Summer Project: Small Victories

Each summer in Peace Corps China, program managers from each province help organize teacher trainings and language camps for Chinese English teachers in K-12 settings. Peace Corps volunteers teach lessons on Western style teaching methodologies and help the trainees improve their oral English, so they can go back to their classrooms with fresh ideas and skills. It seems to be a good opportunity to try to instill some of our ideas about communicative teaching and cultural awareness into the younger generation, so hopefully they won't be so shocked when they meet foreign teachers in college for the first time (foreign teachers who ask them to do strange things like work in groups, speak without notes, avoid plagiarism, and think independently). Also it hopefully will provide non-college bound students more opportunities to acquire communicative English language skills which might translate into better job prospects when they test out or can no longer afford to attend school.

I had been looking forward to summer project ever since our winter in-service training session when volunteers from the china 15 group said that it had been one of the highlights of their service. I wish I would have realized at the time that, like most experiences in the Peace Corps so far, enriching experiences like these are generally hard won (but still worthwhile) and usually require a large investment of effort in what seem, on the surface, to be minor victories. In our favor, we have an amazing, supportive and motivated program manager, so our Chongqing project was planned far in advance, and we felt pretty lucky to have the extra time to organize ourselves, review curriculum and plan lessons. This is especially appreciated in light of the lead time we are usually afforded in China, as we usually only know about school events or teaching schedules a week in advance (at the most).

We were recruited into the group for teaching middle school teachers, and we decided to cut our workload and narrow our focus into 2 day blocks, so each pair of us could be "experts" in a certain topic such as reading, grammar, pronunciation, etc. Richy and I decided to focus on writing, since I had had success teaching it over the last two terms. We scoured the summer project curriculum for useful lessons on methodology and mined and modified our own lesson stockpiles to create two days of classes that we hoped would be useful for Chinese middle school teachers looking to supplement their curriculum and help engage their students in the process of learning English. We also wanted to introduce them to some basic theoretical frameworks to understand the methods of teaching English from a Western perspective.

As so often happens with "the best laid plans" in China, the actual execution of our summer project turned out to be significantly more challenging. The first obstacles were the expectations of the trainees. Not much information had been communicated beforehand, so some teachers were expecting a crash course in improving their oral English skills, while others assumed we would be showing them directly how to adapt lessons from their textbooks into Western style lessons.

Another problem was that several (especially older) teachers felt embarrassed engaging in some of the activities meant to model some of the methods of engagement in middle school classrooms. We were suddenly met with non participating trainees boasting a litany of excuses: "I can't see," "I can't write," "I can't speak English well," and "I'm too old to play games." We wondered how they could teach with such debilitating issues. Actually, there were just finding indirect ways to tell us that they weren't into our classes. Our frustrations were best summed up in the question "Why are we here if you don't want to learn what we have to offer?" An education official from Beijing came on the third day of the training and did her best mediate what she correctly identified as a "culture clash." Her comments reflected a deep understanding of both sides of the culture divide, and the way she addressed us directly and honestly was much appreciated. Although, later we all had to take a collective deep breath and soldier on, after the blow of realizing that our teaching wasn't exactly dazzling the audience.

We realized that the teachers in the training were experiencing similar reactions and emotions to what we had experienced in our first weeks in China. Expectations and reality were so different that the temptation to disengage was strong. You can imagine that if your entire worldview and methods of teaching were being challenged, that the concept of change and adaptation can be daunting and exhausting. Of course, from our perspective, we felt like we were already being pretty flexible. After all, we had already agreed to a 3 hour lunch break in the middle of a 4.5 hour day of teaching in order to accommodate the southern Chinese custom of napping in the middle of the day to avoid the heat.

As the days passed, we modified our lessons with each rotation, and it seemed that many of the trainees were starting to understand what we were trying to accomplish. By the final day, we met as a whole group to discuss and brainstorm what had been learned during our two weeks in Wulong. This is some of what they shared:

- How to encourage student confidence
- Teaching for multiple intelligences
- Classroom management
- American culture
- How to take student abilities in to account (differentiated instruction)
- Writing skills
- Independence, open mindedness
- How to write a haiku
- Confidence and bravery for speaking English in the classroom

By the end of the session, the list had more than 20 items. It was heartwarming to see the list unfold, and to see that lessons from each of the volunteers were mentioned. It was that small victory to end a challenging couple of weeks.

Throughout our time in Wulong, one of the middle school trainees had been designated as our translator, as her spoken English was clear and fluent. This meant that she attended every official dinner and trip, and acted as our tour guide when we visited the natural sites of Wulong including the natural bridges and Furong cave. To show our appreciation, we took up a collection to buy her a "thank you" gift. We presented her with a handmade thank you card and a small box of chocolates (a luxury in China) and her tearful response, although unexpected, was another small victory. Her response reminded me that although it might not seem like we made a big difference on the surface, the training had a personal impact on everyone there, and if even a fraction of them learned something meaningful from it to share with their future students, then the effort was worth it.

~Katie

Haifeng Wetland

Another item to add to the list of things I will never take for granted again (which already includes PNW weather in all forms, cheese, good beer, and clean tap water): camping. It had been more than a year since our last tent and campfire related adventure in the wilderness. When we took that trip to Umpqua hot springs last June, I didn't quite imagine how the memory of it would have to sustain me for so long in the misty concrete and jackhammer jungle of Chongqing.

About a month ago, my friend and language-exchange partner, Elle, invited Richy and I on a road trip. Excited at the prospect of a road trip, but fearful of steep accommodation prices, I recommended camping as a budget alternative, and she seemed happy with the idea. She also offered to pay for all the expenses of the trip, another example of the amazing feats of generosity Richy and I have been treated to as volunteers. After a few weeks of going back and forth about dates, possible destinations and whether there would be any guests other than Richy, Elle, her son Max, and I, we finally settled on a trip to Haifeng Wetland in Yunnan province, with stops on the way there and back at a couple of tourist sites in Guizhou province.

The trip began when Elle and Max pulled up at our building with their newer model, green Jeep SUV. It was spacious and comfy, with an ice cold AC, definitely a welcome reprieve from the over 100 degree humid heat that has been swamping Chongqing lately. Our first destination would be an "ancient town" on the outskirts of Guiyang.

In China, especially with second-tier tourist attractions that cater to a domestic rather than international crowd, the extent of "remodeling" can be a bit heart-wrenching. Qingyan ancient town was built about 700 years ago under the Ming dynasty, and remodeled under the Qing, but today the city walls stand bright, white and new, topped with gold tinted fiberglass figures of warriors, weapons and horses. The idyllic surrounding farmland is being turned into new "villa" style townhouses. When we arrived at the inn in the middle of the ancient city where we were supposed to stay the night, we found out they no longer accepted guests there because they preferred to sleep in the newer, less authentic lodgings outside the city walls. Fortunately, wandering the interior alleys of the town, you can still find some ancient architecture unscathed, while local school kids hunker under the shade of hundred year old trees to do their homework. We enjoyed some traditional bing fen (an icy unflavored jello-like substance mingled with rosewater, brown sugar, candied pears, sesame seeds and peanuts) in the shade of the trees before heading back out of the city to find the newer place to stay.

The next day, we embarked on our journey into Yunnan toward our camping destination of Haifeng wetland (not to be confused with the coastal wetland of the same name). Haifeng is an inland wetland in Zhanyi county, with salty blue water, shellfish, and gorgeous karst formations. The road out to the wetland was lined with farming villages, apple and peach orchards, and lush fields of tobacco and marigolds. The weather was perfect - sunny blue skies, a few puffy white clouds and a cool breeze strong enough to keep us cool and the mosquitoes at bay. We set up our camp, cooked up a dinner of pasta, canned fish and corn-on the cob (in typical Chinese generosity, our camp neighbors shared their potatoes, corn and tofu with us). After dark we built a campfire by the water where I showed Max how to make "real American" s'mores, and then Richy showed him the constellations.

The next morning, we woke up to find that some local dogs had come through the camp, mangling our tofu and stealing our corn. Richy and Elle had both heard the dogs in the night, and I think it had left Elle a little spooked. We enjoyed a hearty breakfast of bacon, potatoes and duck eggs, then took a walk to the edge of the wetland with Max, where Richy and Max enjoyed wading into the mud (unfortunately Richy's Chacos didn't survive the mud suction, and came out with broken straps). Upon returning, we realized that the dogs in the night and a rumor of impending rain had cut our camping trip short. Elle's tent was already packed. It all came to an end too soon, with only 16 hours of camping, but it was a glorious 16 hours.

Seven hours into our drive back to Chongqing, Elle pulled into the entrance for Hongfeng Lake, a reservoir in Guizhou, which Elle had apparently visited several years prior. The place had definitely seen better days, but we enjoyed a thrilling boat ride, some delicious food and cold beer. The next morning we toured a Disney-style version of a Dong minority village, and had our pictures taken in Dong minority clothing, complete with embossed aluminum headdresses. I don't think the concept of cultural appropriation has quite caught on in China.

All in all, with 26 hours of driving and 16 hours of camping, we definitely got to see more of the Chinese countryside and highway infrastructure than we're used to, and it was nice to have more time to spend with Elle and Max. Here's to hoping our next camping trip will be less than a year away and longer than 16 hours!

~ Katie