It's another stormy summer Sunday. In a few hours I have to get myself to my friend Josh Win's home and also to church. They are building a new church in Daliao, thank heavens, and in a month I won't have to go into the big city, though I'm starting to kind of enjoy the ride. I love Sundays.
At long last, I need to tell you about my students. I spend most of my waking hours with them or planning for them, so it really is strange I haven't written about them yet. in many ways they are similar to American teenagers. They work hard and so much is expected of them. I was thinking about the educational crisis in America and the economic crisis that layed off hundreds of teachers this past year. What if American schools had the same expectations for teachers and students that they have here? Every morning the students arrive at 7:30 and promptly take up their assignments to clean the school. There are no janitors—the students are responsible to clean their own school, sweeping leaves, scrubbing bathrooms, preparing for lunch, directing traffic, etc. In my classroom, when I am done with the chalkboard, a student jumps up to erase it, they fetch and carry things from my office and take care of turning on and off the lights, air conditioning, etc. Nobody gripes about this, these aren't jobs for punishment like in American schools where cleaning erasers or scrubbing desks is only your job if you misbehave.
The teachers change classrooms here, instead of the students. When I come in they make sure the roll is taken and a class leader tells me where I need to go, writes out notes for me to sign to send someone to the office if they are sick, and gives me feedback after the lesson. If my pen brakes, they haste to get me a knew one adn take things like DVD players and electric fans out of my arms to carry them. This is standard procedure for students and teachers. I honestly have been helped by my students more than anyone else. Imagine that as a teacher--we talk so much about teachers facilitating learning, but we never think of the power in students facilitating teaching. In theory, this is their classroom, their education and I enter it as an honored guest.(It's not always that ideal-these are regular kids after all) Going to school is a privilege that you pay a high tuition for and that you must take responsibility for. I'm not saying that we shouldn't offer free public school, but it made me think again about the American sense of entitlement that has crept into our society and how it keeps us from being responsible for owning our own success.
Here's a spare thought--I'll share because I don't know what else to do with it: I had one set of students in my writing class write me a letter from ten years in the future because they had been talking about their futures in the listening and speaking classes. As I was giving this assignment, which wasn't a bad one for being authentic and easy to understand, etc, I couldn't help wondering if this was the kind of assignment I would hate at their age. I remember when I was tutoring Riki Fukuyasu with a similar assignment--he had to research his future plans, but even in Japanese he couldn't have articulated what they were, or had much interest in them. Perhaps this is the way it is meant to be. He just chose a random future that he didn't really see happening and tried to say what he thought the teacher wanted from him. We're meant to be where we're at, I think. It made me laugh thinking about having to predict this my future if I had been in my student's shoes at 16. So little of what I have done was planned by me. I just took little steps in the dark, reaching after things I liked or abilities I had, but it's the sort of thing I could never have guessed at at 17 and only could look over my shoulder and see it unrolled behind me in a wonderful way but I think I can still only see it unrolled just inches in front of me. Caitlyn, I'm sure you can relate. If I had been in their place I would have picked something that I thought would satisfy the teacher, something that seemed bearable for a future job, plugged in some random number for ages when I'd do things, added in a family with no faces, and not really believed in it. I was writing my letter to the students while they wrote in their notebooks to me and I found myself thinking about this again--what did I want in ten years. Could I write that letter better now? I'm definitely feeling more ready for my future than I did as a teenager. Brother Paul, thanks for keeping tabs on me. I'd be very interested to know what's in my future career when you are free to tell me the details.
School is only mandatory through Junior High here. After that students go on to private high schools that are more like junior colleges. Our school enrolls 10,000 students and many of them come from all over the country and board in the same apartment complex I live in by themselves. The high school is also an industrial/ vocational school. These groups take classes in motorcycle and scooter maintenance, mechanics auto repair, fashion, hairstyling, restaurant management, and cooking. These students come for three months, go out as interns to earn money for their families (yes, many of them have to support their families) go back for three months, go out again etc. Then there are regular high school students and then a branch of English honors students who are trying to master English for translation purposes or to attend college in the states.
The students have long long hours of class and homework. They also do a lot of marching and chanting and though corporal punishment isn't allowed, teachers can still punish a student with doing pushups. They participate in drama competitions often, which means hours of memorizing and practicing their English lines. Yesterday was the national storytelling competition in Yuning, and I spent a lot of time with the groups competing to help them with their pronunciation and accent. One group won first place. I was so happy for them. I do think that the work load is unreasonable here. After a certain amount of time, the brain shuts down. It's documented. Furthermore, they confuse teaching with telling and learning with memorizing in Asian culture. I disagree with this practice. Asian students also have their own variety of difficultness when it comes to classroom management. More on that later.
It is surprisingly informal here. All the students call me and all their teachers by their first names. They add me on Facebook and invite me to go to night markets or the mall. I could never do it in America. It's really nice, though. They do something for me. They help me forget myself, they give me energy, and when they serve me I have a red-hot desire to be a better teacher. I still feel like a Bean in this role.
All my students have an English name. Most of them do pretty well with choosing pretty normal names. The most popular for girls are Cindy, Angel, Violet and Rita. Most popular for boys: Allen, Jason and Kevin. I do have girls named Pudding, Heaven, Seven and Echo, though, and there is a sweet guy in the office who goes by Panda. Sometimes the boys names they choose are really old fashioned like Augustine, Charles, Henry and Bartholomew. I have to have a Chinese name to for all records and my nametag, etc. I'm Bao Ai Li (That's a high neutral tone with two downward tones. One day I'll be able to say it right)
My first few weeks here have been like being in a zoo. As I was riding an elevator, I would hear whispers of "I wanna see" and then I'd have students peeking in at me. I walk past a group of junior high students and they all start giggling. It feels really odd to be a celebrity just because I'm white. My first year class started fingering my hair as we stood in a group while I tried to give them directions. A couple of the girls in one class asked if they could hug me and then were hysterical afterward. I smile and wave and tell them that I think they are beautiful and for the most part the hype has died down. However, the most awkward moment of all happened with my one class full of vocational students: I told them that they could ask me questions as long as I could ask them that same question back to get to know each other and practice their English. I thought this would help me know their level. When the bell rang, I practically had to run out of their class while they shouted "Wait, wait, wait!" They chased me and cornered me on the 7th floor balcony. I wanted to jump off of it. They were out of control, shouting:
"You have beautiful nose!"
"How much do you weigh?"
"I'm in love with you! Do you love me?"
"Do you have a boyfriend? Can I be your boyfriend?"
"You are sexy and kind! I'll tell anyone who ask me."
So much for Asian students being reserved and polite. But they are for the most part which is why this class was so surprising. Their very mature. I only wonder if they ever have a chance for a childhood. I think after then can walk they never get hugged or shown that much affection, though the parents certainly love their children and do all they can for them. I could go on and on about my students. I'll probably ask for advice from everyone I can, too, because a lot of you have experience with teaching, parenting, and teaching English to Asians. I'll need it.
Tai chi is going pretty well except I'm really horizontally challenged. It's not so much my height as it is my body to leg ratio. I just wasn't meant to be a crouching tiger. I'll just have to be a sweaty crane.
Yvonne continues to be one of my favorite people. She goes to Tainan every Friday night and stays until Monday morning so my weekends get kind of lonely. Here are some quotes from her from the past few weeks:
- When I crashed: "Don't feel bad. Life sucks sometimes."
- To a cockroach on the kitchen ceiling: "Look at you, you're getting so big. I'm starting to feel attached to them after watching them grow since they were small."
- And "Any problem you can solve with money, that is a small problem."
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