About the group discussion

On the morning Bob asked us to have a discussion over what we will do after retirement. Before that he told us something about from which sources pensions of an American may get his pension. There were three sources. One was the security from the government. One was from the salary before retirement---they could get 40%-80% of their salary when they were working. Another was from individual savings which was the same as what it is in China.

We four formed a group. I was the only man in the group. Bob came to join us in our discussion. On asking what I will do after retirement I said that the first thing for me to do was to take care of my grandchildren as it was the divine responsibility for us to look after them in China. To my great amazement Bob’s answer was that in America no parents would take the responsibility to take care their grandchildren. Normally they would only play with them several days in a year and then left them to their children’ care. Most of what they did in America was for themselves while we did for our children and our children for our children’s children. What a big difference it is!

What follows is our plan of what we will do after retirement:

1.     Look after our grandchildren, spoil them and give them back.

2.     Going on trips.

3.     Do a small business to earn money to buy a wife for my kid.

4.     Do some tutoring.

5.     Be househusband or housewife.

6.     Carry a rifle with a dog, put the baby on our back, and catch the rabbits for our bag.

7.     Go fishing, play chess or cards.

8.     After we are tired, we will return to the kindergarten to learn to play the game---do-do-fei.

Needless to say, we gave such a list only for fun, not for real.

About the English Corner

It is our class turn to host the English corner this afternoon.

For the first hour Bob gave us word puzzles for us to do. I belong to Group 2 and our group did very well. Thanks to the several ladies I worked with, we were the top one of all groups. They were just so cute and gorgeous. However, I still preferred a lecture by my foreign teachers, since I want to know more about western culture and other background knowledge of America.

Our class would host the English corner for about one hour after the word puzzle.

Our monitor was the hostess to represent us. She announced the commencement of the English corner. We had three programs: the first one is the poet time. We prepared three poems. Ed was asked to read the first one that was about life. We followed him and then we read it by ourselves. Helen read the second one, which was directed to teachers. Our monitor read the third one and we did the same as we did the first one.

The second was an activity which was supposed to be conducted in the following ways: everyone was to be given a piece of paper on which there were twenty-five questions. Each of us was expected to hold the question paper and went everywhere in the lecture to find people to answer the questions one by one. The one that answered the question would be required to sign his or her name on the paper and there was a blank for the signature under each question. The first several students who had got the twenty-five signatures of different people would be announced the winners and would be therefore rewarded. After the announcement of the rules and Bob said “Here we go”, we started to survey anyone nearby. Since we were in a hurry, our answers to the questions were not as adequate as desired. For example, the answer to the question: “What will you have for supper?” is mostly “chicken”.

The third was a game to guess what an expression means. Occasionally I feel conceited that my English is rather good. However the quiz puzzled me and made my stiff neck bent. The expressions were:

1.     It’s out of the question.   Means it is impossible.

2.     Be my guest.   Means help yourselves.

3.     Can I take a rain check?  Means can you invite me to dinner the other day rather than today?

4.     I own you one.     Means that you have done me a favor, therefore I am indebted to you.

5.     Catch me later.      Means that you can come to see me after a moment.

6.     It’s no big deal.    Means that there is nothing serious about it.

7.     Do you often work out?    Means that do you often do exercise?

8.     I am broke.    Means I don’t have even a penny.

9.     Don’t miss the boat.     Means that don’t miss the opportunity.

10. It’s about time.    Means that time is up.

11. For here or to go.    Means that do you eat here or carry it away.

12. It’s up to you.    Means that it is for you to decide.

13. I couldn’t get through.   Means that I can’t get connected to you by telephone.

14. It’s up to date.    Means that it is very fashionable.

15. I mean what I say.   Means that I won’t eat my words.

16. I’ll play it by ear.    Means that I will do it as I please.

17. It’s up in the air.    Means that it is not decided yet.

18. I’ll walk you to the door.   Means that I will escort you to the door and see you off there.

19. Let’s talk over dinner.    Means that let’s talk while we are eating.

    Among these idioms I know only several. I have to work hard. It is right as what the idiom goes “we leave and learn”. This is just what we should do.

What was Rochester thinking about?

Lately I have been reading JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte. The hero in the novel, Rochester, was accosted by Miss Ingram, who was pretty, rich, haughty. Her rank and connections suited him. Though the heroine loved Rochester a lot, she didn’t disclose any of her feelings. The heroine was just a governess in Rochester’s family, and she was very attracted by his manly air. Because of the wide difference in social rank, the heroine decided to conceal any feelings from Rochester.

At the party, the manner that Miss Ingram showed towards Adele, Rochester’s daughter and the heroine herself was just far from agreeable. I haven’t finished reading it. But it is so obvious that Rochester didn’t choose Miss Ingram as a lifelong company, but the heroine. His great insight in choosing a girlfriend was rewarded. At the end of the story while he was made blind resulting from a fire made by his exwife, who had been a lunatic and locked in a little cabin, he was not deserted and on the contrary, he was well taken after by the heroine.

If I say that this love in a real sense, I may be accused of being sentimental and my thoughts will be regarded as thoughts of a bookworm. However, I think purity, innocence, truth, should been inseparable components of love itself, which are far lacking in our present world, where everything is evaluated by money and rank.

Perhaps in the eyes of a lot of people, I am no exception of such sort. Perhaps ours is essentially an economical world, so everything should be judged by the standard of economy and finance. No one should complain about that.

Sad and happy news

According to my friend, the vice general manager of the company has agreed to let me and my nephew go to the company and have an interview. I called him this morning, however he denied. He announced that we should still need to wait.

While I was on my way to the company my friend telephoned me and told me the change. I could do nothing but wait. So after buying a pair of pants we returned. It made me a little sad.

After lunch I was surfing the internet and my nephew was playing with my son. A call came and it was the vice manager of the company. He notified me that on Monday or Tuesday I might escort my nephew to the company to have the interview. What was more, there was no need for my friend to come. I was very happy to hear that.

By whatever means, so long as I can find quite a good job for my nephew, I will feel rest assured. It is not that I want ask for trouble by myself, but I want to help my sister a little.

Thinking of the moment when my sister and my brother-in-law got engaged, it must have been a very heavy mental pressure on him. Since his family didn’t comply with his request for such a marriage, he must have met with a lot of difficulties. I can understand what he was thinking and what he was suffering from. That is also part of the reason why I want to offer help.

Even now, I am not sure whether he can be certain to obtain the job or not. I wish everything will go well and smoothly.

Some may think I am mad and get confused at the title. However I said the truth. We had a nice morning talking about how to celebrate the Christmas this afternoon, though we had made a lot of preparation for it.

The foreign teachers had told us to have Christmas this Friday, though Christmas falls on December 25^th.

According the plan already made, we put on some neon lights on a rope around the stage in the lecture hall. What was the most surprising, there was a Christmas trees beautifully decorated. The young assistant of our class, Zhang Haotao, who was still a still university student, acted as Santa Clause. The foreign teachers bought the birthday cakes for us. Before the ceremony actually began, we took a lot of photos with our teachers. Everyone was in a good mood. We moved around and chatted with our friends. The atmosphere was so congenial.

The teachers asked us to stand up and form a line to go to the front to have a look at the birthday cakes. We have 100 students. So they bought three big birthday cakes. They must have cost them a lot of money.

Then they showed us several songs on the screen and asked them to look our song sheets or just look at the screen. Linda led us to sing, accompanied by Ed sometimes.

We were divided into four groups and we would go to the stage and sit down to eat the birthday cakes there. Bob was treating us. I was in the second group. While some of us were eating cakes on the stage. Linda led the rest of us either to sing or to play games. One of the games was “the gallows”. So while one fourth of all the students were having a good taste of the cakes, the majority were enjoying the songs and games. The songs were: Merry, merry, merry Christmas; Jingle Bells; AULD LANG SYNE; The twelve days of Christmas. But I think the most amusing is the “Hockey Pockey”, into which a lot of interesting motions were involved.

When our group was on the stage to eat the cakes, Bob told us to eat in western way. We were told to hold the fork in our left hand, knife in our right, and use the fork to keep the cake meanwhile using the knife to cut the cake allotted to us into small pieces. The pieces should be neither too big nor too small. After cutting, we laid our knife along the outside edge of our plate. The plate was called Silver Ware, though ours were made of plastic. After eating, we used a napkin to clean our hands and mouth. After all that we were supposed to return to our seats and the dinner was over. I volunteered to help Bob to deliver the cake and utensils to everyone. When we were going to leave, I helped him to clean the leaving things, especially the plates. I put them into a box. Bob told us to keep the fork, the knife, the spoon which was not used. So we carried them back.

Our classes had prepared three special programs for the party. The first was a song in Chinese by a lady. For the second, Samson wrote some words in Chinese with Write Brush, to show his calligraphy. He devoted his words to the three foreign teachers for their conscientious work done for us. The third was a short story from the Bible, read by a lady in our class. We all clapped our hands for their perfect performance.  

At last we all stood up and sang the song “Silent night”, which was a Christmas song. After the song was over, we said “Merry Christmas” to each other to show our congratulation. Linda shook hands with everybody and expressed her heartfelt wishes. I was moved by that.

That is all that has been happening at the Christmas party. From which we got a glimpse of what a Christmas party was like. It is and will be an unforgettable memory in our minds. I am so grateful for the teachers work that afternoon.

So difficult!!!

My only nephew, who didn’t like studying at all, has graduated from a technological school. I am worried about it. Since my sister and brother-in-law are both peasants, I have to think of ways to find a job, even a temporary one for him.

My elder sister, his mother, has helped me a lot when I was studying at school, especially financially. What is more, after my mother’s passing away, she is the only and the closest relation in the world. Because of this, trying to help my nephew is trying to help her. It is my obligation to do something for her in return.

In fact, after my own graduation I have been doing everything possible for her, to help her in any way that I can think of. I have brought my nephew here to my school to study, as my school is located in the city and it has a better faculty. But his reluctance and even aversion to study has ended his study career and he was sent to a technological school to learn some skills.

My major concerns in the world are my family and my elder sister. She was diagnosed as having some mental disorder. I was so depressed by it that I cried under my quilt after sending her to hospital and got back at the depth of night. It was not her illness that touched me. But she is my only and closest relations in the world and it made me so sad that she should be so seriously ill. My mother had been a mentally disordered woman most of her life. I didn’t want my elder sister to suffer from the same destiny. Nevertheless, she was found to be mentally disordered again. What has god brought to me! Alas. I don’t think I have done something atrocious and flagrantly outrageous that I should suffer from such a fate.

I have to do everything I can to help my nephew for the sake of my elder sister. Though I have my son and my wife, I have no father, no mother and my younger sister has long taken her own life. She is one of the greatest concerns in the world.

However, it is just so difficult to find a job for him. I am only a teacher and I have only a very poor family background. There are no influential family members in society that can help me. I have to ask favors from all my friends, all my former classmates, to enlist their help.

Fortunately one of my classmates has given me a hand. Tomorrow he promised me to take my nephew to go to a company to see whether it is possible to find a vacancy for him. I am so thankful for his help. I wish things would go smoothly tomorrow!

What is more important?

Today we had a debate at school. The debate was so hot. Robert divided us into two groups and set us a topic: what is more important, oral English or written English?

We did obediently. The debate began. It was unwittingly growing fiercer and fiercer. At last I thought it was like somewhat a mimic warfare. Some of the ladies became aggressive and they just spoke like a machine gun. I failed to catch their meanings.

Our foreign teacher was much pleased with what we did. The debate didn’t stop until the class came to an end.

After school, I began to think seriously into the matter. And I felt that such was only a very simple question. There was simply not a certain answer to it.

With written English we have transmitted and will continue to transmit our culture, express our thoughts in words and leave a record of history. With oral English, however, we can express our feelings directly, make friends with the help of it, and do a lot of other things. Therefore, there is not a definite answer to it. Written English and oral English are equally important.

What is friendship?

Now I am in the school office to guard the school. In order to kill off the night, I moved my computer here for me to surf the internet. However perhaps I have played on it for so long, I am now feeling muddleheaded. I just don't know what to do next. I am still not sleepy.

    Last night I made a lot of efforts to get reconciled with my playmate. We had quarreled after drinking some wine. I will try to record what was happening here.

    We have grown up together since we were little kids. We played together, went to school together and studied together. After graduation from different schools we were assigned different jobs. I cherish the friendship between us.

Once, his nephew wanted to go to my school to study. I helped him a lot. I even spent some money to help. After that, there was an occasion that I was in urgent need to have an article published. I asked for his favor. After some earnest entreaty, he acquiesced. But he asked me to treat his friend for dinner. Though with great reluctance, I agreed. I spent quite some money that for the decent dinner. However, when the article was published and I wanted to have one copy for my use, he asked me to treat him to dinner again after drinking some wine provided by another friend of mine. I became angry. I must have said something unfavorable with him. I left him in a great fury.

He is a petty official in the government of our city. My other friends from the same hometown were in support of him in the quarrel after that. I have to get reconciled with him, since I clearly know that to annoying all my friends is not a favorable thing with me. I called him several times and he just hanged off. I was furious. Nevertheless, somewhat I curbed the fury and dialed again. The line was through and he pretended that nothing had happened. In this way we got reconciled in appearance. My heart sank greatly after that.

What is friendship?

All human relations have been built upon money and power. I have no right to complain. I am only a teacher. No matter how genuinely and sincerely you show your friendship, they won’t think you are someone their equal. I have been too innocent to think that friendship means mutual help and understanding. They have been accustomed to be bought into doing things. Every help provided by them is at the cost of money or something in return. I have been too mindless of worldly affairs that it just serves me right to have such a frustration.

Although to sever the relations with the outside world is not reasonable, I just can’t see any reason for me to keep in touch with such kind of friends. And we are from the same village and we have enjoyed and suffered together ever since we were only little kids.

I am so much depressed about the human relationship. Sometimes I just can’t help doubting the truth of all. Perhaps I have been far left behind in the economic society.

Summary of the first week

Today is Saturday, July 19, 2008. The first week of our training program has come to an end.

During the process of training, some learners complained about the tight schedule of the training. They think it is just too tight to leave them any free time to go home early or have leisure. I think just on the opposite. I want to go to the class earlier and remain there longer, since I cherish the opportunity. For ten years I haven’t been face to face with foreigners to practice English.

During the week, in the morning we had lessons from the foreign teachers in turn. We had four lessons and the final lesson we go to the original class, which is the Massachusetts. In the afternoon from three o’clock on to five o’clock we were given a lecture and then we got into groups and had discussion. After that the reporter would give the report in public. On the evenings of Tuesday and Thursday we could come to the school to see a movie, the synopsis of which would often be given to us the previous day for us to have a rough idea or an outline of the movie for us to have a better understanding of the movie.

I have tried to work hard to learn as much as I could. The schedule next week will be the same most probably.

     The first day of the training program

    This morning we were ushered into different classes according the interview we had yesterday. The four teachers of our school were in the same class. Our class was named after a state in America, Massachusetts. The other two were Iowa and sorry, I forget the third.

    I like listening to foreigners talk, and conversing with them. I like their sense of humor. However these teachers are quite old and not all of them have a good sense of humor I have to say. Anyway, their lessons are helpful. I would like to listen carefully and try to answer their questions. I explained several words and phrases as requested by the teacher and they were quite pleased with it. The words were discipline someone, toad, and separate. Very sadly I found a lot of my fellow learners’ report in English was simply Chinglish. I had no idea as to whether my report was the same.

    English is basically a foreign language. We have to practice, practice and practice. Nevertheless, lack of contextual language environment won’t give any help to our learning. That is just the reason why I treasure this opportunity so much.

    On the morning the teachers introduced themselves to us in their own way. We were numbered off and then divided into different groups. We had a survey. Each member of a group told stories of their role model teachers, their deeds, their words, and anything that made them a role model in our eyes. I was lucky enough to be chosen to the reporter of our group and reported to the whole class the survey we had made. The fellow learners gave their kind and warm applause for me and that gave me a lot of encouragement. I was thankful for them.

    On the afternoon, we sat in the hall to attend a lecture given by the foreign teachers. We were numbered off and put into different groups again, since all the learners were present in the hall, 100 learners in all. We had nine groups. We were led to sing, do all kinds of games, have a discussion, etc. Our group was the best in the game: making sentences. We were invited to stand up and the others clapped their to us for congratulation.

    All the teachers were kind, generous and helpful. I was amazed at their civil manners. They were all highly civilized people and I admired them a lot.

    I am anxiously waiting for the next day to come. I must be crazy about English.

    We arrived at the third primary school as scheduled to attend the opening ceremony for the English Summer Training program.

    A teacher from Shandong Institute of Education taught us some basic knowledge or etiquette about western culture and some noteworthy when dealing with foreigners. As the Olympic Games is approaching, security and stability becomes the first and foremost issue. Our ID number had already been registered. And the teacher from the Institute reiterated the importance of maintaining a formal and polite relationship with the several foreign teachers.

    The rules that we were expected to abide by were:

    1. No one is allowed to leak out any kind of information which may be deemed important to our nation, whether they be political or economical….

    2. We should try to be hospitable and friendly towards all our foreign teachers.

    3. No one should be supposed to ask for any favor from our foreign teachers to enable them to be immigrated to other countries.

    There were also a lot of other relevant rules and I would like just to omit them.

    After that we had a photo taken as a commemoration of the training program.

    I had managed to attend the training program. I had asked favor from my leaders. That was the very reason why I treasured this opportunity. The foreign teachers’ speech at the opening ceremony was just tantalizing to me. Judith, a woman teacher, amazed us by her fluent Chinese. After so long an interval, I got a opportunity to talk with a foreign teacher face to face.

    After the photo was taken, we were arranged to join in an interview held by the foreign teachers. I was the first several trainees to attend the interview. There were several trainees who were quite nervous. I felt a little bit nervous too. During the interview we were after several questions such as:

    1.     Point to the school where you are working at.

    2.     Tell me something about your life or working experience: I have worked for more than fifteen years. I have been transferred to the present school to work for reason that it is a newly-built school and it is better-equipped. So it needs teachers of quite quality and I was lucky to be one of them.

    3.     What did you come here for: I have come here not only to improve my spoken English, but also to learn something about western cultures such as America, Canada, English, New Zealand, Australia etc..

    4.     Tell me something more about you, whatever you want to say, especially something about your students: they are thirteen years old on average. Most of them can go to a higher school for be further educated since our school is quite an advanced one.

    And then the interview was over, we returned home and were expected to go there a little early to see the results of the interview, since according to which we would be divided into different classes of different level.

    All in all, I treasure and cherish this opportunity and I will try my best to improve myself through the teaching of all my foreign teachers.  

    After graduation I have had very few opportunities to be face to face with foreigners and practice English. In 1996 I joined a training program held by the Teaching Bureau of our city, which enabled me to practice a lot. Last year when I went to Jinan to take part in the Psychological training program, I made friends with a black foreigner and talked with him a lot on various issues.

    I think, there should be more chances provided for the English teachers to have access to foreigners. English is basically a foreign language. And it is so changeable. No one knows what kind of words or phrases have been obliterated from the commonly used wordlist and what have been added. What is more, to familiarize the teachers with lively English with foreigners will make them stimulated, which is of vital importance to their teaching.

    I long for such an opportunity. During the summer vacation this year there is a special training program. Some foreigners will be invited to be the trainer. The leaders of our school, however, didn’t choose me to attend such a program. I am let down in a sense.

    I entreated the leaders at our school and those in the Teaching Bureau. It is only now that I have been told that I can attend the training program. It makes me exhilarated.

    I don’t mean to show off my English, though some others think so. I only want to practice. There is still a lot to learn. I am still a long way off a lot of English learners in China and abroad. I am only an English learner and nothing more.

    I wish I could achieve a lot in the training program.

    Some say our world will end in ice. Some say it will end in fire. Emily Dickson failed to give us a definite answer as to what our world would really end in.

   “There is nothing so troublesome in the world. It is only those mediocre people who will trouble themselves.” I must be one of those mediocre people. While others are enjoying life so enjoyably, I only find fault with it and I always want to find some meaning in life.

    I don’t know what the reason is.

    However after reading a story on line, I came to realize that my early life experience, which is a little different from others’, has been the originator.

    My father’s death resulted in two immediate things, my mother became a lunatic and I a solitary drifter in the world. I was nine years old. No one cared for me. More often than not, I sat in the moonlight with my younger sister, looking far deep into the sky and immersing in solitary meditation.

    She, my younger sister, died a tragic death at the age of 20. Still inexperienced in so many things in the world, she sent a spectral phantom to me which haunted my dreams so frequently.

    It is only after my marriage and the birth of my son that I have found some pleasure in life.

    Nevertheless, my mother, who has been a lunatic all her life, kicked her last bucket in a hospital despite a costly operation. During that year that is two years ago, my grandfather, my uncle, both passed away. I was the witness of the scene who they breathed their last breath. I was confounded profoundly. Is this life? To be born, to suffer, to drop into the grave? I have no idea and no one tells me. After cremation they have become nothing but ash. There was nothing like life in it. From the earth they have been born and to thence they have return, as is told in the Bible. I am left despaired.

    What should I do? I must treasure life, for the sake of my wife and my son. However, gathering my rose while I may, that is, to enjoy life as much as I can, must be the only way out.

    Life is life. There is nothing really significant about it. Enjoying it and live it to its fullest sense, seems to me to be the meaning of life.