Speech Contests, English Corners and Strangers

We have a lot of respect for the Chinese students we've come to know. They work so hard all the time, without their parents reminding them. It is quite admirable. At any given time of the day, we've met students on their way to the library to study. They aren't cramming for an exam the next day, they are just studying. If you ask them what their plans are for the weekend, they will often include studying in their answer.

Many of the students see English as a great asset for their future prospects and so take every opportunity to practice with us. This leads to interesting encounters for Don especially since he is more visibly the "foreigner". Students who might not be able to string together one sentence will still want to try to talk with him. The result is often a rather one-sided conversation. On break today, I had a Japanese major come up and start a conversation with me. Since we've been here, we've had a lot of practice keeping up small talk conversations.

Last Wednesday and again on Saturday, we judged speech contests. There are only two topics at the moment: environmental protection and volunteerism at the Olympics. I have a lot of respect for these students. Public speaking, at the best of times, is a daunting task. Making a 3 minute prepared speech in a second language is quite an achievement. Then they have to come up with an impromptu speech after being shown an image or quote. Lastly, they had to answer a question from one of us. First they had to understand us and then come up with a coherent answer.

There were 5 of us foreign judges: Rob, Don, me and 2 kids from Britain who are here for a couple of weeks to volunteer at the local schools. They have been very popular with the students because they are the same age as them. Everyone wants to chat with them.

After the contest on Saturday, the dean of the Foreign Language department took us all out for dinner to thank us for our participation. We spent a pleasant evening chatting and toasting (a very frequent occurrence during the dinner).

We also participated in our second English corner at this campus. No embarrassing singing this time though. We played "Simon Says" with them instead and had a lot of fun.

Besides these opportunities to practice English, a few of Don's students have taken to eating with us in the cafeteria. A few keeners even walk Don to the campus gates after class just to get a few extra minutes in. Since they really don't have many real opportunities to speak English, we're happy to chat with them. WE are getting lots of English practice :) Our English speaking abilities are improving every day!!

J