《我的北京生日》   My Beijing Birthday

Learning Objectives

In this section, we will introduce a humorous and touching documentary film, 《我的北京生日》("My Beijing Birthday"). We will use the Mandarin segments in the film to study the following:

• how to explain how things have turned out differently or the same as expected

• how to compare and contrast and draw analogies 

• learn the cultural etiquette of being humble

• gain insights of the lives of young people in China

• gain practice with natural, conversational Mandarin Chinese at the discourse-level

• practice speaking, listening, reading and writing at the advanced level.

Anticipate the Film through Movie Poster

The film we are going to study is 《我的北京生日》 (English title: My Beijing Birthday). It is a 52-min documentary film, delivered in English with abundant Chinese footages. The film is written and directed by Howie Snyder who documented his experiences in China. Here is a posters for this film. Please think about the following:

Watch the Trailer in Mandarin Chinese

我们来看看电影的普通话预告片 (yùgào piàn, movie trailer)。看预告片的时候，想一想：

• 电影里的Howie是哪里人？

• Howie 第一次去北京是什么时候？去做什么？他是怎么认识这些小朋友的？

• 谁过生日？多少岁的生日？在哪儿过生日？

• 他第二次去北京是什么时候？去做什么？他为什么要找他以前的的小朋友？

• Howie找到了以前的朋友吗？大家一起做什么了？

Click the audio player above to listen to these questions in Chinese. (If any words are unfamiliar to you, you can use our corresponding Quizlet vocabulary flashcard set to practice. (Go to Flashcard)

Getting to Know the Characters (A Film Synopsis Example) 

Component #1: The 3-min Youtube video below is a narrated PPT that I created to show you how to write a summary of the film in Chinese. Practice your listening and reading along with these slides. Hope you find them helpful. You can also see a text version of this summary below. 

Tip: Click the audio player above to listen to the synopsis in Chinese. (If any words are unfamiliar to you, you can use our corresponding Quizlet vocabulary flashcard set to practice. (Go to Flashcard) 

Component #3: Practice speaking. Given what you've learned in terms of new words and information about the film, practice speaking about the film and its characters using the image below. Some ideas to organize your speaking are suggested below: 

1. 这是一个什么样的电影（动作片，纪录片，爱情片，悬念片，还是科幻片?）

2. 电影的名字叫什么？英文名字叫什么？导演是谁？主角是谁？什么时候上映的？

3. 电影里的主要人物是谁，他们是什么关系？

4. 电影讲的是什么? 

A Cultural Research Project

In this section, we will form teams to research one component of the film to get to know more about the Chinese culture. The following are the research topics: 

• 什么是相声 （它是什么，它的历史简介，它的种类，著名的表演家，给一个例子）

• 中国有名的“老外” --有好几个有名的“老外”，他们像Howie Snyder (中文名：石英山) 会好几种语言，中文也说得特别好。请分组了解这些人物。说一说：他是谁？他是哪儿人？做过什么？为什么有名了？现在做什么？会什么语言？怎么开始学中文的？

  • 大山 (Mark Henry Rowswell)

  • 朱利安 (Julien Gaudfroy)

  • Mike隋 (隋凯）

• 少年宫 （电影里，石英山在少年宫学相声。什么是少年宫？人们去哪儿做什么？现在还有少年宫吗？你觉得少年宫像美国的什么组织？

• 拆迁 （电影里，十年过去，有些小朋友住的地方拆迁了。拆迁是什么意思？为什么拆迁？拆迁对人们生活有什么影响？

• 小皇帝 （电影里说到小皇帝。小皇帝是什么意思？为什么中国新一代（80后）是“小皇帝”？相关的时什么人口政策？对社会有什么影响？

 选一个你喜欢的题目做研究调查。从百度百科和互动百科开始。和你小组的成员一起做一个PowerPoint Presentation. Required components: The final product is a presentation with a visually engaging powerpoint as your aid. You will present your project in class, and also do a recording of your narration over PPT and make it available on youtube. 

1. 5 references (wikipedia, baidu baike, hudong bake are permissible sources, but make sure you use some visual source as well). 

2. incorporate concrete descriptions. This will make your presentation engaging to your audience. 

3. the submitted contents should contain: 

   • 8 slides minimum to cover your topic and the related questions). Include references

   • a written script in the formal register to explain the slides, which should undergo at least one peer review and one teacher-feedback. Keywords unfamiliar to your peer should be glossed on the script

   • recording of narrated PPT and made into video

   • presentation (which doesn't have to use the script) in a lively and creative format in class. 

Enjoy! 

Watch Film and Think Critically 

Watch the film. While you watch it, think about the following questions. Take notes and be ready to share your thoughts in class. Practice speaking about your thoughts in Chinese in response to these questions. 

Regarding the first part of the film: 

1. 2分钟的时候，电影回到1996年。开始的场景是石英山上课迟到了。马老师为什么说他？小同学们为什么笑？

2. 刘宏军家里有几口人？他们是谁？

3. 刘宏军喜欢做什么？他长大想做什么？

4. 王一飞家里有几口人？他们是谁？

5. 王一飞喜欢做什么?  她长大想做什么？

6. 你觉得刘宏军和王一飞后来实现了他们的理想吗？

7. 你知道什么是文化大革命吗？它从什么时候到什么时候？

8. 少先队是什么？

9. 石英山的生日请了谁？在哪儿过的生日？生日聚会上玩了什么？吃了什么？大家玩得开心吗？

Regarding the second half of the film:  

1. 石英山2008年回到北京是为什么？

2. 他为什么想找到以前的同学？

3. 少年宫里有些什么课？相声课还有吗？

4. 以前的同学好找吗？

5. 刘宏军现在怎么样？做什么？有什么想法？

6. 王一飞现在做什么？有什么想法？她爸爸在哪儿？妈妈为什么不愿意见石英山？

7. 王一飞看以前的录像为什么哭了?

8. 谭梦现在长什么样？做什么？

9. 马老师和石英山说了一些什么样的心里话？

10. 最后在景山公园，你看到了什么？

Your reactions: 

1. 你去过中国吗？你觉得中国有意思吗？

2. 石英山说北京和纽约很相似。怎么样相似呢？

3. 石英山说他的相声同学跟别的小皇帝不一样，怎么不一样呢？

4. 石英山说因为他的小同学们因为有学相声的经历，所以跟别的“小皇帝”不一样。你觉得是这样的吗？你怎么想呢？

Study Speech Acts and Culture in the Film 

The film is set in Beijing over the span of more than a decade. The characters interviewed on the film all speak Beijing dialect of Chinese. Inseparable from language use is the ways that Chinese people interact with each other, what to say, how to respond, how to hold a conversation, how to ask questions, how to use body language, etc, etc. Such ways of interacting are also influenced by very subtle cultural norms of what is polite and appropriate. In this episode, we will tease apart the language at the beginning of the film where Teacher Ma "scolded" Howie for being late. We will focus on the tacit cultural notion of appropriate behavior. 

Step #1: Watch the 迟到了"late for class" scene that starts around 2:08 min into the film. See how much you understand the dialogue. Howie seems rather polite, apologizing （对不起，迟到了）and acknowledging this being a cause for punishment (该罚). But why is Teacher Ma still discontent--what about Howie's demeanor that is a bit "off" from a Beijinger's perspective? 

Step #2: Watch the following explanation that narrates over the scene. 

Step #3: Study this dialogue and be ready to perform a role-play in class. To aid your study of the language, below is the script with Pinyin, word-glossary and translation added. (Volunteer groups will be elicited; Also feel free to perform a role-play based on other parts of the film and explain what you think is the cultural way of interacting in your role-play). 

How to compare and contrast and talk about changes in Chinese

The central theme of this film is change in life and how we reflect on the changes we experienced. If you were to describe changes that happened to you or around you, how do you say them in Chinese? How do you chat with your Chinese friends whom you have not seen for a long time? How do you talk about how you or them as having changed, and how do you ask questions, give responses and follow where the conversation is? How do you write about changes in one's life? In this section, we will use a number of sample interactions from the film to tease out the language tools (conjunction words, adverbs, sentence patterns) that help to compare and contrast and talk about changes in Chinese.

Component #1: Watch the following narrated PPT which gives examples from the film. 

The PPT slides are embedded below as PDF for your ease of access. 

Component #2: The following are a few extracts of Howie's English narration in the film. See if you can translate them into natural Chinese-use adverbs, time expressions, conjunctions and specific vocabulary. 

翻译练习

1. I found that many things remain the same but others have changed beyond recognition.…With all the changes, I really wanted to find my old classmates. I started by finding Mrs. Ma. Mrs. Ma still teaches comedy at the Cultural Palace. I decided to sit on her class to see what the new kids are like. Kids are still coming to the Cultural Palace to study all sorts of extracurricular activities.

2. I decided to first visit Liu Hongjun. Mrs. Ma told me he is living near his old house, which had been demolished to make way for a new development like has happened all over Beijing.

3. Liu Hongjun didn’t become a famous comedian. He pursued his interest in the arts and wanted to become a filmmaker.

4. Liu hongjun has grown into a unique young man…. He grew up when China opened its door to the outside world, yet managed to remain grounded amidst all its changes.

5. This generation of little emperors has grown into young adults. My classmates were now older enough to ask me questions. They were interested in my life as I was in theirs.

6. Tan Meng hasn’t seen Mrs. ma over 10 yeas.

7. She said she was amazed how time flies, and she longed for the simpler days of her youth.

Practice: A Writing Assignment

Writing Prompt (写作文）

Write an essay in which you relate the film to your personal experience and your immediate environment. In your essay, include these two main components: 

1) what kind of changes were portrayed in the film. What part of the film did you feel strongly about? 

2) relate the film to your personal life: what changes have taken place in your life? How do you see yourself as different from before and what kind of a person do you wish to be? 

3) reflect on changes in your own immediate environment? How are things different from what they used to be? Are these changes good? Are these changes bad? 

4) In your conclusion, reflect on a central theme of your essay. 

The genre of your essay is a film reaction piece, moving from narration to exposition. Include a summary of the film, and then expand along the line of the three components mentioned above. Make sure you build a coherent theme in your essay. 

Enjoy! 

Resources and Credits

Good reviews to read:

• • http://movie.douban.com/review/2157238/

  • 百度百科 http://baike.baidu.com 

  • 互动百科 http://www.baike.com

Sites to buy the film or watch snippets:

• Official site: http://www.mybeijingbirthday.com

• Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/My-Beijing-Birthday-Howie-Snyder/dp/B001Q3L2MA

Sites to learn about the film:

• To read a feature of Howie Snyder: http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2010/04/questioning-howie-snyder/ 

• 豆瓣电影：http://movie.douban.com/subject/3291935/ 

• IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1326824/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl