Wendy on Fellowship in China

Gearing Up For National Day

wendyashby — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:20:56 +0000

This week has been completely hectic since the whole country is gearing up to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Work and school schedules are chaotic, travel is disrupted, and all the practice sessions and mass gatherings make it daunting to go out and do or see much of anything. On Sunday Beijing Institute of Education held a huge ceremony with faculty of all five campuses. It was a very snazzy event with Master of Ceremonies (Di Lei – Assistant Dean of Foreign Languages) and all the dignitaries from the college and education ministry. This guy came and shook my hand and then one of my colleagues told me that he was a really high up party official. Too cool. All the teachers from different department performed patriotic songs and I sang with them though my pronunciation was by no means comprehensible. The music teachers dressed up as the red army and did this blow-away number with trained opera singers and the whole works. Then there were a bunch of teaching awards and our dean got one. After that, the physical education department performed a seriously provacative tango number that really surprised me for China. We also had a number of performances and demonstrations from art, drama, and vocational departments. At the end, all the performers and the dignitaries stood together and sang the national anthem. It was pretty mind boggling – and that is just for one little community college. Given the frenzy and chaos in Beijing the past few weeks, I can’t even imagine the scale of October 1. If I stop blogging, it’s because I’m still lost in a crowd somewhere or they’ve shut down my street for reveling or ….

Kids Make It All OK

wendyashby — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:24:08 +0000

I had a fabulous school visit today at Beijing Changping Experimental Primary School. This is part of a government project to promote what they term “educational sustainability”. In Chinese terms, this means that they are trying to teach children differently in order to make them lifelong learners and critical thinkers able to respond quickly to a changing job market and a changing world. I sat in on one of the most energetic and fun English classes I think I have ever seen. The kids were falling all over themselves to be involved in the lesson because the teacher made it so much fun. She was doing a lesson on animals and when introducing the new vocabulary words, she had them play a guessing game based on sounds, clues, or partial pictures and they kept asking questions until they guessed the animal. Then they played the neatest game of “hot and cold” except the way this teacher did it was to write down the name of an animal on a piece of paper and hide it in the classroom while one student was outside. When the student came back into the room, they had to repeat the chant “Do you like [animal]?”, but they would say it louder or softer depending on whether the student was close to finding the piece of paper or not. I swear it was the most innovative and fun use of repetition I have ever seen in a language classroom. At the end, a few of the kids, including the one in the picture above, interviewed me about the animals that I like and that I don’t like. Then I got to tour the school and the whole place was so experiential, fun, and hands-on. Each class even had its own garden for vegetables and small animals. Just when you think that everything is a mess and the whole planet is off kilter, there is this little haven where kids are happy and growing and learning. Thank you Changping Primary School!

This little boy grilled me extensively about my favorite animals.

Untapped Talent

wendyashby — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:53:57 +0000

One of my new church friends from Perth invited me to an Australian/Chinese alumni meeting this evening. The topic was NGOs (Non Government Organizations) in China. The first thing I learned from the guest speakers is that there technically is no such thing as an NGO in China because any formal organization must be registered with the government by law. This leaves most of these organizations in the position of either having to operate as unregistered groups, or somehow channel funds through registered charities in the US, UK, or Hong Kong. Despite these challenges, I heard some of the most amazing and inspiring stories of people perservering through the red tape and the logistical difficulties to bring a number of desperately needed services to many underserved groups here in PRC. I was particularly moved by a woman from an organization called CAI. Cai means “talent” in Chinese. Her organization runs several migrant schools in Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin with the aim of empowering underpriveleged children (especially girls) through values based programs such as art and sports camps at their schools. Of note was the difficulty in translating materials into Chinese, because words such as empowerment have heavily negative connotations in Chinese community based society.

Because my awareness of the migration issues only started last week during embassy orientation when we were made aware of the misuse of standardized English exams to bar people from moving to certain cities and forcing them to live there as unregistered illegals, I will quote the following information from CAI’s brochure.

“There are approximately 150 million migrant workers in China, and approximately 20 million migrant children [these are Chinese migrants]. On average, migrant workers earn US$165 a month, leaving little income for basic necessities like education. Migrant children generally move with their parents who come to the cities in search of work opportunities. Once in the cities, the children have limited access to quality education. Recently, China’s nine year compulsory education became free for all children at schools recognized by the State. However, hidden costs, identification requirements and the great distance to public schools make it prohibitive for them to take advantage of this new policy. Therefore, the majority of migrant children still attend migrant schools with sub-standard quality education and questionable safety standards. Migrant children are vulnerable to low self-esteem, lack focus and purpose, exhibit lower scholastic achievement and increased delinquency. There are approximately 58 million left-behind children, comprising 28% of all rural children. About one third of rural children are left behind when their parents migrate to the cities for work. Left-behind children face even greater challenges than migrant children. They lack family stability as well as love and affection. Quite often, left-behind children are left in the care of guardians who are unable to provide the stability and care these children require. Left-behind children develop educational, emotional and behavioral difficulties. There are also increasing reports of left-behind girls as victims of sexual abuse and molestation.”

I am looking into working with the art camps and also a pilot program they are starting for gifted rural children. You can see their website at www.cai-china.org CAI is a registered US 501(c) charity in the US and Hong Kong, and will be registered in the UK shortly.

Getting Educated Chinese Style

wendyashby — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:29:36 +0000

Chinese High School Students at Lunch

It has been a very informative week in terms of learning a lot of new things about the education system in China. We completed our second embassy orientation last Thursday and Friday and had several guest speakers from various institutions. First we heard from Professor Wen Quifang of Beijing Foreign Studies University who spoke about English language teaching in China. We noted that the numbers follow historical events very closely and seem juxtaposed against Russian at various times in the foreign policy picture. Dr. Chen Zehang from Beijing Normal University then spoke about English teacher training at primary and secondary levels in China. What became clear from this presentation is the staggering workload of teachers and the sheer volume of students that pass through various parts of the system each year. My dean from Beijing Institute of Education addressed teacher training workshops and spoke about the master teacher’s program, which is designed for continuing education of “backbone” teachers at the municipal level. These teachers have been identified as peer trainers and mentors in their respective schools. We then heard from Professor Quan Hongling of Xinjiang Normal University, who showed us some amazing outreach efforts that she had done with State Dept. fellows in past years to rural areas in Western China bordering Afghanistan, etc. where educational resources are scarce. On the second day, we learned about curriculum and assessment from Professor Jin Yan of Shanghai Jiaotong University. I think the most surprising thing that came of this discussion was the high stakes nature of English testing and volume of test takers who take the exams because of its alarmingly central role in everything. For example, many cities require the English exams before granting residence permits. This means that those who do not pass such exams are subject to an illegal existence in cities of choice (you have to have permission to move in China), which means that they cannot send their children to school or hold jobs legally. However, the rift between rich/poor, Eastern urban and Western rural etc. is a large one and the tests do not take this into consideration. It helped me understand the desperation that Chinese have to pass English exams and while I do not condone cheating in any form, I realize what the pressure to do so is all about now. It is difficult to see exams being misused and abused, but the scale of everything in China is truly beyond comprehension to us Westerners. The numbers involved in all of these issues are huge. On a lighter note, we had a reception at the new Regional English Language Office both to honor fellows and to celebrate the opening of the newest RELO center in Beijing. This center serves the Dept. of State’s public affairs and outreach programs by providing an informational resource center, unbiased advising regarding postsecondary education in the US, offices for Fulbright and Language Fellow programs, and other programming as needed. It was a lovely evening with fabulous Thai food and networking opportunities. I spoke with CCTV and two area schools that were interested in some outreach and English support, so I will work on those in the near future.

Reconnected to the World

wendyashby — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:30:17 +0000

Whew! It took awhile to get back online since most of these social networking sites are blocked in China. I am eternally grateful to the inventor of the proxy server. I have been in Beijing for three weeks as of today and at my host institution for two. I am giving methodology workshops for elementary and secondary school master teachers. These are teachers who have been identified as what they refer to in China as “backbone” teachers. This means that they serve as peer mentors and perhaps even supervisors in their respective schools. These teachers have been invited to spend this year receiving more advanced training to take back to their schools. In addition to this, I am also working with the institute’s teacher trainers to expand their professional knowledge and to help them learn more effective techniques for teacher development. Today, I went to my first off-site, which was Renmin University high school. This is one of the top schools in Beijing (they call it a “key” school) and is designed to feed into the People’s University (Ren means person, thus Yuan Renminbi = people’s currency, and Renmin U is the People’s University). I visited two English classes and saw two very different kinds of teaching. I got to give a feedback session for one of the teachers, and then met another visitor who teaches English at a school for the blind that is partly funded by the Department of State’s English Access Microscholarship program. The hope here is that if students can attain a level of English that can get them to the US to study at universities with comprehensive disability resource programs, their career opportunities are widely expanded. I have been told that I will get to do some work with this school in the near future, so I am very excited.

Preparing to Sail…

wendyashby — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:39:30 +0000

: Preparing to Sail

I noted that I had not posted in something like 68 days. Lest you think I was lazy, the time was spent organizing the tremendous amount of paperwork and logistics that it takes to move one little household overseas. I was thinking about how military families do this all the time with kids in tow no less and let me say that they are much better and braver about this than I am being at the moment!
The paperwork storm started with the health forms. First the one for the embassy and then, to my surprise, the other one for the Chinese government that sent me back to the doctor’s office multiple times in order to complete all the necessary items. This paid off at the consulate in San Francisco when I was one of the few who walked out with a Z-visa in hand. Then came the apartment. What to do with a great place five blocks from Lover’s Point Park (where the photo was taken) with huge closets and laundry?? A rarity in this area…Enter the Canadian exchange teachers at the International School in Seaside, who are now happily paying the rent and using the furniture for the next ten months while we both experience overseas instruction. For this, I kept the downstairs storage and was able to keep my personal items on site.
Cleaning and storing has been a ponderous experience. Why do we have so much stuff??? And why do we keep it and haul it and hoard it and store it??? And even in moving overseas, I am still needing to “clean out” my luggage to rid myself of seven more pounds of non-compliant baggage weight before we actually take off. This extra purge will land in my car for a year, since there is really no place else to put it. America….hmmmmmmmm

First Chinese Lesson

wendyashby — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:16:28 +0000

I took my first Chinese lesson on Thursday. I learned some useful things about how to address colleagues at work. It goes like this: Last Name + Teacher/Title + Hello. So, if I want to say Hello to Mr. Lee, I would say “Lee lao shi, ni hao.” or if I want to say hello to Mrs. Wang, I would say “Wang lao shi, ni hao!’ I also learned that I am a mei gong ren – American.

Favorite China Pics

wendyashby — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:35:45 +0000

I loved visiting the park outside Temple of Heaven in Beijing last year. Everybody was outside exercising before work. There was a sense of community even though people were also concentrating on their own movement. Serene yet intense.

The Z-Visa Waiting Game

wendyashby — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:05:18 +0000

The paperwork is finally finished and submitted and now we wait for the Z-Visa (foreign expert) to be approved. In the meantime, I am working on getting work projects finalized, getting the apartment clean, and dealing with all the details of what to take and what to leave. I am preparing my materials for rank advancement at work since this looks like it will take place while I am overseas. Some of my good friends are leaving for other positions. It will be hard to not have them to come back to next year. I have a referral of a person I can call for some Chinese lessons. I have already referred to the male foreign officer at the university as a ”she”. Now he signs all of his emails with his name and (Mr.) in parentheses! I am banking on some international goodwill next year.

Chinese Yahoo!

wendyashby — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:21:57 +0000

In the ongoing effort to try to make sure I can access all of my email and other information while overseas, I spent some time today migrating my Comcast account to Yahoo! before I had the thought that I might not be able to access Yahoo! in China either. For a fun experience in how this will play out, log on to www.yahoo.com.cn to see how this all looks in Chinese! I clicked on the mail icon (thank goodness for pictograms) and it linked to my new Yahoo! account in the US. How about that? Of course, some of this success was because the Chinese site had my username from my computer – not sure how to navigate this one for setting it up on other computers, but at least I feel somewhat confident in saying that I can be reached at wendyashby62@yahoo.com while I am teaching in China.