​Journal Entry #4: Monday, May 17, 2010: First day of class

My first class in Hengyang was actually a guest appearance in another teacher’s class. Aurelie LaMotte is a young French teacher that teaches English and French. Her students were always asking her about the American culture. 

She readily admitted that she had never been to America, so when I came, she asked me to speak to her class in a big Q & A session.  Most of these students were postgraduate students hoping to enter the work force very soon.  The questions started slow but eventually got rolling pretty well.   They first wanted to know about jobs and careers, etc., but soon the questions turned to romance, dating, marriage and weddings!  

At 5:00 p.m. I was escorted, by a couple of my student-hosts, to my class that had about 50 students, all sophomore English majors.  Their English was pretty good.  I talked about my education and career in the field of communication.  I hit the elements of good listening, thinking before you speak, reading as much as you can and then speaking with confidence.  They seemed to be amused with my Speech class mantra of, "Stand Up - Speak Up - Shut Up!"

When the Q & A session started one of the girls asked me how my education and study major has helped my personal life. After stumbling a bit I finally told them that communication has helped me be a better listener and to simply talk to my wife and sons as much as I could.  I then fictitiously told the girls to cover their ears because I had a message for just the boys - I leaned into the microphone and whispered, "Guys, if you want a girl to like you, just listen to her.  Girls don't want boys to fix their problems, they want them to simply listen to their problems!"  With that said the boys shrugged, but the GIRLS BROKE OUT INTO A THUNDEROUS ROUND OF APPLAUSE!!!  It was so funny to hear them do that!

Monday Evening – English Corner:
English Corner is something the USC campus has every Monday night at 7:30 on the outdoor plaza of one of the buildings.  It’s intended for anybody who wants to speak English to come out and practice.  However, if no English-speaking foreigners are there, the crowds are very small.  When we show up, the crowds get bigger as the night goes on.  As soon as the word gets out that Americans are at English Corner the students start calling and texting their friends to tell them, and they come a runnin’!  Our team usually spreads out across the plaza and we each end up with a crowd of anywhere from 30 to 50 to 60 Chinese students circled around each one of us!  So, in a single event we might collectively be speaking to 200 – 300 students.

When meeting these students I often have them tell me their American name as well as their Chinese names. One young lady said she did not have one because she did not know which name to choose.  I asked her to tell me her Chinese name again.  “Miao Miao” she said.  That is pronounced just like we say Meow Meow, so I said her new American name is Kitty!   She squealed with delight and said, “I love it!”  And I said, “Hello Kitty!”  All of the girls applauded because they all knew of the Hello Kitty brand phenomenon.

<<< Previous Post                                                                                                                          Next Post>>>