The tigers are on the prowl!! Montana and LuRue had their moment in the spotlight this afternoon when they danced to the Tiger song as the group sang (fortunately). LuRue, for sure, would not have been able to sing the song in Chinese while trying to remember the dance steps (can-can & grapevine), which were practiced about three times in the hotel room last night. The tune is "Frere Jacques" and tells about 2 tigers, one without an ear, the other without a tail. The costumes were quickly put together with hotel napkins, rubber bands, safety pins, and duct tape. Both dancers survived.
The afternoon was actually delightful. A couple of times a year the students put on an exhibition showcasing the hobbies and talents of the students. According to a couple of the teachers, these arts are often handed down from parents to children through families. The singing ranged from traditional Chinese opera to pop songs...same for the dancing. There was also a Kung Fu demonstration by a student that has been training for 10 years. An ancient instrument was played by one student, followed shortly after by 2 students playing guitar. Following these acts, we volunteers were led to a table where 3 girls demonstrated the art of making and serving tea. Seems that there are different teas for young people and for old people.
From there, we went to the back tables where we watched as students demonstrated Chinese calligraphy, ink painting, watercolors, paper cutting, chops carved from wood, and T-shirt painting. We each tried our hand at the calligraphy...writing out "China, United States, Friendship". As the show came to a close, we three were presented with the works of art made by the students.
The morning classes went normally, usually beginning slowly as we start with a lesson in Pronunciation, but as soon as we move on to the contests, the excitement begins. Again slow at first because the students are so shy, but by the end of the session (90 minutes), they are racing to the front of the room. BaoLi had told us that they love competition, so we are using as much as we can. Photo sessions used to come at the end of the class...now they are beginning at the 10-minute break midway. Montana has probably already appeared on hundreds (thousands?) of China's version of Facebook. And there is still a week and a day to go! It's sad to think our trip is coming to an end.
Since the exhibition started at 1:00pm, we were taken to eat in the teachers' campus canteen. It's a cafeteria where the teachers can eat breakfast and lunch. On the way Ms. Shi pointed to her apartment on the other side of the university wall...24 floors up! Apparently, the teachers are given the opportunity to live very near the campus. There are about 495 teachers and staff for the 10,000 students there. The classes we've worked with range in size from 37 to 52, with most of them being about 45. The teachers have told us that they sometimes combine classes so that there are 80 or so altogether. Can't imagine trying to learn or teach a foreign language like that!
While being driven to and from places, we have lots of opportunities to observe many things, incredibly aggressive traffic being only one. Always we see people with brooms sweeping the sidewalks, the streets, walkways, alleys. If there is litter dropped, it doesn't stay there long (except for some flower boxes). There are also street-cleaning trucks in addition to water trucks (to spray the air to clean it) which play "It's a Small, Small World" so that people will be warned. At first we thought it was an ice-cream truck.
Before dinner, we walked to the mall to get some more lollipops for the winning teams. We managed to find a treat or two for ourselves along the way. This healthy eating can be tolerated for only so long!
The afternoon was actually delightful. A couple of times a year the students put on an exhibition showcasing the hobbies and talents of the students. According to a couple of the teachers, these arts are often handed down from parents to children through families. The singing ranged from traditional Chinese opera to pop songs...same for the dancing. There was also a Kung Fu demonstration by a student that has been training for 10 years. An ancient instrument was played by one student, followed shortly after by 2 students playing guitar. Following these acts, we volunteers were led to a table where 3 girls demonstrated the art of making and serving tea. Seems that there are different teas for young people and for old people.
From there, we went to the back tables where we watched as students demonstrated Chinese calligraphy, ink painting, watercolors, paper cutting, chops carved from wood, and T-shirt painting. We each tried our hand at the calligraphy...writing out "China, United States, Friendship". As the show came to a close, we three were presented with the works of art made by the students.
The morning classes went normally, usually beginning slowly as we start with a lesson in Pronunciation, but as soon as we move on to the contests, the excitement begins. Again slow at first because the students are so shy, but by the end of the session (90 minutes), they are racing to the front of the room. BaoLi had told us that they love competition, so we are using as much as we can. Photo sessions used to come at the end of the class...now they are beginning at the 10-minute break midway. Montana has probably already appeared on hundreds (thousands?) of China's version of Facebook. And there is still a week and a day to go! It's sad to think our trip is coming to an end.
Since the exhibition started at 1:00pm, we were taken to eat in the teachers' campus canteen. It's a cafeteria where the teachers can eat breakfast and lunch. On the way Ms. Shi pointed to her apartment on the other side of the university wall...24 floors up! Apparently, the teachers are given the opportunity to live very near the campus. There are about 495 teachers and staff for the 10,000 students there. The classes we've worked with range in size from 37 to 52, with most of them being about 45. The teachers have told us that they sometimes combine classes so that there are 80 or so altogether. Can't imagine trying to learn or teach a foreign language like that!
While being driven to and from places, we have lots of opportunities to observe many things, incredibly aggressive traffic being only one. Always we see people with brooms sweeping the sidewalks, the streets, walkways, alleys. If there is litter dropped, it doesn't stay there long (except for some flower boxes). There are also street-cleaning trucks in addition to water trucks (to spray the air to clean it) which play "It's a Small, Small World" so that people will be warned. At first we thought it was an ice-cream truck.
Before dinner, we walked to the mall to get some more lollipops for the winning teams. We managed to find a treat or two for ourselves along the way. This healthy eating can be tolerated for only so long!
Hopefully at least a photos of the 2 tigers??
ReplyDeleteWhat a marvelous exhibition
Glad you didn’t have to startle the street cleaning truck drivers with an order of ‘chocolate chip mint'
I would have enjoyed seeing all the different crafts being demonstrated. Sounds like you don't have much down time on this trip. I'm still amazed you two have time to write so much on your blog!
ReplyDeleteJanice