In those rare moments of daydreaming in my Presque Isle High School classes I could not imagine that one day I would be walking through the streets of Shanghai, China. At the time all that we really knew about the place was that it was communist, it had something called a ‘Great Wall’, and lots and lots of people who were poor.
Today’s China is a thriving country, well on its way to prosperity as the result of internal and external market reforms. It still has lots of people but they are proving to be a persevering group and through their own hard work and initiative they have built a new nation. A nation attempting to make the leap from poverty to prosperity in less than a century. My own small role in this drama is that of a teacher of English.
Twenty-five years ago the dominant second language for China was Russian. Today, every city, town, and village wants to have its students learn English. English is the language of trade. My own introduction came about from an errant piece of junk e-mail. While waiting for word on acceptance to graduate school one advertisement slipped through.
The want ads for English teachers in China are not like those at home. Usually a U.S. ad will detail the job duties and experience needed. Then there will be a short line about benefits and compensation. Not so the Sino counterpart. First, in bold type they list the amenities of working for the school or corporation. This will usually include some information about housing, travel, contract duration, and location. Then there will be a line about what you will do: Teach English.
I am now on my second year of teaching at Shanghai Normal University. If you are willing to come over rest assured that you will have a solid job for at least 10 months and once here your skills and willingness to take on extra work will be rewarded. Here in the city of Shanghai, host to the 2010 World Expo, the emphasis is on a K- college native English teacher program.
You need to know nothing of the Chinese language to begin. Most of the programs do offer some help in learning the language and once you manage to get past the tonal issues you will find that you can make yourself understood on a simple level. But do not worry as your students are expert teachers of their own language and take great delight in getting the teacher to speak Chinese! If you have a sense of humor this is a lot of fun and certainly beats the blues.
It is the end of the Winter Festival and Chinese New Year, the year of the Pig. If you have watched the fireworks displays of the region, you know that the most spectacular part of the show is the finale. Remember when Madawaska held the Great Decoy race and raised the money for a super fantastic boom-a-thon? Picture 17 million people, each with a kilogram of Rockets, Firecrackers, Snappers, and Thunder Bombs setting everything off at once. This was the scene on the eve of the visit by Fortune. Here it is believed that to bring good fortune during the New Year festival you need to make a lot of noise.
Noise! At 11:45 p.m. the denizens of Shanghai commenced launching every firework available. Red, green, blue, orange, yellow, and pink fire balls were let loose on every block. For the next 45 minutes there was no cease in the unrelenting celebration to welcome Fortune to a new year. In the end, the cloud of smoke from all the powder looked more like fog as it shrouded each building. To this visual feast of pyrotechnical glory was added the persistent snap,crackle, and pop of the firecrackers. From where I now live, it was as if that fancy Persian carpet came alive and danced around the house. Nothing like the quiet Northern Lights back home. But just as exciting.
Now its back to school for the students. It should be an exciting time as they begin again trying to learn a language they consider hard. It is a fun place to be and certainly if you are willing to share your knowledge consider stepping over to this place. Teachers are heroes here. Its a warm feeling to be welcomed into this community. Hard to believe that my home town could be housed on the first fifteen floors of my apartment building. My students are amazed when I tell them Castle Hill has around 500 people.
As I am able to fit it into my schedule, I hope to send off a few more of these letters home. There is so much to share with everyone about this adventure. If you are interested feel free to contact me. I will try to answer your questions. So Happy New Year!
Orpheus Allison
Professor of English, Shanghai Normal University.
