January 22, 2008

Hello from China!

I have just completed the first semester of the school year. That means I now have three full semesters under my belt. How time flies!

Kyle with some of his students.

One of my favorite, yet least favorite, times in the semester is finals week. It is interesting to give the students opportunities to show off their abilities and see what they can really do. Since I teach only spoken English classes, my finals consist of speeches and one-on-one conversations between me and a student. The speeches were done by pairs in the sophomore business English classes in which they were instructed to “sell” a product to the audience. These products could be real items or they could be made-up inventions. This gave the students a great deal of flexibility and allowed for some rather memorable speeches. One student sold a line of clothing called “smart clothes,” which not only looked very modern and fashionable but also had a very impressive list of functions. These clothes are able to repair themselves, self-clean, and tailor themselves to fit any body type. While this may seem like an impressive list already, it is only the start. These clothes can translate, take notes in class, and be used as a personal computer. If you would like, I can put an order in for a set of them for you.

In addition to the presentations from my sophomore students I also had job interviews for my freshmen. The thought of this excited some and horrified others. The idea was that they would sit down with me for three minutes and answer my interview questions. My title was “Hiring Manager” at an import and export company. One student proudly told me she has been studying English for nine years and her English is very well. Oh, the irony.

I enjoyed having the opportunity to hear why my students chose to study English. One of the most common answers is that “learning English will help me earn more monies.” In a way, this answer demonstrates where China stands in the world today (notwithstanding how bad the student’s English is). Not too many years ago, China was shut off from the rest of the world, especially to countries like the United States. So much has changed since then, and one thing that has changed is the extent to which China has embraced the West. Learning English is a sign of that.

Sunrise over Longzhou.

Now that the semester is over I will have the opportunity to travel some over the winter holiday. I will be attending the Amity winter conference in the city of Guiyang, which is the capital city of the province north of where I live. These conferences bring all of the Amity foreign teachers together to discuss the good and the bad about what we are doing here. My favorite part is hearing the stories from teachers who work in other cities throughout China. These often involve funny stories of things that students have done or said. Teachers compete in informal contests to see who has met students with the strangest “English” names. Some of mine that I am bringing this year are: Panda, DK Cowboy, Bobo, Harry Potter (female student), Sunshine, and Flavor.

I hope 2008 is treating you well.

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 99