Don and I just returned from a symposium where he received an award for teaching excellence. More about that in the next entry. We are busy sorting through all the pics now. The conference brought together foreign language teachers and Chinese teachers who teach foreign languages in this province. It was a great opportunity to meet and exchange ideas.
A funny thing happened to me. I was chatting with someone on break and another foreign teacher joined us. He asked where I was from. Since we had been used to answering where we were teaching, I answered that I was from Jinan, not thinking of the impression that gave. Then he asked if I had spent time in the US. Huh, why would he ask that? He went on to compliment me on my English. Why is he paying me a compliment? Then, it suddenly dawned on me that he thought I was a Chinese English teacher. Since many of them, despite their fluency, may still speak with an accent. I sounded quite different. Another foreign teacher had to repeat an earlier question he had asked. I gather that when I spoke earlier, he didn't quite hear me answer because he was having a hard time reconciling what I looked like with how I sounded.
At the same time though, I had Chinese teachers approaching me and start speaking Mandarin. I felt bad having to stop them quickly and clarify that I didn't understand.
These experiences have made me appreciate my adopted homeland even more. Growing up in Canada gave me the luxury of forgetting my visual identity for the most part. I don't think I fully grasped the significance of that advantage until I came to China. We are so used to seeing such a rainbow of faces in Canada, diversity is something I took for granted until we started living abroad.
In China, the vast majority of people can be described using fewer words. Our classes on adjectives to describe people are not as effective here. For example, most people have straight black hair. It's harder to introduce many of the other words that we might use to describe Canadians.
For my part, as long as I don't open my mouth, I look like everyone else. I blend. As soon as I speak though, I morph into this oddity. THEN they stare. They want to know how they can learn English as well as I did. They want to know MY secret. Well, first you have to move to Canada with your family when you are young so you can learn English without fear. Enjoy the undivided attention of an ESL teacher. Thanks to Ms. Wetmore, Glen and I speak good Canadian English like a native speaker. Then you get an education in English. Sadly, that is beyond the imagination for most of our students. Even those who hope to study abroad may never achieve the level of English they desire.
Oh btw, some of the foreign teachers came up with a great idea for a business for us. We could advertise a new teaching method that Don has perfected and I would be his star pupil. When I speak and show them what this method can do for them, we'll have them knocking down the doors. We could make a lot of money here! Ha ha!
One of Don's students just asked me whether I felt more Chinese then Canadian. I think the question is really whether I feel more Chinese then Foreigner here. While I get glimpses of my Chinese self, I would have to say that I feel more foreign here than I ever did. I have come up with a new identity for me here: the invisible foreigner.
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