Teaching - More than just Teaching.

Teaching English is an Adventure. A new one every day. Sorry I've been laxidasical in producing a new post - but I've been quite busy! Over the past two and a half weeks or so, we have been spending much of our time getting into something of an actual rhythm here at school. I have been teaching High School Grade 1 and 2 (which is proportionate to Freshmen and Sophomores in High School back home) - which comes out to about 16 classes full of 40-50 Chinese teenage adolescents. Who are for the most part... awesome. Having never been a teacher before in my life (obviously) this entire 'teaching' thing was weighing on my mind pretty heavily, as I'm sure it has been on the rest of the foreign teachers minds. But after my first week of classes, my mind was put at ease. The students are so unbelievably eager to learn ANYTHING from me, that it is almost silly to be a part of. They clap at anything entertaining you do (which I apparently do quite a bit - I get a lot of claps). They ask every question they can figure out how to form in English. They want to be your best friend.

That's another thing about the Chinese school system vs. the American school system. In China, the Teacher/Student relationship is much closer than at home. A few students here refer to David, our best friend teacher, as their brother or as family. The teachers will loan the kids money frequently, go out to lunches and dinners with their parents, tutor the students for free, whenever they need it, talk about current events and gossip with them, talk to the students over QQ (which is the Chinese equivalent to AIM), give them their phone numbers, and generally just be THERE for the kids at all times. Which makes absolute sense, considering the teachers life aprox. a quarter mile away from the students - or in the same apartment/dorm buildings. It is kind of heart warming, actually.

This brings to mind an instance the other day. It was my first week of classes, and I was in my office, idling at my desk, when I saw two students come into the office and stand next to Mr. Lee who is one of the Chinese language teachers at school - funny guy, but doesn't speak a lick of English. The students looked at the floor, and Mr. Lee stared at them for a minute or two. Then Mr. Lee began speaking to them slowly and precisely in Chinese about things I couldn't understand. The two students (boys, English names Sweet and Kobe, they are in my Class 5 Group) answered Mr. Lee's questions in short manner - dui.. bushu.. (yes, no), etc. One of them was starting to cry a little by the end of the 30 minutes speech Mr. Lee gave them. I was bewildered as to what was going on, so I asked David after the two boys had been dismissed by Mr. Lee. He said that the two boys were caught swearing during class, and not paying attention to the lesson. He then also went on to explain that Mr. Lee was talking plainly and with great concern for the future of the kids. He was asking questions about why they wanted to ruin what could be a great future for them if they concentrate in school, and why they want to waste their time with the rubbish of curse words while in class. Of course this started to make some sense with me, seeings how the Chinese school system works something akin to this (I think): You go to Middle School, and test out of High School to get to University. If you do very well on the High school exams, you have the chance to go to a good University. If you test out of University and do well on your exams, you can get the chance to get a great job. If you can get a great job, you can get out of China and do whatever you want.. otherwise you're goin' no where fast. Mr. Lee wasn't punishing his students - he was looking out for them. School is something real serious around here, and as much as I have fun and joke around with the students, I want them to have as many opportunities to learn from me as possible. Plus, they really are good kids, at least the ones I've gotten to know somewhat well so far.

I know this is dragging on, but real quick.. My lesson this week is so fun that I need to share. I've been teaching my students MUSIC from AMERICA. They eat it up. I start with Blues, explain it, play Stevie Ray Vaughn, then move on. Country is next, explain, and play 'Sweet Home Alabama' while showing them the words on a Powerpoint. Soulja Boy is next. Yes, I explain Rap. Yes, I do the Soulja Boy dance. Yes, I teach them, and yes we do it as a class. It's a riot. Then Rock a la Van Halen and The Darkness (with a rousing Air guitar solo by yours truly.. I usually drop down to the Jimi Hendrix guitar explosion while on his knees - a clapping worthy performance), the Beatles, Incubus 'Aqueous Transmission' for it's Traditional Chinese instruments in it, then finish off class with Westlife, "My Love". The Chinese have a bizarre fascination with anything Boy Band. We still can't quite figure it out, but they love Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Enrique, etc. Any who, I'm sweating and smiling by the end of every class, and each one has lasted an extra 5 minutes due to a chorus of "TEACHAA, NOOO, STAY!" when the bell rings.

It's a good life, so far. I've taken a short hiatus from picture taking, my apology for that. The only new ones I have are of Neha's little Kindergarten babies playing in a big indoor playground they have. It's adoreable. But I'll save the pictures for another day.

Hope America is having fun with Election Fever!