New Roles, New Names

September 20, 2017

The start of my service, or at least my primary service here in China as a teacher, didn’t begin as I had anticipated it would – this seems to be a common theme of my experiences in the Peace Corps, and perhaps of stories in general: expectations are meant to be challenged.

For the last few weeks, I have been settling into my site, exploring campus and the surrounding community, trying to meet as many people as I possibly could, preparing the first few lesson plans, and wondering when I would actually begin to feel like a teacher. The answer to that final question came quite suddenly last night.

I’ve learned that in my experiences in China, invitations and information are extended with short notice, and I discovered that this applies to teaching schedules as well. I had just returned to my apartment, when I received a call from my supervisor asking me to come to his office at 8:15 PM to pick up my class schedule for the semester.

When I arrived, I had a few thoughts in rapid succession. “Finally!” I thought, excited to become a teacher. “Hmm, what is this?” was my next thought, as I noticed that the schedule had four more classes each week than I was told when I arrived at site over a month ago, four more classes than I had prepared to begin teaching this week. Then I noticed that this new, surprise, bonus class started this morning at 8 am, less than 12 hours away excluding potential – and desired - sleep. “What! I have to go!” was one of my final thoughts before I hastily began planning an exit to run back to my apartment and make a new lesson for the next morning.

My supervisor must have seen the various emotions that were playing musical chairs upon my face – excitement, confusion, anxiety – because he gave me a laugh and pointed out that I had been asking for my schedule for two weeks and expressing my enthusiasm to begin.

“You are ready?” He asks.

“I thought so, but there are more classes here than I thought I was teaching.”

“Yes!” He says, nodding and smiling. “It shows your value to our school!”

With that concept in mind, and one that I have tried to use as a motto for my interactions around campus and in my community, that ‘more students, more interactions, and more smiles equals more value’ for my time here in the Peace Corps, I thanked him for the schedule and left to begin the whirlwind that would be the next 18 hours.

* * *

I think a common feeling that many people experience, and can relate to, is the idea that when ‘it rains, it pours,’ or that when one stress, worry or difficulty arises, another is not too far behind, and I think that phrase perfectly describes the next 12 hours before the first bells had rung.

A quick glance at my weekly schedule for teaching: I teach 16 hours a week to four separate classes: two classes of nursing students, and two classes of hotel business administration and management students.

I returned back to my apartment, and checked my washing machine, getting ready to hang some clothes up to dry for tomorrow’s class (it is quite dry in Gansu, so hanging wrung-out damp clothes overnight usually results in dry clothes when I wake up), and it looked like it had literally poured in my bathroom. The washing machine had malfunctioned while I was gone, and water went everywhere in the bathroom, resulting in sopping clothes that despite my best attempts at hand-wringing them while thinking about how to prepare a new class for the next morning, would not be dry the next morning.

I quickly threw together a PowerPoint for the next morning, including information about myself, my hometown, the Peace Corps, our semester ahead, and our first activity: choosing an English name and introducing yourself.

The next morning came, and I ventured out to find my classroom and finally become a teacher.

Now, before we get any further, I'd like to share a few observations about how Wuwei Occupational College and classes differ from my experiences at UW-Madison.

Students line up outside the main class building before classes start on the morning of the first day of class to listen to speeches from classmates, teachers and school officials.

尚德楼 (shang de lou), one of the largest and oldest class buildings on campus, built in 2002, that faces the north gate of the campus, and holds the Chinese flag. Students gathered in front of this building on the first day.

Outside of the main teaching building this morning, all of the students were lined up in rows in as it was sprinkling outside, listening to speeches by students, faculty and school administration before the first class began (I don’t know if this happens every day, or is only the first day, though I have a feeling it is only for the first day).
I walked into my classroom twenty minutes early, and 90% of the students were there, and about half of them took a picture of me as I walked in and sent my bag down to prepare for the class. The students who arrived after me stopped in the doorway and waited for me to invite them into the classroom, though whether that was due to custom or simply shock at seeing a foreigner like myself as their teacher for their first-ever college class, I am still unsure.
When the bell rings, the class monitor stands up and instructs all of the other classmates to stand up, too. Together, they cry, “Good morning, teacher!” and then stand silently, waiting. I didn’t realize that I had to instruct them to sit down, so there were an awkward few moments of mutual staring at each other.
Every student has the textbook, and brings it to class, open to the first page of the first lesson, even though we didn’t use the textbook today for the first day introductions.
Each class has between 34-60 students who stick together for their entire time at the college – every class for every subject for every semester for every year.
Each class is about two hours long – 50 minutes class, 10 minutes break, 50 minutes class – followed by 20 minutes of a passing period between classes, and students will sit silently during the break if I am in the room. If I leave (which I found out is a good idea when my supervisor came by and asked me to visit with the other teachers in the office) the students will get up, leave the classroom, chat with other students and enjoy the break until I come back to the classroom.
Each day, the class schedule follows a similar routine: two morning classes, from 8:00am - 9:50 am and 10:10 am - 12:00 pm, followed by a three hour break for lunch and nap (I’ve never been a napping person, but… it’s kind of nice). Then, classes from 3:10 pm - 5:00 pm and 5:20pm - 7:10 pm. I think on average, students have three of these four classes a day. At night, from around 8pm until 10pm, students also have a night-time study period, where entire classes are required gather together in an empty classroom in one of the teaching buildings and independently study during this period. My students are all first-year students, so they have to attend this study period Sunday - Thursday.
At the end of my first class, I had another one of those moments, like at the beginning of class, where I knew the students were expecting something from me that I had no idea I had to give them. The bell rang, and I thanked them for coming to class and participating, told them to bring the homework for the next class on Thursday, and began packing up my things and erasing the board while students remained sitting and silently waiting. Finally, a brave student from the back of the classroom asked, “Can we leave?”

Now, back to the actual teaching for the first day. I had planned a PowerPoint, but the rooms I was assigned either ended up not having the technology I was told to use, or it wasn’t working today, so I was left to improvise with the chalkboard - my specialty.

Welcome to class!

A makeshift phone charging station at the back of the class.

I started by introducing myself, and it became clear pretty quickly that my nature as a foreigner was going to be a benefit and a challenge, as students seemed interested in my experiences and native English speaking ability, but are also incredibly nervous and lacking confidence in speaking – and potentially making a mistake – in front of me.

In this post and the posts that follow that talk about my experiences in the classroom, I’d like you as the reader to keep the following in mind: the English levels of my students are pretty low, though I think the aforementioned confidence is lower than the actual knowledge, and with time I know the students will be more comfortable in talking and utilizing all of the English that they know. I also hope you do not interpret any of my stories that I share as a negative reflection upon my students, because I certainly don’t intend to portray them in that manner, but rather as a positive reflection regarding the importance of what we accomplish and share together, and the progress that we make over the course of the semester.

Since confidence was low, and technology was unavailable, I wanted to make my first lessons set the tone for the semester, so I essentially scrapped a lot of the plans that I had made, and decided to focus on simply picking an English name that the students liked and participating in a short dialogue to introduce the student to a neighbor:

“Hello, what is your name?”

“My name is…”

“Why did you choose your name?”

“I chose my name because…”

While I set students to choosing names, and practicing with their neighbors, I decided to walk around and individually talk to each student, using this dialogue, to assess initial English levels, and to really focus on being enthusiastic, encouraging, and supportive of each student on the first day, so that we can work on building confidence for the rest of the semester. As I was walking around, I saw that one of the students had written a quote in both Chinese and English on the first page of her notebook: “Cheerfulness is the motivator of happiness and health.” I also found that cheerfulness from me, as a foreign, native-English speaking teacher, is a motivator for confidence.

A look inside one of the smaller classrooms in 尚德楼 that can hold about 35 students and is where I teach my hotel business administration students.

A student's perspective on my classroom - a podium, a raised platform, and a chalkboard: tools of the teaching trade.

At points, I felt less like a teacher, though, and more like an animal in a zoo, as every time I turned my back to talk to another student, I would see another student from across the classroom sneaking their phone over the cover of their notebook, or over the shoulder of the person in front of them, in order to take a picture of me. In the moments that I did feel like a teacher, I didn’t feel like the best one, as I didn’t know prior to meeting the students what level of class to prepare, and I ended up planning a class that was too difficult for the students; but this adjusting in class and hearing some of the student responses kept me smiling, hopeful and enthusiastic.

Another look at the classroom, this time from the perspective of one of the many cameras used to take a picture of me as I taught my first classes.

I want this blog, and the stories we share to be educational, uplifting and meaningful, and for this reason I’d like to share a few of these responses with you.

We discussed the question “How are you?” to which all Chinese English-language learners are taught from their very first English classes the response “I’m fine, thank you. And you?” So, I wanted to help the students learn a more natural way to answer that question, along with better alternatives for emotions: happy, sad, hungry, annoyed, upset… and so forth. Then, I asked the students to write their answers to a few questions on a piece of paper as their ticket to leave class for the day.

A few of the answers to the question “How are you? Why?” proved to me, and hopefully you, that without a doubt, the Peace Corps is truly invaluable.

I am very happy, because I have been expecting a foreign teacher to teach English to me since I was a child. Today, I finally realized it. I am honored to be your student.

I am happy, because I came to new university and meet America English teacher.

And finally, perhaps the one that really illustrates our value:

I’m very happy today because I talked with Americans for the first time.

The English names students chose for themselves varied quite a bit, and I didn’t want to stifle or discourage students from picking a name that they felt fit them, particularly since in Chinese, a name can have a lot of meaning, and names that translate to flowers, or animals, or positive character traits, are fairly common.

A few names: Allie, Katelyn, Bird, Sunny, Deer, Mandy, Ivy, Starr, Barbara, Coco, Demi, Felicity, Baker.

Why did students choose these names? I hope their reasons give you as much happiness and optimism as they gave me.

I chose Barbara because I think this name is very good.

I chose this name because it’s a very good name and pleasant to hear. (Amy)

It’s nice and easy to remember. (Allie)

I like the name because it’s meaning is happy. (Ada)

I chose this name because it is my cat’s name. I like it. It is lovely and kind. (Don)

Because I have a more outgoing personality and the name symbolizes optimism. (Belinda)

I chose this name because I like a kinds of flowers and I think it very beautiful. (Flora)

I chose this name because lively and cheerful. (Coco)

I chose this name because I like lily’s purity and mean. May all of you who love me and I love you happiness forever. (Lily)

I chose this name because similar to my personality. (Felicity)

Because I want to be a happy girl. It’s that simple. (Alisa)

I want to be free. (Deer)

And to end this post, I want to share one of my favorites, because I think it has a story we can all understand, particularly as we begin new journeys, from teaching English to learning English, or any new path upon which we find ourselves.

I chose my name because I like stars. I like a person looking up at the sky, the stars of the bright can give me courage, let me know how to persist. (Star)

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