I've been thinking recently how different the university that we work for here in China is so different from American Universities. This is the short list of things I've found.... interesting.
1. There are uniformed "class monitors" that check every classroom at the start of every class to make sure that the teacher is there and is holding class. (I was late due to bad weather in one of my classes and the monitor 'told on me.' It was no big deal since I had already told my boss AND my class to wait for me... but still... doesn't that seem strange?)
2. There is one restaurant on campus called the "Western Cafe." I guess it has this name because alongside the fried rice and Chinese pork dishes they serve "Pizza" and "Macaroni Noodles Covered in Ketchup." Hmmmmmmm....
3. There is NO student parking (for cars.) And as I reflected on that today I realized that I have never met a student at the University that owns a car!
4. As a teacher, we are given NO SYLLABUS, NO CLASS OBJECTIVES, and NO TEXTBOOK. Basically we are told "You are teaching writing" or "You are teaching Public Speaking" and we have to create what that means ourselves.
5. There are signs posted all over campus that say, in Chinese of course, "Beware of Poisonous Snakes."
6. Students actually attend classes - most of the time! It is not unusual for me to have a class of 30 kids show up every week on time. When they do miss class, it is usually for some kind of competition - academic or athletic. They are BIG on competitions here!
7. Whole classes stay together. What I mean is - as a Freshman, their schedule is determined by the University. They are in a class with 30 others. And, as a class, they all take writing together, all take public speaking together, all take Listening together.... etc. They are always with the rest of their class. Not until they become a Junior or Senior do they realize they can change their assigned schedule.
And... last but not least...
8. EVERYONE in all my classes have black hair and black eyes. I guess that doesn't really count for "strange" in China... but certainly different than in the USA!
haha~~i do notice that a number of my classmates never show up in the lectures~i were a good student in SZU! Miss SZU and u-my favorite international teacher
+not all black, large number of them dye their hair lol
KATE
Posted by: Kate Wang | May 05, 2010 at 04:45 AM