Connections beyond Cultural Differences

“There is a huge need and a huge opportunity to get everyone in the world connected, to give everyone a voice and to help transform society for the future.” “Mark Zuckerberg, a founder of Facebook

Hello readers,

So it seems that I have a lot to catch my fellow adventurers up on. So for those of you who don’t know, I have been having a much easier and more fun experience with teaching this semester. I have felt so relaxed, confident and even excited to bring up new lessons for my students. One of those reasons is due to my determination to not only teach English but different aspects of American culture.

One of my frustrations with adjusting to a new culture I admit is dealing with local’s assumptions and set ideas on American culture and American foreigners. One of the biggest examples is the idea that foreigners are unable to use chopsticks. So one day over the Spring Festival, I came to the realization that I can change that. I decided that instead of getting mad at all the stereotypes and categorization from Chinese locals, why not change it as a foreign teacher? A majority of my students have barely even traveled around China and I am likely the first foreigner they have met in person so of course their knowledge of the world is limited. I have the perfect chance to enlighten young Chinese minds and defy set ideas they have of the world. They don’t even have to get on a plane， they can experience new realizations and break stereotypes in the classroom! Not just of America but of the world。

Have you ever heard or seen the videos titled “Where the Hell is Matt?” His two videos from 2008 and 2012 are two of my favorite videos on youtube. Due to China not having youtube, I decided to upload these videos onto a USB and show each of my classes, just to see their reactions. Both of his videos center around a man named Matt Harding who has spent time traveling to a variety of cities around the world and dancing either by himself or with locals. I thought it was perfect to show to groups of young adults who have been so sheltered and limited to education about other cultures.

This video from 2008. In every city, he does his signature dance as some locals join in with him.

This other video is from 2012. This time he does different dances for each city and even some local dances with locals themselves.

While watching these videos, I also made them write 3-5 sentences on their reactions to the videos and then share it with the class. This was so they could practice their speaking and because I was genuinely curious. These are pictures of my students watching the videos. This is the only time I think they’ve all paid attention to my teaching material at the same time (of course it could have been due to me sitting in the back).

After I gave them time to collect their thoughts. Due to such a large number of students per class, I made a few at random share their thoughts and to my surprise, there were students who actually volunteered to share what they wrote. Comments ranged from “This video is silly but fun”, “Dance can be shared in any language”, “I’ve never even heard of some of these countries”, and even “Now this makes me want to travel more, first in China then abroad.”. Some of them, loving listening to music, asked me for the songs in each video. For the last 10 minutes of class, I told my students to anonymously submit one sentence about their knowledge on American culture and then they could leave.

I did this because I wanted to create presentations based on their knowledge on American culture and address questions that they have about life in the US. I received many a variety of comments, all ranging in different topics including politics (I’m obviously not going to talk about this in depth), education, cuisine, diversity and even media and entertainment. I found out that some of them are even Walking Dead fans! Talk about connections beyond cultural differences!

I even received this wonderful comment from a wonderful student.

Lately in my stay in China, I had feelings of isolation culturally and language wise. I felt that no matter my efforts that I wasn’t getting anywhere. However, I think this semester has proved me otherwise and given me new inspiration to be an influential English teacher! In fact, some of my students have been so studious and appreciative of my work that I want to give them gifts. I have decided that before my time is over, I want to pair some of them up with English-speaking Pen-Pals. That way that even after I leave, I want them to still feel they can learn more about the world outside of them and find more connections beyond Cultural Differences.

Thank you all my fellow adventurers for your support and patience for my entries. I am eternally grateful and happy for everything from you.

Sincerely

Teacher Amanda