Well (I've got to start everything with "well" because most of my Chinese colleagues start their sentences with "well", which means that it's obviously the Queen's English, or something from VOA or...well, I don't know...)
Well, last night was the last night for English Corner 2003 at the South campus of Baoding Teachers College.
As usual the kiddies (um, young adults) waited stoicly (sp? - I know you like 'em CS
) in the cold for us late-as-usual kiwis. We like making an entrance - you know, the god/goddess thing.
This time there was not the usual three, but a big gaggle of them - 8 or so - waiting for us.
Immediately clutched by various concerned arms, "are you cold?" We were bundled towards the usual corner classroom. But, there was a bit of bother. Which classroom in which corner? The Science lab or the lecture room.
The lecture room won out. The science lab had had its turn the week before. Ahhh, the Chinese decision making process at its finest...
Well, we had plans for our munchkins. Last weeks Eng Corner was a success -we had all of them talking to each other - the 3 2 1 minute game worked wonders (want to know about it PM me, or if I'm not feeling so lazy and hungry (it's lunchtime) I'll write it up somewhere).
So, well, ummm, this week as mentioned, we had plans. We turned the lecture dias thingee into a bar and poured them coke, lemonade, fanta - you know, all the good stuff - and taught them the important phrases of bar room English like "Cheers, big ears - same goes big nose"...
Ahh it was a grand ole time - hyperactive early 20-somethings.
Mr Roaming Kiwi branched off with his troop and I cornered mine (not the other way - tonight was on our terms). Again I got that question from student A "where have you ever been in China" (what's with the "ever" guys?!). I had student B primed and asked her - where have I been in China? - without hesitation she answered student A and rattled off my short list of visited Chinese towns.
Again, the conversation spiralled into the bad pollution and poor energy supply choices. Again I asked them what they were going to do about it... But the triumph was that their conversation was sounding fluent and other students were listening and not diving in with random questions about my eating habits.
We've only been here 4 months and we work with the non-English majors. It's been great to see the kids blossom in confidence and maturity. I've had many opportunities to fend off "how can I get hold of you?" with either "by the neck", or "by email".
I view some of these students as future friends as they grow and mature into functioning adults. So I treat them with the respect they deserve.
Maybe it's different for me as these are teacher trainees. Dunno, but I do know for certain that the biggest culture shock of coming to China was meeting other westerners and seeing how they do things in this environment.
But I wander...
Well, it was time to go, the students cried with sadness, they all followed us to the taxi (all 20 of them -the numbers had fluctuated throughout the night and these were the hardcore bunch). Geez, you'd think we didn't have 2 weeks of teaching left and wouldn't be seeing them for the next semester!
taxi: exit stage left.