Buckland Weekly #26: If this ISN'T Kansas, where the hell is it?

As always..

opinion of the author...

not to be taken as official...

etc etc etc

Let me tell you about my first few weeks in China. I’d been a visitor to China on several previous trips and thought I had a pretty good idea of the place. That’s why I decided to teach here and not somewhere else.

So, I arrived in Yangshuo a few days before my orientation was due to start. I arrived here but my luggage didn’t. No one had told me that I needed to collect it and recheck it when I changed planes at Guangzhou. Still, no problem. It turned up a couple of days later. Meantime I wandered around the town, relaxed and recovered from my jet-lag.

It’s a nice place for a bit of a holiday but it’s very deceptive. It isn’t really much like anywhere else in China. There are hundreds of places to get western food, western beer and western conversation with the tourists who, at this time of year, seem to outnumber the locals. It’s easy.

Then we did the orientation which, because I was already a trained and experienced teacher in the UK was also easy.

Then we were allocated our cities and schools.

When that happens, unless it’s a school that Buckland is dealing with for the first time, you should see a write-up about it from the teacher who was previously there. I was allocated a school in Baiyin and the write-up made the place sound horrible. The previous teacher clearly hadn’t enjoyed it.

I loved the place. There were only five foreigners in the whole city – three of them working for Buckland – and almost no one spoke much English. It was dry and dusty and industrial. And I loved it. At the end of my first year there I didn’t take much persuading to stay. I only left at the end of three years because they city authorities had decided not have any more foreign teachers. I had found it friendly, and comfortable and I’d settled into a very nice way of life.

But the previous teacher hadn’t liked it, and I know other teachers who were sent there who grew to hate it passionately. So, how come there can be such a difference?  It is after all the same place. How can one person feel that they have, somehow, been cheated, while another thinks they have been given a perfect position?

First, let’s digress for a moment and talk about Chinese geography.

One thing that might cause confusion is that some of the terminology may be being used in ways that are different to the ways you have previously used them and that can lead to you thinking you have been misled. Let’s try to clear that up.

The country is divided into Provinces. (Some of them are not called Provinces, but that’s just for political reasons).

Below Provinces there is what is called the Prefecture level consisting of large cities. “City” is one of the words that may not be being used as you think it is. Cities can be huge administrative divisions encompassing many other smaller cities and counties. For example. Xi’An is a city but if you are thinking of comparing it to London or New York or Sydney then think about this. According to Wikipedia it has, within it, 106 sub-districts, 69 towns, 721 residential communities and 3025 villages. Its metropolitan area is a little over 3,800 square kilometres but its total area is a little under 10,000 square kilometers.

Below that level you have the County level. Counties are smaller than Prefectures but may include county level cities (remember you are already inside a prefecture level city) or various types of district.

Below that there are towns, which may be as big as some cities back home.

And below that there are villages. It can be very confusing. If you are in one of those villages or towns inside a county level city you may also, technically, still be inside the Prefecture level city for that area.

All of this, if not understood can lead you to think that you have been promised one thing and given another. If you are of a cynical turn of mind you might think you have been a bait-and-switch victim. You haven’t. You might find yourself in a city with a different name an hour and a half bus ride away from what you think of as Xi’An but you are still within the boundaries of what is politically designated as Xi’An. This can be a source of confusion if the office thinks “He asked for Xi’An. We placed him in Xi’An.” While the teacher thinks “I asked for Xi’An. This isn’t Xi’An.” AND BOTH OF THEM ARE RIGHT.

I think that kind of thing may be part of the issue with people liking or not liking where they end up teaching. It’s a matter of expectations. If you were expecting to be at the heart of a thriving metropolis with a fascinating multi-cultural night-life and a Starbucks on every corner then you are likely to be disappointed. Most of the schools are in smaller cities where it’s possible there may be a branch of KFC or McDonald’s but far more likely that there won’t be. There will be places to eat, drink and relax but it may not be what you were expecting.

People can sometimes let that disappointment lead to resentment and that’s when they stop noticing all the wonderful and interesting things around them and start seeing negatives everywhere. Other people, especially if they have left those expectations at home, will notice how different it all is but view that as a positive thing, a new experience to be enjoyed for what it is.

Of course, it’s possible that you might genuinely be placed somewhere where there isn’t much to do or many places to go and there isn’t a convenient way to get to anywhere larger for a break. It’s unlikely, but it’s possible that your reasons for disliking a place are perfectly valid but unless there are serious issues it isn’t likely that there is much to be done about it. If that happens you should try to make friends with as many teachers as possible at the school. Find out where they go and what they do to have a social life. They are, after all, in a similar situation to you even if they are local. Don’t wait for them to tell you things, try to be pro-active in asking them and finding things out.

And if it does start to get you down call up your friends in other parts of China or contact me. Talking about it can help. Just try not to let small, solvable problems build on each other until they snowball into a huge resentment.

Buckland Weekly In Brief: Astrill VPN

A brief addendum to the information about computers that I posted some time ago. It IS currently possible to download the Astrill VPN in China without already having a VPN. You can do it from www.astrill4u.com. Sorry I don't know about other VPNs.

I also don't know if it is permanent or if it too will eventually be blocked.

Just thought I'd mention it.

Buckland Weekly #25: Do you understand?

As always the contents of this post are the opinion and experience of the author only and should not be taken as reflecting the official position of BIEG.

Do you understand?

I recently read an article on the internet about things you should always say to your class. Most of it I agreed with. You should always greet them at the start of the lesson. (I always begin with “Good morning/afternoon. How are you all today?” It's become a standing joke in some classes where the students will shout back in unison “We're so-so!”) You should always say goodbye. You should always offer praise and help where needed. Uncontentious stuff.

However it also suggested that you should frequently ask “Do you understand?” and there we part company because I firmly believe that, at least for the classes we teach, this is about the worst question you can ask.

Let's look at it from another angle, from the point of view not of a foreign English teacher or a student in a foreign English teacher's class, but as a student in one of their other classes. If you observe a Chinese teacher you will usually notice a few things straight away. First of all the pace of the lessons is breakneck with information being delivered at a breathless pace that must be leaving some of the students behind. Then you will notice that they style is mainly what in my day was called “chalk and talk”. The teacher writes stuff on the board and reads it out and the students copy it down. You may, depending on what subject it is, also observe that there is a lot of repetitive drilling with the whole class reciting either from their books or by repeating back things the teacher said. What you probably won't see is very much in the way of questions and answers with individual students. Even where a teacher does ask a question only a few students will be likely to answer and the answer will always be right. Students are very unwilling to give answers where they are not sure because, rightly or wrongly, they are afraid that a wrong answer will result in punishment. Minor punishment, perhaps in the form of additional homework, but punishment nonetheless.

In Chinese culture there is also the concept of “face” which is similar in some ways to respect. Similar in some ways but different in others. Giving a wrong answer, or an answer that is not the one the teacher wants, results in a loss of face for the student who perceives it as showing him as foolish.

So, when you ask “Do you understand?” the student perception of that question is that you want the answer “yes” and that's the answer you get. Whether the student understands or not the answer is “yes” because any other answer indicates that he hasn't been paying enough attention and might make you angry with him. It will also diminish him in the other students eyes.

Of course none of that is true but it is how it is seen. Initially, especially if you are the first foreign teacher they have had, you will need to work hard at convincing them that, in our subject at least, a wrong answer is better than no answer and that all that will happen is that you will help them to find the right answer.

So if you can't ask “Do you understand?, what can you ask. Let's look at an specific example.

Imagine that you have a class of sixty students that you have divided into ten groups of six. The task you have given them is to plan a birthday party. You have, both as spoken and written instructions, told them that they must decide on a date, a venue, a time, what food and drink to have, what music to play, what other things they will do at the party, who to invite. You have told them that they have 300 RMB to spend but that must buy everything they need including decorations if they want them.

You could then ask a few students “Do you understand?” but a far better strategy is to go quickly to each group and ask a few questions.

“What kind of party is it?”

“What will you have to buy?”

“How much do you have to spend?”

This is checking their understanding and also gives you specific information about any unclear areas. If several groups seem unclear about the same point pause the activity for a moment and explain that point (and only that point) again.

When you are sure the groups are on task walk around a little and listen, helping if you hear something that indicates a lack of understanding but otherwise just listening. When they seem to be almost there go round again with more specific questions.

“Have you decided where it will be? Yes? Where will it be?”

“How many people will you invite? Who will you invite?”

“What food will you have? Really? Do you think you have enough money?”

“What will yo do at the party? Why did you choose that?”

Then leave them to it for a few minutes and when you stop the activity, ask the same kind of questions from the front. Initially ask people who gave you good answers when you were going round because they will then act as models for the others. The spread it out more and ask people you didn't ask before. Get them to stand up and answer.

All tasks, however simple or complex can follow this pattern. Instructions (and perhaps demonstration), concept checking, monitoring, result checking, feedback.

And don't forget to throw in a few “well done” or “good work” comments as you go.

And that's about it and there remains just one more thing to say.

Do you understand?

Buckland Weekly #24: medicine

As always with these posts the contents are solely the view of the author and should not be taken to be officially endorsed in any way by the company..

Medicine

You will get sick. It might be a headache. It might be sickness, diarrhea or constipation. It might be a bad head cold. One way or another you will get sick because everybody, everywhere gets sick sometimes. If you were back home you would get sick sometimes. The difference is that back home you would know exactly what to do about it. You would know what medicines you needed and where to get them. You would know whether you needed to see a doctor and how to do it. You would be able to describe you symptoms and understand the diagnosis and treatment. You would know how sick you had to be to justify phoning your boss to say you were taking the day off. You would know the consequences of taking the day off.

Here you probably won't know any of that.

Now, before I go into anything else about medicine in China let me state my own position up front. I believe in evidence based medicine. I am with Tim Minchin who said, “Do you know what we call alternative medicine that's been proven to work? Medicine.” And with whoever first said, “the plural of anecdote is not data.” However you are free to believe whatever you want to believe. I'm not going to try to convince you because I know from experience that it would be a frustrating and ultimately futile exercise.

The reason that it's important to know where I stand is that, from my point of view, most traditional forms of Chinese medicine are either not proven to work or – worse – proven not to work as soon as they are looked at scientifically. If you are a believer then you will counter with, “If they have been doing it for thousands of years, it must be true.” Our viewpoints are irreconcilable.

So, getting back to the topic at hand, what will you do when you are sick?

The first thing that will happen is that your Chinese friends will start offering all kinds of well-meant advice. It will range from “Your stomach upset is because you drink cold water” to “you were walking around your apartment with no shoes” to “you are sick because eating donkey meat has brought back an old illness”.

They will then want you to undergo acupuncture or cupping or consult a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner who will give you bags of leaves and stones to boil into a healing drink. Actually that's only the very traditional practitioners. Modern practitioners working in a traditional way will give you things that look like western pills or medicines but have been prepared from traditional sources. They may look like western medicines but they aren't.

If you wish to follow your friends' advice, go right ahead. Whether they cure you or not they are unlikely to do very much harm and most minor ailments cure themselves anyway. If you have a cough or a cold most western medicines do nothing either beyond making you feel a bit better because you have taken something – anything – that promises to help. For colds and such I just put some honey and lemon into hot water, purely because it helps to soothe a sore throat, not because I think it will cure me. I know that I'll be better in a few days regardless of what I do.

What do you do if you decide that Chinese traditional methods are not for you; that you want the medicines you are familiar with? There is good news and bad news. You are extremely unlikely to find western branded medicines here. If your preferred headache medicine is Tylenol, forget it. Night Nurse for your cold? Sorry. Imodium for... er, well no Imodium either. Unbranded medications on the other hand can be sometimes be obtained. You might not get Advil but you can get Ibuprofen which is the same thing. And if you really need that Tylenol then Paracetamol is the same thing although it's a little harder to find. Western medications for those stomach problems are more difficult and probably only available in big cities so bringing some with you is probably a good idea.

If you want western medicine, when you go to the pharmacy it's as well to take a Chinese friend with you and to look up first the active ingredient name of your medication, then the Chinese for it, on the internet before you go. If you want Chinese medicine still take a friend as they can explain the symptoms.

There is another complication. Drugs which are prescription only in our countries are often available over the counter here but that little leaflet that tells you all the possible side effects is in Chinese. I recommend checking the internet again. When I injured my hip the pharmacy gave my Chinese friend some Diclofenac*. When I looked up the warnings they said that it can cause serious internal bleeding and added “(rarely fatal)”. Call me a wimp if you wish but “rarely fatal” isn't nearly as rare as I'd like. I didn't take it.

OK. Moving on. What about more serious things? What if, as I did, you slip on some ice, crack your patella and break your finger? What if you need to be in hospital for a few days? First of all, don't panic. Chinese hospitals may not always look as shiny and new as western ones but the medical care standards are good. They will almost certainly treat you using western medicines and techniques. However there are a couple of things you should know, just so that they don't come as a surprise. First is that the don't usually administer drugs by injection – it's usually by IV. What would be two seconds at home has you sitting in a chair or lying on a bed for an hour here. It's just the way it's done.

Second, if you need to spend a few days in hospital, they do not provide meals. There is usually somewhere on the premises where food can be bought but that's not much use when you are in plaster ankle to hip. If you want to eat you rely on visitors to bring you food and it can be quite disconcerting (not least to the sense of smell) if you are in a ward with other people to watch them eating all kinds of things while you have no visitors and no food.

And the final thing you should know is that your school is likely to want you back in the classroom and working far quicker than you would be at home. When I had my accident THREE DAYS later the school was providing taxis to and from my apartment, a wheel chair between classrooms and a student as a teaching assistant to write things on the board for me.

You may be wondering about medical insurance. I will post separately about that later.

(*Is it just me or does "Diclofenac" look the name of an alien race in the modern era of Doctor Who? - "They are the most dangerous race in the Universe - the Diclofenac!")