5--The Third Week of August

We had decided that it would be better to ride our bikes earlier in the mornings to beat the heat, so that's what we had been doing for a couple of days. But of course with the bikes locked up, we couldn't ride, so we decided to walk that morning. We headed south of the apartment and checked out some of the farm fields. We took pictures of the birds on the ponds and the flowers next to the houses and on the roadside. Fruit trees grow in the fields and farmers grow some small patches of vegies , fruits or flowers for their own use.

We ended up at the laneway behind the apartment building and took some more pics and then decided to head home. We had no plans for the rest of the day, so we settled in by doing things around the house. A little while later the doorbell rang, and we thought it would be Alisa. It was actually Jessica. She said she had our keys and she handed them to us all wrapped in a sheet of writing paper. Then she gave us a note from Alisa. I read that she had tried to deliver the keys this morning, but we weren't home. She had put the new lock on and then asked Jessica to bring the keys to us.

It turns out that Alisa had finally managed to get 3 days off to go see her family. Her mother had been quite ill about a month ago, we were told later by Mr. Zhang, and we knew that she had been trying to get home for a while now. It must be difficult being away from your family and being all alone. On top of it all her boyfriend lives in Jinan and so can only come to see her on weekends. But at least he gets weekends off, since he works in an office (finance apparently). Alisa has been working seven days a week for months now, and she always appreciates when we give her a call to let her know we need something. It gives her an opportunity to come and see us and spend time with us. I think it is time she really enjoys
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During this week the school had been undergoing testing for the newly recruited students. This was some sort of entrance, or placement, exam and would determine which students could enter the school without payment. We're not sure whether this is a scholarship type system, or if it is government funded, or simply a system the school has in place, but the school does like to recruit the smarter students. The percentage of people who go on to higher education is very low, especially in the rural areas. Placement in universities and colleges is strictly on academic performance, so there is a lot of pressure on students who are aspiring to further their education. We didn't get a chance to see the exam process, but we did hear about it from Alisa and Mr. Zhang.

Because the testing process involved most of the teachers and was naturally very important to the school, we had stayed away and were waiting at home until we were needed. About ten to three in the afternoon of the 10th, the day Alisa left for home, we got a phone call from Mr. Zhang. Apparently there were about 9 or 10 students who wanted to learn English from us and they were in the class this morning, only we had not been informed. So I woke Dick up from his afternoon nap and told him that we had a class starting at 3:30. Again, the short notice seems to be the status quo around here.

We went to the school armed for classes and went into the room we had been using up to now, which is on the main floor. We did some of the same songs and games that we had done in the previous two classes, but the kids in this class were again of completely different ages and English levels. We had two little boys who were very willing, but had not had any English except their ABC's. Two brothers, one of whom liked to hear his own voice but made very unintelligible sounds when it came to English words. A couple of older boys, one of whom didn't try very hard to open his mouth and, being about 13 or 14 was typically immature.

And then there were the girls, Nancy, whom we had taught before and who tried very hard, and Eva who was new to us but was also at a more advanced level. Jessica wasn't there that afternoon, but did come the remainder of the week, and of course she was way ahead of all the others. What a hodge podge class. Discipline was more of a problem than it had ever been before, due to the ages of the boys. Also, cooties seemed again to be present.

The first afternoon we had asked them to move the desks, but being typical kids, rather than lift them they would drag the wooden desks over the concrete floor. The noise caused one of the teachers to come in and indicate that it was too loud. They were obviously trying to have a meeting next door to us and we were pretty distracting. No wonder that the next morning, when we headed for our normal classroom, we found a group of teachers in it having a meeting and we were quickly escorted up to the third floor, well out of earshot of the teacher meeting.

There we continued our week of teaching. The one thing about being on the third floor, though, is that it is even hotter than the first floor, and I don't recall an airconditioner being present in this room. After climbing the stairs we would already be out of breath, and then dealing with the young boys would also drain us of the energy. We both decided this was the worst of the three weeks teaching, so it was difficult to keep our chins up.

The second day Carl had seen us coming to the school and asked if we were having classes. We told him yes, and he again started attending. The thing with Carl is that he wants so much to learn more English, but he forgets that we are being paid to teach the kids. He is welcome in the class, but we can't cater to him all the time.

One of the things Carl wanted us to teach the kids was "Auld Lang Syne". It appears on all the kareoke DVD's and they really like the tune. We tried to explain to him that it was really a very difficult thing to teach, especially to this class with so many young students. But he wouldn't hear of it.

So we ended up having him come to the apartment, together with his wife and daughter of three, and Mrs. Niu as well. We researched Auld Lang Syne on the internet and came out with information that was even more confusing than the lyrics of the song itself. We had always thought that Robbie Burns was solely responsible for the words, but it turns out that there were some borrowed lyrics and that there are plenty of versions of the song. Not only that, there really isn't a clear definition of the meaning of Auld Lang Syne. We showed it to Carl and explained that we were not prepared to teach what we didn't understand completely ourselves.

But Carl, being Carl, insisted the following day after class that we go over the lyrics. He asked what does "ance" mean. Well, because of the font used on the DVD, it does look like a separate word, but it's really part of "acquaintance". Then he wanted to know what does "gie's" mean? This is in the line "And here's a hand my trusty friend, and gie's a hand o' thine". So we explained the poetic contraction in it. After a few minutes of going over the song, I think he realized that it really was much too difficult for the students to comprehend with their level of English. We learned here that you really have to be firm when you make a decision on what is not appropriate material for the class, and we are glad we didn't give in to Carl's persistance. But we did give him a copy of the internet information about the history of the song.

About the middle of the week I had acquired a deck of cards from the grocery store (a drawbox prize) and I had decided that since cards were so popular here, it might be a good idea to teach them the names of the cards. Up to now I had heard things like "play the eleven" or the K is higher than the Q. So at the beginning of each class I spent about five minutes quizzing them on the names of the cards. I would "shuffle" and then teach them that word. Also words like "deal", "suit", "trick" and "trump". I had no idea where I was going with this, but they didn't mind learning the stuff and it was a break from some of the other things we had been doing.

We had asked for another field trip, but the bus wasn't available and so that didn't fly. We didn't know if they wanted us to make up for the first morning of teaching that we had missed, so we just went by the seat of our pants.

On the evening of the13th we had made arrangements with Hanson, one of the medical students, to visit him at his father in law's apartment. We were welcomed by the whole family and then the men took us out for supper at a restaurant close by. Hanson has a very good command of English although his pronunciation can use some work. But we learned a lot about the area and had a very good, intelligent conversation. The big mistake people make when dealing with a language barrier is assuming that the other party is not intelligent. Quite the opposite is true, but because the language level isn't there, things are usually translated to a lower level of vocabulary. With Hanson that was not the case.

Towards the end of the meal I mentioned to Hanson that his brother in law, his wife's younger brother, didn't say much. That's when Hanson explained that he had been very sick and, from what I could gather, had contracted inner ear infection. He was now wearing a hearing aid, but he was still not able to understand a lot of the conversation. Apparently he would be going into some sort of training for that. So that prompted my question about lip reading. I didn't think it would be possible in Chinese because so much of the language happens inside the mouth and the lips are rarely used. My suspicions were confirmed. Hanson said that there was no such thing, but there is a form of sign language.

We truly enjoyed this evening and after dinner, and tea back at the apartment, we were escorted home by Hanson and his brother in law. The father in law had wanted to get a car to take us home, but I asked what we would do with our bikes. So the escort was offered and we gladly accepted. I think there was a general message out to the people that we needed to be protected and they certainly are doing that.

On the last full day of class we were having lunch at the school dining hall and Alisa was sitting with us. She asked if we were planning a party and we said we would like that. She said if we wanted a cake we should have ordered it in the morning, so it would be better to have the party the following morning. So we proceeded with regular classes that afternoon.

During the same lunch hour, we had been approached by an older teacher, about Dick's age, who also goes by Mr. Zhang. He had visited our class the previous day and wanted to come and visit our apartment with his wife. They came over at 7:00 and sat down on the couch. I offered tea but they refused. Then Mr. Zhang said that this was his second wife. Well Dick replied that I was his third wife and we all had a great laugh over it.

We made instant friends here and of course there had to be pictures taken. Mr. Zhang has very good English and turns out to be Jessica's English teacher. His wife, though, doesn't speak a word of English (well, not yet). She works at the dining hall and comes to visit whenever we have lunch there. She is picking up a little word here and there, just like I'm learning Chinese words. The visit was quite short, but it was a great show of friendship.

The next morning was party morning, but what do you do with such a varied group for two and a half hours? Before school I had a brainstorm. I quickly got on the internet to research card games and printed off the instructions for Go Fish. (I haven't played it for years and couldn't remember all the rules). We walked into the classroom and placed four desks in the centre of the horseshoe of other desks. We had the kids gather around with their little stools and counted off half the kids to be the players. All the others were going to watch. I started off with the strongest English speakers, because the others would follow by osmosis if nothing else. It was the typical group dynamics: forming, storming, norming and performing. And by the performing stage we had some pretty sly Fish players in our room.

They loved it! These kids are motivated by card games and competition! So, you ask yourself, what does this have to do with teaching English? Well, they have to ask for a card - in English; they have to say Go Fish - in English. Where we had experienced difficulty with skits and stories because of the reluctance to participate, this was easy, they were willing to do it.

Not only that, this is something that relates to their everyday life. What is taught in their English books is taken somewhat from western cultures and doesn't necessarily have any direct impact on them. We noticed that in one of the textbooks they ask "Is that your car?" These people don't own cars! They own bicycles and they play cards. That is what their conversation is going to be about. So we had a winner on our hands. Another lesson learned about teaching English.

It is so interesting to note that every week of teaching we had the feeling that we might not be reaching the students, but then by the end of the week something happened each time to show us that the lightbulbs went on. We were getting through to these kids and it was making a difference.

The rest of the morning was the typical party with cake, etc. and of course their pictures had to be taken. We managed

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