Back to School

Sophie and I will be teaching at Nanda Fu Zhong, the number eleven school in Nanjing. Although we were told we would have to start teaching this week, much to our relief the principal decided to let us observe some English classes this week instead. Our first day was spent meeting the officals of the school: the principal, the dean of students, the vice principals. Everyone was very nice to us. They told us how lucky they were to have foreign teachers and, the always pleasant compliment of how we are so beautiful. The principal even invited us to make a speech at the school ceremony on Monday. One in English, one in Chinese. I turned purple. I wrote out a few sentences and my tutor translated them for me into pinyin... we will see how that goes. I know literally zero Chinese and was asked to speak it in front of thousands of people. Even though I've done hundreds of performances, if there was ever a time to imagine everyone in their underwear I think this is it.

The kids seriously stare at us at the school, moreso than anywhere else. Imagine "that" high school movie, one in which someone does something embarassing and the camera pans around the school as cliques whisper and point and giggle. That was my life. Huddled masses of kids would point and yell "hi" then go back to their friends and laugh about it. I felt like a high school geek getting picked on!

While observing the Chinese classes it became obvious how different they are from schools in the States. I learned about the major differences during the TEFL course, but they still kind of caught me off guard. First of all, students usually don't volunteer answers, the teacher calls on them and they stand up to recite the answer. In fact, they have to remain standing until the teacher allows them to sit. And the way they learn English is more rote memorization than I ever imagined. Students are usually given a script, which they then have to memorize and perform word for word in front of the class. You can see the student wince if they say "it's nice to meet you" instead of "it is nice to meet you." That is where my teaching will come in. I will have to make it very clear that I will accept synonmymns and encourage a more natural way of speaking. It also struck me how the teachers are often working with textbooks that teach awkward English phrasing and vocabulary. In one class, they use a textbook that centers around two dogs, Eddie and Hobo (first of all, those names, what?) Hobo is a robot dog, or, as the textbook calls him an "e-dog." Is that like an email? An e-dog? Now there is a generation of Chinese students who think an e-dog is a real thing. There is nothing incorrect about it, it's just awkward for a native speaker.

It also became apparent to me how different the ideology can be here. In one class, students were brainstorming a list of qualities they want in a teacher. The teacher suggested, "beautiful" and "lovely," as in their appearance. I feel like in America that would not be an OK thing to say, because we like to pretend we accept everyone, no matter how they look. Their list was prioritized in a different way than would a list compiled in an American elementary school. The top of the list was "honest," "clever," and "beautiful." The teacher also talked a lot about how important it is to make your parents happy by doing well in school.

Even though past fellows have warned us that the student don't really take our course seriously (since it does not go on their final transcript, and the "final grade" matters a lot in China) the students seem really excited that we are here. The Junior Is (who are aged 13-14) were so excited to talk with us after class. Two girls came up to us with pens and paper and I seriously thought they were going to ask us for our autograph, but it turns out they wanted us to write down our names because they wanted to add us on queque (it's a Chinese instant messaging website. EVERYONE HAS A QUEQUE HERE, I CANNOT EXPLAIN WHY) When they had to recite their memorize dialogues in front of the class, they all acted it out in great ways! I'm a little concerned though, because some Junior Is never learned English in their primary school while some speak very well. It's a difficult gap to bridge. Junior IIs seems to speak well, but are a little too cool for school. The Senior Is are fairly fluent. In the class we obseved, they were learning how to skim passages, so they must be pretty proficient. It's weird to think that they are the same age as my little brother, who is more like a peer to me.

The best part of observing classes, though, is walking in during the "exercise" portion, which is different from PE. The kids get in giant lines on the school track and over the loud speaker, music plays and a voice rings out instructions: left leg, right leg, arm circles. They basically do a little line dance. Every day. It's super communist looking: lines of people doing the same thing at the same time while a voice tells them what to do over a loudspeaker. Fascinating.

Tomorrow, Sophie and I are attending our first banquet. A banquet is a fancy dinner party: lots of rules to observe. It's a cultural norm to have little performances, no matter how bad of a singer or dancer you are, so Sophie and I got roped into performing. That wasn't so bad: we are rocking a solid a capella version of "This Land is Your Land." Of course, that wasn't enough. We are now also singing "Du mian de nu hai kan guo lai" and yes, that is also in Chinese. In front of the entire senior middle school staff. Will let you know how that goes as well... China girl ready for some self-deprecating fun!