Learning Lessons

---

Finally my excruciatingly long and surprisingly short stint at teaching in Wuzhou has come to a close and I can look back at the lessons I have taught and the things I have learnt.

I used to complain about the terrible state the Australian education system was in but it seems so effective and luxurious compared to China. I cant speak for the rich schools in the cities, these are apparently quite good. What I can say about the poor schools in the country is that it disturbs and saddens me.

The school I was teaching in, New Cambridge English School, was a "private vocational school", I suppose it is a similar concept to TAFE where you learn trade related skills. It was a school for poor rural kids, aged between 15 and 19. There were about 150 girls and about 10 boys, and the aim of the course was to equip the students for menial hospitality jobs like working in souvenir shops and cheap hotels.

I got to ask a few of them about their about their families and their hopes and dreams. It was an interesting insight into the lives of China's silent majority. They told me about how hard working on farms was and how basic their living standards. One sweet girl invited me to stay in her house when I said I was interested in seeing rural villages, but went on to blush when she told me they didnt have plumbing or electricity.

I was surprised to hear that most of the students came from families of 7 or more, seemingly untouched by the One-child Policy. It makes sense though, the benefits of the policy, such as free health care and free education dont apply to rural regions. This confused me no end. The (comparatively) rich people in the cities get free health and education, while the poor people in the country have to pay, not to mention travel huge distances, even if they only have one child. It seems ludicrous. Plus, in the rural areas, children provide labour and support in old age, they cant afford not to have an army of kids.

The saddest stories I heard were the ones of the continuing sexual discrimination that persists in the back water rural areas. Some of the girls told me about how grandparents wouldnt acknowledge them and thier parents treated them like the hired help, they are only there to do the chores then bugger off and get married. And these were the lucky educated ones. It was mostly only the eldest daughter who was educated past the minimum, and that was mostly with hopes that she could get an educated husband who would save the family from agricultural life.

The second grade have just graduated and most of them had no plans other than vague ambitions to get a job, any job. A few of them were going to try their luck in a big city but most of them were just going home to their farms. The competition for jobs in China, even the menial jobs, is fierce and these poor kids are not equipped for the fight.

All the students could read and write fairly well, and one or two of them could speak quite fluently. But the majority of the students, after two years of learning nothing else, couldnt ask or answer simple questions. After three weeks at the school I understood why. The pedagogy of Chinese schools seems to be based on the theory that if you repeat something often enough you will remember it and understand it. And why not, thats how parrots learn to talk after all. One flaw in the the theory is meaning. Parrots dont understand what they are repeating and I have reason to believe most of my students didnt either. When I said something they repeated it (more or less, if mumbles count). It was like playing that irritating "Dont copy me" game we used to play as kids.

Before I caught on my first lesson would have been quite funny if it wasnt so terrifying and frustrating. I was trying to ask them questions but they just repeated the questions.
"What is this?" holding up a pencil.
"What is this."
"No, Im asking you. What..... is......this?"
"No, mumble mumble mumble. What.....is......this."
By the end I was just saying what ever came to mind, praying that the lesson would end.
"God, what have I got myself into?"
"God, what have I got myself into."

The second flaw in this system is interest. Eyes that were sparkly and animated when I spoke to them at lunch or after class became glazed and vacant the second they sat down at thier uncomfortable little desks. For the last ten years education for them had been tedious and pointless, and they believed that was all it should be. Endless repetition had extinguished any desire they had to learn. When I demanded attention and interaction they didnt know how to respond. The girls became defensive and the boys became indignant. They didnt like me for taking away their fuzziness.

The first day I tried to play games in the class i recieved a hostile response. They simply refused to participate. This made me feel very sheepish. But I was determined. I would rather them stand in confused and angry groups refusing to obey instructions than sitting staring at me, mindlessly repeating every word I said. At least this way I didnt have to think of what to say. So I stuck to it.

And we got there in the end. By the last lesson we had before the holidays it was heartwarming to hear them whispering amongst themselves to think of different words with letter patterns, or screaming out to each other what word on the black board to slap with the fly swatter or comically acting out verbs while thier classmates giggled with delight. It made the hard work worthwhile and I was actually a bit sad I wouldnt have more classes for the other games I wanted to try.

The other teachers treated me with distain. Maybe for showing them up, or maybe raising the expectations of the students, or maybe because they knew I was earning more than twice what they were. But the principal loved it. To him I was an endless photo op. He popped in and out of the classes constantly with his camera, making me and the students pose in "thoughtful" poses. There was a student teacher at the school who liked my lessons too. He sat in on the ones he could and asked me endless questions about theory and technique. I really hope I was able to teach him something.

So that is what I learnt from my three weeks of teaching experience. I learnt to know and believe in what you want to achieve, and I learnt that to achieve what you want takes determination in the face of defeat. I hope my students were able to learn something too.

---