So, I Was Sitting at Starbucks When...

Teaching at English First

I teach English at a school for adults here in Shanghai. They organize the classes so that the lower level students get Chinese teachers whereas the upper level students get foreign teachers, so many of my students are pretty good at English by the time I see them. They know the grammar well & have a good vocabulary base. The other day, a student came to class dripping from the rain outside & said, "The weather is atrocious!" Indeed.

So they come to classes not to learn verb conjugations or lists of vocabulary, but for the opportunity to practice the language in "real life" situations. We give them classes with engaging topics so they can use the language as a means to an end rather than ending at the language.

In essence, we're not really teaching English here but instead using English to hold discussions on various subjects. Sometimes they are mildly controversial (Did we really go to the moon?), but they are always thought-provoking. Last week I taught a class on despotic & linear hierarchies, & this week I'm teaching about dystopias & cyberpunk.

The lessons are written as Power Point presentations by a team at the main office downtown & all the schools throughout the country use them. However, every teacher has one class where they can be creative with the content.

I teach a Travel Club which features a different destination every week. I get to choose the destinations, & I research the information that I use to create my own Power Point presentations. This week we're doing Tokyo. It's a lot of work. One 50-minute class takes me about five hours to prepare!

But I love doing it. It's interesting to research the information, & I like the challenge of putting together a seamless lesson based on content rather than language. I feel like I'm learning something too, which is one of the main reasons why I love teaching.

Green China?

According to History.com & this guy, 16 of the top 20 polluted cities in the world are in China. The State Department has a more conservative statistic, but I wouldn't exactly say that people in China have hopped on the environmental bandwagon. Even so, some cultural norms turn out to be environmentally friendly despite a general nonchalance on the subject.

For example, almost everything that's recyclable gets recycled - not by your standard suburban family, but by the people who make their living sorting through garbage cans for sellable materials. The grocery stores don't provide bags for you (customer service is a relatively new concept here), so almost everyone carries their own shopping bag to the store. & millions of people (I can safely say that in the largest city in China) use public transportation every day instead of driving a car around town.

Now if we could just get rid of all that smog.

Naming Yourself

I teach English at a school for adults here in Shanghai. Most of the students have an English name that they have used since long before they became English students. It seems to be the custom in China for people to adopt an English name in addition to their Chinese name. Since many Chinese people deal with English speakers regularly, it just makes things easier for everyone. Most people choose "normal" names, like Amy or Barry, but some people get creative with names like Sugar or Eunice.

In Vietnam it was different. Only students of English had English names, & many of those were chosen by their foreign teachers. Some students mocked the system by naming themselves Superman or Cinderella. In business, however, Vietnamese people use their Vietnamese name, even when dealing with English speakers. They don't want English names. It's not their real name.

When I go to the post office or the bank, they sometimes ask me if I have a Chinese name. I've tried to think of a good name to use, but haven't come up with anything that I can remember long enough to tell anyone about it. I think I'll just stick with Nancy. It's easier for everyone.

Public Transportation

Living in Shanghai means relying on public transportation. I had a bicycle in Vietnam, which allowed me to roam freely around the small town where I lived. But here in Shanghai, a bicycle is impractical. The city is just too huge to try to bike from one place to another.

A car - or even a scooter - is also out of the question, since I won't be here long enough to make the investment worthwhile. Besides, I don't know how to drive here. Good thing my apartment is a five-minute walk from my school.

On my days off I use the bus & subway to get to the center of the city where all the interesting things are: museums, monuments, bars, & bookstores. Most trips downtown take about an hour one way, sometimes longer depending on how many transfers I make.

So I struggle with this conflict: On the one hand, I want to go out & see this city, take in all it has to offer, experience it to the fullest. On the other hand, I don't look forward to dealing with the journey, the pushing & shoving, trying to ask for directions when I don't speak the language. Besides, I've been working all week & I'm tired. It would be so much easier just to stay home & watch a DVD that I bought from a street vendor.

Luckily, I have so far been able to push through my laziness & go out anyway. I start to think of all the things out there that I could be missing, & I grab my transportation card & go. & it's almost always worth it.