Downton Abbey in China

 Dave and I have one mutual class.  He teaches them conversation and I teach them writing.  It has been an endless fascination for them to see us both teaching them different things.  It also has been fun for Dave and me to compare how the students are doing with these two very different skills.

On December 13, Dave and I went with two of our students – Daisy and Ursula -- to see Downton Abbey.  They saw that it was opening at a downtown cinema, and immediately thought of us, their mutual English teachers.

Daisy

Daisy was one of the bright stars of our class – talented and capable.  She comes from Chongqing, in her words “a city encompassed by two rivers, which is humid and marvelous.”  This fact was actually a source of frustration for her.  Early in the term she competed in a speech competition.  She asked me to read through her speech and offer comments; she also sought help from David.  She didn’t win.  The reason why: the judges pointed to her backwards southern accent as one of the reasons.  There is really a definite sense of villagers versus city people and north vs south in terms of hierarchy here.  Since she is from the south, and not from a city, she has to overcome her accent and dialect – something that is very subtle and completely escaped me. 

I tell you all this, because it seems oddly relevant for the film version of Downton Abbey with the Irish and royalty issues playing out.

Dave, Daisy and Ursula

Ursula was the other student who invited us. She is from Beijing, which is a bit like London.  Both cities  set the standards for their country’s accents.  (Beijing accents are famous for adding an “r” sound to their language.  For fun, instead of saying “wan” you say “wanr.”  If you want a little bit of something, you don’t say “yidian,” but “yidiar.”  If you want to sit and talk with someone, you don’t “liao tian”  you liao tiar.”)   In her first assignment, she spoke passionately about reading British Literature, watching “Downton Abbey”  “which tell me a lot of British History” and “reading Somerset Maugham”.

Instagram worthy snack:
 the pens are squash. 
The white ink bowl is yogurt! 

After classes finished, we received a WeChat from these two students asking us if we wanted to go to the film opening of Downton Abbey.  I hate to confess this, but I haven’t seen any of the television series.  So our Chinese students would have to be our guide here.

The theater was small, but filled.  It was in English/subtitled in Chinese. It was in a giant shopping mall that had an ice-skating rink, a climbing wall, and various mini train/car devices that drove around, picking up kids and offering rides.  After the show, we treated the student to a very nice dinner in the theater complex/mall.

The students definitely enjoyed it.  They had a better sense of the continuous plot lines than we did.  We filled them in on some of the politics behind the story… all in all a good night!

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Writing Coda (which has little to do with Downton Abbey, but gives you a fuller sense of how my students have grown):

In their first paper, I asked them to make a list of 25 random things about themselves.  The point was for the list to be random.  I didn’t want a standard essay about who they are professionally.  I wanted them start thinking about how to organize essays and generate truly meaningful and unique details for their essays.    The list had to include sentences that were simple, compound, complex and compound-complex.  From the list, they crafted their first essay.

Here is Daisy’s random list:

1.  I am Daisy and just like the flower daisy, I am very cute and kind.

2. My hometown is Chongqing, a city encompassed by two rivers, which is humid and marvelous.

3. I love spicy food, especially hotpot and it is a feast you can enjoy the ultimate flavor as you feel, see, hear, touch, smell and taste.

4. I have an older sister and a younger sister.  (This is an interesting fact, because most Chinese students are only children. In the villages, the one-child policy is less strict.)

5. Sometimes, we have quarrel with each other, but we trust and love each other.

6. I love both dogs and cats.

7. The Dog is loyal and reliable and the cat is cute and lovely.

8. What’s more, I love watching soap operas in Korea.

9.  I always immerse myself in the delight of the delicate clothing, exquisite makeups and romantic love stories in the Korean TV series.

10. I have a idea to write some articles to introduce some of the most brilliant series and to share my point of view towards them.

11. I have a favorite idol whose name is Xiao Zhan.

12. I am hooked by him not only because he is handsome, but also because his personality charm.

13. He is like a shinning sun that warms me when I feel cold in the harsh winter, and he is also like a tranquil moon that accompanies me when I feel lonely in the darkness.

14.  I love doing volunteering, and I believe it is a worthwhile and rewarding activity for us to involve in.

15.  I have accompanied the elder, played with children, cared for the lost animals and so on.

16.  Furthermore, I love taking photos.

17. It’s wonderful and intriguing to record the colorful scene in our transient life.

18.  I am not the smart type, instead, I always strive myself to obtain what I am long for.

19.  Since that, I always plunge myself into the things I need to do.

20.  Sensitive as I am, I was easy to be overwhelmed by the daily setbacks.

21.  However, tough as daisy, I can refresh and revitalized from the terrible mood quickly.

22.  My dream is to become a high school teacher.

23.  I believe it is a honor to teach those young and energetic face and share my experience with those innocent and pure mind.

24.  My favorite motto is “It goes on” written by Robert Frost.

25.  This sentence encourages me to conquer most difficulties I have encountered in my life.

Here is Ursula’s:

1. I love reading British literature. [simple]

2. I really hate insects. [simple]

3. My favorite watch brand is citizen. [simple]

4. I don’t like Chanel but I love Dior. [compound]

Ursula 

5. My favorite sport is figure skating and I love the famous Japanese skater Yuzuru Hanyu who is my idol. [complex/compound]

6. Actually when I was choosing my major in the first year of college life, I wanted to choose Japanese which I am interested in. However, my father forced me to choose English and French. [complex/compound]

7. I am not good at any sports, but I am good at skating and skiing. [compound]

8. I have stayed up late for 3 days because of too much homework. I spend most of my time preparing French class which is the most difficult class for me. [complex/compound]

9. I always carry a note book with me which I can write down something immediately. [complex]

10. I want to live in the castle where I don’t need to worry that I have too many things. [complex/compound]

11. I am afraid of the professor who teaches us French. [complex]

12. I can’t go out and live my life without earphones. [simple]

13. My favorite fruit is jackfruit. [simple]

14. My thumbs are very soft. [simple]

15. I love the teleplay Downton Abbey which tells me a lot of British history. [complex]

16. My favorite heroes are Ironman, but I also love Spiderman. [compound]

17. I can’t get rid of the inferiority complex no matter how the other people comfort me. [complex]

18. I love Coldplay’s music. [simple]

19. Compared with staying with others, I prefer to stay alone. [compound]

20. In the past, I wanted to be a writer or translator. However, I don’t know what kind of person I will be in the future. [compound]

21. I want to travel around the world instead of just sitting in the classroom which is very boring. [complex/compound]

22. I guess maybe I have mild Social Phobia because I really afraid of communicating with people that I don’t know well. [complex/compound]

23. My favorite writer is British writer Maugham who loves writing novels. [complex]

24. I am learning Japanese by myself secretly, but I think it’s difficult for me to learn 3 languages at the same time. [compound]

25. I know I am not a clever person and I am making slow progress, but I will never give up. [compound]

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Here is the essay that emerged from Daisy’s random list:

“Daisy” is a Kind of Flower

   Growing in some harsh and damp conditions, daisy, negligible, was originally regarded as weed. Later, people found out that this kind of flower springs up everywhere and endeavors to sprout and burst into bloom. Daisy, with small and exquisite white petals surrounding yellowish orange pistil, always smiles towards all the people passing by. It is a flower which is very cute and kind. Coincidentally, I am Daisy, and exactly just like the flower daisy which impressed me most, I am a cute and kind girl.

   Daisy is a cute flower. Flower daisy with his tiny petals always jumps up and down and nods its small head. Whenever it nods, it grows up a little bit. Finally, it strives to stretch its petals in full blossom. Similarly, Daisy shines herself in a cute way. Daisy always immerse herself in the delicate scenes and romantic love stories whenever she watched soap operas. She fancied herself to be the leading lady in the drama. With waving long hairs, fair and clear skin, curvaceous and graceful figure, crystalline big eyes, long and enchanting eye lashes, she imagined that she had a sweet love relationship with the handsome boy in the TV series. What’s more, she is hooked by an attractive celebrity whose name is Xiao Zhan. During the bed time, with flowing happy emotion which cannot be subdued, she always conceived the love stories between him and herself. Furthermore, she loves taking photos. There are hundreds of photos about herself in her phone. Even, she combined some of her photos with Xiao Zhan’s picture. Staying in the same picture is her only consoling proximity of him.  

   Daisy is a kind flower. Daisy, tiny though, always show its bright smiles to the people passing by. Daisy is enthusiastic about doing volunteering. She started her volunteering work since she was in high school. She set up a club to help the hopeless animals, lonely old and stay-at-home children etc. Furthermore, she took part in a variety of activities about children caring. Every three weeks, she would take the bus to and fro for 4 hours and spend 6 hours teaching the children. This summer vocation, she even stayed at Xi’an for seven days to share her learning experience with the students in the countryside. With her burning passion towards this teenagers, she simply wants to be a high school teacher when she graduate to accompany the students who will go through the harsh and torturing Gaokao.

  With the qualities of cuteness and kindness, daisy is indeed the best flowers I have ever seen. So do Daisy. She is also the best person in my own heart.

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Here is Ursula’s early short essay:

Myself---Inside and Out

              My name is Ursula. When it comes to myself, I am an introvert. And my personality influenced all aspects of my life, including my interests, living habits and even the future plan.

              Firstly, I know my inside aspect clearly. I know my strengths, weakness and personality. For example, I am not good at any sports, but I am good at skating and skiing. I guess maybe I have mild Social Phobia because I really afraid of communicating with people that I don’t know well. That’s why that I can’t go out and live my life without earphones. I can’t get rid of the inferiority complex no matter how the other people comfort me.

              Secondly, when it comes to the outside aspect, I have a lot of interests and living habits. I have high demands on quality of life. I love reading British literature. My favorite writer is British writer Maugham who loves writing novels. My favorite watch brand is Citizen. I don’t like Chanel but I love Dior. I love the teleplay Downton Abbey which tells me a lot of British history. I love Coldplay’s music.

              Finally, about my future, I don’t have a clear plan. Maybe that’s because I am too indecisive to make a decision. In the past, I wanted to be a writer or translator. However, I don’t know what kind of person I will be in the future. The only thing I know is that I want to travel around the world instead of just sitting in the classroom which is very boring.

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For fun, compare these early essays to the later essays that they wrote for me.  I think that they both improved nicely!

Daisy’s Comparison and Contrast essay:

How English Letters Vary from Chinese Characters

The study of English hangs around the neck of many Chinese students, especially English majors who are forced to have a good command of it. Under the deep influences of the local customs and habits, we have difficulty in readily mastering this foreign language. While English and Chinese are both languages using to convey our thoughts, they belong to different language families. Hence, they are far cry from each other, varying vastly from sentence structures, pronunciation characteristics to verb tenses.

Chinese and English differ in their sentence structures. In general, in English, one sentence should and can contain only one verb. That is to say, two verbs cannot be linked by a comma. Instead, they should be separated by a period. If you want to add more verbs into sentences, you should turn them into absolute construction or non-predicative verbs. You can also put them into compound or subordinate clauses. This is the basic principal of English grammar. However, in Chinese, it’s much more casual. You can use as many verbs as you like. There are no specific rules to limit the verb use. This is also a formidable challenge for throngs of foreigners learning Chinese.

Pronunciation characteristics also make English and Chinese different from each other. On the one hand, the pronunciation structure of English is consonant plus vowels plus consonant. We need to utter the last consonant which is usually neglected by many of Chinese learners.. While in Chinese, our word formation is consonant plus vowels. We have already got accustomed to closing our mouths after we have pronounced the stressed vowel. On the other hand, the tone between two languages is different. The intonation of English is relatively stable compared to Chinese. There are only two intonations in English: the rising and the falling. Although it will be stressed on some particular syllables, the tone of it is still smooth. Nevertheless, as for Chinese, we lay much emphasis on cadence, which is the fluctuation of rhyme. There are four different intonations in Chinese, so it is comparatively more complicated to learn.

Finally, the verb tenses often puzzle people in those two different cultures. In English, the tense can be clearly reflected in the verb itself. It has formal and various conjugation of verbs to express different time and states. Under different circumstances, we can use different verb tenses to remind people of the exact time. However, in Chinese, we don’t have inflection of verbs to show the time and state. Although we have some adverbial structures to prompt the time, we still don’t have explicit and distinct conception of “tense.” That’s the reason why it’s so mind-boggling for foreigners to understand Chinese when we are talking about things that happened in the past.

Both English and Chinese are official languages of the United Nations. If you want to participate in the international organizations, having a great grasp of both these two languages is of vital importance. What’s more, only after we clearly understand the differences between different languages, we can learn them more quickly, more easily and more effectively.

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Ursula’s Comparison/Contrast essay:

Classical Chinese Music vs Contemporary Music

When comparing classical Chinese music with contemporary music, there are a lot of differences. However, all music is connected. There are still some important similarities.

Firstly, classical Chinese music and contemporary music have different rhythms and different ranges of tones. When it comes to the contemporary music, it has a wide vocal range. Normally the tones include C、D、E、F、G、A、B and C. In addition, contemporary music always has a fast rhythm. Nowadays, it’s hard for people who live in a fast-paced era to admire some slow-rhythm music. However, classical Chinese music, generally is played with a pentatonic scale. That is to say it usually has 5 tones, C、D、E、G、A. In the 6th century BC, the pentatonic scale gradually developed to heptachord. There were more tones were used in making music. Most of the classical Chinese music has slow rhythm. After all, the ancient people lived in a slow pace.

Secondly, classical Chinese music and contemporary music have different functions. Nowadays, most of the contemporary music are used to express personal feelings. Nearly every composer writes the music to tell others one of their unforgettable experiences. Contemporary music is dominated by individualism. Nevertheless, classical Chinese music is different. The earliest classical Chinese music was created in order to sacrifice to the gods. Some of them were written to commemorate splendid wars or important ceremonies. Others were considered as a significant part of the ancient etiquette. Seldom were they created for individual feelings and experiences. In the ancient time, collectivism is greater than individualism.

Thirdly, classical Chinese music and contemporary music have different playing instruments. In order to pursuit a kind of passion and excite, contemporary music is often consisted of the electric guitar, electric piano and base. Nowadays, a cappella is also very popular. To create a sense of excitement, some of them even are made using a computer. Traditional instruments are seldom used in creating modern music. However, classical Chinese music is totally different. Generally, the instruments of classical Chinese music are traditional instruments, such as a reed pipe wind instrument, a vertical bamboo flute and guzheng. All of them together can create a quiet and tranquility atmosphere. This kind of music matches the ancient people’s slow-paced life.

There are still some similarities. They have the same way of transmission. Both of them are transferred by normal people. People transferred the music only by singing or telling to others. Both kinds of music also have the same status all over the world. Maybe they are not the most excellent music on the music scene, but definitely they are the most unique one in the world. They have a quality that no other music can replace.

Briefly, contemporary music is built on classical Chinese music. Just like mother and the child, the classical Chinese music gave birth to contemporary music. Therefore, they have a lot of differences but also some similarities.

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I’ve very much enjoyed watching my students grow, and I learn something from them with every essay!