Saturday May 16, 2009

Thought for the day: “I know of no more encouraging fact then the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor:” -- Henry David Thoreau

“John?” The teacher approached me. “Yes”. “You help write” She gestured toward the west room of the small concrete-floored apartment. The room had a large window overlooking the building’s court yard. I was familiar with the writing exercise. I was to help the students practice writing his numerals.
The student held his arm out politely allowing me to enter the room first. Then he got two chairs from the corner and slid them up to the table at the window. It was raining outside and cool fresh air poured across the tabletop from the open window. I sat down with the student and opened the practice book to the first uncompleted page.

“Oh, seven today”. I looked down at the sheet. The teacher had drawn a grid – six rows, nine columns. In the left-hand column wee six neatly drawn sevens. The student was to copy the example into each of the boxes of the grid.

“Right here”, I said, and tapped my finger on the first blank box to try to draw his attention there. “Bah”. He half shouted and thrust his hand up to point to something outside the window. He turned his fourteen year old face to me – mouth and eyes smiling broadly. I tapped my finger a few more times and looked down at the sheet. He reached for his pencil box opened one side pulled out one of the pencils and examined the tip. A few more finger taps.

He looked down at the page, held the paper flat with his left hand and drew a seven with the right. He drew a second. He began a third but apparently dissatisfied with the first stroke, he reached for his pencil box and retrieved his eraser from a small compartment on the end with a magnetic clasp. He closed the box and paused to look at one of the stickers on it. I tapped my finger a few more times. He turned to look out the window. I put my hand on has and moved it toward the paper. He looked down, seemed to recall his dissatisfaction with the pencil stroke and reached for his eraser. He smeared away the pencil mark and started again. Better. Hew moved on to the fourth box, then the fifth. By the sixth his seven was looking more like a one.

I stopped his momentum and pointed for him to re-examine it. He reached for his eraser and re-drew it. Still a one. I put my hand over his and guided his hand and pencil to make a seven.

Then I helped him with another. He pushed my hand away and finished the final entry in the row himself. He moved his pencil to the beginning of the 2nd row. A sound came from the other room- one of the other students. He spun his head around to look, then looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back then looked down at the page and tapped my finger. He looked down and drew a neat seven next to the example the teacher had done. He reached for the pencil box again and got out another pencil and attempted to write, no mark. The pencil needed sharpening. Back to the pencil box to get out the sharpener. He pressed a button and small door flipped open and he pulled the sharpener out of its slot. He put the pencil in and started turning. Crack. The tip broke off. I handed him the original pencil. “Maaa”, he cried. I helped him sharpen the pencil with the broken tip and he returned to the paper. He drew another seven then turned his head to look out the window. I tapped my finger. He looked down and drew another seven. Not as good as the previous one but still acceptable. He paused, then flipped forward to the next page in the practice book. Another page of sevens was waiting. He flipped again. More sevens. He flipped again. There were the eights. He paused and stared. I turned the pages back to where we’d left off. He looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back.

John

Friday May 15, 2009

Thought for the day: “Talking about Art is like dancing about architecture” - Steve Martin

The act of teaching is an art. Your intuition will tell you – if you listen – when to push, and when to slacken – when to praise, when to be silent – when to diverge, and when to stay on task.
At 9:09 as we walked thru the dark corridors of the school towards our classrooms, Robert asked me, “Are you feeling better?”

I’d told him in the bus I’d woken at 1:30 and how tired I was. Still heavy with fatigue I told him, No. I’m still really tired”, and I wondered if my tiredness would effect my teaching.

But did anyone ever devise a more wonderful way to begin your work day! Seventeen girls sitting in a small u-shape turned toward me as I came into the room; they smiled and clapped their hands and said/ Welcome-Welcome!” and for three hours I forgot my fatigue completely.

I smiled and thanked them and walked to the table by the window and took about a minute to set out my supplies. I went to the table in front of the room and said, “Good morning, class”. They stood and in unison replied Good Morning”. They sat down and we began our day.

I introduced myself. I asked them each to stand and say their names. I wrote one sentence at a time on the board and then read it aloud. If it was a long sentence we broke it into parts. We practiced the more difficult words. If the meaning of a word was unclear I pantomimed the word or drew quick simple sketches. Sometimes I asked Fisher the teacher to say the word in Chinese to save us time – in order that we didn’t lose momentum. I signed into California and U.S.A with maps and photos. I asked them to tell me their town. We did sentences “(name) lives in (town) which they recited aloud. All the time I kept in mind my wonderful French teacher Mrs. Chavdarian and all the various ways she conducted the drills and how she helped us all – brave and timid alike- to try.

She would call on me to recite and say with a radiant smaile “Vous ete un bon studiante, Robert”., and I would blush and be seated. Never once did she leave French and lapse into English.

Drills with pictures of Chinatown evolved easily into pictures of my daughters and their artwork – and photos of my cats. I asked them to guess Amber’s age from her photo and they were all amazed when I wrote her age on the board.

I wrote “I have two cats” on the board and asked “What is a cat?”. One girl went “mew-mew”. I pretended to not see her. I cupped my hand to my ear and said “I hear a cat,” and I looked down at their feet. When I came to the girl who’d mewed I feigned surprise. * My situation here is perfect. I cannot lapse into Chinese. “You! I said, “you are the cat!”. And for a few seconds l7 cats mewed. Only then did I show the pictures of my cats.

About half-way through the morning, we went to the workbook. I moved my stool into the top of the U so I sat within 6 to 8 feet of all of them. I made eye contact and smiled and moved quickly, trying not to act rushed. I remembered Mrs. Chavdarian and heaped praise on each person.

We first went over vocabulary and then read the dialogues and the paragraphs. Frequently I went to the board to write or sketch a diagram. I asked Fisher to explain what “good” meant because I said it after every response and I could tell they were pleased to know I was praising them

At the end of the morning we had 8 minutes. Fisher said, “They would like for you to teach them a song”. I said I couldn’t think of one but I would teach them a tongue-twister. “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How many peppers did Peter Piper pick? A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many peppers did Peter Piper pick?” We did one line at a time in unison. Then I had them do it all and of course it collapsed into bedlam- as it is supposed to do – with laughter and applause.

I ended by thanking them for being such good students, said “Xie-Xie”, and “bye-bye” and thus ended on of my most gratifying teaching days.

Bob

Thursday May 14, 2009

Thought for the day: “May every creature abound in well-being and peace.” Buddhist tradition

I woke about 5 a.m. to heavy rain again. We’ve had only brief sun, but hope for more at the weekend. So we prepared to take umbrellas, rain jackets, and some warm cover as it promises to be cold as well.

Today we teach for just three hours. Unfortunately, the rain wreaked havoc with the traffic and we were about half an hour late – so I raced off to class. I had a junior dental technology class and I believe that their English was less advanced than any previous class I’ve had. They were energetic and willing (with two exceptions) but it was quickly obvious that they understood very little, at least initially. I let my English teacher help only when absolutely necessary as I feel that they need to try and listen to my talking, my speech. They followed words I wrote on the board about myself, my interests and my family, particularly since I told them that I wanted them to share similar information with me later. We looked at photographs and pictures and they repeated words after me. But it took an extra bit of energy to try to make them understand.

After lunch, thanks to Joann’s suggestion about spending the rainy afternoon in the Shaanxi History Museum, five of us took taxis there – just over $2.00 each taxi. The museum is fairly small (almost more gift shops than art) but very well laid out with decent signage. Since I know something about Chinese dynasties, I found the Han, Sue, Tang and Ming dynasties exhibits fascinating – We learned about the early Han explorers who walked to the west (taking silk and iron) He is regarded by the Chinese much the way Marco Polo is regarded by the West – only over l,000 years earlier. When we left the museum at l: 50 the rain had stopped (Hallelujah) and we got a taxi immediately for about $2.00 (13.5 Yuan) I gave him 15 yuan. Oh yes, I bought a cinnabar covered bowl (got it for “half price”) from the Friendship House at the museum.

We returned for a fascinating lecture about Chinese names as well as the Chinese Family Policy given by Baoli (very well done) just before dinner – Another rewarding day!

Karen

Wednesday May 13, 2009

Thought of the day: The earliest we can begin any project is now, and if not now, when? Anonymous

On the third day of our work in Xi’an, it seems as if the volunteers have found a philosophy, a routine and a way of working with the gaps between our expectations and the reality of our missions here. As for those gaps, speaking only for myself as a volunteer assigned to the Technical College, I have been impressed both by the positives and the negatives. I have been overcome by the warmth of the welcome given us by the staff and the students, as well as by the affection expressed by the students inside and outside of the classroom. At the same time, I have been disappointed by the low level of knowledge of English and the reluctance of many to make the effort necessary to achieve even a basic proficiency. I know we were warned, but I was not quite prepared for the reality.

The day began in the usual way with breakfast, the reading of yesterday’s journal, and the ride to the campus. When we reached the campus, the students were again waiting for us, and greeted us by standing and applauding. I began my class by introducing myself and then giving the students five minutes to write answers to simple questions about their family structure, their hobbies, and their goals for life after college. I taught them the friend song (Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other, gold.) We then talked about the United States a bit with the aid of a US map, and a look at the soft plastic world model the school possesses. We made some comparisons between the U.S. and China. We sang the “small world song, and the students remarked that it was much like a song sung at the Olympics. I then tossed the globe to one of the boys, and after he recovered from his surprise, asked him to read the information about himself he had written. He then threw the globe to one of his classmates, who followed suit, and we proceeded until the whole group had performed. It seemed easier to do this and more fun than to go systematically all around the class. I made some corrections of pronunciation, and got most of them to improve (followed by much praise). I drew a stick figure on the board, and labeled most of the body parts in English. We then played a rousing game of Simon Says, using the body part vocabulary. We took a break, during which about six girls decided it was time to teach me Chinese. So we had an impromptu lesson much enjoyed by all, as it provided some comic relief.

After the break I made the mistake of turning to a unit in the text but working on a paragraph instead of a dialogue, through my misunderstanding of instructions. It became clear that the students were not prepared to read even a few words aloud, much less understand their meaning in context. After about 20 agonizing minutes, which included heavy contribution by the assistant and much role playing, I gave up. We then looked at some photos of Lucy’s lifestyle, each with short captions which the students were able to read. This took us to lunch. Lunch was much like yesterday, except that we substituted hilarious finger and shadow play for the singing of national anthems. Though the menu included some mystery foods such as ancient eggs and some delicious but sinister looking eggplant, once again Julia had found delicious food and we had a great time.

The afternoon class was the high point of the day. The students were more advanced and more ready to participate than the morning contingent. We skipped introductions and did some songs and some games, with work on pronunciation and developing some vocabulary. During the break, one of the girls asked if she could sing a Chinese song. She sang a long selection from a Chinese opera, after which she explained the plot in Chinese to the assistant, who then translated. The child has a velvet voice like an angel. It was an unbelievable experience. After the break we played Simon Says and then learned another song: “This Land is Your Land" We discussed love of country and the meaning of the song. One of the girls later confided that she loves her country and thinks it is pretty. It was then four o’clock. Both the assistant and I thought that was the end of the session. Before we left the classroom, the group burst into song: “You are my sunshine? When we found that we had 30 minutes to go, we found a vacant office, and after a few false starts where I tried to get conversations going, I decided to tell them a story. Speaking very slowly, and with some translation, I told them about Goldilocks and the three bears. When we got to Goldilocks trying out Poppa Bear’s bed, the bell rang and we left everyone in suspense including the assistant. I promised to finish next week, and will probably go on to the 3 pigs. We drove home, ate dinner, had an inconclusive discussion of tour choices, and realized we had reached the end of another day.

Lucy

Tuesday May 12, 2009

Thought for the day: “The best way to learn something is to teach it.” Anonymous

I, too, feel like a superstar – from the moment I wake up in my lovely hotel room, eat a sumptuous breakfast in the company of good friends and greeted with applause by my adoring, yes, adoring students. Who wouldn’t feel like a rock star?

But I am here to learn and to teach and our morning meeting included a health alert by Baoli. She advised us to be extra vigilant – wash hands, cover mouth after sneezing avoid touching eyes, drink lots of water. She also gave us a very interesting cultural lesson on Chinese names and their different characteristics that the family name comes first, another woman keeps her formal family name and the children take the mother’s name as part of theirs. It is also important to incorporate the 5 elements; metal, earth, fire, wood, water – determined by the minute and hour the child was born.

At school we were officially welcomed by a group of faculty and administrators, including the president Mr. Liu.

Morning class went well with much laughter from both students and teacher. And I could not do my job without the help of my teaching assistant, Della, tho I’m sure she is starting to tire of my well used introduction and stories about my chickens and sleep. Today to liven things up for them I selected Del to be one of my sheep and I chased her around the room trying to lasso her before catching Del and throwing her (symbolically) on the ground for shearing. That led to a discussion on washing the wool, spinning, knitting hats and mittens, etc. I find that one thing often leads to another. I think the students are able to keep up.

Julia and some of the readers took us out to lunch at a restaurant just a couple of blocks from school. We all enjoyed a convivial meal singing national anthems and other songs. After lunch we strolled through a small park and Julia took many photos of us. We returned to school just in time to join a commemorative moment of silence for the earthquake victims.

My afternoon session was fun – I’ve found if I can get the students to laugh without making too big of a fool of myself it breaks the ice. The sheep lassoing trick usually does it but I sometimes add in a little Chinese lesson. I usually go around and ask how old they are. They tell me in English and I say it in Chinese. After about the tenth time they see how much I have improved and I tell them that’s how it works – they will too. Drive back to the hotel with the usual game of tag with pedestrians, bikes, trucks and this time one with a train thrown in. Lucy commented that she thought she saw one driver with his eyes shut.

Dinner and probably an early night of it for most of us as this was our first full day of teaching.

Joanne

Monday May 11, 2009

The facilities at Xi’an Pei Hua University are drab. The halls are poorly lit and the offices are crowded. What a contrast with the students, who are exuberant, alert, and vitally interested in learning English. I was the fortunate recipient of all of this energy, greeted with thunderous applause as I entered the classroom – a superstar on my first day of teaching on behalf of Global Volunteers. I covered two classes under the direction of Cynthia, a superb English teacher with barely an office in the University.

This was Monday, so the initial activity was the presentation of two plays in English written by and acted in by the students. The students even memorized their parts. In general, they were clever and fun. Three of the four performances were adaptations of Chinese romantic plays, their version of Romeo and Juliet, cast into a modern version. One of them was a play about the relationship between children and their parents, the parents depicted as an apple tree. The play demonstrated that the children need the support of their parents even as they grow older. This gave me a great opportunity to introduce the idiom: “The apple does not fall far from the tree”.

After the presentations, I introduced myself, observing the intense level of interest on the part of the students. They applauded when I told them that I had a doctor’s degree in engineering. Then I showed them pictures of my family. They were enthralled with my grandchildren and my younger son’s cat, Po. This was followed by photos of my neighborhood and the interior of my house. They were interested in the difference between the living room and the family room, a question I had some difficulty answering.

Then I showed a map of the U.S. describing the various regions and discussing some of the most important states, including Illinois where I was born. They asked about the climate, and I gave some rough estimates of the temperature extremes. I had planned to follow this with presentations by the students describing their home provinces. We only got as far as Shaanxi Province, when the bell announcing the end of the first period rang. I will see this class again next week, and they made me promise that I would make time for presentations by students from other provinces.

During the following period, I presented pictures from Washington, DC and New York City after showing them my family and neighborhood. They were excited to see Barack Obama’s White House, and pictures of the cherry trees around the tidal basin. They explained that there are also cherry trees donated by the Japanese in Xi’an. The highlight of the New York City photos was Chinatown, pictures I had taken three weeks ago while visiting my son in NYC. Of particular interest to the students was the diversity of New Yorkers, demonstrated by pictures of African Americans and Asians sitting together on park benches in Central Park. This was followed by images of Chinatown, an unexpected treat.

I listed a number of topics on the blackboard for discussion, each with opportunities for the presentation of US and Chinese perspectives. They were asked to select their particular copies of interest, and they chose “pastimes.” I presented some of the favorite pastimes of Americans, and several of them got up to discuss music, hiking, and sporting activities in China. One of the gals sang a song written by one of her favorite popular music contemporaries she could easily qualify for American Idol. Then one of the few boys in the class came up to the front of the class and declared that he had a dream, just like Martin Luther King. When I asked him what it was, he explained that it was to embrace me. So we embraced. I realized that this would only be appropriate for one of the boys.

I brought with me a map of the world and told the class that my wife and I had done a lot of traveling. They asked where we had been and I pointed out several of the countries we had visited. They were particularly interested in Africa, and wondered about economic conditions in South Africa.

Before the class ended, one of the students stood up and reminded that I had spoken several times about my wife, Gail. She asked whether we had a “romantic relationship.” I assured her that this was the case.

I enjoyed being a superstar for a day, and hope that I was able to enrich the English learning experience for a few of the students.

Sunday May 10, 2009

Thought of the day: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men (& women) do nothing.”

The formation of Team 173 began Saturday evening with our welcoming dinner hosted by Mrs. Wang Bao Li. We all met in our private dining room and introduced ourselves.

The 12 of us sat down around a huge round table with the largest glass lazy Susan we had ever seen. We broke the ice with the “name game” helped in part by our brand new Global Volunteers name tags which included our American name and a Chinese name selected by Bao Li. She has not told me what my Chinese name means. I have worked with Bao Li before and I am not sure I want to know what she calls me in Chinese.

We all spoke and gave the who, what, when, where and whys we were in Xi’an. Then the food began to arrive and just kept on coming until finally the watermelon and cherry tomato platter arrived and ended the food fest.

Then I remembered why Bao Li feds us so much on Saturday evening. She was getting us ready for our marathon 12 hour Sunday workday. That’s right, Mr. IRS Taxman – if you are reading this we worked 12 hours on Sunday.

Sunday began promptly at 7:20 am with our breakfast meeting. Then we were whisked to the 4th floor conference room where Bao Li told us about Xi’an, the history of G.V. in China, and our training to become a team began, interrupted occasionally by fireworks outside our window – a wedding! We discussed our goals, the characteristics of a good team, how to stay alive and not get robbed in Xi’an, and the policies and guidelines of G.V. 4 ½ grueling hours later, surviving only on tea and hard candy, we broke for lunch and an afternoon break.

At 3pm, representatives from the 4 schools where we would be teaching arrived, told us about their schools, and they proceeded to thank us for 2 hours. We met teachers and students from the Biomed/Tech College, and their excitement and enthusiasm at the opportunity to work with us was overwhelming. We are needed here, and we are appreciated here 24/7. This is always the case on all 5 of my Global Volunteers trips.

Our day ended with a dinner meeting and at 7:20pm I returned to my room, Tsing Tao in hand, to begin to prepare for my 3, yes 3 weeks ahead.

Leo