The first day of class. When I arrived, everyone else was already there. A bespectacled Korean guy on the phone and a lanky young Polish guy. As I sat down, the Korean guy finished his call and turned around to me and the Polish guy.
"I've got to go. See you later." He gave two quick bows and threw his books into his bag, then flew out the door. Then there were two!
I got to chatting with the rest of the class, who introduced himself as 葛明瑞 (Ge Mingrui). He seemed a bit of a spaced-out hippy, but his pronunciation was immaculate. He'd studied for five years and Chinese was his major. He liked travelling but didn't have many friends in Harbin so hadn't been anywhere in China.
The listening teacher came in - a mid to late twenties-ish native of Harbin - accompanied by a Korean girl from Class F who wanted to try out this class. Back up to three! I'd been given last term's timetable and didn't have the correct books, so sat next to 明瑞 and shared.
First impressions? The teacher was super-keen but seemed pretty realistic at the same time. I got the impression she was dedicated and quite strict - not looking to make any friends.
The listening itself was pretty tough but certainly do-able, concerning the growth of private township-level entrepreneurship in China since the 1960's. At first I didn't have a clue but as we went through the exercises I found myself getting the hang of it.
明瑞 was ridiculous. He looked like he was day-dreaming and I didn't see him take a single note, but he was able to rattle off long answers on cue in his impeccable accent. I wondered if he'd cheated by reading the text first or if he was just really good. The Korean girl knew her stuff too, but suffered from a traditionally inaccurate Korean rendition of Chinese consonants, and crippling shyness.
The teacher told us to watch the news at least six times a week, and write down interesting stories at least three times. Apart from that, she expected plenty of pre-preparation and post-class review. Harsh but fair and a pretty good start!
Next up was Speaking class. The teacher was another Harbin native. I was a bit taken aback to discover, when I got up to talk to her in the break, that she was as tall as me. The Korean guy came back - a family emergency apparently - and the teacher paired him with 明瑞 while I sat with the Korean girl. Up to four! I was starting to feel claustrophobic!
The first exercise was introducing each other, so we quizzed each other about the usual topics for five minutes then gave a small presentation. My partner was called 张善庚 (Zhang Shan'geng) and she liked music and movies. Born in 1985, she'd studied in Beijing for a year, and was really keen on travelling to Shanghai.
Korean Guy was called 闵景男 (Min Jingnan) who, despite his youthful looks, was 30, and married with a daughter!
Our introductions done, Jingnan and I insisted that the teacher give a proper introduction of herself before we started the text. 张艳鑫 (Zhang Yanxin) was taking a Master's in English at Heilongjiang University, and was born in early 1983 - Year of the Dog rather than Pig according to the Chinese calendar.
Impressions of the class? Speaking is always the toughest class to teach. The textbook is almost entirely irrelevant because it's how the teacher steers the ensuing discussions that really shapes what language is taught. Teacher 张 seemed to know what she was doing and the class warmed up a lot, though. Four people seemed just about perfect, with a lot of participation but not too much pressure.
Afterwards, 善庚 ran out so I was left asking the two guys remaining if they wanted to get lunch. We went back to 宏鸣 (magnificent roar) hotpot and had a good time. It turns out 景男 hadn't bothered registering with the police either, despite arriving over six months ago, and living with his wife and daughter!
"Keep it hush-hush though" he told me. Well, I just hope the cops don't read my blog!
I had to leave early because I wanted to try out Class F. 善庚 was there too, along with about 15 other girls. For a long time I was the only guy, and the teacher kept saying stupid things like
"Everyone here today is a very beautiful girl except for one male student" and
"I'm sure all the girls will be very happy to help you out".
The teacher was rubbish - really corny and much too restrictive in her teaching, so I got up to leave during the break. The head of the department was talking to Rubbish Teacher, and called out my name as I stood up.
"You can't just come to another class as you please, you have to inform the school and request a notification of class-change".
"Oh, I'm just checking out this class for today".
"We're going to split this class in two because it's too big but if you don't inform the school, then how will I know how many people are in this class?"
"I'm sorry, but I thought I had a week to make up my mind".
"You do, but if Class G doesn't suit you, you change to Class F and that's that".
"How do I know if Class F suits me or not?"
"Well, if Class G is too hard, you move down and that's that".
"Don't be ridiculous. What if I don't like my classmates? What about getting a suitable teacher? I'm paying your wages here and I'm entitled to pick a suitable class" I think to myself, but instead say
"Well, I'm leaving anyway" and huff out in a strop.
For the next hour, I look for the University's English department. I finally find it on the third floor of the west wing of the main building - a series of battered classrooms and a staffroom in disarray. I find two students and hand them my advert looking for flatmates, then give two copies to the teacher in the staffroom. For good measure, I pasted one up in the building's lobby. Term doesn't start til March 5th, so I'm looking to get some flatmates after that.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment