#teachforchina

[plaintofu]

Hello, Class 102

With five days notice before I had to leave school, I spent those days writing review materials, furiously packing, figuring out how to say goodbye to my friends, colleagues, noodle-sellers, bike repair guy, gatekeeper, orchid and students. 

I made this video on my last full day of teaching while two of my friends graciously helped me bake chocolate cake mixes I had dragged back from Hong Kong in two rice cookers. At night, the students ate cake, watched a documentary about Yunnan wildlife and then I showed them this video as my way of saying “see you later.” 

Since I’ve moved back to the US, people often ask me how was China? I hope this video--in all its authentic, rashly made, glory--answers the question. China is grueling and magnificent. Teaching is painful and the most purposeful job you could possibly have. 

[hanvikki-blog]

The best Christmas present this year....seeing these kiddos again. #TeachforChina #reunited #昔本小學 (at Lincang)

[zhongsense]

3rd grade english class

12/16/13

[zhongsense]

Bain and Company

(Bain is the one with his hood up in front)

[myownprivatechina]

It is evident that since the resolution of the civil war in 1949, English as a school subject in China has had an essentially oxymoronic status, in that it has been perceived officially as something akin to a 'desirable evil' with the relative emphasis on desirability and evilness shifting according to the socio-political climate.

Adamson, Bob. China's English: A History of English in Chinese Education

[myownprivatechina]

Official records for 1957 show that there were just 843 secondary school teachers of English in the whole country. Yet...Chinese people have embraced the study of English in recent decades with fervor. Some 50 million schoolchildren are currently learning English, taught by approximately 400,000 teachers.

Adamson, Bob. China's English: A History of English in Chinese Education

[myownprivatechina]

[myownprivatechina]

Before We Begin

In June, I am leaving for two years on a TeachForChina （中国教育行动）teaching fellowship. Check out this amazing non-profit at http://tfchina.org/. I've been a fan of the movement for equity for all children (a broad notion, I admit), but now I can put this idea to task.  I will train in July and August, and then I will retreat to the Yunnan mountains with a classroom of around seventy 5th or 6th graders.

Because there is so much to write on, and because my challenge is part of a larger whole, I really do not want this tumblr to be about me. I'll definitely share bits of my own experience but will also color it with pictures and comments and reblogs and what have you. I'm hoping this space becomes less a monument to what I do than an attempt to chase down the vision of a beautiful place and of a community. Subject to distraction and digression, but stick with me here.

Here we go!

-Chris