This is my first time keeping an actual blog, per se, so we'll see how it goes.
Okay, now that that's finished.
It's interesting gauging people's reactions when you tell them you're a teacher. My experience has been that some people in China think that the reason westerners come to China to teach English is simply because they're economic refugees from their home country. What strikes me as odd is that they think that, considering that it doesn't really say much about China in comparison to a western country in terms of quality of life. Do the people here really believe that their standard of living is so much lower than those of their western counterparts?
Anyway. About a month ago, I did a lesson in my classes where I basically blasted the leadership of China and told my students that their leaders don't understand foreigners very well. Now, of course, I didn't simply say "your leaders suck," but that was the theme. It took me a long time to reach that point, and I explained to them that the situation now is a sharp contrast from the days when Zhou EnLai was able to masterfully and diplomatically manipulate the Americans out of intervening in the Chinese Civil War on the side of the Nationalists.
I gave examples of how leaders in China are consistently calling the Dalai Lama a "jackal clad in monk's robes," and a "man with the face of a human but the heart of a beast," and why that is so alienating to westerners since the Lama is viewed primarily as a religious leader, regardless of what he's said or done. I gave examples from the Olympics about broken promises to reporters, suspected doping in athletes, controversial competition outcomes, and shady dealings with Jacques Rogges.
Admittedly, part of the inspiration for that lesson was this article by James Fallows over at the Atlantic, and some of the things I just mentioned were also in his article.
I finished that lesson by stating to my class that is very important that they understand foreigners if only for the purpose of advancement. I told them that the way of isolationism is the way of the past and unless they begin to accept change in their society and embrace the world around them, China will be left in the dust. I told them this is especially important for them because they would soon be the ones to take the reigns of this country and they would be responsible for leading it to greatness -- or driving it into the ground. To quote one of my teachers in the U.S., I told them: Those who are resistant to change will be left behind.
Now, the reason I mention this class is because of a man named Chris Parker. Chris is an elderly English man that lives here in Tangshan and is also an English teacher, but at a different university. Chris is a man with stories and, from what I can tell, wisdom. Chris has been in China for 13 years now, 11 of which he spent working as an engineer, building this or that and traveling, because of his work, to every province in China. He's now married to a Chinese woman and will probably be in China for the forseeable future. I originally met Chris a few months ago at a conference for foreigners to discuss Tangshan's "opening up" and the municipal government's plans for future development. At that time, my classes were fairly bland, unremarkable, and I would say, not very thought provoking.
That was when he told me that when he was talking to his students, he brought in history textbooks from America, France, Bangladesh, Czechoslovakia, and possibly a few other countries, all of which had lessons on China. He said he asked his class, "can any of you tell me what single word is common in all of these history books' lessons about your country?" Of course, no reply. The word, he said, was "arrogant."
When he told me about this, it shattered by preconceptions of what oral English teachers in China must teach and I immediately revamped the format of my class, using one of his lessons in my class as a "test run." I told my class the following day, "I love Hu Jintao. I think he's awesome. I think he's done a great job. In fact, I think he's done such a great job, I'd like him to the president of the United States." The students, though surprised, thought this was a great idea. That was when I dropped the bomb: "So, now, since that's okay, how about if we take Barack Obama and make him the president of China, once he wins?" Silence followed. This is a simple example, but it highlights the situation and the massive difference from talking about movies, music, or some mundane aspect of the English language.
I had Chris's phone number for a while, but when he told me about his schedule back at that conference, it seemed that his schedule mirrored mine and so I didn't think I'd be able to see him again. That all changed when I was invited to an award's ceremony today to represent my school and I met him again. This time, there were students from many different schools across the city and I saw more foreigners than I knew even existed in Tangshan. I talked to Chris again for a while, and I feel certain that I'll be able to attend some of his classes in the spring semester.
When I was talking to Chris, though, he told me, without my previously saying so, that he believes that not only do the Chinese not understand us, but he believes that we also don't understand the Chinese very well. Now, let me take a moment to mention that many times over here when things are being said to the public, in terms of speeches, news broadcasts, newspaper articles, etc. it's chock full of cheese. That is to say, everything has a happy go lucky spin and there might as well be a gigantic picture of a thumbs-up next to it. And so, I thought it was very genuine of Chris to mention in his acceptance speech for his award that one of his main goals is to aid in the opening up of Tangshan and to promote cross cultural exchange and understanding because he believes that it currently is lacking. The other foreigners and I, after he was finished, all thanked him for delivering a speech that was true and not just another fluffy pillow made to make people feel comfortable.
He also told me a while back that if we foreigners began to get together to talk shop, we would only walk away frustrated. But I disagree. After getting a few people's phone number today, I think that if we all get together and discuss what kind of changes we'd like to see in the education, that we can not only become actual teachers, rather than performers dancing around in front of a class, but actually have an effect on the outlook of our students and force them to think.
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