The Frivolous Now

Lucky kids of my generation either owned a Mario 64 or were well acquainted with some gremlins who did. I was 13 and living at boarding school when mine arrived in the mail. My dad had gotten me the system and 3 games for my birthday that year.

At Kurn Hattin Homes, campus life was highly regimented. We lived in cottages of 12 persons and had demanding schedules where sports, chores and homework were concerned. The other girls and I  were permitted to play N64 only after all of our more pressing and various  mischiefs were managed. Being of an age, my best friends and I would jump  through any number of good behavior hoops so as to be permitted the right to callous our thumbs far past our ascribed 9:30 bedtimes on weekends, but frankly, we were the make-your-own-lane types when it came to Toadstool's Turnpike.

I mention this because lately I've been feeling a bit anxious. Not like, in that debilitating, pre-Sebastien-reading-me-to-sleep-era anxiousness that had the power to torment and exhaust, but a bit more akin to how you feel when the Koopa troopa invites you to race him up the hill after the vanquishing of the game's first mini-boss. When warping into the world of Lanzhou Daxue, at the crest right before the ridge that is the end of my first term here, a race with a quick koopa is as easy a metaphor for me as it was for Nintendo, a la Aesop.
I can almost feel myself leaning forward on my knees, biting my lip and pulling my arms up closer to my face as I struggle to turn right.

I'm working harder than that ecosystem that was set up in my high school marine biology classroom where the byproducts of one tank became the base materials for the next. The students are getting it--they're feeding into it. Heck, they're  mummichogs in tank two. My plans are working. My efforts are counting for something and we are having so much fun.

I'm particularly pleased with an adaptation of a training method I learned this summer called partner dictation. The way it was introduced to my colleagues and I, it was primarily intended as a pronunciation activity, but I'm employing it in in all 8 of my classes and thus have dramatically cut down on the time I spend lecturing. Here's the trick: any information I need to teach them, they can teach each other through the dictation--while working in pairs and simultaneously ameliorating both their listening and speaking comprehension!!!

I'm keyed up about my lesson on contractions with my Freshmen this week but I'm probably most satisfied with my Whale Rider assignment from last week with my Juniors.
When I designed the syllabus for the latter's class I made sure that they wouldn't just be learning about US culture--in fact I was pretty determined to learn a few things about the English-speaking world, myself!

For their midterms, I had them do group presentations on various occidental governments and now, for the last few weeks of class before finals, we are using those same cultures' popular literature as a backdrop for exploration of oral English. As mentioned above, for New Zealand we used Whale Rider.

We teed off with small groups-- an agree/disagree pre-activity-- then moved on to partner dictation, where I divulged the main plot points.  Next it was on to a rotating partners scheme of making scene predictions and we wrapped it up with a second rotating partners activity (two lines instead of two circles) wherein they reacted to a podcast and interview with the text's author, Witi Ihimaera. All told they practiced speaking, listening, watching, moving and predicting--not a lot of energy to play on their phones with all of that going on. ;-)
Of course it all came together when Sebastien and I did a screening of the film on Friday night.

As a filmic endeavor it's stirring, but I have to admit I was most deeply moved by the actions of two young men who were defending women's rights to gals who, during the agree/disagree activity, were espousing openly that females are not as strong as men and that it isn't their role in society to be leaders. When evidence to the tune of, "more men are politicians therefore men are more capable politicians," start flopping out of people's mouth's and falling to the floor like dead tennis balls, it's so hard to remain non-authoritative and uninvolved in the conversation. Thank goodness for feminists like these boys. I may have teared up a little when they both approached me after class to have a copy of the film.

Questionable sanitation practices? Doesn't matter, had hot pot.

Gansu-giving was great! I think I ate my weight in brownies and chicken. My team had the hot streak for the night's beer pong tourney and it was amazing seeing the old Sichuan Normal University crowd + the 40 other Peace Corps volunteers'n in country friends.

Over the last few weeks, Sebastien and I have improved our pizza preparation technique and even tried self-serve hot pot. I gotta say, I really like the taste of brain. I'm not even sure what kind of brain I had this time, but  lobe-ally  ahem, globally speaking, brain is super yums to the max. It's hits the teeth like eggs, yet coats the tongue like butter. I reveled in the sensation, bite after bite and kept waiting to get grossed out. Didn't happen. As the flavor goes, its reminiscent of liver mixed with whatever sauce you dipped it in. Still prefer tripe, tho.

Partying and all that is fun or whatever, but I'm in love with simple Saturday mornings that get spent half asleep wrapped around Sebastien's breathing pattern, where all I need to do once we get up is fill my face with baozi and sit in a sunshine-soaked room reading or being read to.

It's an uphill road race, true enough, but I've already defeated the miniboss. Totally excited for in-service training next month, and then a vacation before next semester...

So many open windows--and the options all feel so picturesque.

Woo-hoo!

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