China Week 3

July 17, 2006: Today is our cultural presentation of Square Dancing, Hokey Pokey and Waltzing. We started the day with prayer and discussion of the day’s events. After that we had Wu Shu and learned our next four moves, which brings the grand total to eight moves. It has been a lot of fun so far but I am worried when we get all 24 moves it might be difficult to remember all of it.

After Wu Shu we had a bit of time to rest and then we went to our cultural class with Mr. Ji. I found out today that Mr. Ji taught at Moorhead State. He taught Chinese and Chinese history there. He liked it there and he said he had a big house but he thought it was far too cold there for him. It is such a small world even in China…well maybe not! Anyway, in Mr. Ji’s class we learned all the various provinces of China and what each is famous for. He also gave us a bit of history of each. It was very interesting.


	We then had lunch and prepared for our cultural presentation. The children were all excited to dance and the room was kind of cramped so we had to do the square dancing in two separate groups. The older group I had caught on quickly to what we were doing but I also have a younger group of all 10-12 year olds and for them it took a bit longer…okay a lot longer.

It was mostly a time for goofing around for them and they were quite amusing for the rest of the group. The square dancing was fun and then we taught them the Hokey Pokey, which really isn’t all that difficult at all. The reason for the first two dance types is that they have to listen and recognize English while dancing. We thought it would reinforce what we were teaching. After that we showed them how to waltz and then I waltzed with just about every girl in the room, it seems I am a bit popular here, much more so than at home.

When we finished the dancing demonstration it was time to eat. I am beginning to really like tea, which I suppose is fortunate because I am going to England soon.

July 18, 2006: Early bird gets the worm! I arose about 5 am because I was nervous about my first complete week of teaching. I sat and did my bible study and then we ate breakfast at 7:15 am. We had a prayer meeting and planned for the week ahead. After that we prepared for Wu Shu.




	We then went to Chinese class and learned the four tones today. The first tone is a higher tone that neither goes up or down but stays constant. The second tone goes from a lower note to a higher tone in one gentle rise. The third tone starts in the middle dips low and then rises up high and the fourth tone starts high and goes down low. A word in Chinese may sound exactly the same except for the tone so the word cao could technically have four different meanings. It is a difficult language.


	Today we learned four new moves which brings our grand total to twelve after Monday’s practice. It is so far a lot of fun and our teacher is very nice and of course very good. She doesn’t however speak a word of English so we have to use our Chinese and use a lot of hand gestures when asking her questions. Wu Shu is very tiring also in the heat of the morning. When we went outside it was only about 80-85 degrees or so but it is terribly muggy here all the time so one from North Dakota will sweat quite a bit.

After lunch we prepared for class and I was asked to teach a song to the children today so I chose to have them sing, “You are my sunshine.” At opening teacher Paul taught the children about an animal. HE discussed it at length and then asked several questions. After that I taught my song and the children sing very well. They have very good ears for music.

Then I was on my own to teach for two and a half hours! I started with further introductions. The students were to tell the class about their partner. I made sure that they asked the questions in English. I read a book by Stephen D. Krashen and in it he says the simple secret is that whatever you teach as long as you force the students to teach English it will be positive. There are additional methods that are valuable but that is the main idea. So, that is what I tried to do.

We spent the remainder of our time working on Cinderella and also a few dialogue games such as small talk where they get a series of small talk questions and are asked to ask each other in the class and reply. The other dialogue game was "Ask Me a Favor," where I have a series of favors and replies. The students then play the game like Go-fish looking for the appropriate response.

We closed the day with a game of American Football. I never realized how difficult that sport is to explain until today. Man, there are so many rules!

That evening all of my students showed up to spend time with me in the evening. WE played Uno and I think it was one of the longest games of Uno in my whole life. We played for an hour and half and only finished one game. But the kids had fun and laughed a lot. It kind of makes me wonder what kind of pressure these kids are under when they will take their free time and spend it with their teacher. I really like my students and I hope that they like me.

July 19, 2006: Today I woke at six am and prepared for the day. It seems that most people around here wake at 5:30 or 6:00 am because I swear every door in this place slams shut around that time.

After breakfast, I had Wu Shu and then we had Chinese Class. Nothing real different than other days so there isn’t much to report. Before class today at about 12:30 two of my student showed up early just to hang out with me. It was a lot of fun. One of them was not very good at English so he wanted to practice and the other I think just wanted to play with my computer. He put on some Chinese music so I can share some of that with you when I see you.

The boys hung around with me while I prepared for class and then went to the large class discussion with me. Teacher Paul again discussed an animal and then I taught a new song, “Home ON The Range.” I am going to teach this song in several days so that we can more easily learn it.

In my class we introduced a Chinese tale called Yeh-Shen, which is their version of the Cinderella story only much older. After we introduced it, we then spent some time comparing the tow stories and not surprisingly the one most liked the best was Yeh-Shen. I don’t blame them. It probably has more cultural ties.

July 20, 2006: Today is movie night. At 7:00 pm, we are going to show Disney’s Cinderella to the students. In class we discussed the differences and similarities of Yeh-Shen and Cinderella. Often comparing helps lead the students to larger truths. I am intrigued at how Chinese children look at characters. They think that Cinderella’s trait of hopefulness is her best trait not her beauty or patience. Chinese Students have a very positive outlook on their country and their people. It is kind of refreshing. All US students hear is how awful their country is.

Regardless, today was pretty normal and nothing out of the ordinary happened. I did talk to them about North Dakota and showed them a bunch of pictures. I think they liked it.

July 21, 2006: Well my day started with the usual; Wu Shu, Chinese class and then the two boys I mentioned earlier showed up again. We spent more time talking and I prepared for the first day of teaching “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” by C.S. Lewis. I am so glad that we get to teach this book because it teaches about larger truths.

Today we started in class discussing the difference between fantasy and reality. “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” has elements of both and it is important that we discuss this difference because in China this difference is often unclear. We read the first few chapters and so far the kids seem to like the book. We are supplementing this unit with clips from the movie to help the kids better understand the material. It offers a chance to teach these children the truths about forgiveness, sacrifice and that to be a leader one must serve.

We played football again and I think my class if getting better. They still need work on their pass patterns but I think we are the best class at football. We draw to a close my first week of teaching and I am glad that it all went well.



				*July 22, 2006:* Today we visited a mansion for a man who was a rich businessman and entrepreneur during the Qing Dynasty. He was trusted by the emperor and was a very high-ranking official. The house was beautiful at every step and I enjoyed looking at the serenity gardens and the private Peking Opera hall.



	The house is very famous even today because many period movies film at this house today. Even I recognized it from a few kung fu movies I have seen. We spent the better part of the day there and had a lot of fun looking around. Our tour guide spoke English so it was pretty easy to understand what everything was.


	They had an ancient fire truck of sorts and a display of wedding ceremony in china and all the implements you would need for it.

There was also a school in this mans mansion where he taught his children and all of the neighborhood children who couldn’t afford to go to school.

After that we returned home for some well deserved rest because tomorrow would be Sunday.




	*July 23, 2006:* Today, instead of going to the international church in English we went to the Chinese open Church. The service was interesting besides it all being in Chinese. We started at 8:45 learning all the songs we would sing that day and they even used solfege. It was amazing. The service started with prayer, scriptures were read, a general prayer was said and then the sermon, which was about and hour and a half! I don’t want to hear anybody complain about my sermon length any more. After the service there was about 60 baptisms taking place it was quite a sight.

I didn’t get a lot out of the service as it was in Chinese but I did learn a lot and gained a valuable experience. Now I know what the Chinese open church is like.

Pax,

Ryan A. Drevlow


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