Friday 04 January

It’s finally started snowing after a few days of overnight temperatures dropping below zero. 

It was exciting to wake up and see snow just starting to cover the ground. It was a little less exciting to almost fall over on the icy path as I headed off at 7:45 to my first class. 

It was pretty cold and snowing but at the same time exhilarating.

View from my balcony - today

View from my balcony - in summer

Students enjoying the snow

The classroom was bitterly cold when I arrived, but slowly warmed as the students filed in, and by the time the room was full and the door closed, the temperature became bearable. 

The weather today

The mood was good, because although it was cold, the students were excited that the snow had finally arrived.

This is the last week of teaching before the exams and there is definitely a different feeling in the air – and not just the cold. 

I have arranged to conduct the oral exams in a slightly heated office area so it should be bearable for both the students and me.

Unfortunately the snow is not expected to last – although the cold is. Well, it was almost a white Christmas.

Monday 03 December

This evening I was invited to be on the judging panel of an English competition organised by Michael at the Quzhou Second High School. The school system here is different to Australia in a number of ways. After primary school, students attend “junior middle school” for 3 years which is roughly equivalent to the first 3 years of high school in Australia.

The final exams then determine which high schools students can attend, for the next 3 years. It’s very competitive as this will also have an effect on which college or university they may qualify for at the end of high school. High schools and tertiary institutions, and the subjects that you can study there are completely determined by examination scores. For example at Quzhou Technical College we have residential students from as far away as Hangzhou and Wunzhou (over 200 kms) who did not qualify for colleges in those larger cities. Second High School has the best students in Quzhou, and both the desire and pressure to succeed is high.

Pre-competition banquet.
Host Michael in the grey coat

Dog stew as part of the banquet

There was to be 5 native English speakers on the competition judging panel and so before the event there was a banquet diner – it is China after all. The dinner was sumptuous, and extensive, with plates heaped upon each other. The two main features were crab and dog. Yes dog!

I was surprised by the very animated discussion about this dish, especially amongst the dog-owning participants. Chinese people do eat almost anything which is part of their cultural heritage, but some also find disturbing the number of animals slaughtered in western countries just to feed pets – eg. sheep, cattle and kangaroos in Australia. So, setting aside any of my own feelings/preconceptions/prejudices, I tried some of the dog stew. It was not bad, tasted a bit like very strong beef, but not something I’d be in a hurry to order myself.

Some of the prize winners with
judges in the back row

The event itself was well run, with over 25 contestants giving a 3-minute speech about the topic "I believe I can fly". We listened to and adjudicated the aspirational presentations, which although they often had very good written content, generally lacked the clear diction needed for communication in that type of environment.

The packed auditorium

The students’ effort however in writing and rehearsal was apparent, as was the enthusiasm from their classmates in the audience of around 1,000 students and teachers. 

My enjoyment was tempered a little however. We sat in the front row, in just the right place to receive the full benefit of the icy December wind blowing through the open side doors of the auditorium. Fresh air is seen as health-giving here, and closing windows and doors seems to be a rare occurrence.

Some 2 hours later, we headed off to a local eatery for a beer, but of course you can’t just sit and have a beer. So this became banquet round 2, although at a reduced level, and soon the eating was on again at a table covered with plates of food. I can’t keep up!

Saturday 01 December

Quzhou Technical College

It’s now December, and I’ve been teaching for 3 months, so I thought I might be time for a review.

Before arriving in China I definitely had some preconceptions about both the way in which English should be taught, and the objectives of learning English as a second language. 

These have changed, although I must say that the observations I make are based mainly on my personal experience of living in a Chinese regional city rather than a large multicultural city like Shanghai, Beijing or Hong Kong.

View of the college looking north
from the main building

Firstly,  the level of English spoken locally is almost non-existent. This means that the opportunity for students to practice outside the education system is minimal, although they do have access to the Internet and all that it provides. Also although the demand for English teaching positions is high, the number of foreign or native speakers is very low. 

Most students are taught by Chinese teachers, many of whom have not had the benefit of  learning intensively from native English speakers or travelling to English-speaking countries, so their opportunities to refine and improve their skills are limited. Hence the demand for native English speakers. Textbooks have also been developed in this context and tend to lag somewhat behind the current style of spoken English, although they are slowly improving. Altogether, teaching and learning English to such a huge population is an awesome task.

The College forecourt and Quzhou suburbs across the river

Secondly, the Chinese government has chosen English as the second language to facilitate communication as China becomes part of the global economy. They did not however, chose English-speaking culture. I have found that a lot of ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching material embeds elements of British or American culture which is foreign and inappropriate here. 

What this means, is that as well as learning English vocabulary, students are using resource material that is foreign to them. That is, the vocabulary can be unnecessarily regional and include words that have little relevance to the needs of international communication. This is apart from the vocabulary that is essential in the technical and trade areas. ESL teachers should be very wary of using this material without some level of localisation for the country. I have found that including names of Chinese cities,  landmarks, and celebrations in lesson material greatly improves class participation.

Statue of Confucius
(Kong Fuzi)
in the college/university campus

Thirdly, although I was well-aware that English and Chinese languages are very different (alphabet, grammar, sentence structure, speech patterns, etc.) I didn’t realise just how different. I have been very impressed by the few Chinese people I’ve met whose command of English is very good, and the couple of locals (one British and one Australian) who can speak fluent Mandarin. My own attempts at learning rudimentary Chinese have taught me that this is a two-way street. Intonation is much more critical in Chinese, and I doubt that I would ever be able to pronounce the words properly, even if I know them. 

Pinying (the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into Latin script) is not English-friendly, because of its historical development firstly by an Italian Jesuit priest and then several modifications in subsequent years. For example the  pinyin “q” sounds similar to the “ch” to the untrained ear, but is in fact a cross between “ch” and “tz”! The closest phonetic spelling I can write for Quzhou is “Chew-Joh”. And pinyin doesn’t have accents, which are critical to pronunciation. For example “ma” can be pronounced as “mā”, “má”, “mǎ”, “mà” or “ma” which are in fact four different words – “mother”, “hemp”, “horse”, “scold” and a question particle.

Aerial photo of Quzhou
College (centre) and University (top)

Fourthly, there are vast differences  in the sounds of spoken English for non native-English speakers. There is British (from Cornish through all the English variations to Scottish) Irish, American (and its sub-sets), Canadian, Australian and New Zealand flavours – not to mention the small differences in vocabulary and grammar. In fact, it would be helpful if all English language movies and TV series had optional English subtitles – especially Taggart! Students have said that my pronunciation of some words is different to what they’ve heard before. 

Years of hosting overseas students in Australia has helped me improve my communication with non native-English speakers. The the comprehension level of my students was only 60% when I started here, but through some modification of my pronunciation and speech pattern, I have managed to raise that to 90% which has really improved class interaction and effectiveness. I think English speakers can be quite chauvinist in their communication with foreigners, and the dictum “when in Rome…” absolutely  applies when abroad. Conversely, I believe that immigrants should always make a serious attempt to learn the language of their adopted country.

Summary: Even after years of studying English at school and tertiary institutions the vast majority of students in China may still have difficulty in mastering conversational English with good pronunciation. 

I have great respect for the Chinese people and students in taking this bold step in making English its second language and I can only hope that my very small contribution has helped Australian-Chinese relations in this “Asian Century“.

Friday 26 October

Students heading to classes
from the dormatory buildings

View from level 7 over the campus entrance, across the river
to apartments in the city

What’s life like at Quzhou Technical College?

We are two months into the semester and things have settled into a routine. The first year students can be seen taking morning runs around the college grounds; the campus is filled with the ebb and flow of students in 45 and 95 (double periods) minute intervals; the classroom bell rings 24 hours at 45, 5 and 20 minute intervals for the period starts, finishes and breaks in between. I’m almost used to this bell ringing at all hours of the day and night. Even during the holiday week of the mid-Autumn break it kept ringing – a reminder of where we are, and why.

First Year students in military fatigues
on their morning run

Dawn - the sun rising in the east above
the city across the river

Then there’s the not so gentle sounds in the dormitory building; of the students bouncing basketballs in the corridor, rollerblading, yelling loudly, talking on mobile phones and slamming doors.

I am constantly amazed how loud the students can be on campus, in the canteen and in their rooms,  and yet be so quiet when I ask them to speak in class.

The nicely tiled floors also very effectively transmit sounds from the floor above, so I never feel alone. We had two power blackouts in the last week which has been slightly inconvenient, especially when trying to print out class material – although the class bell never stopped ringing!

The classroom media control panel 

I’m now familiar with my timetable and classroom routines. Fortunately most of my classes are in the one room which makes it a bit easier.

The teacher's desk and control panel

I’ve almost memorised the media control panel (all in Chinese) and the equipment has been very reliable which also makes it easier to run the classes. I’m still probably spending too much time on preparation, but it really helps the classes run smoothly.

I’m now using a combination of the college workbook and other ESL (English as Second Language) resources to keep the students engaged, especially during the afternoon classes. I also had a cold this week which didn’t really help.

The video below shows the First Year students on their morning run.

Thursday 06 September

Multimedia control panel

Typical classroom with blackboard

Zaoshang hao (Good morning) – slowly learning a few words. Pretty big day today with 3 double-periods.

I was exhausted by the end of the day. It doesn’t feel that different from performing in a theatre.

Prepare a script, get the props, learn the lines and deliver a morning show and 2 matinees. Probably small bikkies for you teachers out there, but I’m not finding it particularly a pushover.

I’m slowly getting used to the way things operate. When the media rooms work, it’s great, with the control panel (in Chinese) accessed by the college smart card. When they don’t, it’s a BIG challenge. I always carry a marked-up copy of the photo of the panel with me to class to work out the buttons.

The workmen seem to work on the 80% rule. That is if it’s 80% done it’s OK. This applies particularly to the painters who appear to work without drop-sheets – like those daredevil tightrope walkers who perform without nets.

Ben (Wang Peihui) at the feet
of the great teacher Conficius

Part of the painter's archaeological record

Everything is covered in paint splatters, and if the surface isn’t in a walkway, old paint scrapings and used paint rollers are left as an archaeological record.

Ben (Wang Peihui), and English teacher who has been the liaison person for my engagement, took me on a short tour of the adjacent University campus.

New unused university library building

The tour included the impressive new Library building. Not currently accessible because some of the large granite panels on the exterior have fallen off.

Ben has been fantastic with helping me adjust and integrate into the college and has attended almost all of my classes this week to lend moral and technical support.

I don’t envy his responsibility arranging all of the administrative requirements to employ foreigners – although it’s probably no easier in Australia!

Wednesday 05 September

I won’t even bother waiting for an excuse, lets talk about food. If you’ve been following the blog, you’ll know that my morning routine starts with tai chi from 6-7 am. Then it’s a walk to the canteen to see what’s on offer, select something where I have no idea what’s in it, have some for breakfast, and then off to set up the classroom ready for when the bell rings at 8am.

A small selection of the many dumplings available for breakfast

Today it was a dumpling mega feast! there were so many different types of dumplings it would have been embarrassing to have bought 1 of each – I would have looked like a real glutton. So I settled for a small selection. And you can’t just buy 1, unless it’s big. If they’re small you have to take 3, and if medium size, you have to take 2.

So here I was, with three small pork-filled dumplings, 2 medium preserved vegetable ones, and a large pocket type filled with shredded & fried potato and a brown sticky rice ball with bits of vegetable including green soya bean on a piece of banana leaf, all for around $1. This was enough for my breakfast AND lunch.

It’s been raining on and off for the past 2 days and it was cool enough this morning to wear long pants and shoes to class, instead of long shorts and sandals. Fortunately the teachers dress fairly casually here. People are saying autumn is on its way and have started wearing jackets – bit early for me though. This morning’s class consisted of nursing majors and there were 48 in the class – much bigger than I originally expected, although the other class numbers are in the mid 30s. Hard to give any personal attention when there’s that many. The class was good though and most participated well. Most of the students are girls (like 30:1) and the boys are generally hard to get motivated – one of the challenges.

Tomorrow will be a big day with 2 periods of Oral English and 4 periods of writing…a long day. Might get extra dumplings.

Sunday 02 September

Student accommodation

Student accommodation

A quiet day today today. Although I’d planned to go to the town centre, I spent the day preparing for the classes tomorrow. Two double periods of 3rd year students.

The photo at left shows the teachers’ accommodation building and some of the surrounding buildings.

The government is planning to further develop this side of the river, and will be moving some government offices here to promote development. Sound familiar?

Staff accommodation

My accommodation is on the 3rd level (2nd floor) just behind the large tree with the supports. The photo on the right shows part of  the student accommodation building – as you can see, the students have begun arriving.

Aussie apron, kitchen mit
and pot holder

This will be the test of all the study and preparation so far, to see if I can deliver quality teaching in a foreign country. I am prepared of course with lesson plan, activities and presentations. I was asked to include Australian content in the first classes, to both engage the students and provide something of my background.

Well, I have my Australian apron (note the front pouch), mit and pot holder ready to go, along with some other pretty "tasteful" souvenirs that should spice up the class. After all cooking and teaching aren’t so different – start with a good recipe, make some adjustments for local conditions, prepare the ingredients and get going. Just hope the students like the flavour!

PS: Another excellent meal from the cafeteria tonight, stir fried beef and veges, stir fried chili Chinese cabbage and rice. (I thought I’d leave the pigs knuckes and soy bean stew for another occasion). If only they served this variety in Sydney restaurants – or we could find them!

Friday 31 August

Sunrise across the river at Quzhou

Tai Chi and then buns for breakfast again. Looks like a winning combination, especially when cereal is so hard to find. having lots of delicious fruit though.

Today involved a lot of administrative functions, and meeting the other teaching and administrative staff. we also discussed the teaching requirements and assessment in a bit more detail. I’ll be teaching 18 periods week (some double periods) but only to 6 different classes, to students from 1st to 3rd year. Everyone has been really helpful and friendly, especially Ben, so I should have good support while here.

China Telecom poster on campus

Students have now started arriving for the new semester so the college is becoming more alive – and billboards have started appearing.

I went to the cafeteria for dinner tonight, and I must say, if the Chinese restaurants in Sydney served the food available in the  cafeteria, I’d be eating Chinese more often. None of that gluggy braised stuff, but very tasty (and sometimes very spicy) meals but always a good range for all tastes, especially vegetarians.

Tonight I indulged in sliced beef cooked with a cross between a capsicum and green chili, pumpkin (sliced thinly and very tasty), green beans with garlic, and rice. No complaints at all.