(David) August 25, 2013
Everything you have read so far has been devastatingly honest and frighteningly true. Any contribution I can make to this project will probably lower its karmic value; however, I have been informed that failure to do so will result in dire consequences. It is therefore probably about time for me to contribute to this journal.
Since our arrival in Changchun I have been heavily occupied with course preparation. With time off to be sick. This is hardly unusual, many travellers get ill when they reach the new destination. Often the culprit is something dangerous and exotic, but in my case I was laid low by a common cold.
So this Monday morning at 8:00 I found myself facing a lecture hall of perhaps 100 alert, intelligent faces. After a brief introduction from my Teaching Assistant, the class monitor addressed the students for some time in Chinese. Sadly, I was unable to comprehend any of her remarks, although I think she mentioned me once by name. Whatever she said must have been good stuff because it earned a round of applause! Then it was my turn: ninety minutes of lecture with a few PowerPoint slides . . .
The students here are very brave. It is difficult to imagine a Canadian university in which third year undergraduates with two years of Chinese as a foreign language would be courageous enough to sign up for an entire nine week course –at 4 hours a week –conducted by a native Chinese speaker. Yet at any point there are approximately 1200 students here willing to face such a challenge.
A daunting collection of Chinese Gryffindors! Even more impressive, they managed to appear attentive and engaged even at the end of a 90 minute lecture!
The class today was an introduction to interpersonal
communication.
After a 10 minute break I did the same thing with a brand new set of 100 students, lecturing until almost noon. Accordingly, I find myself slightly fatigued at this point, and desperately in need of a beer.
More later . . .
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