Navigating Runnin' The Great Wall's Education Edition

Welcome!

If this is your first visit to Runnin' The Great Wall's Education Edition, allow me to provide you with some simple tips and insights for maximizing the enjoyment of your journey.

1. To the direct right of this post are the selected, archived entries beginning in June 2007 and continuing to May 2009. If you simply scroll down, you will view these entries beginning with the most recently published. I recommend starting in the beginning (June 2007; when I was completely naive to the intricate workings of the Chinese education system) and follow the development of my ideas, opinions, and experiences as the months and lessons pass by.
   
2. Also on the right side of this page are some of the Quick Links to various media articles written during my Peace Corps service, as well as a link to my YouTube channel with dozens of educational (and extremely embarrassing) videos shot during my final year in China.
   
3. Again, I would like to remind you that this Education Edition is only a small taste of the exciting adventures documented on my Runnin' The Great Wall blog. If you are interested in more tales of American Phil in the Middle Kingdom, check out the original blog for everything from Chinese language translations to exotic culinary delicacies.
4. As always, I am easy to contact with any further questions concerning my experience. E-mail is best: philiprazem@gmail.com
5. Last but not least, if you are a potential employer and like what you see, have any constructive criticism, or would like a resume, I appreciate any and all insights and would be happy to provide one for you.
   

Thanks for visiting Runnin' The Great Wall's Education Edition!

Sincerely,

Phil Razem

The end is near...

你们好:
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The end is near. I am reminded of this by Dustin's last few posts.
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Sarah, a PCV from Gansu Province, is putting together a PCC"13" e-yearbook and sent out a list of questions for us to answer (in as few words as possible) in regards to our experience. Here are a few highlights from my contribution:

• 1. Favorite moment with your students: Tuesday mornings, 9:30am, Shakespeare class
• 3. Most useful/interesting Chinese word/phrase you learned: ren 忍
• 6. Something you still don't understand about China after two years: The popularity and advocacy of the saying: 稳定压倒一切 "THE OVERRIDING NEED IS FOR STABILITY"
• 7. The thing you'll miss most about China: My students, without a doubt.



• 8. The thing you'll miss least about China: Open-air sneezes on the bus, without a doubt. And the everyday blind faith in the Chinese Communist Party.
• 9. Best place you traveled to in China: Beibei, Chongqing, my site.
• 10. Best Teaching Moment: “I've never thought about that before,” said the student.
• 11. The thing you're most thankful you brought to China with you: My individualism (个性自由gèxìngzìyóu)
• 14. Your Greatest Moment At Site: anytime I was hanging out with my two amazing sitemates
  
• 15. Your Most Embarrassing Moment At Site: anytime I was hanging out with my two amazing sitemates
  
• 18. The thing you missed the most from home: Family, friends, the Buffalo Bills, and the infinitely beautiful game of baseball.
  
  
• 20. Most Disappointing Moment In China: Hearing about my students' indescribable daily hardships during the day and then running alongside BMWs at night.
• 22. Funniest Moment: Not having any toilet paper in the school's public bathroom, but having a bag full of my students' poems. 哈哈-非常抱歉！
• 24. Something you'll miss about the Peace Corps: Being in a room full of Americans just as idealistic, confused, and crazy as me.
  
• 25. Favorite dish: Pete's Texas Whopper
• 28. Favorite[/funny] quote you've heard in China: 建立和谐社会 "To build a harmonious society"
  
  
• 29. Number Of Illnesses/Medications Taken: 0 (seriously!)
• 30. Chinese cultural practices I plan to make cool back in the States: Ping Pong, Hot Pot, Pirated DVDs (shhh!), and open-air sneezes on my neighbor's face.

The end is near...

I love and miss you all,

Phil

蓝麦飞

For Teachers, PCVs, and Students in China (past, present, and future)

你们好!

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When I am not teaching or "China exploring," I find myself doing quite a bit of research on the Internet concerning "China" and "Education." As a Western-educated teacher living and teaching in China, there aren't subjects more relevant to me than those of "China" and "Education," but surprisingly, as intense the Internet and Blogosphere is, not as many articles are written about "Chinese Education" in the English language as one might expect.

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So, when I come across an article that moves me, I feel I must share it with those who read this blog, many whom were, are, or will be teachers/PCVs in China. Here is the article from the LATimes:

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Click!

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My favorite excerpt:

Ultimately for China, becoming a major world innovator -- and by extension, a robust economic power -- is not just about setting up partnerships with top Western universities or roping off elites and telling them to think creatively. It's about establishing an intellectually rich learning environment for young minds. It's about harnessing the same inventive energy of the street markets and small-time entrepreneurs and putting it in the schools.

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The Chinese don't need expensive free-agent scientists. They need a new farm system -- and about 10 million liberal arts professors. (Source)

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I guess as my China days diminish, I will begin retrospecting the lessons I've learned from my two years abroad. One of those lessons - one that I know I would have not understood unless I lived in a country like China, and taught within an education system such as that of China - is how important a liberal arts education is, and how happy I am that I received this type of education at SUNY Fredonia. My Chinese university students are bombarded with English-language grammar and translation, but get very little philosophy, real, complete literature, science, and most importantly, the arts. So much emphasis is placed on passing the test, acquiring that little sheet of paper, and getting a job to make money teaching or doing business/research with the same trite methodologies that something is lost, or forgotten in the shuffle. Defendants of this system can't drop the "Well, China is a developing country with thick traditional roots" or "We have a large population and need to maintain stability" bomb for very much longer. If China should happen to stop growing someday, I think I can take a guess [right now!] as to why it happens. China can pirate the West's Hollywood movies all they want, but they can't pirate the a liberal-arts-educated person's original thoughts. Let the Chinese education system evolve! Listen to Liu DaoYu!

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And while we're at it, let's let that political system evolve too! They are linked!

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I love and miss you all,

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Phil

蓝麦飞

Introducing...

Peace Corps China "13"

July 1, 2007 - (approx.) July 17, 2009

I love and miss you all,

Phil

Site-Exchange in Guiyang, Giuzhou University

你们好!
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This past January at PC China's IST conference, PCV "13" Dave (California) asked me if I might be interested in traveling down to his school - Guizhou University 贵州大学 - for a PC-sponsored site-exchange in order to help facilitate the introductory stages of a student production of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
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"Of course!"
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Timing could not have been better. I had just finished teaching Hamlet to my post-graduate English Literature majors last week, so the play was (and always is) fresh in my mind. Sitemate Kristen decided to travel down to Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province (about 5 hours by bus), with me to visit some "14's" and help Dave celebrate his 27th birthday (生日快乐, 哥哥!). We arrived on Friday evening, met up with PCVs Todd, Jess, and Lisa, and enjoyed cheap beer, many laughs, browsed Guiyang's pirated movie scene, and devoured the local Guiyang delicacy: Bean Hot Pot. All this before the next day's Hamlet-facilitation marathon.
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I received the (only slightly) abridged 55-page script from Dave about a week before I arrived at Guizhou University, and my first thought was, "Wow, Dave's students must be English-language machines." Dave originally told me that his students were to put on a Shakespeare play for a competition in Hong Kong, but when I asked them for the details, I was both amazed and impressed that almost none of them alluded to this competition, but simply said they wanted to "challenge" themselves. And after spending the next 6 hours with these students (YES! 6 hours, with one 5-minute break and a 2-language rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Dave), guiding them through the motions but more importantly, helping each actor find his or her own dramatic identity, we finished strong with Act V's "bloodbath!" I don't know if I will ever see the final line of Hamlet read, followed by an uproar of laughter, again! 哈哈!


I regret not recording more of our productive afternoon; all the actors were so good, especially Hamlet (English name, Nemo, red shirt), who has so many lines to memorize...in his second language! This feat, sophomore undergraduates performing original English-language Shakespeare in China, combined with my infinite struggle to read, write, and speak in Chinese, boggles the mind. All in all, I drank about 4 bottles of water, peed twice, and at one point - around hour #5: "the gravedigger scene" - thought I was going to pass out (and die? - how appropriate!).
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I wrote Dave an e-mail this afternoon, thanking him for inviting me to participate in this incredibly rewarding experience. I told him that as this crazy 2-year performance continues its final act, I try to make every day in China special, and this past Saturday, with his amazingly motivated students and Billy Shaky's Emo King, I felt like I really helped some students not only understand Shakespeare, but feel it too. The pleasure was all mine.
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I love and miss you all,
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Phil
蓝麦飞

Concrete Poems, Debate Contests, Anticipated Video Blog Explosions...

你们好!

It's been about 2 weeks now since the CCP decided to shut down Youtube.com in mainland China. I've had many conversations with students about this move, and though many wish Youtube was alive and thriving in China (the website is a window into the outside world, educational resource, freethinking portal, and helped ME become Time's Person of the Year a few years back), a surprisingly high number justified the block with the trite, Party-line "If China is to respect the world, then the world must first respect China." I always ask these students to consider the vice-versa of this indoctrinated statement, which among many of their defenses include the assumption that I "can't possibly understand" because "I don't understand Chinese culture and tradition" (Are both Chinese culture and tradition advocates of government oppression? I hope not!) and their repetitive stating of the Chinese saying "稳定压倒一切 wěndìng yādǎo yī qie" which translates to "Stability is of overriding importance." Their rhetoric, which is repeated over and over again in (antithesis-longing) Op-Eds throughout the Chinese state-controlled media, scares the bejeebes outta me, especially how it comes out of their brains so fast and definite and with no flexibility, as if they were trained to "block, block block" incoming fists of criticism. To those who educate young, creative people this way - reminiscent of GWB's "You are with us or you are a terrorist" quotation - I say, "Join the real Party." There is a wealth of Truth out there that no government should "protect" you from. To quote Dr. Seuss: "Oh, the places you'll go..."

But the inflexible, iron fist of the Chinese Communist Party will not defeat Phil Razem. The Youtube block never discouraged me from pulling out my video camera (摄像机shèxiàngji) and recording my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Middle Kingdom. This evening I will meet my younger sister on Skype, and send a fresh batch of videos to her in Canada for uploading. Check the Youtube page (link on the right-side column) in the coming days! If only the CCP knew of the inconveniences they cause a foreigner who only desires to bring his experiences with beautiful (real, 1st-hand) Chinese culture to the people around the world...

(Update! www.youtube.com/philiprazeminchina )


On the topic of freethinking, Kristen and I were among the judges of a debate contest on Thursday evening. I really enjoy judging debate compared to the endless speech contests. Debate, which I will teach my students after they finish their TEM-4 exam, is a combination of strategy, logic, creativity, critical thinking, and drama - the latter three I try to incorporate into my classes every meeting. The students impressed me, and without writing you a novel, the most interesting part for me was how Chinese Generation Y'ers are willing to say the things their parents generation would never say loud (and proud!) into a microphone, i.e. "The 1-child policy is a miserable law, and the government should change it at once!" Bravo! They are my Chinese optimism...

My students composed Concrete (visual) Poems for homework last week, and like the Adaptation Poems from the week before, I took pictures of my favorite examples. Concrete Poems are poems that use words and lines of poetry to create an image that represents the subject, tone, mood, or theme of the poem.

Read all of my favorites! (click!)

Here are a few of my favorites:

If you need proof of (sometimes strange/excessive) Chinese nationalism from the 90's generation, this would do (larger print on the Flickr page link above:
And my favorite, because nothing says poetry that a steaming pile of SH*T! Don't ever let someone stop you from expressing yourself. In our dreams and creations, we are truly free...

I love and miss you all,

Phil

蓝麦飞

English Composition class connects students with Chinese counterparts (SUNY Fredonia Campus News)

你们好!
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Before I became a Peace Corps Volunteer in China, I taught English Composition as a graduate student to mostly freshmen and sophomores at SUNY Fredonia. It was a wonderful experience. Besides facilitating a university-level writing class, I was given the opportunity to closely interact with the Department of English's amazing faculty. As an undergraduate, these professors were my heroes (they still are!), and then suddenly, I was able to sit next to them in department meetings, like a kid who comes of age watching the Red Sox, and then one day being drafted and hitting a home run over the Green Monster. One of these "heroes" was Bill Boerst, a fellow ENGL100 instructor and former Peace Corps Volunteer (Liberia III, 1963-65).
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Bill and I started talking about doing a project with our university students about a year ago. Just this Spring Festival, the idea took shape and BAM!, before we knew it, 15 of his students and 15 of mine were communicating through e-mail, sharing stories, asking questions, and most importantly, improving their English-language/writing skills. The SUNY Fredonia Campus Report did a story on it: (click or below)
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English Composition class connects students with Chinese counterparts
Monday, April 06, 2009

Fourteen students in an English Composition class at SUNY Fredonia have stumbled upon an opportunity to not only interact with students seated across the classroom — they're getting to know some from across globe as well.

Phil Razem, a former SUNY Fredonia graduate student now teaching English to college students in the People’s Republic of China, enjoyed sharing his experiences with friends and family back home in Western New York so much that he decided to find a way to incorporate it into his classroom.

While corresponding with SUNY Fredonia English professor Bill Boerst, they decided to create a similar experience for their students by developing a modern day pen pal element to one of their courses. Their students have volunteered to become "e-mail pals," corresponding regularly with each other to learn about one another's lives and cultures. So far, indications show that both sides are truly enjoying and benefiting from the experience.

Melissa Cummiskey, a freshman at SUNY Fredonia, said of her exchange, "I really enjoy learning about my e-mail pal's college experiences, family, friends, and the events that are happening in her life."

"America, to many Chinese (citizens), remains a place that only exists in their history books and through Hollywood movies," said Professor Razem. "This experience will help them gain a better understanding of our country and, likewise, help young Americans gain a better understanding of the future of China."

By the end of the semester, Fredonia students will hand-in what Professor Boerst calls "cycles" of emails: five printed pages each of e-mails from the U.S. students to their Chinese counterparts, as well as return correspondences from their e-mail pal.

"The opportunity to chat with a real American is worth a lifetime of 'A's,' Razem asserted. Not only are the students learning about the other culture, there are some practical English lessons in it as well. One of those is the concept of understanding one's audience. "English teachers love to talk in terms of audience," Professor Boerst said. "For whom are you writing? And how can you best reach that audience?" He says that, for these students, an audience is built into the project.

Both professors hope that this exchange will be a lesson not easily forgotten. These days it is common to make light of texting, instant-messaging, and e-mailing, as if such pursuits lack depth," Boerst added. "For these students, bridging miles and languages and customs may be a way to change that popular perception."

To learn more about Professor Razem's experiences in China go to the blog at www.philiprazeminchina.blogspot.com.
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I can't wait to read these "cycles" of e-mails! "Professor" Razem sounds nice too....it only it was true! Someday...
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Tearin' down the wall and buildin' the bridge!
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Bill deserves all the credit; it was his idea, and without his students' participation, 15 Chinese university students would still only have Hollywood...and their lowly Peace Corps Volunteer teacher (wink). Thanks Bill! And Thank you SUNY Fredonia!
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I love and miss you all,
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Phil
蓝麦飞