The Foreign Experts

"Foreign Experts"

That's the term given to us by the Chinese Educational System. There are eight of us all together … Aine from Ireland, Tomas from the Czech Republic, Emily and Jeremy from western Pennsylvania, and Tom and Shirley from Idaho, all of whom started here in the fall semester, and us. So we are the new kids on the block. We reside in the Xing Yuan Hotel (on campus), directly across from the student dormitories, and a ten minute walk to theclassroom buildings. Little by little our apartment is becoming our home away from home. Thank heaven for our internet line! Grocery shopping and cooking here can be challenging, but we are managing quite well. We get a great deal of support from the Foreign Affairs Office, who are our point persons for just about anything that comes up.

We are each given a bike - one speed, basic model. It really works quite well; it is very flat here and so there is not much of a strain. The only problem with bike-riding into town (down the road about three miles) is that no one observes any kind of traffic patterns. The daredevil approach, though not our ordinary style, had to be adopted. There was no other choice!

Classes began on March 4th, and we received our teaching assignments on March 2nd. This has been one of many such things we simply dub "The Chinese Way." While we do not share similar teaching schedules, we do have much free time together. We are both teaching Freshmen and Sophomores who are English majors, and have been studying English since Middle School. They can understand the language quite well, (fortunately), but still have a great deal of trouble speaking it. Jim also has one class from the Economics Department, but the goal is the same, Conversational English. We have also been assigned some teaching at a local middle school on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. However, due to some complications with those arrangements, we are temporarily off the hook with those classes.

We really love the classes. The students are extremely polite, very helpful and respectful, and are eager to learn. Students in a given class follow the same schedule of classes, and have the same seats in each class. The first class meets from 7:30 to 9:20, with a ten minute break exactly in the middle. Second block meets from 9:40 to 11:30, at which time the two-hour lunch begins! That's right, two hours. At 1:30 the afternoon two-hour session begins, and the last block goes from 3:40 to 5:30. Very lock-step and high school-like. But accepted, and apparently works well.

Students try to become our friends, so that they can practice their English. They have asked for our phone number, but we have declined, explaining that we need our private time. One student just appeared at our door yesterday, and wanted to be invited in. Young people in stores attach themselves to us so that they can "talk." Without offending them, we try very hard to gradually excuse ourselves from what becomes very intense question and answer sessions. It is exhausting. They do have what are called "English Corners," where foreigners attend and engage in conversation. We stumbled upon one on Sunday at the local Pizza Parlor. Here, an ordinary foreigner traveler can have an experience not unlike the attention paid to a famous Rock Star! We are finding that "Celebrity" does have its down side!

Some of our initial impressions . . .

~ Ratio of girls to boys is 2:1 in Foreign Language classes
~ Seating in most classes: girls in front seats, boys in back seats
~ Each class has a Class Monitor, who takes care of details for instructors
~ Average class size is 32 students
~ Students exhibit a general shyness to speak

Some observations on classroom etiquette . . .

~ A student takes it upon himself to erase the board when needed
~ A student will knock and wait to be acknowledged when entering the room
~ Many times they stand to respond to a question
~ Spitting on the floor is an acceptable habit! (Just love this one)

To be continued..........

Foreign Affairs Office Staff

Xian Yuan Hotel

Our Living Room / Dining Area

Shopping in Zibo

Sophomores in Class

European Street in Zibo

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