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I remember sitting down to write my first report, wondering where I should begin. I had so much I wanted to say; everything seemed noteworthy because everything was new to me. When I sat down to write this report, I again found myself wondering where I should begin. This time, however, I found myself struggling to come up with ideas for what I should write about. This is not due to any lack of new experiences or discoveries; rather, I am no longer overwhelmed by the newness of all that surrounds me and it is harder to put the new experiences and discoveries into neat sentences and paragraphs. Since writing my first report, my life in Nanjing has, I would say, leveled out considerably. I no longer get nervous when I go to buy oranges or when I have to talk to a taxi driver or store clerk. This is not to say that my life here has grown dull or mundane, but simply that I have grown much more comfortable with living here. Indeed, the daily challenges that I am presented with no longer seem insurmountable
but instead keep things interesting. In this report, I would like to describe what teaching and living here has been like in the past few months. I'm not sure that it is quite as coherent or tidy as my first report, but I think that reflects, to some extent, how much my life has changed since October. The first few months here, I felt like my life was in segments: teaching, learning Chinese, getting to know people, trying to get around Nanjing. Now, all these have begun to blend together and my life is not nearly so compartmentalized, which suits me, I must say, much better.
By the end of the semester, I found myself far more comfortable in my role as a teacher. While lesson planning continues to take a considerable amount of time and creativity, I no longer find myself worrying constantly about what I am going to teach and how I am going to teach it. At the end of the semester I also finally felt like I knew my students better and, therefore, was better able to appreciate teaching and being with them. My Junior I classes continued to be thoroughly enjoyable. The Junior I students were simply so excited about learning English that it was difficult not to have fun with them. We giggled through learning seasons, clothing, body parts, and the hokey pokey. The Junior II students remained my biggest teaching challenge as I never quite felt that I completely grasped their English level. Even so, the Junior II students also often yielded some of my favorite moments of teaching. The students were so energetic and creative that class with them was always interesting, if not always
easy. My Senior I classes continued to be, I must admit, my favorite. Not as inhibited as my Senior II students but with a generally very good command of English, class with them was fun and we learned, I think, a lot from each other. The Senior II classes were alternately wonderful and frustrating. On good days, the students were brilliant and creative and incredibly dynamic. On bad days, I found myself very frustrated with how unresponsive they could be. Thankfully, the good days far outnumbered the bad. At the end of last semester, a number of my Senior II students invited me to have dinner with them and it was definitely one of the funniest, most high-spirited dinners I've ever had.
The semester ended with a flourish as our students threw an extravagant Christmas party to help us celebrate the holidays. Emily (dressed as Santa Claus) and I distributed candy, peanuts, and oranges to the approximately three hundred students who were able to come to the party. Select groups of students then put on eight amazing performances for us, ranging from a skit about the true meaning of Christmas (which, incidentally, was based on an old "Growing Pains" episode) to two girls dancing and lip-syncing to the Britney Spears pop-hit "Lucky." Our students then showered us with an incredible number of gifts and cards. While not exactly my typical Christmas celebration, the party was a lot of fun and I was touched by how badly our students wanted to ensure that we had an enjoyable holiday. The principals decided that, rather than allowing the students to throw their usual party, the best way to ring in the new year would be to have all the students engage in vigorous physical activity. Thus the
semester concluded on New Year's Eve when all the students and many of the teachers from our school gathered at a nearby park for an end-of-the-year run. It was quite a sight to see hundreds of students in bright red and white uniforms running/jogging around the park. This semester I have a new group of students and while I am excited about meeting new kids, I am sorry to see my old students go, just as I was beginning to get to know them.
Two challenges to teaching that I underestimated were the difficulty of assigning grades to my students and the effects of the cold weather. The end of the semester brought with it the task of assigning grades to the students. As the class is intended to be primarily an oral English class, I found this to be a rather difficult task. It seemed unfair to grade the students based solely on participation, but I was hesitant to give their written work too much weight. In the end, I found a formula that I thought was fair and spent a few days calculating grades for my 250-odd students. Hopefully the students also found it to be fair. Before the winter began, I had falsely assumed that, having survived four Iowa winters, the Nanjing winter couldn't be too hard. Indeed, the temperatures have not been much lower than those of Iowa in February, but the difference is that in Iowa I could escape the cold by going to heated classrooms and apartments. In Nanjing, few places are heated and I grew weary of seeing my
breath when eating dinner, slipping on ice in the bathroom, and teaching students who were bundled in hats and mittens. The past few days have been warmer, though, and I am hoping that the coldest part of the winter has passed.
One of the aspects of life in Nanjing that has changed the most since October is my relationships with people around me. Not surprisingly, as my time here has continued, I have begun to develop closer relationships with my students, fellow teachers, and friends. In November, Emily and I accompanied the other teachers on a school-sponsored trip to Wuxi, a neighboring city. The weekend trip was sometimes frustrating and often hilarious as we got a glimpse of what traveling with three hundred Chinese teachers is like. One of the best parts of the weekend, though, was the opportunity it provided us to spend time with our fellow teachers outside of school. We were able to talk about teaching, about America and China, and what being a foreigner in China is like. The other teachers continue to be a tremendous help to me as they are more than generous and always do their best to make sure I am enjoying my time here. One of my fellow teachers introduced me to two of her friends who are ballet teachers in
Nanjing and I have been teaching them English once a week for the past few months. Although our relationship began as more of a formal teacher/student one, it has evolved into a friendship as well. They have introduced me to "the good life" in Nanjing, taking me to upscale restaurants, spas, and their luxurious apartment. They are unlike anyone I have met before and being with them never fails to yield surprises. My friendship with Kentucky, who is an English major at Nanjing University, continues to be one of the best parts of living here. I will always be grateful to my student who introduced the two of us. She helps me with my Chinese and I help her with her English but we spend most of our time just hanging out, watching movies, talking, eating, and laughing. I've learned so much about China and Chinese culture from her and hopefully I've taught her something about America. Her family, who lives in Nanjing, has been incredibly kind to me and I have now been to the homes of almost everyone in her
extended family. My friendship with her has made my life here infinitely richer and more enjoyable.
Learning Chinese continues to be one of the biggest challenges of living in Nanjing. My language skills have improved considerably since my last report and I can now get around without too much difficulty and, indeed, even have simple conversations with people about where I am from and what I am doing here and how I find China. A friend from Grinnell came to visit me in November and we traveled to a few neighboring cities, which presented me with some real communication challenges. Happily, I can say that we always got on the right buses and although we took some wrong turns in places, we generally got around quite well. Some days I am elated by how I can communicate with people and some days I feel absolutely defeated by the slow pace at which I progress. I know, though, that I will continue to pick up more and more of the language if only because I have so many encounters with people with whom I must use my Chinese.
I just returned to Nanjing a few days ago after traveling in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam for six weeks during our extended winter holiday and must say that a six week holiday is definitely one of the perks of being a foreign teacher here. We moved around a lot, and while I could not describe the trip as leisurely, traveling was absolutely wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing new cities, stunning mountains, gorgeous coastlines, and meeting new people. Now I find myself facing a new semester, not quite sure if I am ready to begin teaching again but excited about the challenges and opportunities the coming months will surely present. Thank you, again, to everyone who has been sending letters and emails. I hope you are all well.
Sincerely,
Ellen
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