Teaching Thoreau in the Heartland of China
21 Sep 2009 1 Comment
in Teaching Tags: American Pie, dreams, Literature, Thoreau
I was teaching Thoreau in a time when the Chinese were migrating from the countryside into the cities. It was a new Industrial Age—but this one was taking place during the age of globalism, cell phones, and Hello Kitty. Experts estimated that a population greater than that of America’s total population would move into Chinese cities within the next 15-20 years. There I was at the vanguard of this exodus where some of my students had left their families behind in the rice paddies. These students were their family’s only hope.
But for those now living and working in the cities, there was the heady pleasure of shopping. The cities became a Promised Land, and consumerism quietly ousted atheism as the dominant faith. In the Promised Land you could work in a factory and escape the ceaseless toil of the rice paddies. Of course, it was your job in the factory to crank out more stuff for other people to buy. And of course, you had to tear down the last vestiges of traditional China, and bulldoze Mother Nature in the name of progress. Anything to modernize China. Anything to become a member of the middle class. Yet for some Chinese these issues of modernity were recognized as a problem—and without Thoreau having to tell them.
Back to School: Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay, Boom!
12 Sep 2009 2 Comments
in Teaching Tags: cell phones, humor, journey, Literature, Louis Lowry, Obama, poetry, syllabus, Teaching, The Alchemist, The Congo, The Giver, The Hobbit, Thoreau, Tolkien, Vachal Lindsay, Walt Whitman
They were a tough crowd. I introduced my first two literature classes to my concept of learning as a journey. At first their faces were impenetrable masks. Then I told them, “Even in America we know about Chair Mao’s famous Long March, and the founding of the People’s Republic of China.” Their faces lit up with pride. That’s when I knew my students understood me. “So this is an honor for me to be here on the China’s 60th anniversary, and be your guide on another journey. And it is an honor to be part of your education in the beginning of the Chinese Century. Of course, this journey will not be as hard as the Long March, but it will challenge you nonetheless.”
It was the first day of a two-semester class on American and British literature for junior English majors attending Xiangnan University in the city of Chenzhou in southern Hunan province. In the summer months prior to my arrival, I had known that I would be teaching literature, and that I would have the freedom to create my own curriculum. I was told that there was a text book and that the students were acquainted with some English literature such as Shakespeare, Jane Austen and Earnest Hemingway. Furthermore, I was told that I should feel free to bring my own books from American because the government-issue textbook was, “Maybe not so good.”
Lit Week 1: Intro to Thoreau
08 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment
in Podcasts Tags: China, Classes, Literature, Students, Teaching
I gave students an assignment: read Thoreau’s essay “Reading” and make notations about passages that have special meaning. For instance, why does Thoreau refer to some readers as cormorants and ostriches?
Lit Week 1: Why Read?
07 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment
in Podcasts Tags: China, Literature, Students, Teaching
Through various readings, I find out how familiar students are with Western literature. One poem about the Congo River by Vachel Lindsay, an American, intrigues them. They ask if it is really a “rap” song…
The Journey Began
05 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment
in Teaching Tags: Drama, dreams, Literature, nightmares, private schools, public schools, Teaching
Reality Laid Somewhere Between Daydreams and Nightmares
I got out of bed at dawn Wednesday. It had been restless night spent thinking about all the clever things I would say to make students wonder if I was some reincarnated Confucius in disguise. I had spent the last few days losing track of time in a kaleidoscopic tour of Chinese culture and hospitality. And I had spent the nights of that last disorienting week of summer vacation dealing with nightmares about the first day of class. These nightmares had nothing in common with my daydreams. In them I was continuously lost in labyrinthine hallways, losing my books despite fruitless nightlong search and rescue missions, and showing up in class naked. Teachers all over the world were having similar nightmares.
That morning I ran around the campus and fried eggs with cilantro and chilis and cooked oatmeal for breakfast. I listened to a podcast on teaching literature and recited poetry to warm-up my vocal cords. Then I put on my best pressed out clothes, slid into a pair of spit shined brown leather shoes, and double-checked that I had everything I needed to teach my first lesson. I advanced confidently in the direction of my dreams with a book of Tang poetry in both hands, breathing deeply to harness the power of qi for the long day’s journey ahead.
