Life in the Classroom (生命课堂)

About time I showed up around here again, right? It's pretty amazing how quickly my weeks get filled up over here in Yinchuan. It's a catch-22: I have more to write about, but less time to do the writing! C'est la vie. I have a pretty good excuse for this last week, though -- I traveled to Shapotou, about three hours southwest of Yinchuan, to camp out in the desert and ride camels with other American teacher friends! I'll write all about that in my next post, but for now I would love to tell you all about how my teaching is going.

As many of you know, I earned my Teaching English as a Foreign Language certification last year, but I have never formally taught before. Sure, over the years I've tutored, led the occasional Sunday School lesson, trained employees, babysat -- but I've never had a formal teaching gig. This is, of course, because I've never really wanted to be a teacher, despite being told on many occasions that I would be a great teacher. *Shrugs* Maybe I'll fall in love with it, maybe I won't. Who knows what will happen; I haven't been here that long yet! What I do know, though, is that I will continue to take this job very seriously -- whether or not I reach Professor Dumbledore or Miss Honey or Mr. Fee(hee-hee-hee)ny status! I must remember that, just as my transition to Chinese life and culture will take time, so too will my transition to teacher-dom take time and patience. Not just with the kids, but with myself. Above all, I am thankful that I have this position in the first place, for it is this teaching of children in the classroom which allows me to instruct others in Chrstian d0ctrine outside of the classroom. 

My classroom.

My first (Satur)day of teaching by myself was three weeks ago. My first class was in teaching English to some five to seven 2nd and 3rd-graders. The class was not terrible...but it was far from great. I was nervous because I've never taught children before, and doubly nervous because the parents of some of the "trial kids" were sitting in on the class to check me out and see just how worthwhile it would be to enroll their kids in my class. No pressure, right? Oy!

At the end of my first class, my translator, Jack, instructed me not to smile so much. "It makes you seem unprofessional," he told me. I was dumbstruck. I had previously heard that smiling in the classroom is not a good idea for the beginning of the year, but that, I'm told, is because you want the kids to see that you are serious, and because you want to set an expectation for discipline in the classroom. Later on, you can smile -- you would just want to set the proper expectations for classroom behavior in the beginning of the year. In my case, however, Jack was trying to explain that my smiling made me seem nervous, inexperienced, and unprofessional, which would put off the parents from wanting to enroll their kids in the school. "I mean, I am nervous and inexperienced," I thought. "This is literally my first day! But sheesh, how can I not smile? This is the complete opposite of how I thought a new teacher should make a first impression!" It was perplexing at first, but when my second class (teaching the same material to more 2nd and 3rd graders) started twenty minutes after the first, I found that barely smiling led me to behave more seriously and confidently. Incidentally, the second class ended up going much better than the first. I have since allowed myself to smile a little more, but I am learning to balance my friendliness with solemness to keep the kids under control. 

My second day of teaching was a week later, on Friday. See, the timing of my arrival in Yinchuan was rather fortuitous. I basically arrived in the middle of a bunch of on-and-off holiday time. So, while my normal work schedule is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (yep, only three days!), I did not work a full "week" until a few weeks after I arrived. Anywho, on that Friday I had my first one-on-one class with a 12-year-old student named Zhu Kai. I decided to give him Jacob as an English name. He was extremely shy and quiet that first session, but I still got him to read through a children's book -- some book about a lazy turtle (pshh, lazy turtle). I quickly realized that his reading level is extremely low, and that he needs a lot of help with his speaking and hearing, too. This first class left me nervous for how difficult it would be to help his reading and speaking when we can hardly understand each other, but since then, he has become more comfortable and more eager to speak English with me, even if that means stumbling through his words. Patience and encouragement are key!

Zhu Kai, aka Jacob. He likes football, computer games, and exploring. He's a great kid!

Friday night I had another regular class of teaching 2nd and 3rd graders, but they are at a higher level. There are definitely a coupla troublemakers in this class! I think it's hilarious (and occasionally frustrating for me, as I am trying to maintain order in the classroom) that the most easily distracted, most frequently interrupting, and most mischievous kid in class is also the most advanced English speaker in the class. (Yes, I'm talking about you, Susu. Now put down that sandwich -- wait, where did you get that sandwich from in the middle of class?! -- and stop going so far ahead in the workbook!)

After Friday I had my second Saturday of teaching, which went even better than the first Saturday of teaching (and included a third class, Storytime with preschoolers!), and then I had my first Sunday of teaching. I started that day by going to wrship, then taught an English Literature class to high schoolers, and then taught another regular class to 2nd and 3rd graders. I really love my English Literature class. The students are older and have a better grasp of English, and they are old enough to have opinions and want to share them. Right now we are reading through Charlotte's Web. It's an old one and gets a little tedious sometimes, but I'm having fun with it. Occasionally I really have to poke and prod at my students to get them to comment on something, but all in all, it's a great class.

In summary: I have two classes on Friday (with a staff meeting inbetween), three classes on Saturday, and two classes on Sunday. Not too shabby! It doesn't seem like much, but it definitely keeps me busy as I must also take the time to plan my lessons before classes come around. And, since my first couple of weeks, I have started to fill in my schedule with B¡ble studies and English Corners. 

Huh. You know what I just realized? As of two days ago, I have been here a month. Go me! I know more Chinese than ever (not a hard feat to accomplish when you are starting from literally nothing) and can take the bus by myself. I'm a big kid now! And what's really great is that I think I am fiiiinally beginning to develop a routine here. It feels good. Real good. :)

Some final notes/observations:
- The power of assigning English names to children is both amusing and exhilarating. I named a kid Gordon the other day. Because he looks like a Gordon. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- I work in a training school, so kids come to me AFTER they've had an entire week of regular/primary school. Woof.
- All it takes is one Chinese student looking at you with confusion and astonishment after telling her in Chinese that you do not speak Chinese to make you feel like a complete moron. (Wait, which one of us is the teacher again?)
- It initially seemed really weird to me that I would have a translator who speaks Chinese to students in order to explain what I'm saying in English; it just seemed really counterproductive, especially after what I had learned from experience in my TEFL certification class. But I dunno, it works.
- I might be teaching these children English, but they are also teaching me bits and pieces of Chinese. Thanks to class time, I'm becoming more familiar with reaction words and basic questions/phrases in Chinese like "what's it mean?" and "I don't understand" and "I need to go to the bathroom." Ha.
- Chinese kids are really, really, reeeeeeeally cute. Combine that with their smug and proud looks of accomplishment after correctly answering a question, plus the knowledge that I am positively impacting their lives and helping to create more options for their future educations and careers? Yeah, this teaching thing ain't so bad.

**

Mandarin Word of the Day: teacher
Chinese characters: 老师 (老 = old, experienced, wise; 师 = to teach, teacher, model)
Pinyin pronunciation: lăoshī

Observations (观测)

I have been wanting to write another post for a few days now, but I have thankfully been very busy! I have been exploring the city, meeting new people, and doing some good ol' fashioned learnin'. Since many of my readers (hi, guys!) have never been to Yinchuan, let alone China, I thought I would use this post to talk about some of the cultural differences I have observed so far. Let's begin!

1. Loogies. I don't know if this is a "small" city thing or a general China thing, but the men here hock loogies like it's their job. The louder the hock, the better. On the bus, in the car, walking across the street -- wherever there is ground, there is loogie potential. It is, in short, disgusting.
2. Traffic. To no one's surprise, it is crazy here. Traffic flows like fish in a river. When a driver wants to turn into traffic, he doesn't wait. He makes the turn, assuming that other cars will make space for him when he enters the lane. People are used to it here...but they still honk. Oh, do they ever honk. (Had I never lived in Chicago and been exposed to various degrees of chaotic traffic patterns, I would probably never leave my apartment.)
3. Parking. There is no curb too tall for a car to drive over in order to snag (and often create) a parking spot.
4. Bathrooms. Public toilets are holes in the ground. The nice ones will have a porcelain frame around them, but even that would be flat and flush (hyuck hyuck) against the ground. Some places do have Western toilets, like my school and my apartment, for example. #thighsofsteelhereicome
5. Toilet Paper. Plumbing is bad in smaller cities like Yinchuan, so, if you want to keep your toilet in working order, you better throw that used TP in the trash bin after you wipe yer tushie.
6. Street signs. There is some English on street signs here, actually -- major street signs, anyway. There is also Arabic. Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is one of very few parts of China where an ethnic minority (Hui people) hold the power of governance. The Hui people, a Muslim minority, composes one-third of the local population. Drive up any street in Yinchuan and you will likely find a Halal restaurant or a mosque or both.
7. Staring. You likely already know this, but it's very, very, very weird for locals to see foreigners in such a small Chinese city like Yinchuan. I actually haven't had an enormous problem with this so far, but I have indeed noticed several people turn their heads around to look at me when we pass each other. (A few of these people have been on bicycles or scooters when turning their heads around to stare at me. I have decided that if I end up causing an accident, I will take it as a compliment.)
8. Grocery Shopping. Oh, there are plenty of small differences in grocery shopping, but they aren't anything major. I will mention two things, however: 1) there is a separate checkout line for people with Halal items, so as not to contaminate any food with counters that have touched non-Halal items; 2) the ladies at my grocery store must always be either super bored or working on commission. If I am in any beauty aisle, multiple clerks will hover around me like a helicopter parent, gesturing to various products and rambling in Chinese, undoubtedly trying to get me to spend more money. It's a little obnoxious, but so far I have just smiled at them and continued searching for a good brand. It's hard to decide when everything on the bottles is in Chinese! (But "shampoo" and "conditioner" are written on the bottles, thankfully.)
9. Fruits and vegetables and other things. There are many different fruits and veggies here! I have seen sunflower seeds still in their giant sunflower heads, and I have seen several fruits and veggies I don't even recognize. I have tried: agaric mushroom, enokitake mushroom, lotus root, and a few other roots. The textures are all very interesting. That being said, I will not be eating enokitake mushrooms again any time soon. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
10. Dairy. Milk and yogurt in China have magical powers and can survive outside of the refrigerator for an extended period of time. 
11. Kitchen. If you want an oven or a microwave, you have to go buy those yourself. Ovens are small and portable. My boss equipped my apartment with a microwave, but the first and only time I used it, I noticed smoke coming out of it after 2 minutes. I will no longer be using my microwave.
12. Hot Water. You know how you are served cold water in a glass when you sit down to a meal in the States? In Yinchuan (and most of China, I expect), you are given a small cup of hot water. Alternatively, sometimes you are given hot drinking soup. People here believe that drinking hot water is good for you. Even my roommate offered me a mug of hot water when I complained of a small stomach ache last week. At first it seemed strange to drink hot water with no flavor, yet here I am, typing away with a mug of hot water next to me...
13. Schooling. Kids here have it way harder than kids in America. They have longer hours, more homework, and what seems like greater pressure to do well. There is no expectation that they should have time to play outside. There aren't even any playgrounds here. The other day I shadowed a teacher as she taught her last English Literature class to high school students. (Side note: I will be taking over this class and am very excited for it! These students have a great grasp of English and it will be refreshing and fun to discuss literature with them.) Before we began class, my coworker made conversation with the five students and asked them about their homework loads. You see, I work in an English Training Center. That means that students who come to us have already attended a full day of school. And, as implied before, the Chinese school system is very strict. Case in point: a real sentence that one of the students said was "I am lucky, I only have 26 pages of homework tonight." Oy. 
14. Kids. No difference here, they are still adorable. What makes them even more adorable, however, is the fact that many kids know more English than adults -- because they are learning English in school -- so they will leap at the opportunity to practice their English if they see a foreigner. I was walking around in a park the other day and had the following encounter with a group of Chinese girls:

(Chinese girls and Megan have already walked past each other.)
Chinese girls: "Hai-looooo!"
Megan: *turns around* "Hello!"
Representative of Chinese Girls: "Where are you from?"
Megan: "Chicag--err, America!"
RoCG: "Ohhh! America. You are very pretty!"
Megan: "Wow, thanks! So are you!"
RoCG: "I do not speak English. Sorry." (Note: she said this in perfect English.)
Megan: "Oh, but your English is really quite good!"
RoCG: "Bye!"
Megan: "Oh, uh, ok! Bye!"

This will become a very normal conversation for me, I think. 

And to think I've only been here a week! Just think what more I will have to say after a year...or even just a month! Stay tuned. ^_^

**

Mandarin Word of the Day: different 
Chinese characters: 不同 (不 = not, no, negative; 同 = alike, together, same) 
Pinying pronunciation: bùtóng