First day of teaching!

I awoke this morning to the knowledge that it would be my first day teaching English to non-speaking students. I will admit that I did not prepare much for the class this morning because the textbook that I was given, English for Secretary, was quite silly. The dean and the other teachers, all Chinese also thought that this book was ridiculous and they said that I could teach whatever I chose to. Teaching is not easy work, especially when there are more than 50 students who are listening closely to everyword that you say to them. I was a little nervous walking to the building this morning because I did not prepare a structured assignment for the students and I did not have any idea of how basic or advanced their knowledge of the language was. Upon arrival to the facility, I quickly came into contact with Apple, who is the acting dean of this particular department. She is a sweet, older women with a very pleasant disposition. She immediatly gave me some green tea, both a very expensive kind from another province, which is supposidly world famous and another loose green tea which she enjoys as well. Over tea, she explained to me that many students had come to her in the last couple of days and asked her if they were going to be taught by the American, as if I am some sort of teaching professional, known in many countries! She said that her department was very pleased to have someone such as myself teaching for them and it was truly and honor for them. I felt myself blushing at all of the admiration, especially since they had yet to see how I could teach. These compliments set me at ease with what I was doing as we sat in her office sipping green tea and waiting for the moment where the school bell would toll and I would walk up to room 311 and begin my new life as a teacher.

To my surprise, Bob, or Zhifeng Chen, the guy from foreign affairs that intially offered me the position, also came to the classroom to watch me teach the class--along with Dean Apple, another dean from another one of the colleges as well as 4 teachers in this different section of the English department. So not only did I have to impress some 50 students, but 7 collegues of mine.
As the bell rang, I felt a strong burst of energy. Game on. We walked briskly up to the classroom and waited for the students to settle in. One of the other teachers forged on ahead, they wanted to annouce me to the rest of the class. I sat back, the moments speeding up, heart picking up speed as he annouced in his strong Chinese tone, blah blah blah blah Mr. Tim, America, blah blah blah and Dean Apple gave me the nod--
Thunderous applause rings out from inside of the room, these are not the college kids that I know or once was. Smiles beaming from their faces, they look at me with wonderment as I enter the room. The gasp at the fair complexion of my skin, my large frame jetting outwards in front of them as I make my way to the podium standing a few feet from my audience. They are here to hear what I have to say, what I have to teach them.
And it feels so good.

For the first time in several years, it feels good to be an American. Here politics do not matter as much as politeness does. A smile cures a thousand ailments, hapiness abounds in these lovely people. For 100 minutes today, we laughed at each others lack of understanding but applauded ourselves at what we able to overcome. I had prepared something, so after my slight intro we went into their introductions, which took up the entire class period. I had each of them write down their favorite English word and one by one, had them recite it back to me. As each student was selcted, they would stand up and say what their name in Chinese, if they had an English name, they would say what that was and then they would say their favorite word and then why it is their favorite.
Simple enough, but it produced awesome results. Some were shy, some were cordial, but all were willing to give it a shot and the students worked with each other to help them pronouce the different words--a very different enviroment than the American experience which is so competitive. There was no calling people stupid or shy, just a real willingness to help each other understand the language.

Following the lesson, I was taken out for a special lunch by bob and some of the other teachers. We went to the student "canteen", where we enjoyed Dumplings (my new fav) and peejo (beer). It was a celebration of my lesson. Each teacher could not stop expressing how very proud and happy they were of my lesson and how well the students actually responded. Many times throughout the 1.5 hour long meal they commented on how I did better than expected. I always grow a little suspect when people make comments such as this, but with these people I know that they have the best intentions. Many beers later, I bid them fairwell and made my way back to my flat, another major feat accomplished.

This is the freshman registration booth, located in the center of campus. Thus far, 8,000 new students have registered for the fall term. I have some better shots of the Unversity than this one, which I will post following this one.













Another shot of me teaching. These were taken by Bob.















My first class of students! Hard to beleive, but these are all sophomores!

At the end of class, I asked the students if they had any questions that they would like to ask me.
I was expecting what sports do you like? Are you married?
But no. The first question was:
Do you believe in God?
Without giving my answer ( I don't remember exactly what I said, but it was a perfect PR way to answer it) I would like to point out that China the official religion of China is atheist, so with that I knowledge, I attempted to give as rational an answer as possible.