Intro to our Chinese Writing Exchange

Our creative writing class has been invited to exchange writing with a writing class in China at Qingdao University.  It is a great opportunity to expand our audience as writers as well as learn about another culture.

The class we'll be exchanging with is a freshman class taught by an MSU exchange teacher, Kevin James. His mother is a good friend of mine and teaches at Parkview.  Her students will be exchanging writing with Kevin's students, too.  Kevin has written a letter to us (see below) explaining some of the cultural differences as well as some guidelines to follow.  He and his students are grateful for this opportunity, and as he explains in his letter, this is a very challenging exercise for his students. Please read the letter and share any questions or comments you may have either in the comment box here or aloud in class.

The first two writing pieces we are going to send will be 1: a letter introducing yourself, and 2: a polished version of your Object-Inspired piece you created at the beginning of the semester.  Please see the next post for more detailed instructions.  Because your writing will serve as a model for Chinese students to follow, we will want to send our best efforts.  We are also under some time constraints, so meeting deadlines will be imperative on this project.  This should be fun!

Xie xie!

Dear Mrs. Fraser’s class,

I’m writing to thank you in advance for sharing your writing and corresponding with my students at Qingdao University. Every semester these students beg for the chance to encounter more authentic English in the classroom, and by reading your work and sharing our writing with your class via e-mail, my students truly value this project as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Here’s a Cliff's Notes, abridged take on the students’ backgrounds: they are all freshman, twenty-seven girls and three boys, majoring in English, and around half of them openly bemoan the fact that they have to study English. They spent their senior year of high school preparing for and taking a college entrance exam--the dreaded, horrible beast that is the gaokao (gow-cow). This is a nine hour exam taken over the course of two days which determines if they can go to college, where they can go to college, and what they can study in college. Oh, and they only get one shot to take and pass it, and if they don’t like the results, they can retake their senior year. (No thanks!) So based on their results, some of them only had the option to study English at Qingdao University; for those who had other options, their parents likely decided studying English at Qingdao University was best for their son or daughter. Bottom line is these students, like all students in China, don’t have much (if any) say in what they study and where they study it, and now they’re stuck in my English class. I think you’ll find, however, that despite the stressful demands of the education system, they’re hungry for the opportunity to express themselves in a creative way with native English speakers of the same age.

You should know that when they read your work, they’ll pour over each word and really mine the text for meaning. Please be aware of the fact that when they share their writing with you, they’ll be incredibly sensitive to what you think of their English ability. It takes an eternity for them to translate what they want to say, and sometimes those translations are bizarre, sometimes nonsensical, but often times hilarious. Take pronouns, for example. I’ve been referred to as “she” more times than I care to count because in spoken Chinese he, she, and it are all pronounced the same as ta. It’s an understandable goof and one that happens frequently.

Most of the translation issues are related to appropriacy, though. For instance, several of my students say “I like playing balls” instead of “I like playing sports” because it’s a direct translation from Chinese. It sounds ridiculous and it’s hilarious, but we know what they mean. So heads up!

The last tidbit on the exchange project relates to internet accessibility in China. Because of the Great Firewall, the Qingdao students can’t access many websites, including Google, Facebook, Youtube, and other American essentials. We also can’t access your class blog, hence the e-mail component of the exchange. So please be aware of the limitations on our end.

On a similar note, please know that there are limitations related to the content of what my students can publish on the internet, including e-mail content. Should your correspondence take a political or religious course, please redirect it. Topics related to, for example, the political sovereignty of the South China Sea, Taiwan, Tibet, and/or Hong Kong are not appropriate because my students could get into big-time hot water for weighing in.

In closing, I know my students are thrilled to get going with the correspondence and learn about you all through your writing. Sorry for the length. Enjoy the writing. Thanks again for your hard work!

All my best,

Kevin

P.S. They chose their own English names, some of which are silly. Like the issues with Chinglish, please try to look past it. Please e-mail if you have questions: kevinjames@missouristate.edu