Zunyi Normal College Poetry Club 2: The Difference a Year Makes

The Poetry Club met again this term, though its numbers diminished by one. The lovely Lonely, who changed her name to Susan, left the group. Her poems the first term were superb, but life gets busy when you move to the main campus from the idyllic freshman campus.

We had an additional member for a short time. One day she stopped me after class to say, "Jason, don't you know that most of the poems the club writes suck?" It's also true that she never wrote her own poems. I see a critic in the making. So maybe some poems "suck," but try writing a poem in Chinese and see how it goes.

Poetry gets under a language, reveals its most basic elements. Slowly the students are starting to get it. It's been one of my greatest pleasures in China to see these moments of realization, which then turn into poetry.

Here are the poems the students are most proud of, and with good reason.

3 Poems by Aimee:

"A Red Leaf in Late Autumn"
Red color
like a feather
falls slowly
then lies quietly
awaiting the winter.

"Time"
How to describe you?
Long, short, quick, slow and quiet
constantly moving.

"Home"
Do you still remember the place,
which you know but often forget?
Sometimes at a sudden case
you recall it with regret.



6 Poems by Jean:

The winter comes now
I dress in big and puffy clothes
I feel warm and fitted


I am so happy
Living in a new campus
It is convenient


Every time I arrive at home
My mother embraces me.
She is a kind woman.
Time, don't hurt her please.
That is my best wish.


There is a naughty boy
Who likes to play with toys
He often dirties his face
To do something without pace
But he often says he's a good boy


A little girl whose name was snow
But who always walked along so slow
Who is she, can you guess?
She's Snow White the princess!
She likes people around her to follow.


During ten minutes after class
We play a funny game
Who loses must be punished



5 Poems by Beatrice:

Look at the fall leaves
Soon here comes the cold weather
Waiting for the snow


I won't give up
Like Boston ivy always climbing up
I won't break down
Like the needles of pine never falling down


"Muse"
Maybe you
don't know how much
I admire you
I want to be
A person like you
Under any circumstance
Always calm and confident


Look, the cat is waiting
But the mouse is still hiding
Where, where?
The angry cat is thinking
When is the little mouse coming?


Which person do I want to be with?
Where am I eager to go?
What am I eager to do?
I hadn't decided before you appeared in my world.


I make believe now
That you are right beside me
Soft breath with a smile



6 Poems by Stella

This is an empty house
One cat and one mouse
They are good friends
They all like spicy foods


"Halloween"
Take up your mask
Go to the dance
Monsters surround you
Halloween is here


"Champion"
We are strangers at first sight.
I don't know, what's your name?
Where are you from?
You are clever, hard-working and friendly
You are the best
You are the Champion
You are my dear sister


"Beatrice"
Dancing like a butterfly
Singing like a little lark
Looking with big black eyes
Smiling sweet charming smiles,
She's a versatile girl.
Do you want to know who?


I'm from a small town
Sleep in a small bed
Eat with a small bowl
Live in a small house
Put on my small bag
Pack up my small dream
Set foot on my journey
To visit the big big world


Half-blood prince
A teacher of Hogwarts
Good at potions
A servant of Voldemort



7 Poems by Champion

Sorrow in my mind
Complicated
Human relationships


Gone is the freshman.
Life turns out to be on the go.
Youth can never renew.
How can one wear confidence
And a bright face?


Rain but no tears
Tears but no rain.
The sky is physical
Humans are emotional!


Yesterday once more
All I need is
Conquest of paradise.
I believe
We are the champions!


God is a girl
Because of you.
You don't know
My heart will go on.
Don't stop till I get enough.


Click, click!
He dragged his body without a leg.
Quick, quick!
She rushed like an arrow with her bag.
No, no!
It's almost six o'clock.
Please, please!
Don't let mother fall asleep.


A pacific pig peeked at Peter playing ping pong on the playground.
Pablo packaged his paints patiently with a pile of paper
While a peaked penguin picked up a purple purse with his paw.
A placid professor purchased a piece of pizza with pineapple.

Zunyi Normal College Poetry Club

Spring 2013 marked the beginning of the Zunyi Normal College Poetry Club.

The students were all freshmen, and, while poetry enthusiasts, none had written poetry in English before.

Here are the results of one semester's work. We hope to continue meeting this year and expand into longer forms.

A Quiet Morning

Walking along a narrow road

A chill makes me feel cold.

Many blossoms are lying on the ground

I know another season will come around.

A Bright Night

the moon shines brightly

a breeze blows quietly

some frogs croak loudly

By Aimee, Class 2

----------

Fall

The falling yellow leaves in deep autumn

Remind me of a beautiful girl

Who is dancing a ballet alone.

A Rainy Day

it's raining for hours

just like the sky cries sadly

but why don't we smile?

Quiet Night

though it's getting dark

I come to the quiet lake

lonely and alone

By Lonely, Class 3

----------------------

At the foot of a mountain

Lived an old lady with three children.

Their life was easy

But they're really happy.

On a sunny Saturday morning

I went out to play.

Here comes the bus

While traffic was in a mess.

the flower is smiling

the water is flowing

is spring coming?

By Champion, Class 1

----------------

Come on!

Hard-working, serious,

Loving, conscientious,

Strong-willed, generous,

Fighting, ambitious.

Weather Change

The rainy day is fleeing

The sunny day is coming

Moods throw away sorrows

Hearts don't cast shadows.

Outside

A pack of people in a line

One of the boys wants to fly

A small river flows into the East

But we go home toward the West.

By Jean, Class 1

----------------

It's raining outside

We are sitting on inside.

Where is the little deer?

Maybe it's here.

Where is Mr. Rabbit?

Maybe he is looking for Alice

Or threw away his top hat

Hidden in the thick growth of grass.

Sitting beside the window

Looking at the shadow

Dreaming my dream

Eating my ice cream

No, no, no.

Don't play the piano!

It's noisy,

It makes me crazy.

By Shirley, Class 2

Food posts have been moved to a NEW blog: awokthroughchina.blogspot.com

English Corner for Dummies: An Ongoing Post

Week by week here in China I plan an English Corner for my freshman students. After my first English Corner (see my post "English Corner, Achtung"), I've made some refinements.

Only two classes participate each week, limiting the number to 90 students. This number is still unwieldy, but better than 270. I've been lucky that for the past two weeks other activities have been taking place at the same time--lectures and such--so that I've had only about 20 students for each English Corner.

As the weeks go by, I will update this post with the activities we do in English Corner. It is my hope that it can help other English teachers in China, and I also welcome comments and new ideas!

Week 1: English Wisdom

Students in groups of five are given a slip of paper on which is written an English saying, such as "It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all."  The students first discern the meaning and then discuss how the saying applies to life. Do they agree? Disagree?  What are the pros and cons of heeding this saying? ...and so forth. This is an advanced activity, which turned out to be too difficult for my freshmen, but for advanced students it can be a great way to learn the nuances of the language.

Week 2: Homonyms and Homographs

Students learning English often confuse words that sound the same (or almost the same) but have different meanings, and sometimes different spellings. You can find many examples here: http://www.crazysquirrel.com/stuff/same-sound.jspx

Students in pairs are given cards with two or more such words on them. They discuss and come up with the definitions and then come back to the teacher and use each of them in a sentence. If you have more time or more advanced students, you can have them write a story or poem using the words.

Week 3: Halloween Culture

Chinese students, when they know about Halloween at all, find it fascinating. They're often not big fans of candy, at least here in Guizhou, where they usually prefer spicy to sweet, but the idea of dressing up in a costume sounds like great fun to them. There are a variety of activities you can do to introduce aspects of the Halloween tradition. All depends on student level, time, and resources.

-Show a short video in English on the history of Halloween. Make sure it's entertaining and has lots of costumes and clips from haunted houses.
-Supplement this English Corner with the showing of a horror film. Don't make it too scary or gory (Michael Meyer? Um, no). The students here are not used to this genre. A good choice would be a classic horror film, a horror spoof, or Michael Jackson's "Thriller."
-Show "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and then carve pumpkins together. Admittedly, this introduces a made-up Halloween myth that Americans do not actually celebrate, but it's a fun cartoon and segues nicely into pumpkin carving. If you can't get pumpkins, find a place where it's okay to make a mess, or if you don't want to chance a student chopping off his or her finger, you can draw jack-o-lanterns on the chalk board or make them out of construction paper. This is a good activity for making a plan, and giving and receiving directions in English, if you can actually get the students to talk together in English while they're carving the pumpkin.
-If you have a lot of time and resources, have a costume party where each student tells the rest of the class in English why they chose their costume and what it means. This is a great vocabulary builder. If you cannot actually have costume party, the students can imagine what they would dress as.
-The idea of a Halloween Song is a bit of a misnomer, but it can be great practice for pronunciation and quick speaking. Perhaps Monster Mash, or Thriller. We used a song called "Bony Fingers, Bony Toes," which I had never heard before.

The China closet

Peace Corps is gay-friendly.

Peace Corps is realistic.

A plethora of gay men and women have served and continue to serve in the Peace Corps and in other U.S. government organizations. At the same time, effective service in a host country requires integration into said host country's culture. In rural and small-city China, there is no gay subculture to speak of, and, one must admit, the notion of such a subculture is a product of the West. (If Blogger had a footnote function, I would add one here about issues in terminology, e.g., "gay," "homosexual," "GLBTQ," etc.)

As a man who has been devoted to civil rights regardless of sexual orientation for some time, this sublimation of identity for the greater good has been a challenge. Even during pre-service training, I was quite critical of the lack of orientation-specific training and information. But, as training progressed, I realized the Corps has bigger fish to fry and that only so much can be addressed in two months of training--i.e., it's more important that you can speak Chinese and teach English as a foreign language than it is for you to feel comfortable as a gay person in China. Volunteers are wide-minded people; we can figure it out for ourselves. Indeed, we are expected to do so; this is integration.

Fast-forward through training, arrival at my college, questions about my marital status, sighs of consolation that I do not have a wife or children yet, to Friday, September 28, Zunyi #4 Middle School gate.

I have arrived for the wonderful weekly family meal with my teaching counterpart and his parents and extended family. I've been here before, but only with guidance, so I am not sure how to get to their home. As I wait for my counterpart to come and fetch me, I am approached by six or so Chinese students, most of whom are in military garb.

"Hello," they say.

"Ni hao," I say.

"Where are you from?" they ask.

"Wo shi Meiguo ren. Ni ne?" I answer.

"We are students at this school. Can you answer a few questions for our survey?" they say.

I take a look at the questions. They're all in Chinese, which I cannot yet read without a pinyin transliteration.

"How do you feel about the gay?", they ask.

"Mei guanxi," I say. "In America it's no problem. Most Americans think gay people should have the same rights as everyone else."

They are very excited. They ask my age. Someone takes a photo. I'm pretty sure another is recording our conversation on his smartphone. One of the students eagerly jots down my answers and information.

I'm getting a little paranoid. There is only one 38 year-old white dude in Zunyi, I'm fairly certain. Will my answers be reported to the authorities? Will I be asked to make account for them by the Chinese government? Unlikely, I know, but...

I avert further questions by asking my own. What do they think about "the gay"? They say they feel the same way. "The gay" should have the same rights as other people.

"Okay," I reply. I'm disappointed in myself for not being more forthright, but also pleased that I've been cautious as the Corps recommends.

And so, the China closet. Out and in. In and out.

A welcome phone call comes from my counter part. "Where are you? I'm waiting for you on Red Army Street." So, I can go. "Bye, bye; Zaijian," I say. "Thank you," they say. "See you at Red Army Street English Corner tonight?" they ask. "Maybe," I say, knowing that I've had enough such integration for one day. Some home cooking with a Chinese family will have to do.

English Corner, achtung!

Ah, English Corner, a place to gather with your EFL students and casually discuss a topic in English. It's so Renaissance man, so cerebral, so of the Western liberal arts tradition.

Or so I thought...

My first English Corner was a week ago now. My 270 freshmen and I were going to discuss together some English-language idioms. 

English Corner as I imagined it would be ( I attempted to insert drawings here, but to no avail. If you know how, send me a message!):

I introduce the topic with the help of my class monitors, the students are given an idiom to discuss, I mingle to check their comprehension and discuss how the idiom relates to similar Chinese sayings.

English Corner as it began:

Chaos. The class monitors were adamant that all of the students could not fit in the designated area and that we should move to the athletic field. Okay, I say. Let's move to the field for our discussion. The weather is pleasant, hen liang kuai. 

Shouting. The monitors give instructions to their classmates to move to the field. Five minutes later, each class is in military formation. They are now ready for me to impart my English-language wisdom. One monitor suggests that I stand on the landing at the front of the teaching building to address all of the students. I'm feeling a little like an autocrat in the mid twentieth century. This was the first time in China that I felt my patience really tested. Those of you who know me well know that my patience has deep reserves. I was literally on the verge of shouting or throwing up my hands and heading home. I passed the test (Lord of the Rings geeks, unite). 

Pause. I remember that these students have just finished two weeks of military training and that, even though extremely intelligent and responsible, the class monitors have never been responsible for leading such a large group of students, let alone shepherding a foreign American teacher through his first English Corner. 

English Corner, back to the plan:

I calmly went to each class, as is my wont, and handed out slips of paper on which were written idioms. And then, after having handed them all out, I went from class to class to discuss. 

The idioms were a little over their heads, I'll admit, and it was a stretch getting to every class during the allotted time, but I am thankful we were able to get back to the plan and engage in some un-regimented conversation. 

I'm a Foreign Expert, so says the People's Republic

The most critical, if usually pro forma, event of the Peace Corps China Volunteer in the first month of service is to make sure his or her visa is renewed. Otherwise, goodbye China, hello home-front.

Thanks to the able assistance of my college Waiban (foreign affairs) Director and my professor counterpart Fan Bo, all went smoothly.

I am now a "Foreign Expert," which it seems entitles me to certain rights while staying in country. In some ways I now have more privileges than a Chinese National, but I still can't go to Tibet without permission.