Teach in China

Teaching in Ningdu, a small town in Jiangxi province
--from Judy Cairns

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6--Summer Camp

Sunday morning, June 27, about 7:30 am

Here is a summer update. I got a call from Xiao Ting 2 nights ago telling me that Ashley and I will be staying here for summer school. Mr Zhou (he works for Owen) told her this. My first reaction was to be totally p'd off. Owen promised me that I would be going to Yangshuo with the students. I am more than happy to stay here--it makes much more sense from the Department point of view to keep us here, rather than send us away, and bring in unknown foreign teachers. But I felt like I had lied to my students. I slept on it and the next morning, I wrote Owen an email from my heart. I told my my feelings--about feeling like I lied to the students. About Yangshuo being like my second home, and that I had been looking forward to showing them around my home. About how I had told them all about Maisie, and that some of them wanted to meet Maisie. I told him about this being the one thing in China that I could not get used to--the last minute changes. I told him that when foreigners asked questions before they came to China about where they were going, who they will be teaching, etc. they were not just questions of curiosity--they were a need to know, because that is a part of our culture, that to change that part of us would be like changing the colour of our eyes--impossible. I said more, but more of the same--from my heart. I told him I didn't expect him to do anything, but I needed to tell him my feelings. He wrote back immediately and told me that it was Mr. Zhou's idea to keep us here, not his, and that he would keep his promise to me. I wrote him back and told him that again, we were happy to stay here, but it was my promise to the students that I was thinking about. I asked him if there was any way the visit to Yangshuo by the students could be put off until the end of July--this way we could all be happy. He wrote me back the longest email I have ever received from him--it was about 20 lines, instead of 2. He thanks me for giving him the best suggestion I have ever given him. He said july was the busiest month for Buckland Group, and that if the students came the end of July it would be better for him. He told me he was reluctant to let Mr. Zhou down, and that Mr. Zhou thought I was the best English teacher he had ever seen. He again thanked me for solving all his problems about this thing--he said he would rather make me happy than Mr. Zhou, but now everyone could be happy--him, Mr. Zhou, me and the students. He also told me I could stay in yangshuo at the new Buckland Group place (I haven't seen it yet) free of charge for a month. Yippee!! I guess it pays to speak my mind. Now, indeed we are all happy. I only have to pack for one month instead of 2, and I still get to go to Yangshuo with my students, whoever they will be.

The last day of classes went by in a blur. So fast!!! I was feeling pretty emotional, but I was so busy I didn't have time to think about it. The next day I was in a funk--I've worked so hard for the last few weeks especially, doing day classes, and going to the evening classes as well, to give the students who wanted it, extra help.
The students are about ready to start their written English exam right now. I can see them from my windows all settling into the different classrooms they have been assigned to for their exams. I want to go and wish them all the best of luck, but I won't, so I'll just send it from my heart, and hope that some of them can catch it.

Thursday, July 1, about 7 am

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!
I hope you all have a safe, fun day. Many people in China know about today being Canada's birthday. It is also the birthday of the Communist Party in China. Please ooh, and aahh over the fireworks for me. That is the one thing I will miss. I have to wait until October here, until National Day, for fireworks. I don't count the firecrackers I hear a dozen times a day, just out on the street. They are just annoying.

Well, exams are over, classes are over, but the tears are not over yet. Some students are extremely disappointed that they will not be going to Yangshuo at the end of July. They all worked really hard. Oral exams were a joke. The students were nervous, and Ashley and I were taking the exam very seriously. The students all wanted good marks. The exams started on Sunday afternoon and went into early evening, to hear 39 of the 105 students. Even though we were told the students would not communicate with each other during the exam, we realized after about half way through, that the students knew the answers to the questions we were asking. When we went for dinner we asked the teachers about that and were told "we have no proof they were cheating". What a crock! It was so frustrating. We decided not to do anything, but carry on. The next morning, after about 3 people, we were told to change the questions on all the exams we had prepared--we had prepared 5 different exams. The students had memorized all the questions from all the exams and told all the others, so they all knew. We took half an hour off to change the questions. Ok. After about 10 students, we realized they all knew the answers to the new questions! Again, we decided not to do anything. At lunch, we were told to change all the exams again. We both went into a little mini-tirade about this. We talked about what happened to people who cheated in Canadian exams. We were told there was no proof they were cheating. We asked why we had to change the exams. We were told because some of the students were talking with each other. The teachers were helping them. We were fighting a losing battle. The night before, one of the students (one I love to death!) called me almost in tears and said she found out she failed the oral exam. I asked her how she even knew. I told her I didn't know her score. She had phoned one of the teachers who was collecting the marking sheets from each of the 4 judges and adding them up. This teacher told her she failed. I was so angry I was almost spitting nails. The student was really upset. She asked me what she could do. I told her I didn't know Chinese ways, but maybe she could ask one of the teachers if she could take the exam again.
Anyway, at lunch, several things happened. We were told that in China there are always different exams in the morning and in the afternoon. We said that no one had told us this. We were only told "it's up to you". Apparently there was a lot of Chinese chatter on the telephones after the student phoned me the night before. I called Xiao Ting and asked why the students are told anything, before most of the others had even taken the exam. She said that some teachers will tell the students. The other thing we were told at noon was that 30 people (out of 76) had failed! We felt sick!!! We realized that at that rate one entire class out of 2 would fail the exam. I said that I felt like I had done a terrible job. They said, no no. I said--think about it! If half the students are failing, what have we done here? They just said that some students were better than other. I told them that 4 months was for nothing. I said the foreign teachers should not even be here, that everyone had wasted a lot of time and money for nothing. Yes, some students will benefit, but half would not, and that is too many. Ashley and I left lunch, and the rest stayed to chatter. Ashley and I came back to my apartment with heavy hearts to change the exam (again) for the afternoon shift. so in total, we made up about 15 different exams, just so some of the people would not be able to cheat. Cheating is ingrained in these people. They have done it since childhood. We thought the exam would be taken seriously--the National Exams are done under guard--the classrooms are cleansed and sealed the day before the exams--no one is allowed in or out while they are going on. We thought our exams would be a very small version of that. How silly for us to think that! Just before the exams in the afternoon started, I realized that a passing grade in China is 60%. I had been marking the exams as though a pass was 50%. My heart fell to my feet and my stomach was in my throat. I felt just horrible. I tried to talk to Xiao Ting, who had gone home to rest. (lucky her). I tried talking to Rui Yun, who sort of understood. I made her talk with me in private, so I could tell her my idea without being interrupted by constant Chinese chatter, which makes any concern or question we have get forgotten. She finally understood. I told her I wanted to change the marks on my exams to reflect that the people I wanted to pass, but not pass with flying colours--they would pass instead of fail. She said she would talk to the other 2 teachers. I asked her not to talk to them in front of the students. She said ok. She went into the office and started to talk, in front of 2 students who where there! I went in right behind her, and told her about the students--she finally asked them to leave and the door closed. I went in about 5 minutes later--and asked if they had anything to ask me. They told me they had decided to change the passing grade, rather than me changing my marks. Meanwhile (this gets better) Ashley was heaving her guts out. She had heat stroke. We have about 30 people left to hear, and she started feeling really strange, as though she would faint. We took a break, she drank some water, then just started hurling. She was helped to her apartment to rest and try to cool down. She had said she just was feeling way too hot! I told her about how I had been marking the students, and she said "me too!!" So they had to do something. Otherwise the whole training session would have been a complete failure. The schools that sent their teachers, the department, the teachers, the students--all would have been a failure and it would look bad for the department to have so many fail--even though they had told us to fail some students. But to fail so many was unreasonable and impossible. Finally we worked it out, and at the end only about 3 people failed, which was about right. I would have failed about 5, but I'll take 3. There was no way one side was going to make the other side understand, so we just put it down to cultural differences and let it go.
For the last 30 students, Rui Yun was taking Ashley's place in judging. Ash and I had taken turns asking the questions to the students. Now this was all on me. The other teachers were visibly getting tired, bored and cranky. I felt so sorry for the students who had waited so long for their 10 minute chance. The more the other teachers talked about how tired they were, and how boring it was, the more energy I got. I didn't want the students to be short-changed because the other teachers were too tired. I called on my enormous (it seems) inner strength to try to cover for the others. I'm sorry for the long story, but since this is my sort of journal, I have to write it. Some of you would like to hear it, some won't--that's ok.
Yesterday was the "graduation ceremony" of the training class. A mixture of emotions. Happy and sad. I had to say a little speech. I had given each student a star sticker--some were very glittery, some were the kind that glow in the dark. I told them it was to give them something to reach for when they were pursuing their dreams. That it was the possibility of dreams coming true that made life interesting (I read that recently in "The Alchemist"). I told them to always reach for their stars. I said more, but you don't need to hear it. The Chinese leaders each gave a speech--one lasted for half an hour, another lasted for 45 minutes. No English. Even some of the students had lost interest and were chatting quietly to each other. Prizes were given out. gifts given to us--Ashley and I each received a jade bracelet, and a jade necklace--a yin/yang symbol surrounded by the yin/yang lines, whatever they mean. Liling knows about that--he will explain it all to me sometime. I was touched.
After the ceremony we were told to go the the office to choose books for summer school. We were shown a mound of about 20 books to choose from. So many questions--how do we choose? Who are we teaching? What level? How many classes? How many students? How often do we see the same students? They answered each question with Chinese chatter amongst themselves. We finally said we would take the books and look at them. We really didn't want to do that right then. It was a long job, it was 11:30 am., we had to answer nature's call, and some students were waiting for us for lunch. The book thing is still something we have to face. We were told that we would interview each student to determine their level. 360 students. We asked the Chinese teachers if they knew the students. They said they did. We asked why they didn't put them into classes. They answered with Chinese chatter. What an exercise in frustration!
Lunch was great! There was a new romance in the class--I knew about it from the beginning, just from watching the development of their friendship, and their interaction with each other. I was sworn to secrecy because they didn't want to tell anyone yet. They wondered who had told me. I said no one had, but since I didn't speak the language, I watched a lot. She wanted time to tell her mother, and wouldn't see her for some time to come. IN China, when people have a girlfriend or boyfriend, it is not casual. Very often that is the person they will marry. It is getting more common to have more than one boyfriend or girlfriend before you marry someone, but still the norm to marry the first boyfriend--most don't have a boyfriend until in their 20s. They don't touch each other. IN the cities, it is more common for people to live together before they are married, and even to have several boyfriends before they get married, but in the smaller centres, like Ningdu, the old customs are still the way of life. Anyway, the couple finally announced their relationship. It was so cute. They are both good students, and some of my favourite people. There was a lot of drinking. Finally home for a rest. I slept for about 2 hours. In the evening we were meeting the teachers for dinner, then going on to the party. The party was both classes, teachers, some leaders--singing, dancing. It was so hot, but we danced anyway. It too, was happy and sad.

This brings you up to date--probably in more detail than you wanted. My emotions are a mixture right now. Today and the next few days will be spent pouring over text books. Ashley and I were hoping to be able to go to a nearby city for a day or 2, just to get a change of scene, a rest after the long hours of the last few weeks. We were told first of all that the police wouldn't let us go, because no one had time to go with us--they were afraid that something would happen to us. If something happens to a foreigner in China, there are HUGE repercussions!! So we have to stay put. We were also told that we had no time to go. Summer school starts on Monday--it will be busy, and I will be very happy to see the end of July, so I can have a holiday. We have been putting in long hours lately, and it's time for a change.

That's all for now. Many melodramas here, but this is an emotional, passionate group of people--I love it, except for the frustrations, but I guess you have to take the whole package.

I miss you--keep the emails coming. I will be in Ningdu until July 26, when Ash and I and 10 students will journey to Yangshuo.
Love, Judy/Mom xxx/ooo

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