[Editor's Note: I makes the posts, so I makes the titles!]
*****
Sunday 7/18 - Luxun Park
Down the street from my residence is an enormous park called Luxun (loo-shoon), named after a famous man from the late 19th, early 20th century. I'm not sure who he is, exactly. I should probably look it up. Especially considering that I paid respects at his grave, which is in the park itself!
Anyway, I got up early on Sunday, because Mary told me that I should go to the park and check it out because people (lots of people!) like to go there and do various activities. She was pretty vague- I think she wanted me to see for myself. And boy, what a sight!
The park itself is very beautiful, with winding paths and lots of trees and plants and a big lake in the middle. It is a very large park and one of those very pleasurable things to find in the middle of a city. I came in through the north entrance and immediately found the exercise grounds. They have all this gymnastic-style or weight-lifting-type equipment. Bars that are bolted into the ground. People were using them all and there were even lines for some of them. It seemed incredible to me because I've seen similar structures in the States and yet I have also never seen anybody actually using them.
Nearby were a group of women doing Tai Chi and another group doing some kind of fan dance. I also found other small groups or individuals all around the park doing yoga or slow deliberate martial arts movies off in little secluded groves or beside the lake in little clearings that seem to have been placed there for just that purpose.
I also found a group of people singing. Now, this was not a singing group. Oh no. This was no choir. There was an old woman with a pointer stick and a giant pad of chart paper with the words to probably a couple dozen songs, and a middle-aged woman with a cd player and a knowledge of conducting. And then there was a group of people. Singing.
Isn't that amazing? These people weren't practicing or performing or anything. People would wander in and out of the group as they pleased, but there was a group of probably thirty people that had gathered together on a sunny Sunday morning at the park, just to sing. It was fantastic! I took a video, and tried to hum along (because of course, I didn't know any of the words).
After a song or two I moved along to see what else I would find in this wacky, wonderful park.
I climbed up a rock wall and found a man with some kind of instrument. It was like a croquet mallet with a string, and he played it like a cello. I have NO idea what it was, but it sounded pretty. With him were a man and a woman with a portable loudspeaker and a couple of microphones. They were also singing. Again, they weren't performing, they weren't asking for money. They were just singing because that's what they like to do!
They weren't the only people with a microphone, either. Dotted all around the park every 20 meters or so was another person (usually a woman) with her very own loudspeaker, singing away to a crowd of people. Others would sometimes ask to take a turn and whoever was singing would relinquish her microphone and join the crowd. It was pretty noisy.
There were also groups of old men playing instruments together. Whole mini-orchestras with brass and woodwind and percussion all covered, just a group of old friends who came to the park to play together on Sunday.
As I made my way around the lake front, I also saw young couples out for a paddle boat ride, as well as a bunch of people flying kites. At one point, I found a big gazebo-type building that protected a small area of the lake so that it was like a pond. It had lily pads growing and bright orange and white fish. They couldn't have been koi fish because they were far too small, but they looked kind of like that. There was a little girl feeding the fish, and I asked (with gestures, of course) if I could take her picture and she got very excited. It was adorable.
I made my way all the way around the lake, and stopped off to pay my respects to Luxun himself, then headed back out into the city to see if I could find my way to my office and attempt to get on the Internet.
Of course I never found my office, but I did wander around my neighborhood and find my way back to the Carrefour. I also found a coffee shop that has Wi-Fi, so I think I might try my luck there and see if anyone can help me get around the blocks that China puts on all the social networking sites. (Including this blog, annoyingly enough. For now, my very patient and loving fiancée is posting them for me. Thank you, love!)
I found my way back home again, footsore (6 miles altogether!) but satisfied with a morning full of sights and experiences. Shanghai is both weird and wonderful.
*****
Monday, 7/19/10- First day of school!
Gosh, it feels weird to be writing that. Especially since, I am going to be writing it again come September! But this first day was one that I was really very nervous about because I had no idea what to expect. Luckily, despite some oddities, the classroom is still a familiar space and I think I am going to feel right at home.
This is my schedule for the week:
M T W R F
8:30-10:00 Speaking 2 OAV 1 Speaking 2 OAV 1 Speaking 2
10:15-11:45 OAV 1 Speaking 2 OAV 1 Speaking 2 OAV 1
13:00-14:30 English Corner 1-3 Lecture 1-3
18:00-19:30 English Corner (adult)
I wish I could write Chinese characters because I know the days of the week now! Except Saturday and Sunday. Shoot, I should learn those!
Anyway, I have Level 2 Speaking class, and Level 1 OAV, which stands for Oral-Audio-Visual. OAV has a focus that is geared heavily towards video, whereas Speaking is much similar to the language programs in United States high schools. At least, in terms of what the book offers.
Oo, I wonder if they will let me take the books home with me? Hm. Probably not. But it'd be nice!
Off track again, sorry! My Level 2 kids are wonderful. When they first came in I played the "Hello, my name is..." game with them. When I told Mary and Allan they were very uncertain and suggested that I only require them to remember the names of two students just before them. (for those not in the know, "Hello, my name is..." involves putting all the students in a circle and having them go around and introduce themselves and give one detail about them in turn. The twist is that before they introduce themselves, they say the name of each person that came before them.)
Since my class was relatively small (only 16 students) I had them say everyone's name and they all did pretty well. They were helping each other remember, and it forced the shy ones to speak loud enough for everyone to hear their name. I noticed a couple of kids already that seem really outgoing and fun. Lucy, or Yu Han, is very friendly and outgoing and Angus seems to like me a lot, so he was very helpful.
One student, Zhang Bo Yang, did not have an English name at the start of class. But the next activity I gave them was to look at the Unit descriptions in the book and pick ones that they wanted to work on. Since we won't have time to get through the whole book, I wanted to choose things that were most interesting and most likely to engage a majority of them. I figured the best way to do that was to ask them what they wanted to do, right?
Anyway, Zhang Bo Yang was flipping through the book and came across a picture of the original movie of Dracula. He told me he had decided on an English name. He wants to be called Alucard. I laughed out loud, I couldn't help it! I told him it was a great name and he announced it to the class. The problem is that Alucard is already pretty proficient and they may move him up to Level 3. I will miss him if he goes.
All of my students in Level 2 seem very nice. Some of them probably should be bumped down to Level 1, but I can tell they are going to be a fun group to work with.
My Level 1 students are also very sweet, but they are not at all proficient. Most of them are very low-level English proficient, at least in terms of speaking and listening. They seem to be a little bit better with reading and writing, although they don't like it.
Level 1 is also strange because of the age range. In Level 2, my students were between 13-16 mostly, with a couple of outliers. In Level 1 I have a whole range from 9-24 years of age. That makes for a pretty strange classroom and also makes it difficult to come up with topics of conversation that will interest or suit everyone's needs. It will be a challenge, for sure.
One student, Jimmy, is 18 and proficient enough that he might be able to move up to Level 2. I kind of want to keep him in my OAV class, though, because he seems to know how to work the projector and computer and it was nice having him around today! He was very helpful.
One thing that helps a lot is that all the students are very polite, although some of them have just as much trouble keeping away from their cell phones as American students do.
All in all, I'd say first day was a success. I will need to work tonight on structuring my OAV class a lot more than I was expecting. Also, I must remember to talk much, much slower!
At the end of each class, I asked all my students to write down one thing they liked about the class that day, and one thing they did not like or were confused about. Although all of them were far too polite to refer to it as a "dislike," almost everyone said that they hoped the teacher would talk slower next time. Curse my speedy Jerseyan style of speech!
No comments:
Post a Comment