An English Teacher in China: March 2014

I know it's been a while since my last blog post but there hasn't been a lot of stories to share. Teaching has been good, my students are great, and things are uneventful but good. However, I did take a trip this last week to Beijing. I've been to Beijing a number of times and each time I try to find new places to visit. This weekend I ended up going to Prince Gong's Mansion (Chinese: 恭王府; pinyin: Gōng Wáng Fǔ). This is a historic site in Beijing where a traditional style mansion still stands to this day. It has been transformed into a park and tourists are allowed to explore the grounds. It is one of Beijing's lesser popular locations and I didn't see the mass of humanity that is so keen to occupy some of the more famous locations. It was still quite a treat to see.

The mansion was constructed in 1777, during the Qing Dynasty, for Niohuru Heshen (Chinese: 鈕祜祿·和珅; pinyin: Niǔhùlù Héshēn), a prominent court official in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. From a young age, Heshen earned the favor of the Qianlong Emperor and he rose swiftly through the ranks in the imperial administration to become one of the top and wealthiest officials in Qianlong's court. In 1799, Qianlong's successor, the Jiaqing Emperor, accused Heshen of corruption and had him executed and confiscated his property. The mansion was then given to Prince Qing, the 17th and youngest son of the Qianlong Emperor.

The mansion itself houses a number of impressive buildings, gardens, courtyards. There is even a man-made duck pond with an island pagoda in the middle. In the back of the mansion there is a separate house for the lady of the household. This special house was called the bat house. There are a couple of theories as to why the wife's special house was called the bat house. One theory suggests that it's because of the singular body with two wings coming off both side that makes it look like a bat shape. Another theory suggests that the it's because the Chinese word for bat (Chinese: 蝙蝠; pinyin: Biānfú) sounds like the Chinese word for "good fortune" (Chinese: 福 ; pinyin: Fú) and the owner wanted to bless his wife. What do you think? No one really knows the answer.

The whole mansion itself is quite beautiful and I'll let the pictures below do the talking:

Hello Readers,

I've decided to start something new with my blog posts. Each week I will be posting a new Chinese phrase that I have learned. You can practice them, too. This week's phrase is:
你的爱好是什么？ (Nǐ de àihào shì shénme?) = What are your hobbies?

Week 1 of the semester has past and Week 2 is well underway. We are having a great start to the spring semester. This term I have two freshman level classes and two retuning sophomore level classes. The freshmen students are unfamiliar to me but I had both of the sophomore classes last term. They were all happy to see me again. My freshman, however, display the typical shyness one would expect from being placed under and unknown and unfamiliar foreign teacher. But they’re going to have to get over their shyness if they want to do well in my class. This term, I’ve planned for them a series of role-play scenarios and dramas where they can act to their hearts content. I find they do not lack of ability to speak English but that they suffer from crippling shyness. Acting is a safe, comfortable, and fun way to help them practice their skills. So far it is going quite well and my classes are getting rave reviews by the students.

The other day I was approached on my walk home by two random junior students. They were super nervous about talking to a foreigner. But, they came anyway. Their English level is decent, but needs work. I took them out for tea and they agreed to be my new Chinese teachers in exchange for English training. I will meet with them again for lunch today to start Lesson 1. I’m super excited about this. While we were having tea, our waitress wanted to come join us. She asked if she could and we agreed. As soon as she got off work, she came over and sat with us for a while. She couldn’t speak any English, but she was just thrilled to get the chance to chat with a foreigner. Not everyone in China shares this enthusiasm for the western world but large majorities of people are very welcoming to westerns. I am continually surprised and pleased by the level of hospitality I am shown in this country by the people. I highly recommend a visit.

My informal cooking classes have gotten quite a reputation on the campus here at Hua Hang and students are queuing up for a chance to learn how to cook western food. I have to limit the cooking class to about nine students per diner because that’s all that will fit in my kitchen. So it is a first come, first serve deal. This past Saturday I had the first of my cooking classes for this term. I had mostly freshmen students, with the exception of two returning sophomore students. We cooked mushroom and onion covered pork chops, mashed potatoes, garlic baked broccoli, stir-fried rice, and cola chicken. It was very delicious. I am having one problem, however, and that is with their attention spans. In most of my cooking classes the students will give out after about 20-30 minutes of prep-time and will want to go watch a movie during the cook-time. I’ve stressed the importance of watching the food so it won’t burn. “But that’s boring!” They say. Thankfully I had two of my students stay on duty the other night and I put them stirring the pots so nothing would burn. The rest went into my living room and watched the first season of Once Upon a Time. It’s all good. When dinner time came, they all made their way back into the kitchen and we enjoyed the meal together.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all will have a pleasant week!

再见! (Zàijiàn!) = Bye Bye!