Apology for April 2011 postings...

Well here it is in May and I still have not posted anything on the Blog as I could not get it to open at all in China. I tried several times with no luck at all. Also, I think my camera has been through security too many times (as in "x-ray") and would not upload the most recent pictures. So, I've posted a few more from last fall here.

The pictures above range from some shots taken at the Gao Chun special school that has about 135 deaf and "mentally challenged" students; presentations given there in the fall. Also, the fellow with the candles works at a place in Nanjing called the Ark. They supply church candles for churches all over China. Sister Maria Zheng coordinates that program and does a great job. I visited there in October and just recently returned mid April to give a presentation about autism and mentally challenged curriculum ideas. I used Gary Sundberg's VB MAPP approach for the autism as well as some testimony from an autistic woman who explained so much about the handicap in a very personal way. There was much agreement among the staff there with what I presented. In the picture where I am making the open handed sign, it is the sign for bread (bao) in Chinese sign language. Uwe Brutzer brought me there for a nice visit one day. About 10 deaf young women have been trained as bakers and opened a bakery there in the city of Changsha.

When I can finally upload some recent photos from the trip of April 12th. to May 3rd. I will do so. I flew into Shanhai and took the "fast" train to Nanjing. Stayed in Nanjing for about four days and first day visited Miss Becky Mitchell's class at Nanjing University. She teaches communication in English there and invited me to see her two hour class about traveling around the world. That night the students were giving their required two hour presentation on Mexico and Central America. So, we had a fellow from Mexico and a woman from Columbia who spoke in turn about their countries. They also provided some of their favorite foods such as salsa, bread, and some kind of potato soup that was wonderful. David, the fellow from Mexico is an excellent dancer and got everyone up dancing to some exciting music that was kind of like flamenco......lots of fun. There were about 45 students in the class. I had major jet lag and it was hot and humid, but totally enjoyed the experience. Miss Becky is a phenomenal teacher from Utah. Last fall and just recently I helped to prepare her students in sign language to be able better to communicate with the students at the Gao Chun special school. She conducts a fundraising program called Sunshine and just recently went there to provide both the students and faculty from Nanjing University with the experience of American food and games / culture. Afterward she sent the most wonderful email summing up the day's events.

The presentation at the Nanjing school for the deaf went very well. I gave a one hour demonstration English and "language" lesson using the popular book Miss Nelson is Missing with accompanying follow up worksheets such as graphic organizers, Venn diagrams, compare and contrast overheads. The students were great and very enthusiastic. We discussed a few comparisons of deafness in American schools and their school in general. Then we moved to another room where I gave a two hour presentation to the teachers, mostly from the English department of the school(population 500 students). Collin and his colleagues took me and the translators out to a wonderful lunch in a locally very popular buffet style restaurant.

On April 16th. I flew from Nanjing to Guangzhou where my friend Weco met me at the airport and put me on the bus for Zhaoqing University where I was scheduled to give the two week course about deaf education and special education. The next day I met with the three new translators to preview all of the materials. I was scheduled to give six two hour classes to one group. As it turned out, it was switched to three groups of about 135 students in each group, English and education majors. So, as I told the dean later in my exit interview, all of those students only received one third of what I had prepared. Nevertheless, I've been invited back to give the course again in September, this time to seniors who will be going out on their internships soon. The dean, a very nice man, informed me that the Chinese govt. has now mandated that any local district having 300,000 or more people must have a new major of special education at the local university beginning this year. I certainly felt like I was at the threshold of something great with great potential. The future for me is bright there for sure.

In the meantime, not to rest up too much on the middle weekend, I received an invitation to give a preschool / kindergarten presentation in the city of Hua Ji (hwah - gee), about a 2 1/2 hour drive outside Zhaoqing that Saturday. I was told there were "hot springs" there everyone wants to try. So, off I went with lots of materials not knowing what to expect. Fortunately, we met at a restaurant the night before to create a neat outline and we kind of winged it during the day as the needs arose. Dr. Feng picked me up Friday night at the university. I thought he was "just" a driver. Turns out he is the former CEO of the university, a Ph.D. and has written nine books. I was astonished. He now directs three pre and kindergarten schools as well as a middle school in another city. The school I was at is only two months old, already with a population of 100 preschoolers. They will expand to 500 total in that building alone and then proceed to open two more. So, we moved on from Where is Thumbkin to Itsy Bitsy Spider and Open Shut Them most of the day. The parents and I had some nice meetings and I've been invited back for the fall. I highly recommended a good friend here who has just published her preschool curriculum. It would certainly enrich what is / is not going on in those preschools.

Finally, at the end of my stay in Zhaoqing I was invited to give a presentation at the Number One Middle School in Zhaoqing where the children of a couple of people I know attend. The group was about 200-300 middle school students who were quite enthusiastic. I was amazed at how well they spoke English. The topic was "Living and Learning in American Schools". I outlined in general what students learn here along with a good dose of extra curricular activities as well as American culture in general (music, dress, issues, etc.) It was very well received but of course I got the very common questions about how much money do I make, how old am I and why am I so fat? Other Chinese adults I know inform me there is no insult intended, just very high levels of curiosity expressed in awkward English phrases.

Until I can get the photo problem fixed, I guess that will be all for now. It was great to go, but also wonderful to come home. The trip back was an absolute nightmare and when my family picked me up at Logan airport I was so blurry eyed I hardly recognized anyone including my grandaughter, daughter, wife and car! The joys of travel. Till next time..........adieu.