What I learned today

The Chinese word for "jeans" is 牛仔裤, which literally translates as "cowboy pants"

I don't know how I didn't know this before.  Yet another reason why I love learning Chinese so much. 

It's a trap!

Today I was going to get some dinner and I purchased this winner of a 帽子 (hat):

I also bought this one because it was just too good to pass up:

I purchased both for 31 kuai, or slightly over US $4.  I'm still a little miffed that she wouldn't lower it more, but I was cold and hungry.  And well, really wanted the hats. 

I should be used to this by now

 (clam farms in Qingdao, I think)

Words/ phrases I hope to never hear again after leaving China:

- That is lovely
- "just so-so"
- It is so interesting
- delicious foods
- "and so on..."
- What a pity!
- Nice to meet you.
- play with my friends

This list will probably grow longer as my second term progresses, but I am kind of sick of correcting the same mistakes over and over again.  Plus, I can't correct flat out awkward or old-fashioned English.

Otherwise, my weekend was fun because I met another English teacher and we went to "hike" around the 石老人 ("stone old man") area of Qingdao but ended up climbing a random rock.  It was a really windy day but was a nice change from winter -- it was great to be outside again!  We did wander across a strange "Bear Performance Park" where we took photos like this:

 I think this park is some sort of zoo meets Banjo Kazooie ride -- pretty scary, huh?  I also treated myself to a latte from Starbucks on Saturday before coming back to my apartment.  America!

I start Chinese lessons again this week and it's finally warming up just a little.  There was a giant storm on Sunday, complete with thunder, lightning, and flash flooding.  Considering that I am on a coastal town in the north, I didn't know this was possible.  It's nice to get back into a routine of things here, but I am eagerly awaiting my first long weekend vacation!

"Safe and sound" apple

I mentioned this before, but Chinese students here give each other apples for Christmas.  This is a relatively new trend (as in the past three to four years) among young people, according to my old teacher Linda.  I think it is also because the younger, more Westernized Chinese also want to celebrate Christmas in their own way. 

I wish we gave out fruits in America!  Some other random presents I've received include a mug with a lid and a glow stick.  This is actually the coolest apple I've ever seen.

 

The character is from 恭喜, which means "congratulations" and is frequently said during the new year. I think that there was some sort of sticker put on the apple to prevent the yellow parts from turning red.  Pretty cool stuff!  I don't want to eat it and wish I could bring it back to America.

The student who gave this to me, Myron, also wrote me a pretty sweet note:

Dear Alison:

Hello!

Your lessons are very interesting and you are very funny.  In your class, I feel relax and happy.  Besides, I want to learn more.

Before, I can only say "Hello" to a foreigner.  After I meet you I dare to lots of words.  Although I can't express my meaning well.

I write this letter is to thank you.

In China, apple means "safe and sound".  Now I send this apple to you.  I wish you're always safe and sound in your life.

I also wish that you can still teach us the next year!

Yours,

Myron

I have yet to decide whether I will keep my same classes next year or not.  I do really love my students, but am also open to meeting new ones and having a different experience next semester.  I guess I'll just wait and see what happens.  All I know is that I want Fridays free and all my classes earlier in the day so I can have my afternoons to take my own Chinese classes and work out.

This is my second to last week of classes and my students are being subjected to exam part one: oral comprehension.  Mwahaha. 

An Almost White Christmas

Yes, that is a groundskeeper sweeping the snow away.

Probably made by some couple cuddling or making out in the park.

 

And then I got attacked by Hong hong, the little gimp legged puppy that one of the groundskeepers owns.  He's really cute and loves to play.  He also enjoys eating my shoes.

So even though this was about three days late, this is kind of my white China-tastic Christmas, complete with a gimp legged puppy and snow sweepers.

Have a safe trip back from where ever you are and hope you had a Marry Christmas!

We will become goodfriend

Whenever I have a crappy day and China really has me down, it's my students that get me through.  They're all so sweet and eager to learn (well there are a few exceptions...) that it makes me job easier and the days more exciting.  The weekdays fly by and weekends come faster than they ever have before.  Each class has a personality and I look forward to the days when I have a fantastic class.

Today I had one of my favorite classes and received a letter from a student via his friend (Stone, formerly known as David).  Actually the story how they changed their names is quite funny too.  This happened last week:

David: We want to change our names.
Me: Why? I like your names.
Brandon: We don't like our names.  I want to be "Pine."
David: I want to be "Stone."
Me: Boys, those aren't real names.  Foreigners don't think those are real names.
Brandon/David:  Well, our Hotel English teacher's name is "Apple."
Me: Touche.  You are now Stone and Pine.

Here's the letter from Brandon, the student formerly known as Pine.

Miss Alison:

I'm Brandon that have changed name to Pine.

At first, I'm sorry that I can't go class with you, because I have something must to do on this Friday in my hometown.  And I think when you see this paper, I have gotten home.  I beg your pardon

Every time, when I saw you, I'd like to speak with you.  But I was too nervous to say a word.  For example, the last time we met in Walking Street of LiCun.  I was about to tell you that there are a lot of stealer.  if you don't care of your sththings, it will be stolen.  But Since I was much nervous that I can't say a word.

In future days, I think we will became goodfriend, and you will become our best teacher.

My English and handwriting are poor, if there are somethings wrong please figer finger out.  And I'll change.

At the end, I wish you have a delight lessons with my classmates.

Yours student
Pine (Brandon)
12.9.2009.

Then there is this little illustration with the chinese chacters for "ha... ha..." written.

Cutest teaching moment to date.  I was also in charge of English corner today with another teacher, Craig.  I basically had to speak to a swarm of Chinese students eager to practice their English and we had some really interesting talks.  Hopefully I'll get around to posting that later.  I am exhausted right now.

Currently craving: Cheese or pizza

Creating more Twilighters

I am declaring a war on dust bunnies in my apartment.  I don't even know where they come from, really.  It's not that dusty here, I take my shoes off when I come into the room, and wear my ugly slippers inside.  If I sweep, there will be more dust bunnies like a day later.  So I mop the entire apartment, only to see them start collecting in piles a few days later.   It's not even that I don't clean this place.  I end up cleaning twice a week because these dust bunnies drive me crazy!  Grrr...

This past week I gave my students a test.  It would be pretty easy if they were paying attention during class, but if they weren't, it really showed.  I also didn't care about spelling, so also got some really funny misspellings.  I even got a test where the student meant to write 'good' but flipped the character and wrote 'dood.'  Apparently, I am also teaching Liz Lemon because someone wrote "I want to go to there."

After the test I showed them the first hour of Twilight and they really enjoyed it.  Turning the movie off after an hour was like taking candy from a baby and the students would yell 'Nooooo!!!' when I stopped it after the bell rang.  They are also big on making dramatic noises such as "ayoh!" (when Edward stops the van), "wah!" (when he speeds away in the car), and "ayah!" (when he speeds up the mountain.  They're also not quite sure if Edward is handsome or not and seem to be more creeped out by the fact that he is a vampire and is disturbingly pale.  If only I -- and other American women and girls -- had the same logic.

The word for vampire 吸血鬼 (xi1 xue4 gui3) literally means "suck blood spirit" and the students seem to enjoy the vampire-in-love-with-human thing.  They really like love stories here.  Even the boys were calling out "kiss her! kiss her!" in the meadow.

I wanted to show them the other half of the movie this upcoming week but am having problems moving my classes to rooms with computers and projectors, so I will feed the addition in a few weeks.  I now have a 1.2 GB copy of Twilight on my flash drive, any takers?

Lesson Planning

This week’s lesson plan was the most fun I’ve had so far. Here are the basics of my lesson plan:

Week Four – Congratulations and Thanks

Attendance (10 minutes)
Reading Unit 2 Dialogue (10 minutes)
- When can you congratulate others?
o Graduation
o Engagement/ marriage/ having a baby
o New job
o Pasing a test
o Promotion at a job
Reading Unit 3 Dialogue (10 minutes)
- How do you tell someone that something bad has happened?
o I’m not sure how to put this but…
o I’m sorry, but…
o This is hard to explain, but…
Create a Dialogue (10 minutes prep + 25 minutes performing)
With your language partner, create a dialogue like the ones in the book. Please use congratulatory phrases and express your thanks. You may also apoligize or break the news to someone that something bad has happened. You can make up your own scenario, but be sure to act it all out!
Song
“As Long As You Love Me” – The Backstreet Boys

I got some really great dialogues from the students, including:
- “Oh no! I have H1N1!”
- “I lost my dog!”; “I think I ate your dog.”
- “I lost my son in the park.”


The funniest were actually the sad ones and there was also an overwhelming number of “I passed my English exam” dialogues. Apparently they are all worried about some English exam, which is clearly not coming from Miss Alison. 






The class really enjoys singing the Backstreet Boys and I filmed a video of them singing. It is actually the boys that enjoy singing the Backstreet Boys the most! 


Here is a picture of my Wednesday class from 1:30 – 3:10pm. They are a riot!

Some of the funniest dialogues today went something like this:

(two girls)
A: I fell in love with a boy today.
B: Congratulations!
A: No, it is bad news. He has a girlfriend.
B: That is too bad. Maybe you can just be friends.
A: I hope so, he has a good heart!


(two boys)
A: My girlfriend broke up with me. I am broken hearted.
B: I’m sorry to hear that. Forget about it.
A: Thanks.
B: We will go and find you a more beautiful girlfriend now.


(two boys)
A: Why are you so happy?
B: The Lakers won a basketball game! [Student then launches into a play-by-play speech on how Kobe Bryant saved the game]

After all the crappy internet, lack of a real heater, and funk pockets, the students really make teaching here worthwhile and I am looking forward to many more fun days with them. Except that they really want to sing “You Are Not Alone” by Michael Jackson… that might be the end of me.

Man man shuo! Speak slower!

I have now completed my first full week of teaching English classes. I have eight classes each week and every one is a different section of students. I have them for 1.5 hours with a 10 minute break in the middle. Each class has about fifty students, but this tends to be around 51-53 students each period.

My English name is…

Some of them have English names already, but there were also some classes that I had to name. I would list a bunch of names on the board and they could pick one, find one on my sheets, or think of something on their own.

Most popular names: Lily, Anna, Eileen, Selina (singer from S.H.E), Mike, Jack, and Tony.
Strangest/ funniest names: Snow, Rain, Santa, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tracy McGrady (I have several), Kobe (I have many), King (as in James… I have three of these).

This never ceases to amaze me.

And so on…

Teaching is fun so far though. The second class we are doing some dialogues and going over the pronunciations that confuse the students. Then I went over things like nicknames, how to pronounce the Boston Celtics, and taught them some college- related vocabulary.

When they list their hobbies (or any sort of list, actually) I can say that most students end their sentences with “and so on…”

For example, “My hobbies are to read books, sleep, play basketball…. And so on.” (a lot of them list sleeping under hobbies too!)

I started keeping a tally for one girl and she said it three times in one dialogue.

Another odd thing they all say is when they begin their little dialogues, they all start it with “Very pleased to meet you/ very pleased to meet you too.” Who says that?! Even more, which English book here taught them?!

Explaining Halloween

It was fun to explain Halloween to them, but I had a lot of problems explaining what a ‘costume’ was. Firstly because they mixed up ‘custom’ and ‘costume’, but mainly just because it is too weird for them to imagine. Surely they now think that all Americans are totally crazy.

I also told them about carving pumpkins, telling ghost stories, spiders and bats… it was fun and they were getting kind of scared since the electricity was out on campus. Then the wind blew and the door to my classroom flew open and the girls squealed! Fortunately the lights came on in the late afternoon so I hope no one had nightmares.

It also took me a while to explain what “Trick or Treat” meant but then they all went crazy when they found out I had brought candy for all of them. They like to applaud for things like this.

Halloween in Qingdao tonight. I am going as 80s girl in this rockin’ sweatshirt that says “Frannie says relax” with purple tights!