Here are some notes on my Summer Project, days I and II

Yesterday, Saturday (the 23rd of July), my host family and I made the journey across town to the 2 star (I'm guessing) hotel where the PC is putting us up for the week. The accommodations are a big step down from what we've been living in, but more in line with the PC aesthetic, I suppose. The drive across town was something of a production; two car loads of people to take myself and two of my colleagues, Winter and Ian. As we pulled our luggage from the trunk of the car, I was escorted by my “aiyi,” who shaded me with her umbrella on the short walk to the hotel front door. She is a sweet woman (though I am still uncertain of her name); she gave me a pearl necklace for my birthday and always smiles at me. My entire entourage trooped up to my hotel room, and the six of us looked at the tiny, dingy space and they pointed out the television and AC remotes, the telephone, the closets. None were difficult to locate in the small room, but I could tell they were anxious that I be comfortable.

I hung out with Ian for most of the day, doing some studying on my off time. Then it was 7 pm and off to our “luau” with the China 10s. The party was at the Mall of America, (the Chengdu branch)...I found that funny. We had a kind of cocktail hour as everyone was arriving, while we all mingled around and tried to meet each other. Next was a very brief and informal meeting about what exactly the summer project entails. The summer project (a very vague name) serves a dual purpose, in that it is a way of helping the larger community in China by training current Chinese teachers of English on American/Western culture, pronunciatio and Western education methods. At the same time, this one week serves as our PCT training in the classroom. It is an ambitious set of goals to accomplish in one week. It sounds like we will essentially jump right into teaching the group of middle- and high school teachers that are taking the 3 week seminar, after spending only one day observing the 10s.

I hope I'll be able to hop right back into the teaching groove, but I have a feeling that this will be an entirely different animal that what I've done previously. I won't know til I do it, though, so there isn't much use worrying. I am in the Culture group, and thus will be teaching about American culture. Tonight I intend to spend more time sketching out potential lesson plans.

The rest of the evening was spent dropping it like it was hot on the dance floor. It had light up tiles, flashing red, green and yellow. Nearly every PCV was out there shaking it, both China 10 and 11; it was awesome. The music was mostly unfamiliar to all of us, but it felt so good to actually move. We all had so much pent-up energy, I think it all came out that night.

FLASH FORWARD

I wrote that last bit after I'd just arrived at Sichuan Normal University, our site for the week. Now, on August 1st, I'll finish the recap. The rest of the week was good--fun, frustrating, educational, which is a good way to describe my entire PC experience thus far, really. It was great to get to know some of the 11s better and to spend time with the veteran 10s. I loved turning my mind to my upcoming job; much of the week was spent discussing teaching methods, what works and what doesn't, how the Chinese classroom is a much different space than any of us experienced as American students.

We were told this during staging, but it was proven true this week: our greatest resource while in-country is each other, as PCVs. A website has been launched as a lesson plan sharing forum; it is really quite interesting to hear what everyone comes up with as vehicles to teach American culture via language. A sample of lessons done this week: Monsters! (witches are bad), various slang (you have no idea how endearing it is to hear a Chinese say they are "awesome"), Speed Dating, the song "Summer Lovin'" from Grease... In one of my classes, we taught the students the song "I'm a Little Teapot," a huge hit. With its accompanying choreography and simple melody, it was an easy ditty to learn and remember. Music in any form was hugely popular in the classroom, as were roleplays where the students got to perform before the class. It was both hilarious and impressive to see what they came up with when I instructed them to write scenes in an American diner for breakfast.

Now, I should also note that our students this week were really professionals, English teachers with strong language skills and lots of motivation to work hard and participate. We have been warned that our future students, most likely freshmen and sophomores in college, will be much more timid and have less language ability. There will be an entirely different tone to the classroom, especially at the start. Having this in mind, my students this week were really dear to my heart--they were so enthusiastic and fun. I hope to draw some of the same enthusiasm and drive out of my future students, but it'll take some creativity and a whole lot of work.


Highlights on the week: A spaghetti dinner made by a crew of 10s and 11s, including a fresh salad (a huge undertaking), french bread and deviled eggs. Also, the week capstone, a talent show of sorts, where the Chinese students sang songs in English and Chinese (including, of course, My Heart Will Go On), and performed skits and dances. We 11s did a last-minute performance of Brown Eyed Girl, uninspiring but a crowd-pleaser, I think. The 10s sang and danced to Afternoon Delight, which had us all giggling and the Chinese people looking perplexed. The break from language class was also nice; I felt like all the words and phrases I'd learned got a chance to settle like so much silt in a river, so that today I felt like I actually knew quite a lot and was ready to learn more.

OK, enough out of me. Happy August to you all. As my mother says, one month down, 26 to go. It is a bit early to start the countdown, if you ask me, but it is one way to look at it. Until next time.