Language Practicum

Every Friday we have a test on the week's lessons. Then we have a "language practicum" to use our Chinese in the real world. This varies from speaking with independent businessmen to visiting another nearby college and speaking with the students there. We went to visit Chinese families in groups of 4 as part of our weekly Friday afternoon language practice. They gave us directions on how to get to our house, but it was really hard to find. After taking the bus and getting off at the right stop we wandered around asking people and trying to find the street. We ended up going to a BMW dealership and asking one of the people who worked there if he knew where the street was. He didn't, but he nicely called the family b/c they had given us their phone number. The house was only two blocks away, but he nicely walked us over; this was either because he was really really nice, or really bored. It turned out to be wonderful. The "family" was actually one of our teachers (Zhu laoshi), she lives with her brother and his girlfriend in an apartment with 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 kitchen, and one common room.

They were such wonderful hosts. We made dumplings, which was so much fun. They had earlier prepared a whole fish, cucumber salad and a tofu dish, so when we ate it was quite a feast. We ate and then went into our teacher’s room and just talked. She wanted it to be really relaxed; since they teachers are basically our age I think they want us to view them as friends, and not as authority figures. I really like that, since it makes class a lot more interesting when you feel you are discussing things with someone your own age. Part of being a good host in China is pushing people to eat beyond the point of fullness. So after our meal our teacher brought in ice cream bars, sunflower seeds and a whole bag of snacks to eat while we talked. We discussed so many topics, but the most interesting was our discussion of the Chinese government. This led Zhu laoshi to talk about how even though China has a lot of problems, many caused by the government, she still has a lot of faith in China. China has its own distinct history and shouldn't just blindly try to imitate Europe or America. I'de never heard someone talking so passionately about their country, she was actually very moving. We ended up leaving at 5 pm, even though we had expected to leave by 2:30 at the latest, since we were having such a good time and she really wanted us to stay.

Mmm...dumplings