An inside view of what is happening
in our classrooms and around campus.
Rick is leaving the Buthane teaching
building. He is wearing a hat and green
coat.
The tree-lined streets on our campus
create a beautiful shady scene.
This is one entrance to the student
cafeteria. Many students carry these
thermoses, especially during the winter months.
Most Chinese drink hot water year round.
They believe cold water is bad for your health. I suppose I will die young.
We like to see the kind campus street
sweepers. These men and women must be
close to retirement. The yellow cart
holds the collected trash and their unique brooms.
My students were outside on a lovely
spring day practicing for their Reader’s Theater.
This type of exercise is so “outside
the box” from their normal read, memorize, and recite style of learning.
Notice the masks that one student
made for the different characters in “The Little Red Hen”.
This group chose a tall boy to be
Little Red Riding Hood. The class roared
with laughter. He was an instant hit!
These happy students opted to wear
their class T-shirts on performance day.
I was pleasantly surprised that these
two shy boys would bring stuffed animals as props. Some students were thrown from their comfort zones
with this assignment and survived.
Rick’s students brought a guitar and
asked him to sing and play. They vigorously
applauded every song.
We were among nine professors who
attended the opera performances of these talented music students. They were MARVELOUS!! Then, we were pulled to the stage for photos
with the performers. It was our
privilege. Of course, this happened the
only time we came to a concert casually dressed.
The SDU Medical School freshmen
performed a special talent show. We had
several students there. The dancing boys
group was an audience favorite. It is
especially thrilling to see our shy students (which is most of them) on a
stage.
It was so much fun to see our
students outside the classroom in such a setting. They had practiced for weeks and we enjoyed
every performance.
Some of our students performed with
this SDU choir. They sang pieces in
Chinese, Japanese, and English.
Wow! What an outstanding group of
disciplined singers. This was one of the
best performances we had seen in China.
Doc Talk at the medical campus. This is an informal hour where any student
can come and practice speaking English.
Older students organize the event and choose discussion topics. We were like celebrities when we
arrived. Everyone wanted to be in our
groups. I had a few students who talked
in Rick’s group and vice versa. They are
very curious about us and wanted to know so much more then we’ve told them in
class. Truthfully, it is a great ego
trip to be so in demand and well loved by these terrific students.
Word has spread that Rick plays the
guitar. We sang together and the students
roared with applause. I couldn’t believe
the number of phones pointed in our direction as we sang (off key, I’m sure)
and the students smiled with delight.
Sometimes we do feel like rock stars.
Fear not, reality always hits hard.
