a student makes me smile
This is an e-mail I received from one of my students recently. It made me smile.
Hi Dan!Last week, Iattended an English speaking contest held in Jiaotong University. Even though I didn’t get any prize, I enjoyed the experience. And my topic is about your class. Wanna have a look?
Whose Culture Shock?The first day my Conversational English teacher Dan — a native American and previous journalist — walked into our classroom, he said he was experiencing a totally “culture shock.” “Why was he shocked?” I wondered.”In such a modern city like Shanghai, things should be the same as in his own country.” However, in the following 10weeks, my viewpoint was proved totally wrong. I had an unforgettable experience having the 10-week-long course. Because it was me who experienced a devastating culture shock!
Dan was always attempting to make his class lively, but that’s just my worst trial. As a typical Chinese student, I can easily be hard-working, but never creative and imaginative. Once I standed up and answered his question, my mind went blank. My speaking was not as good as I expected, and I was as nervous as a cat on a hot roof. Needless to say creativity and imagination. I found myself hard to present my opinions and give him effective response. Because in a Chinese-style class we are seldom required to do so. You just have to listen and write down every single word the teacher has written on the blackboard. There was no contact. No reaction. We are not used to stepping forward and saying directly what’s on our minds. That’s one thing I never realised before.
But that’s not all. Dan required not only fun, but also serious thinking. He organised the “Great Pajama Debate” in which we were divided into two groups and debated about whether Shanghai residents should wear pajamas in public. Another lesson was given when we get back to school after the weeklong National Day holidays. He asked what National Day meant to us and what we did through the holidays. Unfortunately, most of us gave answers like this: It’s just a long period when we can sleep, go online and watch TV all day. I was fascinated in the way he provoked our thinking and was astonished when I found that some beliefs and values seemed not as firm as they did.
Dan has his own website and he asked us to check it out. A profounder cultrue shock struck my mind when I read his “Shanghai Diaries.” As an observer or critic to the city, he is sharp and keen. Everything was so different through the eyes of a foreigner. When we focus on the hugeness and beautiful scenery inside our university, he put more emphasis on the outside of it: the isolated countryside, the poor district of the city, the vendors beside the road and the ladies in uniforms standing at our school gate. When we take great pride in the rapidly growing economy of Shanghai, he sees the dirty air and the skyscrapers just the same as NYs and HKs. He sees things on which I seldom paid any attention, or I ignored subconsciously .He’s challenging the culture of this modern city, but I can hardly challege back. Do I really understand my own culture? Or I just believe it because everybody said so?
But merely being shocked is far from enough. I finally realised the importance of opening the door, facing the world outside. Because it is only by looking out that we can look in more objectively and realistically. Let’s do more to understand others, and get ourselves understood as well!
Thank you! Maybe there’s some grammar mistakes in it. Please check it for me! Thank you!
Crystal
01.08.2003, 9:51 PM · School