

In this classroom, students sit face-to-face in groups of 4 or 5. They work as a group. They help each other. They are responsible for each other. When the water rises, the entire boat floats.

In this classroom, the students sit in long rows of desks that face each other. Although not as cohesive as the groups described above, the students still have better opportunities to discuss things with each other, ask questions of each other, help each other, participate in class activities together, etc.

All the classrooms are decorated inside and outside with students' projects. I have toured so many middle and high schools in China that I had begun to think white walls were natural. But then when I saw these classrooms with the color of pride and achievement everywhere, I re-awakened to the reality of what a classroom should be. A forest without trees is not a forest. A classroom without stimulating materials everywhere is not a classroom.

If you have forgotten, please go back to my September and October entries and remind yourself of what the classrooms at my school look like. All desks face forward. Barely any room to move around. Mostly white walls. Few if any students' projects on display. A different world here at Yichuan Middle School! If you could have seen the shock and excitement of the student who accompanied us from my school as he entered the realm of student-centered learning, oh then you would understand why this is a revolution.

In some ways, this is hardly new. America has many, MANY classroom environments like this. And indeed there are classrooms like this all over the world. There have already been classrooms like this even in China. Indeed the school leaders modeled their recent change after a school from Shandong Province that has been using this method for quite some time. So how is this a Yan'an revolution?

Well, generally speaking, this method is new to most of China. This method, imagined in the minds of distant educators worldwide, has arrived in China. Now the method needs to be defined, refined, and studied. And then the method needs to spread far and wide. Yan'an did it before. Yan'an can do it again.

Imitation is the way of life in China. If something is successful, there is a stampede to imitate. Last weekend, our school leaders went to Yan'an to observe the method at Yichuan Middle School. Because Yichuan school leaders had only just introduced the new classroom environment policy in February 2009, right now the method is only a curiosity. Our school leaders are merely observing and asking questions at this point. I guess other school leaders will do the same. At first, only the schools from Shaanxi will be interested. But if this school is truly successful, school leaders will come from all over China to study the method. If this school can send more and more students to top-tier universities, there will be school leaders begging to apply it all over China.

Side story: there is a famous high school in Hebei Province that last year sent 40 students to BeiDa, China's most esteemed university. Most schools are thrilled if they can send one student to BeiDa. So 40 students is incredible! Now administrators flock to this school in Hebei to learn the method. Unfortunately, the secret to their success at that particular school is to have the students always studying. The students at that school never have P.E. and are encouraged to eat lunch for 5 minutes... and to read their textbooks as they eat their lunches. Creepy, eh?


Needless to say, I hope Yichuan Middle School will be successful. It will send a ripple that will change China's education system profoundly. The quality of education will improve. The productivity of the labor force will improve. Fate has given Yan'an a second chance to deliver a "great leap forward."

Crazy English

The Great English Awakening:

Pupils in the Hands of a Crazy Demigod

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One thing happened in March 2009: Li Yang came to HuaiYa Senior Middle School. This is the story.

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Part 1: night of the living dead

It was a routine Sunday evening. I was just drifting into boredom when I got a text message from a student informing me that the famous Li Yang was coming to HuaiYa ZhongXue. Do you know who Li Yang is? Probably not. But in China he is a celebrity of fanatic popularity. He's not an actor. Not a singer. Not a basketball star. Not an Olympic gold medalist. Who is Li Yang? He is an English teacher!

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Our minds are controlled by our environments. Must be. Since being in China, I have heard again and again of Li Yang, the guy who learned English so well and so quickly and who promises the same to all students if they just follow his "crazy" methods... I have heard of Li Yang from students... from people I meet on the train... from men on the street who ask if my English is better than Li Yang's. This guy must be an English-speaking, English-teaching superhero! Well, in 8 months all this fanfare has gotten to my head. And so at that moment reading the text message informing me of Li Yang's arrival, even I felt the wooziness of disbelieving excitement at the notion of seeing and potentially meeting the famous Li Yang.

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At first, I truly didn't believe it. I thought the student had sent a joke text. Why was Li Yang coming to HuaiYa Senior Middle School? The school is in a small town. Why? Was he really coming? Come on...

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But then the calls started. Students calling my cell phone. Students knocking at my door. Students who were normally zombies at this time of the night were ALIVE... and coming to eat my brain. They wanted me to give them ideas... ideas of how to get Li Yang's attention. They wanted me to tell them jokes, stories, words of wisdom, etc. with which they could charm Li Yang. They wanted to practice speaking with me.

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Part II: a new dawn

I awoke to the excitement of thousands of students speaking English across campus. There was a sense of enthusiasm... and in some a sense of desperation. Must impress Li Yang.

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I had numerous appointments, one after another. Practice speaking with this student. Help this student make a giant flag to hoist into Li Yang's line of sight. Then some teachers saw me and asked me to visit their classes and offer words of encouragement and advice. So there I was talking to class after class of students I had never met before. Busy morning!

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If I wasn't excited before (but I was!), I was definitely excited now. Hype hung in the air, and I was breathing it in too. Mob mind: seeing 3,000 people going crazy, how could I not go crazy? Plus, I must say, it was very invigorating just to see the optimism... and hopeful to think how this optimism for English might make teaching it easier in the weeks to come. So, yeah, I was giddy too.

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Part III: the Great Awakening

Li Yang came... late, as expected. He talked... 95% in Chinese... so I didn't understand what he said. The 1% of what he said in Chinese that I managed to understand just so happened to be the words of mockery he used to refer to me.... "old foreigner," "ghost/devil foreigner," "dog." But don't worry, he mocked others too. He told the headmaster/principal that he looked like an old woman. He told one of the English teachers that he looked like Deng Xiaoping (a dig at his short height). He made fun of Obama. He made fun of Hu Jintao. It was something of a roast. Nothing to get uptight about.... I suppose....

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In general, his agenda was to inspire and encourage. He aimed to eradicate laziness, apathy, bad attitudes, defeatism, inferiority, shame, etc. Thumbs up! He also shared some of his methods of learning English. Li Yang, some of the other English teachers, and I each took turns leading the students in shouting English sentences. This is the crazy English method. It's also the part of the performance that I found most lacking in substance. Oh well, the encouragement was worth it. Here are some pics and captions.

my little 'tete-a-tete' with Li Yang

One of the marketing gimmicks of "Crazy English"... add a touch of nationalism, and you'll rope the patriot extremists into the market. You may also provoke global division, but hey!... at least you're selling books!

The above picture shows just one example of nationalism--a relatively harmless example at that. Unfortunatley, nationalism is written into the fabric of "Crazy English." It was everywhere. In fact, after greeting me and telling me how much Li Yang loves America (in English), he then proceeded to boast to the crowd (in Chinese) his love for the Americans who will soon be begging to learn Chinese. At that point, I guess he'll be a celebrity in America teaching us all "Crazy Chinese."

Cult of Personality

...and little red books

Shiny, Happy People Speaking English

Shiny Happy People Holding Hands

At some point, the Li Yang performance got personal. Suddenly students everywhere were crying uncontrolably. And they were being invited up to the stage not to practice speaking English but instead to share some moving story in Chinese and then to sob their eyes out. I'm not sure what was being said, but it seemed they were professing their love for their parents and their appreciation for all the hard work that their parents have done. Not a dry eye on the field...

After this, Li Yang turned up the stereo to the tune of some easy listening music. He then asked all the students to hold hands with other students and listen carefully to his words (spoken in Chinese). So then the hand holding began. Illustrated directly above. Also illustrated directly below.

unity conquers the world

Part IV: the feast

After the English Revival, the important people scampered off to an isolated location. As the resident foreigner who happens to speak English, I am in that circle of people, I guess. Fist, the photo opportunities. Then Li Yang sat down with the English department to recommend methods of instruction. Spoken all in Chinese, I have no idea what they said but I assume it was a suggestion for the students to practice speaking more in and out of class. Thumbs up! Li Yang was very thorough and careful in his suggestions. He gave alot of his time at this point. This shows a sense of his genuine interest and care in the mission.

Li Yang teaches teachers how to teach... and I just hear... it's called "tingbudong along with the conversation"

It is also worth noting that at this point, there were no more references to me being a "foreigner ghost" or a "dog" or anything like that. It was all professional from this point on. Who is the real Li Yang? Who should Li Yang be? It's something of a dilemma I think... sell mockery and nationalsim in order to sell books and sell the important mission? Or be professional... and boring... and accomplish much less? What would you do?

After this, ... er, I mean after yet another round of photo opportunities and autograph appeals... they formed an even smaller circle of VIP and yet I was still in the circle. So we enjoyed a big feast. Li Yang was again very kind, courteous, serious, and genuine to me. The food was over-the-top, and we just barely begun to satisfy our stomachs when Li Yang announced his need to end the night here. At this time it was about 9:00pm. He had been with us since about 3:00. That's quite generous!

In the final meetings, Li Yang had been very friendly to me. He praised me highly to the leaders of the school. And he offered me his name card and his business phone number and an invitation to work at his Crazy English Camp this summer.

Part V: after the fire, the fire still burns....

I'm writing now from the perspective of a few weeks removed from the event. I have teetered back and forth in my assessment of the event. Initially I was very excited, pleased, and grateful for what Li Yang had done. After stewing the night and morning, however, I let my sensitivity to the mockery sour my opinion considerably. I found it difficult to justify. And I became decidedly opposed to Li Yang when my students began to call me "guizi"... "foreigner ghost"... I also thought he didn't offer students enough good methods, particulary students with advanced vocabulary. What should they do?

After talking with students (who all assured me the mockery is harmless) and after watching how students continue to practice English, I have jumped back into the camp of appreciating what Li Yang has done. To this day, students still carry around their little red Li Yang books. They are reading Li Yang's other books. They recite his quotes with passion. And this very afternoon we are having an English Week Party where the students will sing songs, tell stories, tell jokes, act out plays, etc. in front of all their student body. I can imagine that their courage to do this was inspired in part by Li Yang's words.

I have also benefitted from the experience. I have found the Li Yang crazy speaking method to be energizing and fun. It is a new tool to use with students with less motivation, poor vocabulary, shyness, or laziness to participate. Also, I have noticed more students from classes that I don't teach approaching me with the confidence to speak. They say I appeared friendly and inviting when I was speaking at the Li Yang gig. So that's really cool. Finally, I have been asked by the school leaders to lead crazy English sessions in the evenings in front of ALL the students of grade 1 and grade 2. This keeps the spirit alive, makes me feel powerful, and endears me to the praise of the leaders. Win-win-win!

Clearly I have a mixed opinion of Li Yang and Crazy English. Overall, however, I approve and appreciate.

Classroom Management: A Case Study

Yesterday, I was just 5 minutes into class and 2 seconds away from getting into the heart of the lesson when out of nowhere came the sound of glass breaking and a wave of gasps. A student had bumped his elbow into his ink well, sending his brimful bottle and its dark-staining contents all over the floor. There it was, an ink blot asking me the big question: what the heck should you do now? Stop the lesson and clean it, ignore it and go on, a little of both? What to do? What would YOU do in a situation like this?

I decided the mess had to be cleaned up immediately or it would stain. If one student cleaned, all the students would be watching him, so we might as well make it a class effort to clean it up as quickly as possible. But the questions continued. How do you clean that much ink all over the floor? How do you even clean ink? And where would we get the water? To my knowledge, the nearest place to get water was across campus? What would YOU do in a situation like this?

Life works in mysterious ways. We needed water. Well we got water. Not more than 10 seconds after the ink incident and the initial attempt to clean it all up began, I heard an explosion on the right side of the classroom and high-pitched screaming. At first it honestly looked like the kids were being electrocuted by some powerful white current coming from the wall. My heart nearly vaporized at the sight of them being struck by this thing and the sound of their shrill screams. Fortunately... oh thank God... it was just a high pressure stream of water. Somehow, the water surging through the radiator blew off a gasket and then came out spraying the students in its line of fire. What to do? Continue teaching? lol

The students rushed to plug the hole in the radiator, but it was a lot of water and the pressure was very high. The room was flooding quickly. Finally, some students managed to slow the force of the water coming out by stuffing their jackets and shirts into the hole. Still water was coming out and quickly spreading across the classroom. Yo, Jack and Rose, the Titanic is going down!

To understand this situation fully, you need to realize how cramped these classrooms are. 80 students and 80 desks in rooms no bigger than American classrooms. It's a sardine tin in there. Somehow, we had to get all the students to work together to either help mop up or just plain move out of the way. As if by magic, they found their niches. In five minutes the situation was at least stable. The water was no longer gushing out..merely seeping out through the shirts. Some students were managing the flow of water with buckets. Some students were mop/drying the floor. Some students were drying out the mops. Some students were trying to get the 'janitor.' Some students--the majority--just sat at their desks and did homework, studied, or chatted. A quarter of the students worked feverishly while the other 3/4ths sat back and let them. Should I have tried to teach half the classroom? What would YOU do in a situation like this? I figured, this period is surrendered!

By the way, some janitor this place has. The guy came after a long time, inspected, laughed a little giggle, left, and came back later to fix the problem later. I've told you before. There really is no such thing as a janitor of the American high school standard in China. Everything is on the students, and this situation was no different.

By the end of the class, the situation was much better. The water flow was under control by swift bucket action, and the floor was looking cleaner and cleaner. And remember that lake of black ink all over the floor? GONE! Absolutely a job well done!

So, what did I contribute? Not a whole heck of a lot honestly. I kinda felt guilty about it. I didn't know who, where, or how to speak to ask for help. The students were cleaning and wouldn't have dared let me help them. I couldn't teach. So I just stood there and watched. Oh yeah... I kept the kids semi-quiet and calm... but my efforts were essentially nullified by the classroom monitor who shushed the students with that famously loud, mock-angry, mock-fatherly shouting that all class monitors in China are famous for having and using whenever the chance presents itself. So yeah, I didn't make much of a difference. The situation was handled smoothly and effectively no thanks to me. These kids are great...

By the way, if this situation had happened in class 6, I fear we would all be at the bottom of the HuaiYa Sea. Seriously!

Oh yeah, and by the way, apparently these radiators explode like this all the time. Happened in the English office. Happened in Class 12 a couple months ago. And happened yesterday in Class 1. How's that for a little excitement in the day?

a Christmas to Remember!

I just want to quickly update the blog to tell you all about my very special Christmas. It's no longer Christmas here, but it's still Christmas over there in the U.S. as of the writing of this blog, so perhaps this entry will add a little more joy to your holiday.

Well, just like on Thanksgiving, I was especially busy today. I had all of my four regular classes. In addition, I had to teach 4 more classes to make up for some of the classes that I missed while I was in Chengdu (I will tell you about Chengdu in future blog entries). I ended up teaching only 2 extra classes, though, because the other 2 classes were taking an exam. So in total I taught 6 classes today...

Like any teachoholic, I prefer this. I like to be in the classroom. And on Christmas Day in a foreign country, when your alternative is spending the special holiday in the company of your apartment walls, the classroom is the right place to be.

So today was a day of numerous "Merry Christmas!"s, "Happy New Year!"s, and "Happy birthday, I mean, Happy Christmas Day!"

Some of the classroom had prepared special surprises for me. One class gave me a gift... an apple with the words "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" [both written in Chinese] STAPLED into the apple in the fashion of a piece of contemporary artwork fit for the Guggenheim. One class sang jingle bells as I entered... another class sang a "happy new years" song... another class had decorated the back chalkboard with a special Christmas mural and message. There's a photo of this below. I'm standing with the artist (in bright pink) and her deskmate:


And yes, that's a Santa hat on my head... I get goofy with it sometimes...


I also began to prepare for the evening Christmas party. I and 20 selected students would wile the night away... err, I mean, linger over a 40 minute slice of their self study time... eating,talking, and laughing together.

Here's all the food we had... apples, pears, cakes, cookies, crackers, muffins, candy, bananas, peanuts, oranges, some other weird nuts/fruits, Cola, strawberry yogurt milk, walnut yogurt milk, and a GIANT cake from the school that said "Merry Christmas" and had a funny looking Santa Claus perched on top... a LOT of food!


Group photo!




One of the students wore a Santa Claus outfit... I love these kids!




Throughout the day, students and teachers gave me gifts. Here is the collection. I love these people!

The best gifts of all, however, were the letters that students wrote to me. Let me share three of them:

(I have copied them exactly as they are written)

Mr. Peterson.

Uh.... I just know I'm happy with your teaching and I hope that somedays I can help people as much as you do.

A merry Christmas to you.

Class 4

Dear Mr. Peter Son,

Happy Christmas!

I'd like to thank you for teaching all of us Grrade 1 so much English knowledge. Thank you for giving our class 1 so much special care as well.

I am a common student from a poor village in China. When I was in primary school in Grade 5, I became interested in English and foreign countries' culture. I am so interested at it that I studied English hard in order to go aboard by myself. But the resources in our village is very poor. At that time, I only learned English by reading and listening. I had never talked! So my English grow up slowly. I have thought that my dream couldn't come true.

Since I met you, things have change a lot. You helped us on many ways. I have had a lot of chances to talk, my English improved rapidly.

Though you are from America while I am from China I never regard you as a foreigner as most people do. As I see, you are my friend. You help me in English whenever I want. Thank you!

America and China became friends in 1979. They have been friends for 29 years this year. People in two countries become familier with each other. They also built good friendship with each other. I am very pround of it. I hope our friendship between two countries will be forever so both of two countries can develop in a healthy way. Also I welcome more and more people like you come to China.

In a word, I hope you will be happy all your life.

Happy Christmas!

Yours Faithfully

[name]

Dear Mr. Peters<3n.

I know that the Christmas is equal to our New Year. So you can't enjoy it with your family members or your friends is a big pity. But you're not alone, our school mates and teachers all very love you. We think you are a nice person and you're very firendly to us, you're warm-hearted as well.

Every week, after take your lessons, we often can learn a lot. And I love your games very much, you're also a good friend to us. From your game, I think you're very intelligent.

I'm also thanksful to you because of you offer help me correct my compositions. With your help, my writing skills make a great progress now. You're also very humorous often make the class active. We really like to listen to you tell stories and take lessons for us.

To be honest, I was used to be very shy when talking to foreigners. But now I have already don't afraid to speak English in public. So I'm very thankful to you.

And I think you just come to China by yourself, the spirit is deserved to admire. And if I have a chance to go to foreign countries when I grow up, I may learn you to go there by myself, I think it may be very exciting.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year ! ! ! I hope you can enjoy this journey of came to China. And I wish you Happy F<3rever.

Best wish for y<3u.

[name]

Well, that was my Christmas, folks. Let me end by wishing joy to the world, to everyone everywhere... I have certainly had mine today... :-)

Turkey Talk

short apology and excuse-making: I haven't updated the blog in a long time. Yeah, I know. Well, it's been about a month since I've had 5 consecutive days of continuous Internet action. I lose access constantly. Typically, I wake up in the wee hours of the morning to use the Internet. Then the Internet begins to putter out sometime after 8:00 am. Between 8-12, the connection has mood swings where sites alternate between various states of functionability. I assume the Internet continues its temper tantrums throughout the afternoon, but I can't be sure since these are the hours when I teach. The Internet works well enough for simple surfing after 7, but doesn't become solid enough to stand on until after midnight or 1am. Well, I am fast asleep by then... so very little gets done.now... and then there are those 1-2 days spurts when the Internet fails to work altogether. My apartment is lined with bubble wrap for those days. Ahem, well, let's get to the point. This blog is one of the casualties of my reliably unreliable Internet access.

TURKEY TALK

I have told you all about my students. I've ranted; I've praised. I have shown you pictures. But you don't know them.... let me bring you closer to their minds... let me show you a sample of their imaginations.

I teach oral English. My goal is to have the students producing and practicing natural English conversations each class. Dialogues provide an ideal vehicle to drive this objective home. To make dialogues work, I just have to assign interesting circumstances in which the dialogues can occur... then paper-n-pen become gold...

So the week of Thanksgiving, I explained the holiday... showed pictures... delivered the students into the mood as much as possible. Then I assigned them to work in groups to imagine and compose a dialogue for the following scenario:

"Imagine that your family celebrates Thanksgiving, and your mother is about to cook the turkey. She discovers, however, that the turkey is still alive. And even more surprising, she finds that the turkey can also speak! What does the turkey say to your mother? And what does your mother say to the turkey? What do they talk about?"

I gave them a few examples from my own imagination (a little W.C./bathroom humor... got major laughs... yes!). So they were ripe and inspired to write their own interesting, humorous dialogues. Speaking broadly, I got three kinds of dialogues:
(A) the duplicates: some dialogues merely copied my sample dialogues in theme and even in some cases in every detail... real creativity [end/sarcasm]
(B) the snoozers: some dialogues were in fact new and original--at least in terms of the fact that they didn't copy mine. But they were very uninspired.... "Hello." "Good afternoon. Nice to meet you." "Let's be friends." "Okay" "Goodbye." Yes, I'm sure this is exactly what the mother and the turkey would say. [end/sarcasm] Thankfully, this type of dialogue was rare.
(C) the gold: and then most dialogues were gold. They were original (+) They were clever (+) They used vocabulary from the book (+) And some were generally funny, especially when acted out in front of the class (+++++++++++++++++) I can't share all of these dialogues, so below I have replicated some of the most wildly fascinating dialogues of the collection. Enjoy!

All dialogues are recreated exactly as they appear on the paper... no editing... except that I have given them my own title... and except that I may, in my attempt to type this up quickly, have hit the keys wrong. Don't assume the mistakes are all my students'.

A TURKEY CAN BE FLY
Turkey: Yo, what's up
Mother: Yo, what's up
Turkey: Yo, homie boy, what are you doing now?
Mother: I want to kill you for my dinner.
Turkey: Oh: my god. I'm a Young turkey and only god can judge me, man!
Mother: Oh, You can speak English, crazy turkey, to me surprise, amazing man!
Turkey: No, no, You know what I'm say. I don't want to get to sky. I love earth, I love you and your parents, I love everyone.
Mother: Oh, I have no idea. Okay shut up man, I'll still kill you. Bye~
Turkey: No....

BIRD-BRAIN INSPIRATION

Turkey: Hello, nice to meet you.
Mother: Hello, nice to meet you, too. To my surprised that you can speak.
Turkey: No surprising. Don't you know, "Nothing is impossible"?
Mother: Oh, I know. But why are you talking to me?
Turkey: Today is Thanksgiving Day. So I have to meet you.
Mother: But you will be killed by me. Are you afraid?
Turkey: It doesn't matter. As a turkey, this is my duty.
Mother: You're too great.
Turkey: You took care of me, so I should thank you.
Mother: Is it fair?
Turkey: What's?
Mother: I eat you.
Turkey: I think that is fair, because all for one, one for all.
Mother: Oh. Everyone should be thankful.
Turkey: This is our time to rise above.


THE SPECIAL MARTIAN PRESIDENTIAL BODYGUARD TURKEY
Turkey: Hello
Mother: Oh---- My Goddess! You can speak? Oh... Oh. No... no... Maybe I am in my dream. It's so crazy!
Turkey: No---no, Listen! I can speak because I am from Mars. I'm a special turkey which belongs to Bush!
Mother: All right. You must tell a joke. Hey! Now, I must kill and cook you. I have no time to talk with you. the dinner is begaining.
Turkey: Oh. help me! My God. You can't eat me. Look. I am so small and thin the arms and legs. And before you kill me, can I call my mother. I want to tell her there is a bomb in Bush's room.

THE DAOIST ESCAPE ARTIST
Turkey: Hello, Mrs. Peterson.
Mother: Oh my god! You amazed me!
Turkey: Perhaps you should thanks to me!
Mother: Why?
Turkey: Because I will give you a big egg.
Mother: Let me offer you a bowl you can put the egg into it.
Turkey: You are foolish. In Chinese, if a turkey's ying and yang are belance, it will have a egg but my ying is too much but yang is little. So I think I should get on the top of house to collect much yang.
Mother: You are smart. Please come back right away. I will wait you.
Turkey: Bye Bye. See you in a minute. [then the turkey flies away]

PRACTICALLY BEGGING FOR THE KNIFE
Turkey: Hello, Beautiful lady.
Mother: Really? Yeah. I think I'm the most beautiful lady in the world.
Turkey: But you're a little fat!
Mother: Oh? Can you help me to be thinner?
Turkey: Let's me think.... Oh. You shouldn't eat meet such as me!
Mother: Thank you. I am grateful to you

LIGHT A FIRE UNDER YOUR ASS, GOD!
Turkey: May I speak to God?
Mother: Oh. You say what? Please say again.
Turkey: May I speak to god.... god.... god? Hurry up
Mother: Don't hurry.
Turkey: help... help?
Mother: It's no time ! ! !

MARINATED IN POP CULTURE
Turkey: Do you think I am cool?
Mother: oh my God. You can speak!?
Turkey: Yes, I can sing as well.
Mother: Really? Sing a song please.
Turkey: ok. How about "Tomorrow will be better."
Mother: bad. You have no tomorrow
Turkey: Why?
Mother: I will kill you and cook you.
Turkey: Okay. If you want to cook me, I have no idea. But I want to watch a NBA match.
Mother: You also love NBA? Do you know Kobe? He is a gereat basketball player in my heart.
Turkey: Yes, I love him as well.
Mother: oh you are my God. Let watch it!

TURKEYS TAKE EXAMS TOO, YA KNOW
Turkey: Hell beautiful lady!
Mother: Oh my dear! You can speak English.
Turkey: Because my English Grade is very good.
Mother: Stop! Stop I am hurry and I am killing you now.
Turkey: No No. Don't hurry, look there isa UFO in the sky
Mother: Oh, really. Where, where is UFO?
Turkey: Opening the window quickly and follow me.
Mother: Let's go, let's go
Turkey: Good-by

A TURKEY FROM THE KLAN (you can't make this kinda stuff up!)
Turkey: Hello~! I'm Miss Turkey. How are you?
Mother: Oh, shit! Are you a ghost? A turkey can speak?!!
Turkey: I'm not a ghost, just a Turkey. Also, I'm a girl turkey. I'm from Houston......
Mother: Shut up! Now, I'll cook you.
Turkey: No, no, no! Please wait a moment! Please! Now, I'll warn you that my boyfriend is strong. He's the leader of the "KKK". I think if you hurt me, you won't see tomorrow sun shine!
Mother: Now can you tell what should I do now? (cry..... scary....)
Turkey: Now, I'm hungry. I want to eat. Then please send me to my boy friend's house. I'll thankful for you. Happy thanks-giving day!
Mother: Oh, I see. Thanks, the same to you.

THE MODEL TURKEY
Turkey: Wait! Wait! Wait!
Mother: Oh, what you are you going to do?
Turkey: Would you mind my writing to my wife for the last time?
Mother: What? YOu have found your Mrs-right?
Turkey: Of course! We got married two years ago. We even have a child.
Mother: I'm very sad to hear that because you will never see them again.
Turkey: No! I have a mother who will have her 80th birthday tomorrow. ANd my second child was born yesterday. They need me.
Mother: You are really a model husband.
Turkey: Yes. So would you mind resting me?
Mother: Mmmmmm... I want to let you go but we will be hungry if I do that. So I come up with a good idea. that I will cook your family members, you will be together in front of the god.

EVEN TURKEYS WANT YOUR QQ NUMBER
Turkey: Hi, Beauty!
Mother: Oh, my God! What will you do?
Turkey: Don't be afraid. I want to surf the Internet. Do you have a computer?
Mother: Yes, but it was broken. If you want to do it, you can go to the Internet bar.
Turkey: But I have no money.
Mother: Don't worry! I have enough money.
Turkey: Mn--. Can you go with me and lend some money to me?
Mother: Of course. But I have to cook.
Turkey: Oh, that's terrible. I have to go alone. Please tell me your QQ number. If I earn some money, I'll return money to you.
Mother: Bye! Have a good trip!

(you kinda have to live in China to understand why a turkey asking for the QQ number is funny)

"UGLY" IS A CAPITAL CRIME

Turkey: Holle. Nice to meet you! Happy Thanksgiving.
Mother: Oh, my god! Why you have speak skill?
Turkey: Because I want to tell you that I don't want to die.
Mother: Sorry. I can't. Because you are too ugly.

Turkey: Oh. There is no wrong for me to be so ugly.

Mother: But it's wrong for you to go out and frigent people.

SARS FOR EVERYONE

Turkey: Hello. Mrs. Peterson. Do you want to kill me?

Mother: Who is asking me?
Turkey: I'm here.
Mother: Oh. You can speak!
Turkey: Yeah, just so-so. Can you answer my question?
Mother: Yes. I want to eat you.
Turkey: Oh no. I'm very thin and I'm not a good delicious food. You can eat the big big. This is delicious food.
Mother: That sounds good, but my sister want to eat you.
Turkey: Oh no. I have a SARS.
Mother: Really? That sound sad. But I also have a SARS.

TURKEY PRIDE
Mother: I want to eat you!
Turkey: I don't think you are right. I'm very kind. Please don't kill me.
Mother: What do you think. Lay eggs is very tired?
Turkey: I think lay eggs is very prond. I love laying eggs!!!

KARMA CATHES UP TO A SHADY PAST

Turkey: Are you very busy now?
Mother: Oh yes, because I'll eat you right away.
Turkey: Why aren't you surprised that I'm talking?

Mother: Not surprised enough. The fact thing is that you must be killed by me.
Turkey: Can you give me the life again. I will thank you forever. I know I was wrong ago. I couldn't thank for anyone, but I'm very sorry to do these things....... and can you give me a chance!
Mother: Why the people or the animals do something after and know it is wrong... but the chance is once. you can't get it again. The [illegible word] is fair for everyone. So you must be killed and don't say anything.

I hope you have enjoyed these dialogues as much as I have. We have only just peeked into the minds of these kids here, and as for me, I like what I see! Their English is pretty good. And their imagination and creativity is even better. It's easy mining... the gold is just below the surface!

The English Inquisition

The English Inquisition

[lightbulb casting intense light, fierce heat, and menacing shadows across the room]

"Tell me your name..."

"And now, let's have a look at your English...."


[inquisition begins]




The Examination Culture: an Introduction to Inquisition

The Exam. It deserves its capital "E" in China. Exams are everything. If Beijing is the capital of China, then Exams are the capital of education in China. And the University Entrance Exam is the Forbidden City. All faces turn toward Exam.

In design, Exams are intended as a tool to measure learning outcomes. Here, this design has been warped into Frankenstein's monster--in the schools of China learning is a tool to achieve Exam outcomes (good grades). There's a significant difference between testing what I have learned and learning so that I can test. Although they both involve learning, is the quality of learning the same? Do these two different means reach the same end?

My guess is no, but in truth this is work better left for specialists in educational research. These questions warrant careful, disciplined study. I will share, however, a few observations:

1) The students do seem to be very knowledgeable. Their advanced knowledge of math and science have even been expressed and demonstrated through English conversations. Compared to American students, the knowledge (especially in math and science) seems to be better.
2) Some of the knowledge seems pointless though. They constantly cite random facts and numbers (Mount Everest is such-n-such kilometers in altitude... and they quote this number down to the precise single digit!). And these random facts are not so random--they seem to ALL know them. I don't know how many times various students have told me how high Mount Everest is!
3) Higher level learning seems to be lacking. The social studies in general and history in particular are particularly concerning. While some students can remember names, dates, and places, few can think analytically about the historical events that they have studied. I doubt they have had any exposure to anaylsis and evaluation in these courses. And if there is no higher level learning, what on earth do they do in economics and sociology (grade1 students have these classes once a week). I want to know how they study the social studies!!! (I already have a hint though... I drew a supply-and-demand diagram... the students had never seen anything like it... come on now, what are they studying in economics?!?!?!?!?!?!)
4) Some students use the Exam to decide not to even attempt certain learning outcomes. I encounter this everyday. Since oral English is nowhere on the exam, there are those who don't even try. They sit in the back... trying to sleep, trying to work on other homework, trying to play games on their phone... and now that I have taken all these options away, they just stare blankly like George Romero's zombies. The rest of the class is laughing and excited, and they just sit there sad, maybe a little angry, and dull. They tingbudong, and they're going to tingbudong for the rest of their lives with that attitude. Misguided by Exam.

My Own Inquisition

I told you in a previous post ("Sports Meeting") that students recently took mid-terms. Well the results are in, and they're not good. Students' English scores were particularly bad. This bad news is coupled with some other news (I discovered secretly), that last year this school underperformed on the University Entrance Exam. Whereas HuaiYa High School typically sends 4 to 6 students to Beida/Qinghua (the top universities of China) each year, last year not one student qualified for either of these plums. Apparently it was quite an embarrassment, and much pressure has been subsequently added (one administrator was demoted and teachers have been categorically blamed and pressed to work harder). So now, with these dismall mid-term exam scores, I wonder. Will there be an English Inquisition?

My nature is to immediately heap all the blame onto myself. I'm always ready to be my own judge, jury, and executioner. I also worry, though, what will the other teachers think of me. Will they blame me too? Will they think I'm not doing my job very well? 3 years from now when perhaps none of my students qualify to attend BeiDa, will they all look back and blame that "bad foreign English teacher!"

But then I snap out of it. Here at HuaiYa High School, I am the only one who inquires. None of the teachers or administrators even told me about the mid-term Exam results. I found out about the poor scores from asking my own students. I later asked one of the senior English teachers and he acknowledged the poor scores. And then when I asked if there was anything I could do to help the students improve, he laughed... said it had nothing to do with me. Do I have any responsibility at all?! (I guess he might be right though, when you consider that I teach oral English--which is not assessed--to students only one time a week, my responsibility is rather small). If the students do poorly, no one will fault me. If the students do well, no one will credit me. Makes my Inquisition quick, painless, and.... empty. So I continue to self-inquire... what can I do to improve the students' English?

What explains the students' poor English scores? After the teacher told me that I am not even in the equation, he then told me that the poor results were the fault of the test. "This time the questions were difficult, so the scores were poor. Next time the questions will be easier, so the scores will be better. It's nothing."

Now, it's time to revisit some of the content from my ETR 492 class. Here is my thought: in a culture with such a strong emphasis on Exams, wouldn't you think the exams should be meaningful? In ETR 492 language, these Exams should ideally be reliable and valid. We teachers need to know that the questions on the Exam produce consistent interpretations about what the students have learned.

I asked a student how he did on the mid-term. Like the others, he did poorly. His writing was really bad. Then I asked him how he did on the Shaanxi Provincial Exam (which grade1 and grade2 students took not more than a week later). On this exam he did really well. His writing was excellent. What in the Hell is going on here?!

Well, I guess if the questions vary as wildly between easy and difficult as the teacher mentioned above suggests, this might explain the discrepancy. But then there is the cheating. I had a hunch about his. My Spidey senses...activated by the quirky smile on the student's face... were buzzing. I asked the student,

me: "How many teachers monitored the Shaanxi Provincial Exam.
Student: "None,of course"
me: "But the mid-terms were monitored by 4 teachers."
Student: "Yes"
me: "So... then... some students might cheat during the Shaanxi Provincial Exam."
Student: " Oh yes, of course, we all cheat!"

Hmmmm, if this dim-witted foreigner from Boone County could suspect such an outcome, I am certain that every last teacher is aware what happens during the exam too. This is sanctioned cheating.

But the school is only cheating itself. Presumably the school doesn't want to risk the gamble that serious performance issues might be revealed from the exam. They might lose face. So they forfeit the Shaanxi Exam as an assessment tool that can reveal such issues... that can target areas for long-term improvement and face-building. A farce Exam.





The English Inquisition

Although I am living in a pressure-free universe, my other teachers are not. With each poor performance, they are given scoldings and more responsibilities. On that trend, last week the school held an "English Contest." The English teachers had to compose and deliver a free-topic speech and respond to one of an assortment of questions that I posed. I and two representatives from the Mei County Bureau of Education English Department were the judges. They called it a "contest" to make it sound fun.

There's not much to report here. The English teachers at HuaiYa High School have very good English. I understand them, and they understand me. They all did very well.

One interesting note: scoring. How do I score these teachers? What are the criteria by which I should evaluate them? I asked the organizer of the event, but he had initially had no suggestions. He said that because English is my mothertongue I can just give them scores! No sir, I need a rubric! So I made my own rubric. Initially my rubric consisted of three criteria: (1) fluency of speech evaluated on a scale of 0-4, (2) accuracy in grammar and word choice evaluated on a scale of 0-4, and (3) directness in answering the questions evaluated on a scale of 0-2. They would get a score from 0-10.

Minutes before the contest, he approached me to ask if I had decided how to evaluate the teachers. Informing him that I had, he then told me what he thought my rubric should be. He had two criteria: pronounciation and fluency. Interesting. I missed pronounciation, and he missed accuracy. Both are important! I changed my rubric.

Even more interesting, he told me that I had to evaluate the teachers on a scale from 9.0 to 10.0 out of 10. So if a teacher scores no points, her score would be 9. A person could speak not one word of English; I would have to give them a 9.0 out of 10. Think about it. It's really the same exact scale as 0-10. That zero hiding behind the decimal isn't really hiding if you confront its meaning! The interpretation is the same. But the guaranteed, meaningless 9 in front of the decimal and the number that truly matter helps save face. Very interesting!

In the end, even my revised rubric with 4 criteria was not detailed enough. I ended up giving everyone scores between 9.7 and 10.o. So many 9.9s! It doesn't reflect the range of proficiencies. But truly, their English was collectively very good. Now we know that. And the English Inquisition is over.

What we don't know are all the important things. Do they teach English well? Do I teach English well? What can we do to improve? Do we even know what needs improvement?!

Sports Meeting

SPORTS MEETING

Last weekend was a four-day weekend (Saturday, Nov 1- Tuesday, Nov4). You all know how I spent the four day weekend (memories of MaijiShan still make me smile a week later). What you don't know is why I was able to enjoy this special weekend.

Exams. Last weekend began four days of mid-term examinations for all students. This is an exhausting exercise for all parties involved... even the teachers. During exams, each classroom is monitored by FOUR teachers, each of whom stands in one corner of the classroom scanning for the wandering eyes and hush whispers of cheaters. These exams usually last from about 6-8 hours each day... mentally and physically exhausting... oh thank you, thank you, Chinese schools tend to excuse foreign teachers from taking part in this duty!

How do these students and teachers survive? Well, there's always one glimmer of hope: on the other side of every major examination there is something incredibly exciting to anticipate. After final examinations, there is vacation--either Spring Festival or Summer Vacation. After mid-terms, there is SPORTS MEETING!!!

My students asked me the same question: "what is sports meeting like in America?" And they gasp when I inform them that American schools don't have sports meetings! Unfathomable. From primary school to high school, there is always sports meeting! It is essential. There is always that temporary--one to three days--escape from schoolwork. No classes, no homework, no studying, no exams. Just sports... all kinds of sports...

SPORTS MEETING!!!!

Our sports meeting began with a marching contest. Marching is a sport. Each class marches as a unit... they are in meticulous order from shortest in one corner of the block to tallest at the other corner of the block. To be perfect, they must march in perfect rhythm... 120 separate feet become one massive foot pounding the track in choreographed pulses. And they use their voices to further unite the group... 一二三四， 一二三。。。四！（1, 2, 3, 4; 1, 2, 3... FOUR!) Their individual weaknesses are lost in the air-shaking power of one voice. It is quite neat to watch!

students march as other classes watch

video of "yi er san si, yi er san SI!"

at nights, the students perform in singing contests... I've been listening to Revolutionary songs all week in preparation for this... and although the students all sing very well, the performance is ruined by the very poor quality of the speakers. pity

And then there are the sports. Thursday and Friday, the classes of each grade level competed against each other in tournaments of two sports: basketball and volleyball. The most athletic boy students of each class played basketball. The most athletic girl students of each class played volleyball. The rest of the students crowded around and right up against the courts to cheer on their classmates. 加油，加油！（jiayou, jiayou!) (add oil, add oil!)

Sports Meeting

Male students play basketball... and their classmates sit literally right in front of the action--quite definitely the nosebleed section--to watch and cheer on...

basketball (and Qinling Mountains in the background)... what a gorgeous day

volleyball (and Qinling Mountains disappearing in the sunlight)

"jiayou!" and other conversations

badminton on the side

soccer in the small spaces between games

and fun... lots and lots of fun!

Teaching 201: Introduction to the Chinese Student

I am learning that 15-year olds are 15-year olds all over the world. When culture meddles in the business of biology, only the surface changes. Are Chinese students different than American students? Yes, of course. But what lies beneath all of them are the same needs, the same passions, the same struggles.

But there are distinguishable differences. Compared to American students...

+Chinese students are more polite.

+Chinese students are more respectful.

+Chinese students are more personal... (particularly with young foreign teachers)... they will ask for your telephone number, your QQ number; they will invite you to their homes and they will ask to be invited to your home; they will ask you all the personal questions--"are you married?", "how old are you?" "how much money is this school paying you each month?;" in short, they will ask to be treated as your friend.

-Chinese students are more passive... they don't volunteer easily

-Chinese students cheat often and cheat openly when playing games... they don't mind that their cheating nullifies all fun and purpose of the game.... they just want to win

Chinese students are also different because the education system is different.

-Students are in school all day; om they wake up at 5:00 or 5:30 to begin their day. Their final class dismisses at 10:10. Sometimes I see flashlights in the classrooms well past 11:00. I estimate that most students go to bed somewhere between 11 and 12.

-Chinese education system is exam-focused... in fact, exam centered. It appears to me that there is no such thing as "passing a class." They take frequent exams, but even these only serve to determine which class they will be placed in (the class with the "good" teacher or the class with the "bad" teacher?) and which school they will be placed in (the "key" school or the underperforming school?)... they don't get summative report cards... they don't get calls to parents... they don't get "held back" a year... For twelve years, they go to class each day, they take exams each month all in their drive toward the one and only test that truly matters: the university entrance exam. The teachers teach to the test; the students learn to the test (via rote memorization). As our Buckland trainer informed us, "China's public education system is one in which the very tip of the tail wags the dog."

-This exam changes the way students behave.

**They are tired... studying all day exhausts them even more than playing video games all night exhausts American students... and to be honest, I am not yet convinced that their style of studying is any more beneficial than playing video games anyways.

**Most of them are sponges, not thinkers... there are plenty of brilliant ones though, and they make my day!

**They are calculating machines... they are a good with numbers, equations, and calculations because they can memorize them (American students could learn a lesson here, for sure). But then there is so much deadweight! I recall, for example, a conversation with one of my Chinese students. I told him that when I was in high school, geography was one of my favorite subjects. He stared back at me with a look of disbelief and horror on his face. I then probed to find out what they studied in geography... he told me a sample question from the exam... "If it is 8:00 am in Beijing, what is the time in San Fransisco?" ... the horror was transplanted to my face...

**They become experts in the judgement of utility... they decide whether to listen to or ignore the teacher based on how well he can prepare them for the exam. If a teacher gives too many fishy answers or, heaven forbid, too many "I don't know" answers, the students will ignore the teacher. And then there is my situation. I teach oral English... I help them practice listening to and speaking English. Well, wouldn't you guess it, even the university entrance exam does not test spoken English (in all honesty, I understand; what a logistical nightmare that would be to assess the speach of a couple million students every year!), and their monthly preparation exams do not test listening comprehension either. So I teach two skills for which they are not tested. What use am I? As such, there are students who ignore me... sleep... text... do other homework... even when the lesson is very active. The novelty of being a waiguoren (foreigner) wears off rapidly, and then from there on out the foreign teachers must work hard to persuade students to get with the program. (special note: in reality, the students' judgement of utility is, like any 15-year old, characteristically short-sighted... they do not realize that strong oral English will improve their reading comprehension and writing proficiency... duh!)

The exam-focused education system takes its toll. But once the toll has been paid, the students are just like any other 15 year olds. They like to have fun... they love basketball, soccer, ping pong, video games, surfing the internet, singing, listening to music (outdated bubble gum pop notoriously included),WWE, Chinese chess... and they squeeze as much of these pleasures into their lives as they can when their week ends briefly from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon...

I am as much inspired by my Chinese students as I am by my American students... when they're not unleashing their little havocs--and even somtimes when they are--young people are such a joy to be around!

Teaching 101: Introduction to the Chinese Classroom

Lesson 1: There are MANY students... and very little room to put them...the classrooms are small and the Great Wall of Textbooks takes up half the available space. Each of my classes has between 70 and 80 students. Even sardines have more wiggle room.

Lesson 2: Students are accustomed to passive learning. Even raising their hands to answer--or, heaven forbid, to ask--a question is unusual and uncomfortable. But they'll get out of their seats to take a picture, of course.

Supplementary Material
Item 1--Students inhabit the classroom. They stay in the same classroom all day; it is the teacher who moves from classroom to classroom. The students prepare the classrooom for each teacher's entrance. The students clean each teacher's mess when the teacher leaves. The students sweep and mop the classroom daily.

Item 2--Chinese high schools have three grades: Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3. Within each grade, there is a ranking of classrooms. Generally speaking, the best students (best = highest performance on exams) are all in the lower-numbered classrooms. I teach all twelve classes of the Grade 1 students and four classes of the "best" Grade 2 students. I also have three English corners each week.

Item 3--Chinese high schools rely heavily on the textbook... I do what I can with it.

Welcome to the Chinese classroom!

a week in Yangshuo

I have been told that this small city--Yangshuo--hosts more foreigners than anywhere else in China save Beijing. Maybe it's not true... but I can certainly believe it. There are so many fun things to do... great food of all styles Chinese, Asian, and Western... and of course the main attraction is the view. The world-famous, green-covered, hill-mountain karst wonders of China is an army that surrounds you from 360 degrees. You are the island, and these hills are the sea and the towering waves that approach you from all sides. To be there is to be humbled and captivated by their presence... and no art or photographs ever do them justice (although traditional Chinese brush stroke paintings do come close!)

I arrived in Yangshuo on the weekend, which meant I had plenty of time to "chill" before the structure of orientation and training began on Monday. I had already been to Yangshuo in 2005, so I did not feel the rush to take it all in. On Saturday, I hung around Owen College and met the staff and the fellow foreign teachers. That night we had a barbeque, and I met some of the local Chinese students at the college. What a great group of people all the way around! On Sunday morning, I took a leisurely stroll through the city toward and through West Street all the way to the Li River. It felt like a homecoming as the familiar sights reappeared. "Hey! That is where we all got off at the end of the river cruise!" "Hey! That is where one from our group was hassled for taking a picture of a Chinese fisherman without seeking his permission!" "Hey! That was where Paul and I hard-bargained for the 100% silk pajamas that we both knew very well was 0% silk!" So much about Yangshuo City has changed in the three years since I last was here, but West Street was the same... if not in every last detail, at least in spirit!

On Sunday afternoon, a group of us--another teacher and some students--went for a bike ride to see Moon Hill. Only fifteen minutes riding through and amidst the chaotic streets of Yangshuo City before we escaped into the wide-open country. And then we were lost! Our punishment was the steep grade roads that we climbed over and over again trying to find our way. One woman assured us, "Oh, just 30 minutes that way..." An hour later, another man assured us, "Oh, just 30 minutes that way..." Two hours later, we were there! I had seen Moon Hill before and, honestly, had not been impressed then. I was even less impressed seeing it a second time. It's a hill like all the other thousands of hills around Yangshuo, only this one has a hole in it. But I was smiling and genuinely happy. Why? In being lost, we saw a part of China that I had NOT seen so intimately ever before. Rural southeast China. Rice fields with farmers waist-deep in their toils. View-bending stretches of citrus groves. Water buffalo everywhere crossing our paths. Hordes of chickens and ducks boldly defending their territory until the bike tires got close enough to spook their confidence... and then a cacophony of squaking. And people everywhere smiling, waving, and acknowledging our presence with a friendly "hello." Darkness had only just settled in when we arrived back in Yangshuo to return our bikes. And then we feasted on great food and good company.... Alice, Joel, and Candy are, like all the Chinese students I have met so far, so friendly, generous, and kind!

Pictures from our bike ride... images of rural China in all its peace, simplicity, and freshness!

Aaron in front of Moon Hill (below). Can you see why I'm not all that excited? And can you see why the above is so worth the journey and the muscle-work? Life is full of surprises!

On Monday, we began our orientation and training. The week passed quickly with all our lessons and taks. We learned about the nature of the Chinese education system, delved into the "typical" Chinese student, talked about lesson planning, classroom management, and then a whole host of cultural topics in which we learned some valuable lessons, including but certainly not limited to: 1) don't touch any metal wires coming out of the outlets! they will kill you! 2) avoid the discotechs if you want to avoid serious injury 3) don't have sex with the students and 4) be careful when crossing the streets. In all seriousness, we learned a lot of very important and many not-so-obvious things about Chinese culture and life. And the training sessions were always lively and attention-grabing.

On Thursday we went for our medical examination in Guilin. It was painless, really, at least for me.... the phlebotomist missed a couple people's veins and had to go striking for blood a second time.... :-S

On Thursday and Friday we did our practice teaching... oh my, the pressure, it was like the first day of student teaching all over again! But it was valuable and necessary. On that note, I must say, it has been almost three weeks now, and with each passing day I am more and more grateful for the orientation and training. Teaching social studies in America is very different from teaching oral English in China. Teaching here in general is radically different in fact. In the next year, I will have much more to say about that... but it all comes down to the key differences... China's large class sizes (my classes have over 70 students each) and China's method of instruction and learning. The training in Yangshuo will give anyone who has never taught English in China or never taught at all the resources and confidence they need to succeed... plus post-training support for the duration.

And I can also say that it seems to me--here and now in this moment--that having come to China to teach was the perfect decision. Teaching in China will target what I perceive were some of my weaknesses in studnet-teaching... classroom management and planning for interactive lessons. I want these to be rock-solid, and China is going to give me opportunities to do that. Classroom management? Come on, I have 70 students! (and contrary to the myth, they are NOT all obedient, respectful, and motivated, even though they all smile and say "hello" like angels) Active lessons? It's perfect... I have to plan purposeful, active lessons that emphasize practice and student-centered learning. And I have to do this in the face of vast differences in skills, proficiencies, and motivations. Maybe teaching in China isn't all THAT different from teaching in America after all...

As in both, I am absolutely loving it! More to come on that later...