The semester is now at a close. Some of the teachers have left, several to never return. Zeneta and I are planning our vacation. And, the snow has started to fall.
This is pretty much the end of the semester. I have given my finals and am, nearly, done grading papers and submitting my grades. The final was pretty subjective; so, what I am grading on is: first, did they answer the question, and second, can I make any sense of the answer. This can be phrased as, did they clearly state a position and support it. This is being graded quite loosely because the Chinese method of education assumes that there is only a right answer. It is not necessary to say why it is right; because, it is right.
This, of course, tests if they understood the question. Because I sometimes speak in obtuse circles the questions were reviewed by several teachers, all of whom used the same questions. We did this to insure that the questions were simple and clear and that we, the foreign teachers, were providing some level of consistency.
I also did something that I have done with some of my classes before. It is a much harder assignment than it seems, both for me and the students, because it tests reading, comprehension, vocabulary, and speaking.
I gave them, in pairs of two students to one story, newspaper shorts. These are short two to three paragraph stories from China Daily, the official English language news paper of China. The assignment is to discuss the newspaper story with their partner, using as much English as possible, and prepare to tell the class about the story. I will then find a way to force both partners to speak during the presentation, usually by asking a question or by just asking if there is anything more that the other partner can tell me about the story.
This is a lot of work for me because I, first, must know enough about each of the, over fifty, news stories to both ask questions and lead the presentation; let alone know if they have interpreted it correctly. I must also move to all of the pairs of students (and with classes that often exceed eighty students, this involves a lot of moving) and check to see if they have any questions about the article or the words in it. I then put some of the words on the board, really a projector, as it is easier for the students, in the back, to read. Those words, or phrases, such as, "stock trade," and ,"obstetrics," would then be explained to the class. While I realize that, ideally, the articles, at this point in the class, should not include any new educational material, the use of authentic material, for exam purposes, almost guarantees that there will be some new words, or uses of words.
There were a couple of surprises when I used this exercise. This is the first time I have used it as a general exercise; as a result, I was not prepared for some of the issues that arose. The first thing that surprised me was that the Chinese students have no sense of world, or even national, geography. By this, what I mean is that the students were, at many times, unable to even identify the names of the Chinese Provinces and Autonomous Regions as being places in China. World geography left the students batting a total zero; they simply have no idea where the countries of the world are (on a different exercise, when I asked some students where Europe was, they had pointed to Canada). I was told, by a student several years advanced from them, that this is a result of the "memorize it and forget it" approach to education in China.
The second interesting thing from this exercise was what they were trying to read into the news stories. This is also a result of the educational system and the nature of reading material for students, in China. The students kept trying to tell me what they should learn from the story in the form of a message or moral.
Almost immediately after delivering his last exam, Collin Brown, the very experienced teacher from Australia, left China for the last time. His wife, Bronee had already left, in order to complete her M.A. and the physical separation was unworkable for them.
He informed us of this the Sunday before he left, before church services. We then arranged for a going away dinner for him on Thursday. Of course, we also put in dibs for his stuff. About all I needed, that he had purchased here In China, was his laser printer. Arrangements were also made to donate several items, such as the TV and DVD player he had purchased, to the local Lutheran church.
On Thursday we all mt at the restaurant, near the East Gate, where we like to eat. In particular, Collin likes the sweet and sour pork and we have been told that it is made with chicken, not pig. The cook makes a lot of other food we like, including candied bananas. In general, it is a popular place with the westerners; even if it is a hassle to get to.
Before going to the last dinner with Collin, Zeneta, Gao Jing, He Zhi Qing , and I went to pick up my suit. Before going to the tailor, Zeneta needed to go by the Veterinarians, with Jing, for Wa Dou. As a result, I waited in the flat, with He Zhi Qing for Zeneta to call us and say that she was dome at the Vet. Well, she never did call. It seems that she had, again, left her phone behind. As a result we got to the tailor well after she and Jing had arrived.
So, instead of just picking up my suit, I was told that she had commissioned three dresses to be made. The owner of the shop still wants me to help his son work on his English over the winter vacation and has offered to make me a free suit if I can do this. His son is attending a university in another city; however, he will be back for a month as the schools release all of their students. I have told him that I will wait and see if I am in town.
At that point we caught a cab back to the restaurant and were in time to meet all of the others. Unlike the cab Mark and Joe took earlier in the same year, our cab did not get stuck, while passing a truck, in an open manhole on the sidewalk that the driver did not see because it was covered with water. There were so many things being done wrong in that last sentence that it elicited an, "only in China."
I am not sure if I will be in town because Zeneta and I have not finalized our plans for the holiday. My travels this year will be a lot less than they were last year, when i traveled with Michelle. On Zeneta's list of, "must do," things is to see the Panda Bears (xiong mao). This is best done at the Giant Panda Research and Breeding Facility in Chengdu. She also wants to go to Hong Kong (Xiang Gang) to see both Disneyland and the LDS Temple (who we have no way of contacting). However, Getting to these places is further complicated by train schedules and Wa Dou's illness.
I did not want to leave him with the girls when he was sick and that leaves us trying to get our tickets at the last moment. Further, for train rides that will take more than a day, I am a bit insistent that we travel in sleeper cars. This has left us facing a shortage of transportation. Today Zeneta and Jing will go back and try to get tickets in a manner that will do what she wants.
There is the final little thing that it has been snowing all weekend. Collin was worried that it would start snowing before he got to Wuhan, on Friday afternoon, as Mr. Gao, the head of the college was driving him there. However, it did not. It started on Friday and continued through the weekend. Wa Dou is not all to excited about the snow. He was already unhappy with the cold and the snow is, to him nothing but cold in a more tangible form.
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