Chinese Corner

I have been to many an English Corner in my two years in China.  An English Corner is an open activity for Chinese students, or even people in the community, to come together and practice English.  Chip and I have often been invited as speakers or simply helpers to encourage English study.  We usually get the students involved in some sort of discussions and provide drinks and snacks.  All of this seems normal to me.

Saturday night I went to my first Chinese Corner--a place where I could practice Chinese with Chinese students.  I expected it to be like an English Corner.  My mistake. It was very educational.

1.  The high-heeled hostess began her formal presentation with quick Chinese of which I only caught bits and pieces--probably how most Chinese students feel at English Corners.

2.  Then two girls came out and performed an Inner Mongolian dance.  These students were dressed up in costumes and had clearly practiced and prepared for this performance.  Following their dance, the hostess announced in Chinese, "Who's next?  Who wants to come up and do a dance or sing a song?"  Every table had a Chinese student leader.  The student at my table pressured me and the others at my table to get up and perform.  Silly me, I had forgotten to prepare a dance.  We all refused.

 

3.After only one singing performance and lots of failed pressuring, the host then requested people to come up and share an unforgettable story about life in China.  I know, I've got stories, but in that moment I could not think of anything to say in English, much less the confidence to share it in Chinese.  A little heads up would have been nice. 

4.  The next activity was origami--we folded paper into rabbit shoes.  Please don't ask me why.  It seemed like a strange activity to do with college students, but then maybe that's what Chinese students think of the silly activities we create at English Corners.

Me, my Japanese friend, two Chinese students, and my classmate Jess posing with our paper rabbit shoes.

5.  The last two games were musical chairs and the human knot game.  I jumped right up and enthusiastically pranced around the chairs--the first activity we had done all night that I had no fear joining.  After a few rounds of musical chairs we were sweaty (crowded room, no AC). We, foreign students from all around the world, then pushed to the center of the room, grabbed two random hands until we were all well-knotted, and worked to untangle our sweaty selves.

 We ended the night laughing and I was glad I had gone for the sake of practicing Chinese, meeting other foreign students, and the gained insight into how differently Westerners and Chinese view these sorts of activities.  I now realize that all that time I spent trying to get students to discuss at English Corners, in reality, they were probably thinking, "I wish that American girl would stop asking so many questions and just let me perform a dance."