Chinese University Coordination

In true Chinese style, another foreign teacher informed me today there would be no class next Tuesday or Wednesday. I’m glad she told me. I wonder if anyone from the school had planned on telling me. Later I was told that my history class would start at 7:00 am for the new winter time. So today, I arrived early, got prepared, and started teaching at 7. Hardly anyone was there. Students were slowly trickling in and when you have 150 students, it is loud. “What is going on?” I finally asked. Some brave students told me, "Well, class does not start until 7:30." I said, “the department told me it started at 7.” I left the classroom to take a breather, came back, talked with students for a while and at 7:30 began again.

Blocking Internet in China

I also found out that the Internet project I assigned over the break on immigration at the turn of the century could not be completed because the Chinese government has blocked that Internet site for Chinese use. Super. No textbook, and the Internet site I researched for my students is not available to them.

Chinese Jokes

I had office hours tonight and my students are just so adorable. Many of them bought me gifts over the break; I got a beautiful necklace and CD all about one of my student's hometown! One of my students stared at my hair and asked me, ”Why is your hair like a Chinese?” I said, "I am half Chinese", as a joke. Everyone said, "Oh, you are!" I forgot one of the vital rules of china: Don’t try to make a joke. It took me awhile to explain that I wasn’t half-Chinese. Many of my students wanted new English names. I named a student “Fudge.” (Hey, I liked the book “Fudge” when I was little) and another student “Fruit.” I guess I was also a little hungry at the time. I did not tell them these names were not the most popular in the US.

Making History Interesting

In History class I talked about the development of leisure time in America for the wealthy, and in particular, entertainment. I performed a whole melodrama for my class and had them boo for me when I was the villain, sigh for me as the heroine, clap as the hero, etc. They were really into it. I explained the significance of melodramas in America. I also re-enacted a musical for them! I pretended I was in a musical at the turn of the century and sang, "You're a grand old flag." None of this was planned, but as class got rolling, I just got into it. The point was to give them ideas for their big group presentation so that they could see they did not have to research just facts or dates, but other interesting and imaginative things. I also suggested research the Titanic if they wanted. The movie “Titanic” is very popular here. I am glad to be finding ways to make history more interesting for everyone, or at least more interesting for me.

Class today was fun as well. I was asked to sing "Silent Night" and I can’t say no. I made them repeat after me, and it was just soooo funny. I want to make a CD called "Chinese students sing Christmas carols," I could probably make money on it.

I gave my students a literature assignment and in one day they have all gone to library to check out books. They are so eager! One student told me, “I want to read a book about society!” I suggested he narrow it down a little bit.

Conclusions

I feel like any country I go to after china will just be a disappointment. I will just feel like no one is as friendly as the Chinese. I just look at my student’s face and smile.

So that's the news from china.