Safety and Security: We've had weekly sessions on everything from personal safety to how to deal with police detention to (my personal favorite) determining counterfeit bills. If you are wondering, the numbers on the bottom left change color when viewed at different angles, and Chairman Mao's picture is textured, not flat. Those are the easiest ways to tell.
Chinese medicine: Our host sister Wei works at a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) hospital, and her stomach has been bothering her ever since she came back from Hong Kong/Macau last week. So, she obtained a mixture of dry leaves and some 'small animal' (I think a cicada, from her description), which has been boiling on the stove all through dinner. She'll drink 3 glasses a day for five days, which should settle her stomach. She told me one of the advantages of TCM is that it's very hard to overdose. All of the ingredients are somewhat natural, so their potency, as we would define it, is less. Very interesting -- as far as this goes, I really believe that a holistic approach to health makes alot more sense than treating parts in a detached way from the rest of the body. I don't subscribe to TCM or to purely Western practices, but right now I'm open to it all. We have a friend in Gainesville who has trained as an acupuncturist, so his work has certainly piqued our interest.
Trainee life: We've been having a great time with the other trainees. Without giving away identities without permission, we have made friends with such dynamic people. Here's a cross-section; we work with other Americans who have
-served in PC before: Jordan, Philippines, Bangladesh
-worked in Africa, Australia, Eastern Europe, South America, India, and China
-love soccer, love basketball, love college football
-studied Christian ministry
-given up on religion
-cooked breakfast for a Chinese family
-finally kicked a drug habit
-had multiple Fulbright exchange grants
-taught high school in the U.S. ... successfully
-used a squat toilet that doesn't flush for 8 weeks
-made us feel welcome, wherever we are
One guy we all love showed me today that he has a Warhol reproduction on his back, a drawing of birds. He gives one to each person that has been meaningful in his life, and he remembers all of them.
Teaching Planning: We had a great seminar last week about teaching writing using literature as a base, which was amazing to hear. Our lecturer talked about all the advantages of this method, including giving the students concrete examples and evidence for real arguments about something, rather than trying to develop good writing around essays like "Are noodles better than rice?" Right now our plan is to use two short stories in the mystery genre because our students are Freshmen. This is the first writing class they've had in English, so the reading will only be about 30 pages total. First read, understand, then analyze and write. Easy enough to say, but it will take an entire semester. Our goals for the end are to have them choosing appropriate words, making accurate and meaningful sentences, and organizing them into coherent paragraphs. They must be proficient in this to pass their exams as English majors, so we are their first exposure to preparation for them. Hopefully they'll be willing to hit the ground running!
As for Oral English, no firm plans yet, but lots of great ideas, and lots of words ready to speak and model. Even some slang to make them happy ....
Well, hope life in the U.S. is good - if my family's webcam is any indication, it's great.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment