Letters from Overseas

October 2008

• The Amity Foundation
  Education Division
  71 Hankou Road
  Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008
  CHINA

Hi, family and friends,

This has been a very exciting week with my students!

Any of you who have done "how to" presentations with your classes have experienced the fun of having students talk and teach about a chosen subject. I always looked forward to those presentations with my grade 8s and I was looking forward to them this week with my adult learners. The first presentation was by a dentist whose English was almost non-existent eight weeks ago. He brought in the big model of the teeth and demonstrated proper brushing techniques using very understandable English.

This was followed by Chinese paper-cutting and paper-folding demonstrations, grape washing (one by one), Chinese chess, accessorizing with scarves, a simple hairdo, a milk and honey facial, how to upgrade the memory on your computer, some card tricks, how to make California rolls, software for an electronic photo album, cartooning (by a China-famous cartoonist), and several card tricks. I was very impressed with how well they had prepared and how careful they had been about checking the pronunciation, and they were all totally attentive and thrilled by each presentation.

For our student-led activities this week, my student, who is a lawyer, organized a debate on capital punishment. It was a great opportunity for my students to practise English on a significant issue. With 10 minutes to prepare and practise, they did an amazing job at expressing their views.

Each Thursday, we listen to part of a Chinese news broadcast in English. It allows me to introduce vocabulary that would not come up in daily conversation. I tape the morning news and select one item for us to focus on. I then present some of the key vocabulary before the students listen to the broadcast. This week's item was about the global economic crisis. As I was introducing the vocabulary, e.g., "international co-operation," "dialogue," "trade liberalization," "global economy," and "share solutions," I was struck by the co-operative spirit in the vocabulary and the interconnectedness of all countries reflected in the crisis and the search for solutions. I wonder if this crisis will have some positive outcomes in building more co-operative international relations.

On Wednesday, we went bowling at a bowling alley that looks just like a Canadian alley, with shoe rental area, snack bar, pool tables, and many lanes with the electronic scoring and set-up. They worked very hard to use English terminology and most of the explanations were in English because I, of all people, was the expert in the group! At about $1.50 per game and the same for shoe rental, apparently it is too expensive for average Chinese people. We played three games; the students really improved and had a great time, and I broke 100 in 10-pin, which, for me, is quite an achievement!

In addition to these positive highlights, I also had quite a negative experience. Because I had been on a class outing, I had only my backpack and had my wallet in the pocket—something that I know I should not do. On my way to the store I was blocked by several monks—one behind and three in front. When I went to get my wallet out in the store, the pocket of my backpack was open and my wallet was gone! I went to the Foreign Affairs Office and when I related my story and expressed how upset I was that monks would do such a thing, they explained that they were probably "fake" monks—a little group of pickpockets dressed as monks. I feel sorry for my students who are so apologetic about the incident.

Love,
Mary

Mary Fraser is a United Church of Canada Overseas Personnel serving with the Amity Foundation in China. The work of this ecumenical partner and the work of overseas personnel are made possible through your gifts to the Mission and Service Fund of The United Church of Canada.