A Tour of Gansu Province: Symbolism

My week is coming to an end, but I can’t relax and bake just yet. Research papers need to be edited, a writing class needs to be taught, and a conference call needs to be had. I’ve picked up a habit from my mother that she picked up from her father that he picked up from his mother…. cleanliness and order. I CANNOT focus and get work down when my eyes land on a stack of unorganized paper or on a pile of folded clothes that need to be put away. So, after my class this morning, I turned on Spotify’s #ThrowbackThursday playlist and began sorting old papers and students’ work. Sorting is never easy for me because I always want to keep everything even if I know I will probably never look at it again. However, living in a relatively small space does not afford you the luxury of hoarding.

Now, to the point of this ramble. As I was sorting and trashing papers against my better judgement, I found some of my students’ work from a gallery walk activity we did in our Oral English class. Discussing the Summer Olympics led us to exploring the deeper meanings of different types of symbols and the concept of nationalism. We focused our attention on the symbols of Southeast Asian nations, such as Myanmar’s new flag and the Philippine’s coat of arms. To check for understanding and to give my students a progress check, I asked students to get in groups or pairs with classmates from their hometowns. Their task was to design a symbol that best represented their hometown. I gave my students a blank sheet of paper and a lot of freedom in choosing a symbol (songs, flags, emblems, objects, animals, etc.) for the hometowns. Some groups created flags, some drew pictures, and some wrote songs! There were those who provided words and those who let their work speak for itself.

Brief Conversations about Culture

Can you guess what world cities we’ll be studying this semester?

Last semester, I asked my students what content and what language skills they would like for me to teach them. I really wanted to use English to teach towards their interests. (In the TEFL scene, this is nothing unusual. In fact, it’s highly encouraged.) Across the board, I was asked to teach some version of world culture. My background is in International Relations, so I was more than happy to grant their request. On the other hand, I was paralyzed by the fear of teaching into a stereotype or giving them a stereotype, which would be even worse. After a couple of weeks of research, I could not work out how to responsibly teach world cultures. Like an angel providing manna from heaven, a fellow volunteer, Kati Stevens, shared her world culture semester plan at a Peace Corps training session. Her semester plan focused on teaching about the major world CITIES. It took me no time to take it and adapt it for the needs of my freshmen.

In addition to teaching about some of the major world cities, I wanted to learn how to better create an environment where my students felt comfortable sharing their opinions without the fear of being wrong or being an outcast among their peers. I took the time this week to gather more information about their current cultural knowledge base and was quite surprised with what they were willing to express. In my Oral English class, we focused on learning more about how cultures influence each other, specifically what cultures have influenced American culture and what cultures have influenced Chinese culture. To end the week, we focused on exploring what the word “culture” means in my Writing class. In this post, I’d like to share two lessons that went better than any lessons I’ve given thus far, and I’d like to share some of the work my students gave me permission to share. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed being a facilitator and allowing them to explore their own understanding of culture. I have organized student work based on course and activity.

Student Work: The Diamante Poem

Our class diamante poem. I think they did an awesome job! 😀

Life

Hopeful, Colorful

Laughing, Enjoying, Growing

Attempt more, Keep calm

Leaving, Disappearing, Sleeping

Silent, Inevitable

Death

(Class 151)

Since my students had to see me three times today for Oral English, Writing, and a Writing make-up class, I decided to try teaching them how to write the simple diamante poem and not another lesson on character development. Besides after weeks of writing classes, I realized my students struggle with giving complete, thoughtful details and moving forward would not really help them with their writing. I can’t blame them though. Even as a native English speaker, I often struggle with giving enough details in my short stories, or “showing” and not telling.