The Broad Abroad

Wow, 2 posts in 12 hours.  You  may be thinking, “What did I do to deserve this?”

I’m just feeling generous.  It’s just how I am.

*ahem*

Actually, I had a bit of a shock today, and realized that perhaps a little accountability to you, my 4 readers, would help me behave a bit better.  I sat down at the office computer today to do a Rosetta Stone Chinese lesson.  I knew it had been a while, but looking at my log file and seeing 6/30/10 as the date of the last completed activity made me more than a little ashamed.  I hadn’t done a lesson in TWO MONTHS.  In just a few weeks, I’ll be traveling to Beijing alone to pick up my mom and mom-in-law and show them around for a few days.  Had I been keeping up with my lessons, I might have been able to wow them with my amazing skills.  As it stands now, I could probably tell them that the blue dog is running.  I often confuse blue and black. At a coffee shop in Taipei, I told the hubs that I was going to go look for a “ying yu si xing che”.  An English bicycle.  I meant newspaper.

It is obvious that I have a bit of learning and practice to do, but at least I can order a cup of coffee. (Note to the moms: Don’t worry, I also know how to order 3 cups of coffee.  I cannot, however, order seven or nine cups.)

So without further ado, a list of monthly goals.  I stole this idea from a couple of other bloggers.  Please feel free to guilt me into achieving these.

1. Work on the Rosetta Stone Chinese for 30-45 minutes per day.
2. Study and practice Tibetan for 30 minutes per day.
3. Plan lessons for the week on Sunday.  These lessons should include at least 2 major NON-TEXTBOOK activities per week.
4. Tuesday morning is for cleaning, not internet. Laundry is also an acceptable activity.  If you see me online at this time (Monday night in the U.S.) send me a message in ALL CAPS so I know how mad you are at me.
5. Leave the room at least one evening a week to be social.  Monday Movie Night doesn’t count because people aren’t talking.
6. Get in bed @ 10ish and read for 45 minutes or until I fall asleep, whichever comes first.
7. Finish the sleeves for the coat I was supposed to finish making before coming to Shangri-la but have barely touched since I got here.

Ok, that’s enough.  It might even be too much.  I’m just hoping that small chunks make things doable.

One of the great resources at WESLI/MTTP was a huge file drawer full of pictures for our use. They had obviously been collected over many years, and had been sorted into many very specific categories. I used a bunch for my lesson on weather, and they come in handy for inspiring creative writing. Each trainee was encouraged to build their own file of pictures and other “realia” to prepare for teaching.

Fast forward to China

I have no picture file, didn’t bring (and can’t think of) any appropriate realia, and am not teaching yet. As I continue with my Tibetan lessons, I often think, “If only I had a picture to show her what I mean!” So I’ve started buying magazines.

1. Movie magazines are full of solo shots of actors (which I’m using for emotions and hair color) and even better, stills from the films. I’ve already chopped one up, and might get another today.
2. National Geographic is good for just about anything, but I’m reluctant to cut it up. For a little under $5, I can get it in English, so it’s a nice supplement to my Kindle. Anyway, I took the January issue to my lesson the other day, and was able to ask about the words for various animals and landscape features. When sitting in a restaurant, it’s otherwise pretty difficult to ask about grass, rocks, and tigers.
3. What else? Magazines in China are wrapped in plastic, so it’s hard to see how many pictures are inside. Suggestions are welcome.

Organization

In the Philippines back in 2000 I had this great plastic accordion file that I used to sort my schoolwork and other papers. It didn’t work to keep me organized, but I still thought it was great. I wish I had thought to bring it since it closed with elastic.

After a bit of hunting, I managed to find one here that closes with velcro (boo) and started to fill it with snips of Pierce Brosnan (calm) and Jackie Chan (happy). I’m resisting the urge to use a picture of Roman Polanski to teach words such as “rapist” and “coward”, and instead using it for grey hair. As soon as I get another grey hair pic…he’s gone.

Durability

I brought 2 rolls of contact paper, but I think those might be better saved for games. Pictures (hopefully) won’t get beat up as much. I think a glue stick and some cardstock will suffice.

PLEASE let me know if you have any suggestions for building and preserving my picture file. Pretty soon I’ll have to start using it!

I haven’t begun teaching yet, and haven’t been able to pick up any temporary gigs here in Kunming.  I generally spend my time split between reading and crocheting, and while this is nice sometimes, I need something else to mix it up a bit.

Upon our return from Jiangxi, I started putting out feelers for places to learn the dialect of Tibetan I’ll be learning once I get up to Shangri-la.  My third feeler turned out to be a hit.  I was directed toward a restaurant about 20 minutes from my apartment on foot and told that they aren’t very busy during the day.  We ventured out there on Sunday for lunch.

It’s a beautiful restaurant on the 2nd floor of a building that includes (in addition to the main dining room with a stage) 3 banquet rooms.  One is decorated in a Tibetan royal style, one more middle class, and one is an actual old-town Shangri-la kitchen that was taken apart and moved there.  We spoke (er, the hubs spoke…I smiled and nodded) to a woman named Lamu who grew up near Shangri-la and indicated that she was willing to teach me.  After negotiations were made (no pay, but a vague hint that some English in return might be appreciated by some in the restaurant) we had a fabulous and expensive lunch.  We noticed her teaching Mandarin to a musician while we ate.

So today was my first day, and I went alone.  This surprised and rather exasperated her since she expected to have a translator.  After a quick phone call between her and my hubs, we began with some basics.

Lamu still relied on a bit of Mandarin throughout the lesson.  I apparently have greater knowledge of that than she has of English, so we managed.  I wrote down some greetings and common small talk, family words, numbers, days, months, and some colors.  When she looked a bit stuck, I got to practice some of my teaching by miming things like “good morning” and “good night”, drawing a stick-figure family (that got a laugh), etc.  It really made me see the value of pictures, and I think I’ll pick up a magazine or two before I return on Thursday.

Occasionally, she had to do some actual work, and the other women there started to get curious and wander over.  Two had studied a little English, and one may even be high enough to be called a beginner!  Since they didn’t seem to interested in teaching me (or maybe they spoke a different dialect) I started working with them.

Using the calendar I had drawn to label in Tibetan and some hopefully useful gestures, I started using sentences like “Today is Tuesday.  Tomorrow is Wednesday.” Later while setting up my next meeting with Lamu, one of the women wandered up and exclaimed “Today is Tuesday!”  They all giggled when I praised her a bit.

Brief Reflections

The calendar is something I’d like to use when I have a classroom.  It should be familiar to the people I’ll  be teaching, and it seems like a good way to begin a day.  I recall my mother incorporating weather into her morning calendar lessons, so that’s something I can expand into later as well.

Since the women there (besides my teacher) seemed like they wanted to learn a few things, I’ll come prepared with a little bit next time.  I’m still wavering over whether I should try and give them a little homework.  Since Chinese students often have greater reading and writing skills, I’d like to fish around to see if that’s the case here.

So now I know a little bit about what it feels like to be an absolute beginner.  There’s a lot of initial confusion, but things do start to click little by little.  I went quickly from thinking she was asking me if I wanted to order food or have more tea to realizing that she was teaching me the word for eating.  As I progress here, I hope to get more ideas for my own classroom.