My Great Teaching Idea
During my 3rd week in China I started teaching the regular university classes. On three afternoons, I taught Advanced Spoken English classes to Juniors and Seniors. The classes met only once per week for 1-½ hours, which really is not enough for improving speaking.
I also had three University classes in the morning that I “co-taught” with Chinese teachers. It became obvious to me that the teachers were very weak in Spoken English. They held their English Department meetings in Chinese because no one wanted to take the risk of making an error in English, but they all really needed the practice. When I tried to speak and socialize with them, I received brief and muffled answers prefaced by a shy “my English is so poor.” How could the students learn from teachers who could not speak freely themselves? I began to realize how important it was for me to be here, teaching Spoken English. I suggested the idea of co-teaching, which meant that the Chinese Teacher and I would be in the class together. I would teach part of the class and she would be there to listen (and hopefully learn herself) and then she would teach her part of the class giving the instruction and directions in Chinese and giving the homework. I really wanted to teach the English teachers, but I was told that they would be insulted because they really know English so well, but they are just very shy.
Then on Tuesday and Thursday nights I continued teaching the University teachers. During my 4th week I added a class on Monday and Wednesday nights which I called Changzhou Professionals. This class was advertised in the local Changzhou newspaper and was open probably to anyone, who was willing to pay the tuition, but the people were supposed to have professional jobs and have a strong background in English and most of the students fit both criteria. Again, I was grateful to have more of a peer group to teach, but mostly I hoped to learn.
I also added one day, Tuesday, of traveling to what I was told was the #1 high school for Jiangsu Province, teaching three English classes and having a wonderful banquet style lunch with their English teachers who were not too shy to talk with me. It was a great opportunity to meet some of the smartest Chinese students. All students from Jiangsu Province could take the entrance test and the highest scoring ones came to this boarding school essentially tuition free, paid for by the Chinese Government. It was a very nice campus with the best facilities China had to offer. These kids were sharp. They asked questions and really were anxious to learn about America. I loved teaching there.
I later found out that the real purpose of the Changzhou Professionals class and my going to the high school was to raise money to cover my salary and expenses. It cost the English Department a lot to have a foreign teacher because I was paid a little better than the Chinese teachers were because I taught extra classes and I needed to have decent housing, air-conditioning, a Joan-warmer (clothes dryer), airport pick-up service from the University driver and lots of other expenses. So, they had put me to work to “earn my own keep,” but I really did not mind, although now looking back, it does make me feel used because they were not open with me about what they were doing. I found out that the university received the lion’s share of what I earned and they gave me VERY little extra pay for all the extra work that I did. But, after all, I was the “kind and generous” American. I wish that I could have heard the other adjectives they used. That might have been an education in Chinese.
I much later found out that the high school paid my University twice as much as they paid me for “my use.” I guess that it made me a little happy that I “belonged” to the university in such a way that they could make so much money from my work.
My real feelings were that I was in China to teach AND to learn, and the more experiences I had, the more I would benefit them and myself. I had one morning each week with no classes and nothing special to do. I seldom slept late, but this was my time to sometimes just lie in bed if I needed to until I was ready to get up. I needed just a little time to relax because I did not feel much pressure being in China. There was a definite cultural difference to deal with, but I was quickly learning the wonderful experience of detachment. I had no future in China beyond a year. I was a visitor and could feel amazingly detached whenever I wanted to. I guess that is the Buddhist idea that we are all visitors to earth in this life, and can be detached. I came to China to learn and just so I had enough free time to maintain my psychological well-being, I was much happier being busy.
I also gave some all-school lectures on Thursday afternoons. This was a time set aside for all departments to meet, so there were no classes. Since the English Department held their meetings in Chinese, there was little point in my being there. It was a good time to reach all the students who were not highly involved in sports. I had great attendance at my lectures.
I was very happy with my teaching schedule. I had lots of variety, but I could use similar lessons, slightly modified for each group so the preparation time was not too great. I loved having the adult classes where I hoped we could have more open discussions about their lives in China. I had to be somewhat careful about what I said and how I said it, but my thought was that these were adults and I could not be accused of damaging the minds of my students.
I also found another incredible way to learn more about my students. The head of the English department had told me that I was supposed to give written homework. That is hard to do in spoken English. At first I joked that they were to speak to the trees on a daily basis. This refers to the way the Chinese students had to get up every morning for their group exercises. Some mornings I could hear the loud speakers at a little after 6AM playing rousing loud music. The students were to jump out of bed, get dressed and go to their assigned spots, so attendance could be taken. They then had 15 to 20 minutes of exercises. After that they were to disburse on campus and spend about 45 minutes practicing English. There were spots all over campus for the students to sit and read out loud or to stand and “talk to the trees.” Seriously many students used certain places on campus all day long, but I was not naïve enough to think that my students would really do this on a regular basis because I asked them to. The times of this overwhelming practice came when they had an eminent English test hanging over their heads. My class was a pleasure to most of my students, not such a threat.
But, I came up with a better idea. My reasoning was that spoken language written down could be called a letter. I asked my students to write me a weekly “love letter.” I used the words “love letter” because I wanted them to approach it with urgency and passion. I said that I hoped they would really share their lives with me. Some of them, especially a few boys involved in sports gave me sparse and boring details of their weekly soccer games, not what I wanted, but maybe the best they could do. But, others poured out their little hearts telling me about their families and family problems, their loves and love problems, their studies and school problems, their future and career problems. I learned as much as I dreamed of learning about people. It turned out to be an absolutely brilliant idea. The letters were not a problem for me to read because often times I could hardly wait to get back to my apartment to read what they would tell me next. I could lie in my bed, under my warm blanket and receive the out-pouring of their hearts. I always made a brief comment after each letter. Sometimes I wrote a longer comment and each week I would select the most interesting and sometimes pressing letters and ask the student to have a private lunch or dinner with me. They considered that a real honor.
I made this assignment in all of my classes, but I knew that the Changzhou Professionals and the University Teachers were way too busy to write to me except perhaps occasionally about an important issue. But to my surprise one student started sending me letters that would haunt me for the rest of my life and change my life more than I ever dreamed possible.
Part II will tell you how this all came about and show you his letters.