中國翻新了我的生活

文/Joseph Kwon 譯/張佳藝

在我決心去中國之前，我已經在附近一所社區大學報名學習漢語初級課程。學一門新語言很酷，填補閑暇時間的同時，對未來也會大有裨益。當時，我想換種職業，正在找新工作。此前我便聽說過海外教學項目，我覺得這將是很好的機會，可以旅行、嘗試新鮮事物、提高語言技能。就在那時，我檢索到了AYC（美國青年教學使者）網站。我的專業是計算機科學，沒有任何教學背景。當我看到AYC提供免費TEFL（英語教師）培訓和大部分國外教學相關開銷時，我想這對我這種新手來說是個很不錯的選擇。在我理順簽證流程、學習TEFL網課、與AYC和赴崗學校溝通后，我同區域主任Aegean He取得聯系，進行了初步面談。而后，我告別父母和美國生活，登上了飛往中國的飛機。

Leading up to my decision to go to China I had signed up for a beginner Chinese course at a nearby community college. I thought picking up a new language would be cool, something I could do in my free time and something that could be useful in the future. I was also searching for a new job at the time and I was looking for a career change. I had heard about teaching abroad programs before and I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to travel, try something new, and improve my language skills. That's when I found Ameson Year in China's(AYC) website. I didn't have any teaching background - I had graduated with a major in computer science. So, when I saw that AYC provided free TEFL training and most of the overhead that goes with teaching abroad, I thought it was a great choice for someone like me to get my feet wet. I had got in contact with the Regional Director Aegean He, went through an initial interview and, after a period of time getting my visa straightened out,studying for the online portion of the TEFL certificate, and ongoing communication not only with AYC but also with my placement school, I fi nally said goodbye to my parents and my life in America and boarded my plane to China.

初來乍到

我初來上海之時，覺得一切都是新鮮的，我甚至覺得自己可以征服眼前的世界。我來自加利福尼亞州的森林湖小鎮，而我抵達中國后落腳在一座大都市，那里擁有我這個疲憊不堪的外國人所能尋求的一切便利：很多人都會說英語，標志也好，菜單也罷，幾乎所有東西都很友好。就TEFL培訓而言，這實在是處絕佳寶地。我們的團隊關系十分親密，當中有些人曾經來過上海，這方便了我們自由行——穿梭在很酷的市區、商場和食品店之間。身居上海的這一周，我被全日制培訓、提出的問題、迷你旅行以及很多當地美食關愛著。AYC的工作人員非常貼心，他們真誠地希望了解我們，為我們在中國的未來10個月做充分準備。毋庸置疑，培訓進行得很順利，我們全員通過了TEFL考試。不知不覺間，我們將暫別上海，被學校協調員接到工作城市。

Just Arrived

When I fi rst arrived in Shanghai everything was so fresh and new - I felt like I could conquer the world. I come from a small town in California called Lake Forest and my fi rst look at China was in a big metropolitan city and it had all the amenities a weary foreigner could ask for. Many people spoke English and signs, menus, just about most things were “foreigner friendly”.It was a great place to have our in-person TEFL training. Our group was pretty tight, some of us had been to Shanghai before so we would go on little trips on our own and venture around the cool districts, malls, and bomb food places around the city.During our week in Shanghai I felt very well taken care of with the all-day training sessions, all the questions we had, all the mini tours, and many local meals. The staff at AYC was very attentive and had a genuine interest to get to know us and prepare us for our next 10 months in China. Needless to say,the training went very well, we all passed the TEFL exam and before we knew it we were saying our farewells, being picked up by our school coordinators and were off to our placement cities.

初至工作城市衢州時，我受到了學校同事的熱烈歡迎。他們帶我去當地的東方購物中心，添置了一些讓我舒心入住的家居用品。我們還一起出去吃晚飯。就在來到這座城市的第一晚，我認識了由“白葡萄酒”直譯過來的“白酒”。但其實，這并非白葡萄酒。在中國，白酒是一種很受歡迎的烈酒，酒精含量比龍舌蘭還要高。當時我還納悶他們為什么只給我倒那么少，我一口就喝光了。見此，他們都嚇壞了，忙說：“不，不，不！”我們都笑了。這是美麗的第一夜，也是未來許多夜晚的開端。

學校幫我在這里安頓下來，還在正式開始教學之前給我一周的休息、準備時間。在此期間，我遇到了AYC項目的Caleb Corr和Frank Ong。全年以來，我們三個常去東方購物中心消磨時間，騎著自行車或踩著滑板在鎮上閑逛，在網吧里打游戲，吃夜宵燒烤，還會加入一些惡作劇。后來，我們自稱為“三個火槍手”。Caleb告訴我們這里有一處著名的外國人聚集地，很值得我們抽時間去“打卡”。于是，我們在某天晚上前往那里，遇到了這座城市里幾乎所有的AYC成員。那天晚上，我邂逅了一位特別的女孩，叫Jessie Xie，衢州當地人，英語很不錯。

Joseph Kwon（美籍韓裔），2017—2018年度教育大使之一，任教于浙江省衢州市曲江區第二小學，圖為Joseph Kwon（圖中）與學生們在一起

When I first arrived in Quzhou, my placement city, I was greeted by fellow staff from the school. They took me to the local mall, called Dong Fang, to shop for any things I would need to be comfortable in my new room and they also took me out to dinner. That very first night in my city was when I learned what bai jiu was, or “white wine” when directly translated. Let me tell you, it de fi nitely isn't white wine. It is a popular hard drink in China and has a higher alcohol content than tequila. I wondered why they gave me so little, I drank it all in one gulp! They all freaked out and said, “No no no! ” as we all laughed. It was a great fi rst night and the beginning of many nights to come.

My school helped me settle in and even gave me a week’s rest to prepare until I began my teaching. During this time,I met fellow AYCers Caleb Corr and Frank Ong. Throughout the year the three of us would spend time at the local Dong Fang mall, cruise around town on our bikes or boards, played games at internet cafes, had late night shao kao, or Chinese BBQ, and took part in other shenanigans. We would later dub ourselves the Three Musketeers. Caleb had told us about a famous foreigner spot in the city and that we had to check it out sometime. So, one night we went and met up with practically every other AYCer in the city. That night I also happened to meet a very special girl named Jessie Xie, who I found out was a local Quzhou girl and whose English also happened to be very good.

中美教學比較

學校里的孩子很可愛，天真無邪。他們會在走廊里大聲問好：“你好！早上好！”也會和我擊掌。我在公共汽車上遇到他們時，他們會互相大喊：“外教！是外教！”意思是“是我們的外籍教師！是我們的外籍教師！”他們迎上來和我聊天，還會送我一點心意。他們有時在走廊里追我，有時在教室窗外大喊，向我索要巧克力。我嘗試用獎勵、游戲和趣味視頻來主導課堂，讓學生主動專注于學習英語。我想向他們展示新奇的東西，希望這些未曾見過的東西可以拓寬他們的夢想與想象力。我永遠不會忘記他們看到感恩節食物時的反應——“哇！”這是我聽過的最響亮的感嘆。但有時他們很難保持注意力和積極性，這一路我不得不多加學習：如何應對困境，如何應對嘈雜的教室或行為不端的學生。為此，我嘗試不同事物，聽取別人建議，觀摩其他老師處事。幸運的是，助教在課堂管理方面發揮了不容小覷的作用。課堂管理是我不得不面對的艱巨挑戰之一，但當我聽到學生在課堂內外使用我教給他們的英語時，我頗有成就感與獲得感。直至今日，我還在想：“你要去哪兒？我要去吃飯！我要去上課！我要去玩！”這是我給三年級學生上過的最成功的一課。學校里的老師待人很是友善，總是分給我水果，還邀我參加周末遠足。學校辦公室里經常響起中國歌曲，學生們進進出出自在說笑（有時聽起來像是針鋒相對的爭吵，但實際并非如此），有時還用中文或英文和其他老師交流。許多老師的英語水平相當不錯，但當中一些人甚至并不是英語老師！他們總在和我聊天時說英語，也許是想讓我感到舒服，也許是想借機提高自身英語水平。這點我雖不確定，但卻很令人寬慰。我意識到英語在這里有多重要，不僅是在衢州，在整個中國都是如此。

本文作者（右二）與學生們做游戲

The difference between Chinese and American teaching system

The kids at my school are very sweet and very curious. They would yell, “Hello! Good morning!” in the hallways. They would give me high fi ves. I would see them on the public buses and they would yell to each other, “Wai jiao! Wai jiao!” which means “it's the foreign teacher! it's the foreign teacher!” and would come up to me and talk with me and give me some of their treats. Sometimes they would chase me down the hallway or yell outside of their classroom windows wanting chocolate. I tried conducting my class with rewards, games,and interesting videos to keep the students fi xated and wanting to learn English. I wanted to show them new and amazing things, hopefully things they had never seen before to expand their imagination and dreams. I will never forget how they always react to Thanksgiving food - the loudest chorus of“wows!” you’ve ever heard. But it was dif fi cult at times to keep their focus and motivation. I had to learn a lot along the way:how to deal with dif fi cult situations, how to deal with a noisy classroom or a misbehaving student. It took trying different things, listening to others' advice, seeing what other teachers were doing, etc. Thankfully the teacher’s assistant also helped a lot to keep the class under control. I learned that classroom management was one of the more dif fi cult challenges I had to deal with. But it was so rewarding when I heard the students use the English I taught them in my classroom, outside of class.To this day I consider, "Where are you going? I’m going to eat!I’m going to class! I'm going to play!" taught to the third graders to be one of my most successful lessons. The other teachers at my school were very kind as well, always offering me fruit and inviting me to weekend excursions. The office at school was often bustling with Chinese song, students running in and out, random banter (sometimes which sounded like harsh arguing but really wasn't), and just trying to communicate with the other teachers whether it be in Chinese or English. Many teachers' English was quite good as well, many of whom weren't even English teachers! Whenever we spoke they would always use English - either to make me comfortable or so they could have an opportunity to improve their own English I wasn't sure,but it was comforting nonetheless. It also gave me a sense of just how much English was valued here, not only in Quzhou, but also in China.

I've learned that the school system is very different here than in America. Classroom sizes for one are at least double in size. Each classroom on average has at least 50 students, and teachers have to do their best to make sure each student is getting the material.I also learned that Chinese schools have very high standards. In America we think A's and B's are good. But I've heard teachers mention at my school how even a low A was not good enough,a B is bad, and anything lower than those are just terrible. The teachers' schedule is also quite different. They come in earlier and leave later than American schools. And so, if their schedule is like that, that means the students' schedule must be similar.

我了解到中國的學校系統與美國的很不一樣。在這里，教室面積是美國的兩倍，平均每個班里都至少有50名學生，老師們需盡最大努力確保每位學生都學到新知識。中國的學校標準也很高。在美國，成績A和B都很好，但我卻聽到我所在中國學校的其他老師提到A減不夠優秀，B則很差，比這更低則是非常糟糕。老師們的日程安排也很不一樣。和美國相比，這里的老師早到、遲退。可想而知，老師的日程安排如此，學生的日程也必須相似。中國師生工作更努力，抱怨更少。不僅是這些人，衢州大部分人都是這樣。我有時會抱怨城市發展帶來的噪聲、空氣質量、交通、插隊和吸煙，但這些恰恰伴隨著衢州人成長。學生必須努力學習，必須背負要取得好成績的強壓。他們通過課外活動獲得更大程度上的成功，或如鋼琴、繪畫等額外技能。他們還必須學習第二種語言——英語。大一些的學生還需在學校住宿。有時他們的生活看起來過于辛苦，但他們卻都能很好地承受，很多人也確實因此變得非常成功。看到中國人不懈完善自己，我對其能力感到十分吃驚。隨著時間推移，我與學生、老師、這座城市都建立起親密關系。

They work much harder here in China and don't complain about it much. Not only teachers and students, but most every person living in Quzhou. I complain sometimes about the noise from all the development, the air quality, traffic, the non-existence of lining up, and all the smoking. But that's what the Quzhou people grow up with. They also have to study very hard and have high pressure to do well on their tests. They have after school programs to give them a better chance at success or give them an extra skill like playing the piano or drawing. They also have to learn a second language: English! And older kids practically live at their schools. Sometimes it seems like their lives are very difficult, but they withstand it all. And many do become very successful. It amazes me what the Chinese are capable of doing,seeing them go through so much continual development. And so, overtime, I myself had developed a relationship with the students, teachers, and the city itself.

為愛在中國

最終，我和在咖啡館遇到的那個特別的女孩Jessie開始了一段戀情。隨后，我開始考慮明年我將做什么。我想留在中國，但我不確定想找什么工作。后來我向我的專業靠攏，得到了上海的一份工作。思考再三，權衡利弊，斟酌得失，我決心留下來，這樣便可以陪在Jessie左右了。我們的感情逐步升溫，我還和她的家人一起歡度了春節。最初確實有些尷尬和不習慣，但好在他們很隨和，這讓我慢慢放松下來。我還去附近的龍游縣拜訪了她的奶奶和叔叔，在那里我們一起暢飲白酒，開懷大笑。我很清楚我想和Jessie一直走下去，于是有一天我在屋頂上精心布置了熒熒燭光，向她鄭重求婚。她回應道：“我愿意。”

總而言之，AYC項目徹底翻新了我的生活。我不僅對中國文化本身產生了新認識，更是通過對比和比較與我所在文化間的異同獲得了新視角。我剛到中國時，認為我可以讓孩子們接觸到很酷很新奇的異國文化；而后來，中國反倒在不經意間帶給我這些。AYC所有成員都確保我在中國盡可能舒適，在衢州、麗水和長沙一些AYC教育大使的幫助與支持下，我收獲了很多美好的回憶和長青的友誼。希望我在這座城市、這所學校工作，可以帶給孩子愉悅又實用的學習體驗，更期待這些體驗可以引領他們從此行在中國，走向世界！

Stay in China

And I eventually began a relationship with the special girl I met at the cafe bar, Jessie. Naturally I started thinking about next year and what I was going to do. I wanted to stay in China, but I wasn't sure what job I was going to apply for. I tried looking for a job related to my major and eventually was offered a job in Shanghai! After having struggled with the decision for a long time, weighing the pros and cons, considering what I would potentially lose and potentially gain, I fi nally decided to stay so I could be with Jessie. Our feelings for each other kept growing and I spent my Chinese New Year with her family! It was de fi nitely new and awkward at fi rst. But they were super casual,which made me feel more laid back. I also met her grandma and uncles in a neighboring city called Longyou, where we had a lot of laughs and shared in the goodness of bai jiu. I knew I wanted to be with Jessie and so I eventually popped the question on a candlelit rooftop balcony and asked her to marry me, to which she said yes!

All in all, the AYC program has completely changed my life.I gained a new perspective not only on Chinese culture itself,but also on how that culture compares and contrasts with the cultures I grew up with. I came to China thinking I could teach and expose Chinese children to cool and new and foreign things,but China has inadvertently ended up teaching me many new,cool, and better things as well. All the members at AYC have made sure to make my stay here in China as comfortable and accommodating as possible. And with the help and support of all my fellow AYC Educational Ambassador’s here in Quzhou,Lishui and Changsha, I have made fond memories and lasting friendships. My hope is that my work here in this school and in this city can give the children an enjoyable and practical learning experience and seeing where it can take them within China and beyond!(Joseph Kwon is from the United States. He is one of AYC 2017-18 educational ambassadors. He teaches in No.2 Primary School of Qujiang District in Quzhou, Zhejiang)