Venice Adult ESL-Low Beginning class

Yesterday I went obsering another class at Venice High Adult school. The past couple times I have been observing the literacy class. It was a great experience. The teacher was very helpful in terms of explaining her rationale and methodology to me. I had never thought that being able to read and write can be such a privilege. The students there were not only learning to speak, read, and write English, but also learning to read and write for the first time in their lives. (Well, some of them might have couple years of schooling, but that was it). Not being able to form familiarity of a sound-symble matching does put a person in disadvantage in learning a new language. In their cases, every step of learning has to be pre-processed into micro steps. The worst thing is that, I totally couldn't communicate with them in English, because they were so limited in their English abilities. (That explained why they were there :P)

For example, last time when I was there, students were learning to recognize numbers from 1 to 100. One woman from Egypt was practicing writing numbers. The teacher already warned me to check on her writing because she tends to bring her Arabic writing habit (right to left) into English writing. I didn't think she had much schooling in Egytian Arabic either, judging from the way she held a pen and that she couldn't keep letters in a line. When I walked by, she was copying the two digit numbers ok, except from right to left. For example, she wrote number 35 with "5" first, and then "3". I tried to tell her that she should write "3" and then "5", but she couldn't understand me. She erased "35", and then wrote "33", right to the left. So I wrote on the board to show her. Man, for the first time in my life, I was stranded there with my student, without knowing what to do. After couple miscarried attempt to communicate, she suddenly yelled a cry, and then said "left, right". "Yes, left, and right!" I used my hands to show the directions, and then write the number for her. She got it. And there was much rejoicing.


Anyways, that was what happened last week. After couple times of observation, I felt the lethargy of going there again. I couldn't tell why. This weeked I decided to talk to the principle that I would like to see other levels. She grabbed a teacher who just steped into the office, and then I followed her to the class.

We got there waiting for students to arrive. The first student arriving was a well-dressed Turkish woman. She glided through the classroom and found herself a seat with a complaint, "it's sooo hot today." Diana (the teacher) greeted her with a quick hug, and then they started chatting. At the same time another student from Mexico arrived. Diana introduced me to her students, and then she threw the question at me, "where are you from, Wen-Hsin?" I told them I was from Taiwan. Then she asked them if they knew where Taiwan was. The Turkish woman thought it's Thailand. So Diana gathered all of us to the world map, we all exploited our geographical knowledge for a while. Then more and more students came, the class began. Some students were friends with one another. I spotted two students making faces at each other, having side talks when Diana was talking, like teenage girls, except that they were probably in their 30s or 40s. I also noticed that there were couple students who were more out-spoken than others, which made the class more lively.

That night they were learning pronoun subject (he/she/they/I) and pronoun objects (him/her/them/me). This is my blog, not my teaching journal, so I'm not gonna report how they did it in class. But I really like this class and the teacher's teaching style. As I looked back on my teaching in the past couple months, I realized that I was kinda tense. Maybe that's because I was a rookie, and I felt like one too. This quarter I felt a bit relaxed, so I started making more jokes. I don't know if that's the right way of teaching, but at least I don't want to intimidate my students.

貝魯特之夜-藝術家和他的筆

54
Originally uploaded by mazen kerbaj.

中東的戰火又起。這世界因著全球化，好像越變越小。一夜就可以到地球的另一個角落。但是這世界又好像越變越大，貝魯特又好像離我們很遠。它和我們的關係又是什麼呢?
如果不是因為NICK的貝魯特朋友巴薩，可能黎巴嫩的戰火只會是個新聞。巴薩的家人在貝魯特，目前還無恙，可是家裡在開火，外面的遊子怎麼能心安。
因著網路和部落格的文化，一個在貝魯特的音樂家Mazen得以用他的筆和音樂紀錄了戰火下的生活，和全世界分享。他的漫畫詼諧卻又讓感傷。這是我最喜歡的一張漫畫。藝術家揮舞著手中的唯一武器--一支筆，對著滿天的飛彈和戰機咆哮，充滿古代中國文人以筆當劍的豪氣:

“給我下來，你們這些膽小鬼。我要用我的筆宰了你!!!"

青年探索台灣

最近開始讀一些關於中國的報導。大部分是一些網路上的部落格。我喜歡讀那些住在中國或台灣的外國人，主要是講英語的人口對他們在當地生活的見解和感想。也許這些部落格對我可讀性高的一點是因為他們多半中文能力不錯，因此能夠對當地有些深刻的認識。看那些被翻譯成英文的新聞，無形中也讓這些人過濾我的消息來源。畢竟去相信這些博客的消息來源，比相信一個中國人在網路上寫的東西，對我來說還可靠得多。(畢竟連中國雅虎都跟政府一起聯手出賣網路上寫反動言論的人了，還能相信些什麼呢?)

但是這些是政治層面上的東西。我感興趣的是當地的生活。

之前發現了這個有趣的短片，講北京開始流行取英文名字 , 也因而發現這個Danwei TV
每支影片都很短，但是在很短的時間內就傳達許多中國的文化和人事物。如北京的樂團文化、媒体、閱讀、等等。裡面的每個主持人都有非常好的中文，與對中國文化的了解，因此每段街頭訪問都是用中文進行。雖然是由西方的觀點來看中國，可是卻給人在地的親切感，與對當地人事物的掌握。我覺得看了連我都想去中國一探究竟。
就在這時候，在網路上看了這個標題為"You are not alone"的影片，結尾有個Logo-"青年探索台灣"，讓我覺得非常的失望。
(如果你看了上面的影片連結，可能會比較了解我的感受)

我不太清楚那支"you are not alone"是給台灣人看的還是給國外的人看的。如果是給台灣人看的，那可能會讓台灣的人覺得，"喔，台灣真好，外國人來這裡都覺得不錯"，加上整支影片用英文進行，可能可以給我們脆弱的民族信心一點安慰。但是如果是是拍來做對外宣傳的，實在是一點都不吸引人。我覺得少了好多東西。少了真實性，也少了對台灣的"感覺"。沒錯，裡面的婆婆媽媽指路大概表現了台灣的人情味。台灣的夜市、便利商店和二十四小時的書店是很特別。可是從頭到尾沒有看見片中這個陳述者跟本地人的互動，只有一個人在街上走著，一個人吃著面線、去書店看書。最好笑的是，結尾塑造的"可能的"浪漫，居然還是一個所謂的"外國人"，一個白人。原來我們的心中還是覺得"外國人"還是外國人，到頭來還是不可能成為我們社會中的一分子???

我並不是說這個片中的女孩子如果遇到的是個台客少年，影片就會更好。不過如果真是如此，那也不錯，至少還顯示我們的社會還有不少包容("白人女性+台灣男性"的組合畢竟是非主流)。我不知道影片還能怎樣具体的表現出台灣的那些風貌，但是我知道這個影片中介紹的台灣真的太膚淺了。如果是要鼓勵台灣青年探索台灣，這就是拍影片的導演所認識的台灣嗎???

我覺得很遺憾…

隨筆

我一直深信當老師是種勞力密集的工作，程度只有賣雞排的姐妹花在我們之上。我好像已經有好幾次中間空堂時間跑到ROLFE的休息室裡補眠; 小睡但是還是不安穩，想著下堂課的教學。

問我真的喜歡教書的工作嗎?? 我不知道耶。如果我不是常得拖著跟學生一樣睡眠不足的自己去教室，我可能會答得更好。不過這也可能是我自己的壞習慣。如果我沒睡足，心中的悶氣高升到一個程度是連路上的小狗我都覺得欠扁。

但是一上台，馬上又換了一個自己，耐心的聽學生解釋為什麼他今天交不了作業，想辦法講些好玩的笑話等等的。

教中文最討厭的是要面對認同分裂症的自己。明明我說話就是不帶"兒"，但是課本上寫了我就照念照教。其實學生不是很喜歡兒化韻，因為連"兒"子的兒都講不出來了，還要說"一點兒"，真是要他們的命。我會告訴他們南方人不會有這麼多"兒"。很多北京腔會有的輕聲，還有"英""影"的區別，我們在台灣是從來不這麼念的。但是課本上標出來了，我還是得跟著這麼讀。有時候不小心就露餡了，我便解釋南方腔沒有這些區分。


這些是發音問題。還有一些是用語的區別。還好現在的單字很簡單，不然遇到一些跟社會文化相關的單字，我就不知道該教哪一邊的用語。有些我知道大陸人會怎麼講，但是很多我還是搞不清楚。這讓我也跟學生一樣，想去大陸學習一陣子。

但是 因為這裡的教中文環境充滿了對岸的人士，我居然第一次有那種"非正統"的感覺。在台灣只要是一路受國語教育長大，在家裡仍跟家人用國語回應，至少都不會有阿扁那種台灣國語，zh, c不分。但是在這裡，我這樣的中文被打入"非標準"。這種感受不是直接的，而是有意無意中接受到的訊息。
比如說，"你有沒有去看電影"這個句型，教授的反應是
「錯錯錯全錯。扣分! 這是台灣人的講法」
正確的說法是 "你去沒去看電影"。

有一次一個助教跟一個學生在聊天。
學生: 我看了好多台灣的電視，結果我的中文都變成台灣腔了。我媽媽說我的中文腔好奇怪跟他們不一樣。(註:學生家裡是上海人)
我: 妳看了哪些電視劇啊? F4嗎?。
學生:對對對。我好喜歡看。
助教A: 妳要看一些正宗的，比較傳統的，才不會講中文怪腔怪調的。
我:可是我也是從台灣來的。
助教A: 呃…妳們不一樣啦。妳們(我跟另一台灣助教)現在兩種腔都會講。


這些助教老師其實人都很好。我沒有抱怨的意思，我也不會覺得有任何對立。頂多有種無奈的感覺。社會語言學裡面像William Labov以前的一些研究(我跟他不太熟，請見他的網頁)讓人看了會感覺到語言的多樣性和丰富，而不是只有一種標準而抹殺了其他dialect的存在和活力。

討厭打電話

I have a really bad habit of not replying to people's phone calls. For some reason I also hate calling people whom I don't know very well or don't know at all. The worst job for me that I can think of is telephone marketing. I would probably die after making five phone calls. Maybe "hate" is not a good word. I think I'm more afraid than anything else.

I often see children at young age enjoy this device of telephone. They like to help answering the phone and stuff. I wonder if I were a kid like that.

I was kinda shy, actually. I guess I was just not as good as turning taking back then. You know how phone conversation has certain "rituals". For example, first you dial a number, wait till the other end says "hello" and then you reply, identify yourself, and then you go on your business. But you know it's not just that simple. If you are on the side that has something to ask or say, you have to wait for the beat of silence inbetween utterances. Otherwise it would sound rude because you are talking over the other person. (For more of this kinda research, see Schegloff, M. A.'s studies)

Maybe I was just a sensitive child. I didn't like the awkwardness when the other end just ended the conversation too quickly but I didn't catch that and got hung up. Sometimes I ran out of words, and there's this awakward silence. and I hate that...

I wasnn't good at turn taking even with ordering food at McDonald's when I was 10. I was really nervous whenever I had to order food for myself. Holding a 100 NT bill in my hand, I felt like I was gonna faint when I started talking. (But I got a lot better now. I think...)

One semester in college I did volunteer work at World Vision. My task was to call up the sponsors who hadn't been sending money in for months, nicely remind them and ask them whether they want to continue with World Vision. That experience forced me to be faced with my fear. But I haven't totally overcome yet.


During our life group meeting on Wednesday night, the leader threw us a question as an icebreaker: What good habits have you learned since young? What's the bad habit that you wished your parents had helped you to get rid of when you were a kid?

I shared about my one good habit and my bad habit of getting grumpy when I first wake up from sleep or nap. Now I wish that I could have been trained to enjoy making phone calls more by my parents/caregivers. Maybe I was scarred by some bad phone conversation experience. But I can't recall any more.

Now when I have to use a non-native language to make phone conversation, it's even worse. I couldn't tell if people are just busy, tired, or mean in general. If they are closer friends, I can probably ask. But I don't want to ask a stranger at work place if they are busy and want to talk me off or what...=p

6 month anniversary

We just passed our 6 month anniversary a week ago.

中文名字

這個星期是中文班的第一週。
我所分到的這一班是在分班測驗中分數在1左右(0是完全不會聽，不會講，如韓國人日本人或是土生土長的美國人)，大部分是有廣東話背景的ABC，聽不懂中文但是會聽廣東話，只有一個同學雖然是白人，但是他上過三星期的中文課。

教授要求每個人要有中文名字。這些同學有的有中文名字，可是從來沒用過，打電話回家問爸媽可是來到學校只能告訴我們讀音，也不能描述是怎麼寫的。有一個同學請家人傳真名字來，我看了還要教她怎麼念自己的名字。

星期四的時候我收集了全班同學的名字，也幫一個同學取了個中文名，幫大家寫在黑板上，請同學一個一個上來介紹自己的名字，自己寫拼音，我一邊改，也教他們怎麼念。我教中文三的時候，大概只有我知道全班同學的中文名字。每個人還是叫彼此的英文名字。我本來想說就算了，讓他們愛用英文名字就用英文名字。但是我看了一篇在台灣的美國人講學習中文名字的文章之後，有了不一樣的想法。

我發現其實辨識句子中哪一個是"名字"是件不容易的事情。對我們來說，我們可以很容易地知道"王道明天天去KTV"這個句子裡面的王道明是個"人名"，"王"是個常見的姓，"道明"也是個平凡的名字組合。但是對於不熟悉這個語言的人來說，很容易就會因為分不出來而錯失句子的意思。(比如說，聽到"明天"這個常用的字眼以為是"明天要去KTV")

小的時候我們不也是需要練習在專有名詞旁畫上_____(私名號)嗎? 我以前覺得很奇怪，報紙、書本上從來沒有畫私名號的，為什麼小學的時候要學習這種標點符號?? 現在從學習/教導閱讀的角度來看，辨別專有名詞正是在做"主詞"辨識的動作。我們學英文不也是常要找到主詞然後才能夠了解這個句子的主体和受体的關系是什麼嗎?

我還不確定要如何讓學生体會學習中文名字的重要性。也不太確定是否要強制他們叫彼此的中文名字。(也許我會再把他們的名字寫在黑板上，讓他們可以參照著看，也順便學學可能的中文姓氏有哪些)。但是我會告訴學生學習去記住一個人的中文名字的重要。

我可以理解如果我的學生在這裡遇到講中文的留學生或是去中國台灣遇到當地的人，他們很有可能會告訴我的學生他們的英文名字。不過，如果真正要進入當地的生活圈，或是認識一個人，光是叫一個中國人的英文名字是不可能真正打入中國人的圈子的。以我自己為例，畢竟這不是我的家人朋友所認識的我。我成長的大部分時候還是被喚做我的中文名字。