This morning was a scramble for more than one reason. Not only did we have to hear the dreaded alarm, but we would be facing much younger students (juniors in high school) during the second session today - new material prepared with no idea how it would work. LuRue forgot her name tag and her water bottle, but all the important stuff arrived at the school safely.
By previous arrangement, the first session was split into two, with Don trading with us for the second half. The reason was that his students are not only more advanced, but also have some excellent dancers to perform "The Little Apple". They were set to teach Montana the intricate moves that are so popular now in China. For 45 minutes, Montana got one lesson after another, especially from one girl who loves dancing, and it shows. Montana got her workout (though still went treadmilling in late afternoon). Even the "instructor" had to remove layers of jackets and take rests. There is now a video of the entire dance, so maybe Montana will start a new dance craze in Fairbanks.
Our younger students came in a group of 20, so our activity worked well by dividing the class in half. We had menus from different restaurants. With index cards prepared yesterday, each "waiter" had a menu and three index cards with the words they were to speak, such as "Welcome to ____ Restaurant. May I take your order? Here is your bill. Here is your change." They also had pads for writing the order and the price. The diners each got $28...1 ten, 3 fives, and 3 ones in Monopoly money, needing to pay the waiter whatever their bill was. There was just time enough before the break for the waiters and diners to switch places. The barely-controlled chaos actually worked out well. We also had some scaled-down versions of our other activities after the break so that there could be some team competition, which turned out to be just as lively as with our older students. As always, we ended with the Hokey Pokey.
After our goodbyes to the students, the teachers whisked us off to Cherry's apartment, Cherry being a teacher who has worked closely with us. Cherry and her husband now have their own apartment with their 6-year-old daughter, but until recently, they have lived with Cherry's parents in the apartment we visited, in one of hundreds (thousands?) of high-rises in Xi'an. We met her parents--her dad being retired army (now the family chef), her mom an OB-GYN at the hospital and a highly respected medical instructor. Her dad had already made dozens of dumplings and had everything set up for us to "have a try", as the teachers are always encouraging us. The three of us learned to roll the dough, then to put in the filling, pinching the edges shut "just so", so that the filling wouldn't ooze out. Of course, we got to eat the fruits of our labors, along with some other delicious side dishes. The daughter "Ya-Ya" performed a couple of dances and recited some poems. It was delightful!
After bidding goodbye to Cherry and her parents, the teachers then took us back to the campus where the students were practicing ping-pong in a large outdoor court. Also there were two secretaries of the Communist Party..."big potatoes" as Edward would call them in Tanzania. They are attached to the university and at least one of them outranks the president of the college. They challenged Don to some games and he upheld our honor by not failing too badly. We all played a bit, with Montana lasting the longest. It became clear, though, that they were lobbing us easy balls when we watched the ping-pong whizzes really play. Also arriving a bit later was a PE instructor who got Don involved in a martial-art routine. LuRue and Montana joined in when the teachers again encouraged us to "have a try!"
We got back to the hotel about 4:00pm. Our days are full!!! Before we meet at 6:00 for dinner each evening, we are usually writing the blog, the team journal, or preparing a variation for the next day's lesson. Dinners often take nearly two hours as that is the time to discuss the day just past, the day coming, and the reading of the team journal. At least the three of us can go to our rooms...BaoLi faces an hour's bus ride (two transfers) to get home. Then she is often here the next morning by about 7:15am. And we leave on Saturday as she prepares to meet a new team on the same day!
For the next three days, we will be at a new school. We'll continue to use the same materials for the most part as we'll continue to meet new students each day. Somehow the challenge of getting the shy students to participate and to laugh keeps the repetition from getting old. Actually it's comforting to do something familiar so that we can concentrate on getting reactions and smiles.
We may be tired at the end of each day, but neither of us is anxious to leave.
By previous arrangement, the first session was split into two, with Don trading with us for the second half. The reason was that his students are not only more advanced, but also have some excellent dancers to perform "The Little Apple". They were set to teach Montana the intricate moves that are so popular now in China. For 45 minutes, Montana got one lesson after another, especially from one girl who loves dancing, and it shows. Montana got her workout (though still went treadmilling in late afternoon). Even the "instructor" had to remove layers of jackets and take rests. There is now a video of the entire dance, so maybe Montana will start a new dance craze in Fairbanks.
Our younger students came in a group of 20, so our activity worked well by dividing the class in half. We had menus from different restaurants. With index cards prepared yesterday, each "waiter" had a menu and three index cards with the words they were to speak, such as "Welcome to ____ Restaurant. May I take your order? Here is your bill. Here is your change." They also had pads for writing the order and the price. The diners each got $28...1 ten, 3 fives, and 3 ones in Monopoly money, needing to pay the waiter whatever their bill was. There was just time enough before the break for the waiters and diners to switch places. The barely-controlled chaos actually worked out well. We also had some scaled-down versions of our other activities after the break so that there could be some team competition, which turned out to be just as lively as with our older students. As always, we ended with the Hokey Pokey.
After our goodbyes to the students, the teachers whisked us off to Cherry's apartment, Cherry being a teacher who has worked closely with us. Cherry and her husband now have their own apartment with their 6-year-old daughter, but until recently, they have lived with Cherry's parents in the apartment we visited, in one of hundreds (thousands?) of high-rises in Xi'an. We met her parents--her dad being retired army (now the family chef), her mom an OB-GYN at the hospital and a highly respected medical instructor. Her dad had already made dozens of dumplings and had everything set up for us to "have a try", as the teachers are always encouraging us. The three of us learned to roll the dough, then to put in the filling, pinching the edges shut "just so", so that the filling wouldn't ooze out. Of course, we got to eat the fruits of our labors, along with some other delicious side dishes. The daughter "Ya-Ya" performed a couple of dances and recited some poems. It was delightful!
After bidding goodbye to Cherry and her parents, the teachers then took us back to the campus where the students were practicing ping-pong in a large outdoor court. Also there were two secretaries of the Communist Party..."big potatoes" as Edward would call them in Tanzania. They are attached to the university and at least one of them outranks the president of the college. They challenged Don to some games and he upheld our honor by not failing too badly. We all played a bit, with Montana lasting the longest. It became clear, though, that they were lobbing us easy balls when we watched the ping-pong whizzes really play. Also arriving a bit later was a PE instructor who got Don involved in a martial-art routine. LuRue and Montana joined in when the teachers again encouraged us to "have a try!"
We got back to the hotel about 4:00pm. Our days are full!!! Before we meet at 6:00 for dinner each evening, we are usually writing the blog, the team journal, or preparing a variation for the next day's lesson. Dinners often take nearly two hours as that is the time to discuss the day just past, the day coming, and the reading of the team journal. At least the three of us can go to our rooms...BaoLi faces an hour's bus ride (two transfers) to get home. Then she is often here the next morning by about 7:15am. And we leave on Saturday as she prepares to meet a new team on the same day!
For the next three days, we will be at a new school. We'll continue to use the same materials for the most part as we'll continue to meet new students each day. Somehow the challenge of getting the shy students to participate and to laugh keeps the repetition from getting old. Actually it's comforting to do something familiar so that we can concentrate on getting reactions and smiles.
We may be tired at the end of each day, but neither of us is anxious to leave.
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