Hugh and Mara

Today, December 20th, the weather changed. No more warm days with a smoggy overcast sky. Today we had rain and temperatures dropping. It was the perfect day to go watch barge traffic on the canal not far from where we are staying. And we hit rush hour! 

Mostly empty boats were headed towards the Yangtze and loaded boats headed up the canal.

  The day before we had wandered to the north west section of town where the canal meets the Yangtze River. It is definitely an area where the old structures have not been torn down to be replaced by high rise apartment buildings. Narrow streets not wide enough for cars. But we didn’t take any photos. It didn’t feel right.

But today, watching barge traffic and the river people waving and shouting hello in English and doing the classic Chinese peace sign when they saw the camera-it felt right and that we were welcome to photograph their life on the river.

The person at the front waves oncoming traffic one direction. Mostly this style was used when the wheelhouse was at the back of the barge. Some had wheelhouses in the front & just living quarters and the engine in the back. 

Unfortunately few kids were out playing on the boats as we had seen in earlier days at the canal.  Probably because the temperature started to drop. Makes me wonder where the kids go to school, or do they?

These are transport barges and homes at the same time. We saw container gardening, washing machines, bicycles, cook pots being washed, people eating noodles, children waving, dogs barking, and more, all on the boats. Basically, life.

We can’t believe that it has come-our last day with the little kids was Dec. 19th! Today we taught vocabulary to the third graders at the Eastern Campus. We taught “Some cakes?” “No, thanks” “An ice cream?” “Yes, two, please, thanks!” Other vocabulary words were: egg, glass of milk, glass of orange juice, hamburger, cup of coffee & cup of tea. We both wondered what we would do for 40 minutes with just those words and a bunch of Chinese 3rd graders! The resources handed to the English teachers there: An Oxford Learn English Workbook, one for each student (all primary grades use this). Our resources-well check out what we did with the help of www.teflgames.com & www.tefl.net/esl-lesson-plans/

Oxford Learn English workbooks

Their teachers have, of course, prepared them well. We reviewed the vocabulary mostly because our California accents are different from their teachers Chinese Oxford English accents! Then we introduced a variety of activities appealing to multiple intelligences & learning styles. We were also asked if we minded if some parents came to observe the lesson and we, of course, were delighted to have them. Here are some shots of the students’ enthusiastic participation:

show the word the teacher used

identify, read, and find

finding the correct word in slap-a-word

We did several rounds of slap-a-word and they became gradually more difficult. We began first with the flash cards distributed among their tables and if we pointed to the word on the board while saying it, the table with the word had to pick it up & say it out loud. Then we showed the items instead of the word so they would also recognize the item as well as the new characters (remember, they are learning to write Chinese characters AND the American alphabet in the third grade!!!) You try identifying “cake” in Chinese characters and see how well you do! Here’s something fun- go to babelfish.yahoo.com and try it yourself-choose simple Chinese, not traditional.

Part of our lesson included some acting where they had to respond with “yes, please” or “no, thank you” as well as choose if they wanted “cake” or “hamburger”. Some of the props we used included a plastic see-through cup with white paper in it for milk and 2 oranges in it for orange juice, a table gift from the wedding we attended Monday night that was shaped like a slice of cake (it had candy inside), a real tea cup, a real coffee cup,an ice cream cone made from one piece of notebook paper with toilet paper as the ice cream, etc. You see, other than a black sharpie marker and notebook paper, we had no resources. We have not seen resources for the Chinese teachers, either. Of course this may be because we have not been to the supply room, but we wonder if there is one. We have found colored chalk, which is helpful. The teachers here, (we think we understand) They do not write their own lessons. It is all standardized curriculum from the Department of Education. The progression that is used is fantastic, building upon prior knowledge, connecting areas of study, however it does not deviate. It seems creativity of the sort we expect in the US is not expected here. At least this is our interpretation based on what we have seen and experienced. But, this does not mean they are not good teachers-on the contrary-they are amazing teachers!

typical classroom

recess

Notice there is no playground equipment. There are basketball courts & soccer fields but once they finish kindergarten they make up their own games, many include the jumprope which is also used to play horse-you know, one kid is the horse & gallops around while the other follows holding the reins. Just ask the Amstutz girls if you don’t understand!

not camera shy!

We wrapped up our final day with a meeting with 5 of the 6 Chinese 6th grade students who will be coming to California in January-February to visit their sister school-Cathedral School for boys and an International School in the Bay Area. We discussed what students do on their free time, supermarkets, and food. And Mara finally got a Chinese name! Zhou Li roughly translated Zhou means first (as in first Chinese name we think) and Li is a flower since Mara’s middle name is Iris. Thanks girls! Hugh got Li Qia Long, something to do with Bruce Lee as the boys and he like Bruce Lee movies? Not sure on that one.

talking about free time, supermarkets, & food

We also did our final presentation to the 6th graders.  We simplified it from the high school presentation using vocabulary we knew that they had learned and so they could listen and read the short text with minimal translation. Yes, we learned a lot & we both believe it will show in our improved teaching. 

And the closing photo-session:

saying good bye to Principal Hu

Saying good bye was to only sad, but exhausting. We went to bed at 8:45 and the phone rang at 9:15. Groan. Was it another prostitute call? (everyone at the hotel got one earlier in the month but our friend Mark told the management that it was not acceptable & so no repeats). No, it was Lily, one of the English teachers from Qiao Qi. She had been teaching while we were there and was unable to say goodbye, so she & her husband came by with a gift of coffee & fruit. Little did Lily know, but we ran out of Peet’s coffee that very morning and were too tired to go pick up some Nescafe AND we had eaten our last apple-how did she know this?! Thank you Lily, for that thoughtful & incredibly timely gift!

We are coming to the end of our teaching experience at Nanjing High School. We thought we should show a little more about life at the high school. 

Studying between classes

Preparing between classes

While here we have tried to offer a variety of teaching techniques and styles. We have presented about each of our jobs, Yosemite National Park, our community, and our families. We introduced them to environmental education in the classroom and American culture.   

Preparing for Deadly Links

Watching these competitive students play a demo game of Deadly Links was great. Notice rule #1 for the game behind Mara on the chalkboard-it says “Be nice-no fighting” because Chinese students and American students are alike! They get so involved in the game that they forgot it’s only a game!

counting food pieces

Deadly Links in action

The “stomachs” are plastic cups, mice are identified by bandanas on the wrists and the hawk is wearing a YI ball cap.  

does she have enough food pieces to live?

enjoying their classmates play

 Just like in American schools, some students just hang out between their classes. During this time some run to the snack store located on campus.  However, unlike in American schools where students move between classrooms, here the teachers move, but students have jobs such as being the tech person to set up our computers, others erase the blackboards, still others fill the water dispenser, take stacks of workbooks/essay books to the teacher’s office for grading, etc. 

congregating & socializing

 Between classes some students enjoy playing “hackysack” with a weighted “birdie” that has feathers on the top.

keeping the "birdie" in the air

Some days we eat lunch at the school and other days we eat out as lunch is from 11:40 until 1:45 so there is plenty of time to leave campus. You can hear the din of students leaving campus from the 4th floor!

concentrating on the chopsticks

 This afternoon we did our last class presentation to the senior classes 2 & 4 from 4:20-5:00. We gave them time to ask questions at the end and they asked great questions in excellent English.

asking questions

Some examples of questions were “Do you have problems with people breaking the law in your Park?” “Can you tell me more about the mountain lions?” (Here we gave them the Park website address that has multimedia presentations: http://www.nps.gov/yose/photosmultimedia/) Other questions were “Can you tell me some differences between Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Yosemite, and Death Valley?” as well as “Can you tell me why you chose the jobs you have?”. Then there were the ones that broke the ice, such as “May I ask why your hair is like that”-this to Hugh! The question was followed by the comment “I think you are handsome with that hair-it is cool!” which provoked laughter from everyone! And, being as they are high school students they wanted to know how we met!

It will be sad to leave next week. But what a great experience! However it’s not over yet, so keep checking on future posts-We just learned about a movie theater that is next door to our hotel and the movies are subtitled in English. There is supposed to be a good movie there about an artist from the Beijing Opera. Also, we visit the Su Zhou region on Monday. Wednesday we go back to Shanghai and have dinner with Alice’s niece, Yun Yi and her husband, Jim. So much still to do!

We are definitely being treated well here. As our breakfast friend, Mark, points out, we are seeing more of Jiangsu Province and Chinese culture than an average tourist or visitor. Monday night we were invited to join in the celebration of the marriage of one of the English teachers from the High School.

Groom & Bride (Yang Yan)

Yang Yan married a TV anchor. We think his crew from the station brought all the specialized photography equipment that had Hugh feeling green with envy. And the wedding was held here at the hotel we are staying in. Convenient for us should we have chosen to “tie one on” except that Tuesday morning is our 7:20 class!

the ceremony

It was a mix of Chinese and Western traditions. The bride wore an elaborate and ornate wedding dress in the Western style and the groom wore a tux rather than the Chinese tradition of both of them wearing red. From the Chinese side: Greeting guests in the lobby of the hotel and having pictures taken with them  (we think this is from the Chinese side as in the US we take photos after the ceremony), walking down the aisle at 6:18 because 18 is a number that signifies good luck, poppers (those things that make a loud pop and shoot out confetti) as the couple walked down the aisle, during the ceremony there were speeches by a representative from the bride and the groom, followed by speeches from the parents-or at least the fathers. We don’t think the mothers spoke. Both mothers were wearing red tops with corsages. This was followed by cutting a huge cake.

Mara, Cathy, and some of the English teachers

The other table of English teachers!

  There were probably over 200 guests seated at the tables. People munched on the cold dishes that were on the tables, drank, and chatted throughout the ceremony. And the Food! So many dishes!

Catfish, crab, and more seafood!

our table halfway through the lobster!

And to the right of the lobster, the brown gravy covered item is the most delectable pork loin! We also had shrimp and tiny abalone in custard sauce and more fish, and lake shrimp, and seaweed, and vegetables, beef, chicken, and more fish. We did try the Great Wall Cabernet Sauvignon. Napa Valley still wins in the wine category.

Our Instructor teaching us

We are truly having a cultural exchange. Today at Qiao Qi Elementary we evaluated the English teachers on their pronunciation. And their art teacher began teaching us calligraphy, an ancient Chinese art. Let’s just say that their English is very good and our calligraphy is not!

Demonstrating how to write 10

Our teacher learns about teaching a left-hander

 We also learned that calligraphy is one of the traditional Chinese arts which includes Kung Fun and theater. Next week we will learn more complex characters. When we worked on the pronunciation with the English teachers we got to meet up with our two guides from last weekend. It was great to see them both. It was definitely a difficult task to evaluate pronunciation as neither Hugh nor I have training in this. Professional development is encouraged here so the teachers all receive this well and are very kind.

On tomorrow’s agenda for the elementary school we will be teaching English to the 5th graders, visiting the Kindergarten, and showing our presentation to the 5th graders.  

For more information on Chinese calligraphy click on this link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calligraphy

Sunrise over Jiangyin

Some folks say that I have been sugar-coating my posts, that I am not telling what it is really like. OK, there is smog, see the sunrise? Yes, it’s tough on the lungs. Honking incessantly late into the night, yes, that’s tough on the ears. Littering, well, I can’t do it, but it sure provides jobs for those who chose not to pursue a higher education. And on this very warm day I met my first really rude Chinese person. I wanted to buy an envelope and a stamp so I went to China Post and was ignored until I started calmly butchering the language using my phrasebook. The lady tried to help the man who came up behind me but I kept repeating over and over that I wanted 2 envelopes and stamps. The man behind me finally told the woman what I wanted, so she threw an envelope and stamps at me. I kept repeating 2 and the word for envelope, and finally resorted to sign language- I pulled out my two letters, put one in the first envelope and gently waved the second letter in the air. She finally threw a second envelope at me and some more stamps. Hey Mom, I hope you get the letter because I could not figure out how to seal a Chinese envelope as there was no sticky stuff, no glue, no scotch tape! I’ll try again, maybe on another day or at another China Post.

Now, back to happier events! Today was our big teaching day at the high school. 5 periods with 3 in a row, and the final one from 4:20-5:00. This second week we taught them about Yosemite Institute and raffles. Thanks to the generosity of Yosemite Employee Association we had 2 Oktoberfest t-shirts per class to raffle off. It was hilarious! And like typical high school students, regardless of nationality, raffles and prizes are always met with enthusiasm. While we taught our colleague/translator/guide/and friend, Cathy, was helping arrange our flight to the south of China when we travel on our own for the last week. We are set!

In one of our classes we had some time to chat and I asked a couple of girls if they knew of this fast food restaurant where I had seen some of the Nanjing high school students choosing their vegetables. They seemed to understand and even offered to join us that evening and teach us how to eat there. So we agreed to meet at the school gate at 5:05 as they only have one hour for dinner (lunch is the big meal with more time).

mushrooms, meat, tofu, unknown stuff....

cauliflower, bok choy, cabbage, more mushrooms, spinach, more mushrooms, noodles...

And then you bring your basket of chosen items to the cashier who counts it up (18 yuan for both of us, which equals about $2.60 -did I mention for both of us?!) and you get a number which they will call when your food is ready.

your chosen soup!

And soon it is ready! Thanks to our two new friends for showing us how to eat here. We will be returning as you can chose what you want and it’s good and even spicy!

Mara, Chen Yi Hui , & Feng Dan Hua

BTW-Chen Yi Hui won a t-shirt at the raffle in her class as well-lucky girl! 

We plan to eat there again and being as we will be the only Caucasians in the place I expect they will figure out to bring the food to us since neither of us understand enough Chinese numbers to respond!

So, rose-colored glasses, a bit I suppose, but mostly they are not needed.