A Halloween Spectacular Weekend

Halloween arrived at Number 47 Middle school this past week.  We, the FEC foreign teachers, spent the week planning and preparing for the events on Friday and Monday (yet to come).  We decorated both classrooms (picture 1).  Classroom one had pumpkin carving all day while classroom two had Halloween activities, like apple bobbing (picture 2), creepy body parts (picture 4; eg. brains are noodles, blood is ketchup, but the heart was a real pig's heart!), mummy races (picture 5), and face painting.  We had costumes as well; Kellen is the skeleton pictured (picture 3) and I'm the "masquerade murderer". 

 

After the Halloween chaos subsided, we spent a fun Friday night at dinner and discovering a great new restaurant.  Saturday followed with a relaxing day―due in part to the absence of electricity in the entire school for 24 hours.  We moseyed around the city, enjoying cappuccinos, hair cuts, movie releases (Green Lantern & Rise of the Planet of the Apes), and a fantastic hotpot 海底捞―a student from last year's favorite (picture 6.) 

Finally, Sunday was filled with an early morning trip to the nearby city of Kaifeng, home to the chrysanthemum festival in a former emperor's palace.  A Chinese teacher from my school―Maggie (王燕)―invited me to join her, her mother, her daughter, and two students to go to Kaifeng.  The next picture is of Maggie and me in front of the mums on display (picture 7). She is incredibly nice, insisting that I come and visit when I have free time so I can practice my Chinese.  Because of this, we spent the entire day speaking Chinese!

 

Sitting here Sunday night, it was a busy and exhausting weekend, yet one completely worth it.

 

Later Days,

Rick

 

He did it. Henan High Schools' Best English Speaker

Yesterday, Dominick （郭维）competed in the provincial English competition, including a listening, reading, and writing test as well as an extemporaneous speech.  The results are in, and he is #1.  He did it! Below is the report his Chinese English teacher wrote to announce his success to the school. (I'm even mentioned!  Woohoo!)

(roughly) Translated English:

 

Guo Wei (Dominick) tops the fifth provincial "English Language Weekly's English Cup" to evaluate high school students' comprehensive English skills

In the recently-concluded Henan Province "English Language Weekly's English Cup" which assesses English students' comprehensive skills, Zhengzhou Number 47 High School's senior 3 student, Guo Wei (Dominick) stood out, winning first prize in Henan Province. His English teacher Zhang Hong (Whitney) also received first prize for excellent tutelage.

The event is organized by Henan Province's Department of Education and co-sponsored by the English language weekly newspaper.  Every two years it takes place in Henan Province to promote basic education in English, curriculum reform, and overall development of students; it strives to stimulate students' interest in learning English, create a good English-learning atmosphere, and demonstrate students' abilities. The tournament, held in Xinxiang City at Henan Normal University's High School, had more than 500 high school student participants from cities across the province.  The two-day competition included a written test and an extemporaneous speech.  The two results added to the overall score for each participant. Guo Wei's (Dominick's) outstanding performance and excellent results brings a great honor to both Zhengzhou City and Number 47 High School.

Zhengzhou Number 47 High School is the first municipal "Characteristics of International Education" school.  It has attached great importance to the teaching and learning of English. In addition to sending students to England and the United states for exchange programs, the school also organizes rich and varied extra-curricular activities, such as the "English Corner", the Christmas party, and an English speech contest all designed to improve students' English language and literacy.  Additionally, foreign teacher, Rick, also carefully worked with Guo Wei (Dominick) in preparation of the competition.  Further benefiting Number 47 High School's strong English-learning atmosphere and international perspective, Guo Wei (Dominick) has already earned a "Singapore Corporate Scholarship", a full-scholarship to the National University of Singapore or Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, which he attend in the second half of this year to begin his undergraduate studies.

 

 

Original Chinese:

郭维同学在省第五届"英语周报杯"中学生英语综合技能展评中折桂

在刚刚结束的河南省第五届"英语周报杯"中学生英语综合技能展评活动中，郑州四十七中高三学生郭维脱颖而出, 荣获河南省一等奖第一名。英语组张宏老师获得优秀辅导教师一等奖。

此项活动由河南省教育厅与英语周报社联合主办，两年一届，旨在推进河南省基础教育阶段英语学科的课程改革、促进学生全面发展、激发学生学习英语的兴趣、给学生创造一个良好的英语学习气氛和充分展示自我的舞台。本届比赛在新乡市河师大附中举行，共有来自全省各辖市及扩权县的500多名初、高中的学生经过市级展评进入省级决赛。大赛为期两天，先后进行笔试和即兴演讲两轮展评，两轮成绩相加为每位选手的综合成绩。郭维同学代表郑州市参加比赛，他以出色的表现、优异的成绩和全面的综合素质赢得了评委的高度称赞，为四十七中和郑州市赢得了极大的荣誉。

郑州四十七中是第一所市属"国际教育特色"学校，一直以来高度重视英语的教与学。学校除每年派出师生到英美国家进行交流和学习外，还组织了丰富多采的课外活动，如"英语角"、圣诞晚会、英语演讲比赛等，旨在提高学生的英语语言和文化素养。就连这次比赛，外教Rick也一同随行, 对郭维同学进行了精心的赛前辅导。

受益于四十七中浓厚的英语学习氛围和开放的国际视野，郭维同学已获得全额"新加坡企业奖学金"，并于下半年赴新加坡国立大学、新加坡南洋理工大学深造

Forecast: Smoke

Ever unpredictable, I check the weather to find I should expect smoke. No explanation why. Yet, much like a forecast this spring for "sand," it came true. Somehow, here, from my classroom, I couldn't see past 100 feet and my clothes smelled like I came from a bonfire. There was no special holiday, and no one offered an explanation. That's China.

Later days,
Rick

Ever Unpredictable China...stay flexible, Rick, stay flexible!

I sit in XinXiang, a city 45 miles from home in Zhengzhou, and watch as Dominick, a student I tutor, calls a fellow speech competitor to find out how the morning competiton went and what to expect for his afternoon competition. As always in China, you'll never know what to expect. We learn her speech was longer than the published info says. There are also questions from the judges--unexpected. Plus, the topics are single words (gentleman, hero, humor, etc.), not questions like we practiced.

Fast forward to the competition. The speech is once again a different length and the judges do ask questions. Dominick rocked his, "What kind of music do you listen to and why?" There, however, was no control around the questions. One poor girl was actually asked "Please comment on American congressmen's complaints that US jobs are lost due to China's fixed exchange rate."

Oh, poor girl.

Photo 2: Most often when such a smoke cloud rises from the ground, it's surrounded by protesters and mob squads with rubber bullets. However, in China this is a sign of celebration having just lit a long string of firecrackers (a sound that also imitates a riot area.)

Finish the day with some classic street food. Here, a thin layer of dough is spread on a hot circular stone and is then topped with egg, vegetables, spice, and breakfast crisps. Total cost: $0.48. Oh, China :-)

Later Days,
Rick

A bit a Chinese Gatsby

From my recollection of The Great Gatsby, our central character struggled to belong among the elite wealthy class having acquired his money in his lifetime. Thus my (flimsy) metaphor for Kellen and my most recent acquaintance.

We were walking to the store Friday and a woman pulls up in a black Porsche Cayenne looking for a teacher from last year. We inform her he's in Australia and after talking she offers to drive us to the store and ultimately the train station (we were about to depart for the boat cruise.) We're already pressed for time and it's a porsche, so we hop in and zip to the station with the sun roof down and dance tunes blaring.

It was exciting to be driven to the train station in a Porsche. We expected it'd end there. However, upon our return she called wanting to just chat. She zipped over to talk face-to-face with us and was inviting us to different dinners, clubs, etc. Kelle offered to work on her English, but we are puzzled with how to act. We both come from middle-income backgounds and don't know what to do around rich people. She makes enough for a porsche and a posh lifestyle. What could she want with two foreigners? I understand foreigners are still revered in modern China, but with her wealth she could easily afford the high-priced ones. Either way, it goes down for now as a continued adventure!

Later days,
Rick

2 out if the 3 Gorges

We're on day 5 of the 3 Gorges tour and about to see the final gorge and the 3 Gorges dam. While there is, admittedly, a fair dispute about visiting the area, the scenes are impressive. Yesterday was an all-gorge day (too much boat sitting, but "gorge"-ous). We started with the first and highest gorge, then came the 3 small gorges, then the mini gorges. Unfortunately, the pictures just all start to look like the same rock.
Finally, after tonight's 10 hour train journey, we'll arrive home in Zhengzhou! Happy national holiday!