Couldn't have said it better myself

My teammate assigned her students a short essay on "Advantages and Disadvantages of International Business in China" (or something like that).  Here's an excerpt from one student's essay:

Meanwhile, some pirates may rob the groceries carried by other nations, especially over the waters near the “Horn of Africa” Somalia, which may cause a great loss, both physically and mentally.

Too Good Not to Share

From a former student:

The day before yesterday, Richard Nixon's brother and grandson David visited our school! Can you believe it? Nixon's grandchild can speak fluent Chinese and ~ haha, he is so handsome! As a young enterpreneur, he is smart, energetic and friendly.

Then I thought of you and Tarah. That's when the little melodrama happened----our new headmaster engaged him as professor, AND I saw the ring. Disappointment! Haha, yes, handsome but no longer awailable.

I don't run around asking my Chinese friends to find me handsome men, but that apparently does not stop them from being disappointed that they can't set me up with Richard Nixon's grandson.

A Thanksgiving Wish from a Student

Dear Alison,

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love every class that we spent together.

I love the Uno that we played together.

I love your smile and your voice.

So I'm thankful for you.

And may lively songs linger around you every moment; may happy year accompany you for ever -- respected and beloved teacher.

Sincerely,

Lucy

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  May you enter the Lord's gates with thanksgiving in your hearts today, and may lively songs linger around you every moment.  I'm thankful for you!

Nnnnnooooooooo!!!!

I've had my fill of Vivians.  It's a popular English name here, in spite of the fact that it sounds too old for our students and it always comes out sounding like "Wiwian."

My teammate Sara introduced me to the concept of using an "Approved English Names" list with our freshmen classes to prevent them from choosing un-names like "Sdeven" and "Vampire."  We are both in agreement about the over-use of the name "Vivian," so we cleverly deleted it from the list.

We gloated.  What a glorious thing;  I shall teach 224 students and none of them will be Wiwian.

This morning I received the following text: "Hello Alison.  My original English name is Alexis.  But now, I want to chang my English name.Finally,I decide my new English name is Vivian.Could I chang my English name?  Can you give me some advice?Thank you very mush!"

I replied, "You can change it if you want, but the reason I didn't put 'Vivian' on the name list is that it sounds like an older woman's name, and also many students mis-pronounce it."

"Can you tell me why 'Vivian' sounds like an old woman?"

"It's just not a name people commonly use anymore, so most Vivians are the age of our parents or grandparents."

"I think it does not matter,for me,it is unique.  My English name is Vivian.  But, can you tell me some advice about Shirey?  Thank you for you help."

*Sigh*

"OK, just make sure you use your new name on your name card.  Shirey is not a name."

If I can't keep out the Vivians, I'm at least going to put my foot down on "Shirey."

"Could you tell me the meaning of..."

A couple weeks ago I updated my status on RenRen (China's Facebook clone).   Here's a screenshot; read to the bottom for a good laugh.

The Alison Guessing Game

You may recall last year's post "Me through students' eyes" in which I introduced myself to a new class of students by bringing some objects related to me and having them write a biography based on those objects.

This year the objects I brought to my first day of writing class were:

• A globe (love travel)
• A Bible (love Jesus; love to read)
• A Frisbee (like to be outside)
• Hot peppers and chopsticks (like Chinese food)
• A University of Iowa sweatshirt (home state; alma mater)
• A photo of some hands making the sign for "I love you" (I like learning languages)
• A photo or two of my family, one at my brother's recent wedding

Here are a few favorite quotes from the student bios about me:

"Our English teacher Alison is a very kindness person. She likes animals, especially her pet, a lovely dog. She likes playing flying object with him every day."

"She seems to be a british by her appearance."

"She was good at geograph when she was in her middle high school."

"Alison Lentz, a Christian, from Iowa, the United States. She's quite an interesting woman who enjoys global traveling and making friends."

"She missed her days in America, her pet, friends, and family. Back in America, she and her family used to play frisbee with their pet. Luckily, her days in China are not bad, though. She is with her husband and children. By the way, she is a huge fan of Chinese dishes, especially spicy food."

"Her hobbies are playing with her dog who loves catching a frisbee, and watching rugby games. She has pictures of rugby playing encouraging each other before a game and a wedding picture of a famous rugby player."

"Can I say you are a gourmet? You must have been to many countries, and try many kinds of delicious foods there."

"When she entered the junior high school, she joined the baseball team and got a uniform. They played and trained together as one team."

"She likes playing a game using the ..."

"She likes thrilling movies like spiderman and she has joined in a movie club and took a picture of the classical gesture with other members."

I will leave it to you to figure out which item is being referenced by each of these guesses. And apparently I've been mistaken all these years in thinking Frisbee is a game for people and not pets.

"It's so groommy you will not teach us any more."

One of my classes gave me a memory book about our time together.  Each student wrote a page; the front has a picture and all their personal info (you know -- favorite color, phone number, e-mail, blood type...), and on the back they wrote me notes.

Their notes were so sweet.  Here's a little sample:

"I remember the first time I saw you.  You looked a little serious but still smiled all the time.  Then, we became closer and we often came to your apartment and played lots of games and free talks. 

The first time I came to your apartment was to eat hot pot, from which I knew you didn't like meat.  (Actually, I like meat just fine.)

The second time was to take interesting pictures at your apartment.  At that time, I knew you had been to many different parts of the world and your quite different experiences from us.  

The third time was to have dress-up dinner, from which I knew the food you liked and I were very happy to help in the kitchen because I knew nothing about how to cook.  

The fourth time, maybe, was to dye Easter eggs, from which I knew you were very considerate and creative.  

The next time to your apartment will be tomorrow, to see your empty apartment, where we have lots of unforgettable memories together.  I hope I won't cry and I hope you won't either."

Aww.  How could anyone not be happy teaching students who are just so nice?  As always, there were a few priceless quotes:

"It's so groommy that you will not teach us any more."

"You are very beautiful and have a great figure, but I rarely see you wear skirt.  It's a little pity.  I believe you'll become more charming wearing beautiful skirt."

"A bit excited and nervous so write the wrong number." (From a girl who wrote her birthday wrong.)

"I hope you could find your right person early and I think he is a man who is very handsome and gentleman." (A common theme.  I will find my "Mr. Right" (aka my "ideal person" or my "real boyfriend") soon if these girls have anything to do with it.)

Even though there were a few funny notes, most of them were heartfelt and touching, and I loved them all.

"How soft and beautiful our memories are!  How I don't wanna let u go!  How I will miss u!  May you have a peaceful and wonderful life.  I love you!"

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Student E-mail Project: Funny Excerpts

In this last post quoting my students' e-mails to their American friends, I will include selections that made me laugh.  Have fun reading!

(Subject Line:)  Hell from China

Dear Gorey,

            (should be “Corey”)

Dear Korean,

            (should be “Karen”)

I once heard that America is the dessert of soccer.

            (He means “desert.”)

My favorite writer is Edgar Allan Poe whose novel is much more horrible.

            (The students often talk about “horrible” movies and stories when they mean “horror.”)

As to me, I am the tallest girl in my class, and a lot of people have said that I look like an European, because of my fair complexion and blonde hair.

            (Her hair is dark brown.  To them, anything non-black is “blonde.”)

My parents fell in love with each other when they meet the first time. i consider they are the happiest and tastiest couple in my hometown.

I hope someday I can meet some TV actors, and that will be legen-wait for it-dary!

You are a doctoral student and like gardening, right? … Have you got a good harvest of strawberries? … In China, few people do the gardening while they do research. Is it popular in America?

Mr. Bob, the first time I saw you in our department, I thought you might be a teacher because you looked very energetic and confident.

My English name is Robert. I was born into a farmer’s house in June 19, 1989. It was a hot summer day when I was born, but I can’t remember it. Maybe I am a boy.

I smiled a lot, then my friends called me Smile. When I was in university, my foreign teacher thought that Smile didn't look like an English name. She added a "y" to Smile.It became smiley. But, one day, my foreign teacher called me to her office and said that I'd better choose another name because Smiley sounded like smelly and smelly was not a good word.

(To a girl moving to Miami):  Still, I suggest you'd better take the sunblock, though you are a handsome guy. You also said you grew up in Canada. In my imagination, Canada is always covered with the lovely, beautiful maple waves, where gives an expression of Aestheticism.

In my part time, I am used to searching the internet, watching books and making friends. Yes,I love make friends.

I think teacher will be an ideal vacation for me.

            (A common mix-up:  “vocation” and “vacation.”)

I am round-faced and not very tall, so many people regard me as a girl. But I am a lady. Maybe I should dress up myself more mature.

I used to be interested about the rock'n roll and indie of America . I did not get some very new ,but the old ones like NIrvana ,Guns'n Roses and Bob Dylan . I don't think you are interested about them,  maybe your grandchildren be .

            (The recipient’s grandchild is a baby.)

Sometimes i talk with my friends by using poetry, just like, once, one of my friend asked me , how do you like me? I answered, Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? That's really interesting.

I'm Betty, beautiful Betty.  I chose "Betty" as my English name, because of the word "better" in a powerful sentence "No best, only better". 

Maybe you can return (reply to) me in Chinese.  Well, I am kidding.  Aha.

Student E-mail Project: Serious Excerpts

In the student e-mail project mentioned in my previous post, some students asked more serious questions to their American recipients.  Quite a few e-mails asked for advice of some sort.  Others shared parts of their lives that were difficult, confusing, or happy.  Here are a few quotes from different student e-mails:

Having been working in the hospital for so long time ,  do you have some special understanding about life ?

Sometimes I feel lonely because when mum and dad go out I will be left alone. So I really cherish every friend and they bring me so much happiness. You have 7 sisters and brothers, right? How I wish I could have at least one brother or sister in my own family except my cousins!

I know you have two daughters. I would like to tell you that my cousin also have two children: one son and one daughter. They are very cute and I love to stay with them but they seem not to like me. Could you tell me how to get along well with them?

I know you are a high school math teacher, I want to know in your opinion, what are the most importent qualities to be a good teacher? 

            (This type of question was asked in many e-mails.)

As a Chinese ,  I obviously think my motherland great .  I wonder what China is like in the people's eyes who have no connection with China .

You said that you were a married woman in your 50s. Actually my mother is also in her 50s. She is a really diligent woman. She loves me and I love her. But sometimes I just feel that it is hard to communicate with her. Do you have the same problem with your daughter? How do you think I should deal with the problem?

The mutual affection between you and your husband impressed me very much.

My family is a little different from others. When I was 21 years old, my mother passed away. This year, my grandmother died. My family came to a plight. But we are still struggling for life. My two brothers are studying hard in High Middle School, my father is working in a Road-Repairing Brigade, and I’m studying English in Qufu Normal University.

Should friends share similar characteristics with you? Or should they have opposite ones? What’s your criteria for friends?

My brother is five years older than me ,which makes my birth illegal at that time according to the policy of birth control . I was born in June of 1989, when the policy is carried out very strictly. To save my life, my mother chooses the Caesarean operation nearly two month ahead of the expected date of my birth without any hesitation .So I survive in 29 babies. Then my mother gives me the name “YING” which means “victory” in Chinese. My Mum uses the name to remember my family’s victory in the special battle against the government.

I always wanting to know how the foreigners think of China. When I ask my foreign teachers, they always tell me like this: “ok! It is known that China has made a great progress and peoples’ life have improved a lot.” What I was told is that China plays a positive character in the national world. Is it true or do you relay think so? I watched a movie produced by BBC. It’s name was “the Chinese are coming”. It tells China’s influences in Africa. Mostly, it tells the bad influences. What do you think of china?

I know your students have special needs.  Are they self-pitied?  How do you encourage them if they are disappointed?

I've learned that American children are more independent than Chinese ones. Being curious about the way Americans bring up their children, I am wondering if you could tell me something about how you raise your children.

China is different from America in many aspects. Eastern culture emphasises modest, tolerant, indirect in talking and low-key. Chinese people are not good at expressing their feelings towards people around. Even to parents words like "I love you" are hardly to be heard. I know this is quite different from America, right? Most children in China do not want to live too far from their parents because they have a special affection to their hometowns and they also want to look after their  parents.

Do you have a boyfriend? I have ,but we don't meet very often,because we are not in the same province . Sometime, i am little pessimistic, i don't know how to be optimistic,and i also find it't difficult to deal with some troubles in love affair.

Student E-mail Project: Random Excerpts

This semester, my junior writing students did an e-mail exchange with my friends in America.  I've been meaning to pull out some quotes from their e-mails that struck me as cute, funny, or insightful.  Here I've collected some sweet quotes from a bunch of different student e-mails.  (More coming in the next two posts.)  Enjoy!

And I know that you will have a baby soon, so I want to say hello to him or her and hope he or she will be peacefully and healthily born.

Every time I play ping pang, I feel more than excited and happy.

I want to guide you to travel around China when you come here next time.

I also like to mention that I have a very nice boyfriend, who is very handsome and treats me very well. I hope we can marry after I graduate from my college as soon as possible, because we love each other very much.

I'm curious about your romantic story with your husband, such as how you met him, how you feel about him and how you are sure he is your Mr. Right.

            (This was a common line of questioning.)

My father and my mother are from two villages separated by a long and wide river. It is marvelous, isn’t it?

I feel amazing when I know you are a lawyer, because I think a lawyer is very cool.  I adore you because you represent poor people who can't afford to hire an attorney.  You are great! 

            (I think “adore” here means “admire.”)

I am a junior student who is always busy with reviewing and preparing lessons. 

I grew up in a village, Jining, Shandong province. The villager’s standard of living has been improved. Most of them live in the roomy house. There is more delicious food on the table. They start to pay attention to their appearance. Most of the young ladies make up, and dress as the way city women do. Recent years, most of them have a digital television and a washing machine in their house. Some villagers even have air-conditions or refrigerators.

About me, I want to tell you my 3 dreams. First, I like travelling very much.I want to travel over the big China, and then travel abroad, such as America, Russia, and Africa. Second, I am a crazy fan of soldiers who serve in the army. So I want to find a soldier boyfriend in the future. Third, I would try my best to learn English well. Then I can use this language to earn money and live a free life.

Life in my university is a little boring--- getting up early in the morning, having class all day and studying till 10 o’clock in the evening. I’m a junior student now and I am preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination now. It really gives me a great deal of pressure. But I can still take notice of what is happening in China and the whole world because of the micro-blog that I am interested recently. It is similar to Twitter in western countries. And this helps me to relax and prevent me from dropping behind in this occlusive city.

I’m Clover, and my Chinese name is Yuan Luqi. I like my English name because it stands for good luck. The meaning of my Chinese name is a little bit complex. It means people may come across many obstacles during his life time. My father chose this name for me without special expectation, he just state the truth. Thus, I hope the good luck that my English name brings me can make up the loss my Chinese name gives me.

Obviously, you love your daughter very much and you are a good mother. I wish to you joy and happiness.

I think languages are mysterious and miraculous, especially when I am in a foreign language world, it can always give me surprises.

Now I have a new dream that I'll own a restaurant(breakfast only) using all I plant and feed on my own farm.

I hope you can keep in touch with me and share your happiness and sorrow if you want.

I am 187CM tall and I like basketball very much.

I promise I will go to America to visit you in the near future. I'm afraid you will wait for four or five years, but maybe not so long.

When I watch American TV series and movies, I’m often confused about FBI, CIA and police, such as their authorities, their numbers, their influences on America’s life and who they responsible for. Could you tell me their differences and your impression about them? I hope this question won’t offend you.

Fun Free Talk: Picnic

I've never gone on a picnic with my students, so I scheduled a picnic free talk yesterday.  It was the PERFECT day to be outside.  An early morning rain had evaporated into a bright and breezy afternoon and the grass fairly glowed in the sunshine.

The students came by after their classes to prepare sandwiches in my apartment, and then we slung a few big blankets over our shoulders and went off to find a nice place in the overgrown lawn behind the all-purpose building.  

We got our share of stares from the crowds of students passing by on the walkways threading through our picnic paradise, and my picnic group enjoyed being the object of such envy and fascination.  I think (but can't be sure) they liked the sandwiches, and they quite handily devoured the bananas and cookies I put out.  I had a great time and am hoping for an equally lovely day when the sophomores' turn rolls around on Saturday.

Making sandwiches.  I kept having to swoop in and avert peanut butter disasters.  They were trying to put it with things like ham, lettuce, and chicken salad.

Jody said she was taking a picture of Conrad so we all got out of the way.  But apparently not out-of-the-way enough, and now it looks like Conrad is repulsive and my legs have no owner.

Later that evening, I got an e-mail from the girl in stripes:

Thank you for your picnic. I enjoyed it a lot.

On the road back to our classroom, Catherine, Lily and I talked about it, and we all liked it very much, but we felt sorry that we didn’t take the chips you prepared for us. We Chinese often feel shy when we receive some presents from others. And I hope this didn’t make you feel sad or angry. I am sorry.

It's funny sometimes the things students worry about that I never even notice.  Should I tell them the chips had been laying around my apartment for a few days and I just threw them in at the last minute because they seemed so picnic-y?  And should I mention I was secretly hoping no one would touch them so I could try out the cheese dip my aunt just sent me?

I just sacrificed a whole bag of Lays to that cheese dip and it was delicious. 

Changes in Tomb-Sweeping Day

Last week we had a holiday: Tomb-Sweeping Day (aka Qing Ming Festival or the Day of Clear Brightness), which I briefly mentioned here.  This is a type of memorial day in which people show respect to their ancestors by visiting and cleaning their tombs, and also by burning paper houses, cars, clothes, and especially paper money for their spirits to use in the underworld.  Apparently, in a rare (for China) flash of environmental fervor, many people are trying to curb the burning in order to clean the air.  One of my students reports:

Tomb-Sweeping Day comes this week.  My family went to pay respects to my grand-pa at his tomb yesterday.  We took some papers made to resemble money and burned as an offering to the dead as usual.  But when we got to the city of the dead, we found a group of volunteers of my age.  They stood in front of the gate and came forward when people entered.  Their aim is to exchange our papers with their flowers.  Because the burning of the papers can cause lots of pollution to the air.  CCTV 1 gave a report that the total amount of burning papers can achieve tons every year in this holiday years ago.  So the volunteers want to make contributions to reducing the amount of air pollution for the environment.  They exchanged the papers with the flowers – chrysanthemums.  My family supported this idea and were willing to help the environment, too.  We use the chrysanthemum instead of the paper.  More and more people in China realized this point and make their own contributions to protecting the environment.  I think what we can do for the environment is infinite.  We can think about every aspect n our life and we may find many ways to protect our environment like the flowers in this Tomb-Sweeping Day.  This is a big change in Tomb-Sweeping Day, I think.

My Parents, As Described by an Admiring Student

From a student journal last week:

My classmates and I met Alison’s parents, Bob and Joan in our college.  We are very happy.  Bob is very kind and humorous.  I am sure he is definitely a good father.  And Joan is so beautiful and elegant that we girls can’t help envying her.  Bob and Joan tell us their family in the USA.  How big it is!  There are so many relatives that they can’t remember all their names.  So they will put a namecard on their garments.*  A wise idea!  Bob and Joan love each other very much.  They have been married for more than 30 years.  They are romantic, too.  In China, there are just a few couples who got married years ago still celebrating their wedding anniversaries.  But, Joan and Bob do that.  How romantic it is!  Personally speaking, celebrating wedding anniversary is a good way to maintain harmonious relationship between husband and wife.  I wished I could be happy and beautiful like Joan in the future.

 *My mom showed them a picture of a recent family reunion with over 100 people from her side.  This received probably the most comments in student journals.  Other top mentions were my parents' youthful appearance, how much they love each other, the fact that my mom had the same major as me and my sister, and the fact that my parents are traveling the world and enjoying themselves instead of saving their money.  Haha.

Student Reactions to the Earthquake in Japan

This week, my writing students' journal assignment was to describe their reaction to a current event.  Many of them chose the Japanese earthquake, and I was heartened to see that about 90% of the students seemed really sad about the situation and expressed their sympathy for the victims.  (There is a long history of bad feeling toward Japan here, particularly because of how the Japanese treated China when they invaded in 1940.)  Today I'm posting three entries that mostly capture the range of student reaction.

Two student journals repeated a rumor that the earthquake was actually caused by Japanese nuclear testing.  Here's one of them:

            I’m sorry to hear that a heavey earthquake took place in Japan a few days ago.  Thousands of Japanese couldn’t be provided with shelters of food.  By contrast, the earthquake happened in 12 May Wenchuan China more heavily.  The nuclear station bombed after the earthquake.

            I had great sympathy for Japanese people because nuclear leaking will lead to several generations have genetic variation.  Rumor has it that it is not an common earthquake.  It’s experiement of nuclear by Japan government.  Great power of nuclear bombing result in the earthquake under the sea and tsunami.  I totally believe that.  No matter now much they’re suffering, what they suffered is the result of what they had done.  Though it’s not a fact, Japan government developed nuclear industry regardless of the safety of Japanese people and even the world is despised.  It’s not the high time criticized Japanese government.  After all, their country are still in danger.  Fifty hears ago, Hiroshima had given them an example of the danger of nuclear.  They still don’t know to take class from it.  As to them, I despised.

Other students described their gradual change of heart when they heard the news about the earthquake:

Actually, when I heard that news about that demolished earthquake in Japan, I felt happy in my deep heart.  Because in China, patriotic is always treated as hating Japan, I think.  At least, if someone give a Japanese a lesson, he would be treated as a hero.  He is a patriotic man.  Most patriotic movie is war between China and Japan.

            However, I changed my opinion then.  Though we have different opinion on some history problems, we are all human kind.  Lifes of your enemies should also be valued I think.  Much less, our enemies are not those people who are in need.  They are those people who invade China…

            I don’t know how to help them.  What I know is that our government has done what we can do.

Finally, most students were genuinely sympathetic.  I like how this next one also includes speculation that the world will end in 2012, which was another common theme.  Note to Hollywood: Please do not make any more apocalyptic films.  My students are too tempted to believe them.

The earthquake and tsunami which happened in Japan in March really shocked the world, I think.  The magnitude of the earthquake was so big that it almost devastated the east part of Japan.  Many refugees are homeless.  In my usual days, I dislike Japanese, but I’ve been thinking for a while.  What I dislike is Japanese politicians not Japanese civilians.  The earthquake and tsunami have deprived many Japanese civilians of their lives, which was very horrible.  Some Japanese civilians suffer from nuclear radiation and I’m sorry for that.  People in HongKong donated a lot of money to Japan, which moves me.  Japanese people will reconstruct their homeland with the help of kind people from all over the world.  I believe in them.  At the same time, I hope Chinese people and Japanese people can eradicate the feud between two countries with the combined effort.  Wonder whether disaster predicted in 2012 will come.  When humans come face to face with the disaster in 2012, what can humans do?

Terror, the Foreign Teacher

Here are a few gems from my writing students' journals today:

• Listing off her current and former foreign teachers: "Lucy, Terror, Mallary, Alison."  (She means Tarah.)
• On why she didn't buy salt during the salt run:  "I didn't like salt, because salt tastes so salty."
• On climbing a mountain:  "We were bathed with sweaters."

China's Changing Countryside

China’s Changing Countryside
By a junior English major

China’s countryside has been changing quickly and hugely in every aspect.

Ten years ago, there were few electric appliances in villiager’s house, except for the TV. However, recently years many villiagers in China’s countryside have computers, refrigerators in their homes besides the TV. Ten years ago, people in countryside use public telephone to communicate with relatives, but now villiagers have their own mobilephones. That is more convenient.

When you walk into a countryside in China, you’ll no longer see the muddy streets. Instead, you probably will see electrical bicycles or even cars driving on the road. Most villiagers have apartment in city. Villiagers, especially women, started to decorate themselves. They make up, and dress as the way city people do.

What’s more, villiagers pay more attention to their children’s education. They send their children to good schools to learn knowledge, in order to reduce the gap between their children and city children.

Besides, villiagers try to live their life in a more healthy way. They gradually know how to absorb nutrition from foods. There are more dicilous food in villiagers dinner table.

As the society develop, the countryside in china will be changing more.

China’s Changing Countryside
By a junior English major

I choose this article because I was born in the countryside and I have been living there for almost 21 years. I saw the changings and felt the changings. Let me tell you what did the countryside look like several years ago.

People living in countryside 15 years ago were poor. They lived a hard life. Women, old people did farming in the fields and men went out to find ways to make money. There was no tar coated road in my village and car was rare to see. Once I remembered that my grandma took me to see cars because I wanted to draw one. We walked almost about miles of mud road, then I saw many trucks.

I didn’t know how, but after I going to the school, things have changed a lot. Lots of men and women made a tar coated road in my village. They even build storied house. My family also moved to a new house. It was a two storied building. They year before last year, we moved to a higher building. My father even bought a Ford car. Yes, people now are living a happy life. The life does not means too hard to us. Besides working, people now learn entertainment. They have walk in the park, go to supermarket, go to library and watch movies.

Years before, the colour of China’s countryside was gray. But now, you can see the colourful countryside. China’s economy is growing fast and the government are paying much attention to the countryside. As a result, China’s countryside changed a lot. I hope the countryside as also as China would be better and better.

China's Changing Families

China’s Changing Families
By a junior English major

Families are quite different now in China from those decades ago, due to China’s changing economy, policies, and culture.

In 1980s or early 1990s, family members usually lived together in the same big yard. They shared the kitchen, the bathroom, and the dinning-room, and when it was time for meals, all the family members would sit at the same table, eating and chating. Often, there were more than ten people in a family, including grandparents, parents, and grandchildren. So dinner time could be a good chance for families to get together and communicate. It was probably the liveliest time of the day, with children playing games together happily.

All the family members living together has its advantages, but at the same time, there are many inconvenience. As the values and life styles of elder people and young people are different, sometimes even opposite, an increasing number of families choose to live separately. Young couples prefer to live in apartment with their children. Because of the Family Policy in China, most couples can only have one child. As a result, children become lonely without friends playing together after dinner. However, they can enjoy the quiet time to read or do their own things. What’s more, parents can make flexible plans with fewer family members living together.

With the development of the various aspects of Chinese people’s life, families have been changing in the past and will go on changing in the future.

China’s Changing Families
By a junior English major

China’s families have been changing since the open policy in 1978. We Chinese people witness the big change during the past 30 years.

Our parents’ generation had a big family. Just take my father as an example, my dad had five younger brothers. It’s unbelieveable for us that my grandparents had 6 sons to raise. It was a tradition that if you had more children you would lead a happier life when you were old. But it was not true. Children didn’t have enough food to eat, enough clothes to wear What’s worse, children couldn’t go to school because their parents can’t afford the food let alone the education. Going to school is every child’s dream. Most of them would become peasants and worked in the fields the whole life.

It is different now. As our economy develops rapidly, our families have been changing a lot. Due to the one-child policy, most of China’s families are nuclear family. Only father, mother and child. Since parents have only one child to raise, so they can give their kid a happier and better life. Parents will try their best to make money to meet children’s need. Better and healthier food, fancy and good-quality clothes. The happiest thing is that every child can go to school. It is such a big progress.

Although different generations have different problems, we are leading a better life now. We should treasure this happiness.

In a word, China’s families have had big changes.

China's Changing Values

China’s Changing Values
By a junior English major

Thanks to the two fundamental state policies in China – the economic-reform and opening-up policy, China’s economy has increased drastically with people’s values changed. Before 1978, China is backward and lacks contact and communication with the world, so people tend to be reserved and traditional. For example, several decades ago, people didn’t want to have daughters, because in their view, daughters will marry someone one day and leave home to live with her husband. Also, they think girls are less stronger than boys, girls can’t help a lot in farming. So at that time, a lot of parents would be so cruel as to desert the baby, just because she was a girl. But now things have changed. People begin to like girls, because they think girls are sweet, adorable, and filial, they can bring happiness to the family. Thus even the baby the parents have was a girl nowadays, the parents will treat her as precious pearls.

I also noticed that people holds a more open attitude towards new things. They begin to accept new things naturally, because they realize the world is making progress everyday, if you refuse to accept the changes in the world and don’t try to keep up with the pace, you will be left behind. Just like the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty government were immersed in what they have at that time and refust to accept the new technologies, so the imperialist can conquer China so easily. People learned the importance of opening-up and developing. That’s why nowadays people focused on education so much. They would like to pursue a higher education abroad and study the latest technology.

China’s Changing Values
By a junior English major

In 1978, Deng Xiaoping, one of the greatest designer for China’s development, carried out the “Open and Reform” policy. Since then, China has gone through a course of transitions. Changes, and innovations have been taken in many fields.
Thus, people’s values become more diversified.

The biggest change takes place in the economic field. In the past, our government followed the Soviet policy and took a dominant role in the economy. Compared with those follow-suit complements, the new doctrine Chinese government adopted, which takes base in both market and government, makes China a strong economy.
Ensuing the changing economic values comes the altered political attitudes. In old days, China was closed to the majority, only associated with few communist countries. Nowadays, China entertains flexible political policies. Still, there are no eternal enemies, neither friends.

Apart from these two main changing values, Chinese citizens have varied values. People get a more progressive attitude towards life and work. Cities take on new appearances. You can never imagine what it would be like in another 35 years! China is in motion!

Book Club

Do you love to read? Do you want to practice your oral English? Are you a junior at Qufu Normal University? Join the book club!


Every Monday night, about a dozen junior girls come to my apartment for book club. This semester we are reading and discussing the wonderful Anne of Green Gables. It's a lot of fun. Tonight there was such a heated debate about Anne and Gilbert's future that Caroline had to stand up and shout to make her opinion heard. (Caroline believes that they will eventually become a couple.)

Since I believe that good books and good food go together, I try to bake something for the book club each week, and sometimes I have the girls help. Last week we made a cinnamon oatmeal cake, to which we also added beans. Because, hey -- this is China! Why not?

Most of the girls are students in my writing class. Today, I discovered the following entry in one of their writing journals.

Last night, I went to Alison’s home for reading. The members of the book club were almost there at 7:00.

Our first sight in the room was several bananas on the table. At first I didn’t show any surprise at them. However, as Alison took out an instruction for food, we were all puzzled with excitement. “Aren’t we going to talk about the book? Are we going to learn cooking?” Later, Alison took out the needed ingredients and told us that we would make some banana cakes. That’s really waked our mind up. In one minute, we are ready to begin. Rosy smashed three bananas in a big bowl. Windy .D churned up the butter, oil, eggs, and flower. The rest of us added salt, sugar, baking soda, etc. in it. And lastly, Alison and I put the ready mixture into a oven. Because we had to wait for about one hour, so we took use of the time to talk about the book we had read during the national holiday.

“Wow! Ca sent bon!” Evry cried out in French, when she smelled the delicious cake. No long after that, we got the chance to have a taste. It’s soft, sweet-smelling and warm. The banana cakes tasted so good! Thank you, Alison!”

For the record, the students "Windy .D" and "Evry" are actually Wendy D. and Avery, and we cooked with oil and flour, not butter and flower. If you ever want some soft, sweet-smelling banana bread, feel free to drop by some Monday night.

Me Through Students' Eyes

Last week in writing class, I asked the students to write a short biography of me based on some items I brought to the classroom.  I haven't taught this group of students before, and I told them nothing about myself other than my name.  Here were the items I brought:

• Chinese-English Bible
• photo of me, my parents, my brother, and my sister
• book about China
• book about Iowa
• University of Iowa sweatshirt
• globe
• bike helmet

The items that caused the most confusion were the Iowa stuff (representing my home state and my alma mater) and the bike helmet (representing that one of my China hobbies is biking through the countryside, and also representing the fact that I didn't have much cool stuff to bring, so I grabbed it on the way out).  Here are a few excerpts:

Alison is a big fan of bicycle.  She has traveled around the world for many places by bike. 

She likes riding a motorbike with a helmet and she thinks it feels great.  

Like most Americans, she likes traveling, especially by bike.  As a student, she also rode bike with her bike helmet and Iowa shirt to travel around.

I guess you must like riding bike.  You like looking at the scenery when riding bike.  Maybe you also like making race with other people.  

She has a IOWA shirt.  She is good at IOWA.  She has a book about IOWA, so she must know well about it.

I don’t know what the IOWA is.  But whatever, I’m sure she’s crazy about it.

I love that last one!  Let me quote a few of the biographies in full, so you can see the range of writing ability and enjoy some of the creative imaginations of my students.

"Alison loves China.  One day (maybe she was very young) she found a place on the globe which interested her a lot.  The place is China.  As she grew up, she came to China to realize her dream.  But the life in China lacks the warmth of her family.  She always put a photo of her five family members in her table.  She misses her family very much.  As a standard Christian, she puts the Bible around her and view it as the holy book.  But in China, she can only buy the Chinese-English edition.  About sports, she likes riding bike, and often wear the bike hemlet to travel among the small city around Qufu.  She has great interests in Iowa and the Iowa shirt is very precious for her.  She often put it in a remarkable place in her home.  Because that’s which best friends give her."

"Alison is a Christianity.  Alison wants to have a journey of China.  Alison is crazy about bike and her favorite sport is bike.  Alison likes taking photos.  Alison is learning knowledge of China.  Alison is a member of Iowa."

"I think Alison may be believe in Christianity.  And I guess she is graduated in the major of geography for she likes using globe to introduce her.  She must interest in Chinese culture very much.  I think IOWA may be a ruggby team that she likes most for I guess the helmet is a ruggby team used.  I guess Iowa must a team that has long history and Alison is its fan from she was young.  I guess Alison came from a family of five, maybe her handsome brother is a government official."

So there you have it: I love China, I love my family, and I'm a Bible-toting, photography-loving, geography major biker chick who plays rugby for the historic team named IOWA.