Valued partnership, cultural exchange
One of the longest running exchanges between an American college or university and a major Chinese university has come of age. This summer marked the 21st year of the exchange between Heidelberg and Tianjin Normal University.
Although Heidelberg’s nine-member delegation went to China to teach English language for a month this summer, they found themselves deeply entrenched in the Chinese culture. The team returned earlier this month after spending 31 days at Tianjin Normal University, teaching Chinese professionals the finer points of English pronunciation and how to listen to the language. This semester, as in years past, Heidelberg will welcome a visiting scholar from Tianjin, who will spend a year teaching Chinese language courses.
Many of the Chinese students were teachers of high school English, others came from fields such as biochemistry, music, medicine, law and art. “They are very creative, very intelligent people who just didn’t speak English very well,” said Dr. Vicki Ohl, who team-taught one of the classes with Dr. Jan Younger. “They can read English but they can’t pronounce it or understand it in normal speech. … We got very good at Charades and drawing pictures on the board.”
The American instructors found their Chinese students very motivated to learn. Some traveled by bicycle or bus for several hours each day to participate in the class.
The students and their Heidelberg instructors spent five hours a day for four weeks in class. On the weekends and some evenings, the students or Tianjin escorts hosted the Heidelberg group for dinner at local establishments or shopping. One Saturday, teachers and students visited the Tianjin Museum, which provided an excellent overview of the history of the area, Vicki said. Another Saturday, the group visited Culture Street, a market of traditional Chinese crafts, souvenirs, jewelry, paintings – and chopsticks.
In turn, Vicki said she found her students very “warm, generous and engaging, and eager to learn not just the English language but all about American culture.”
On a weekend outing, the group ventured by train to Beijing to visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. They also visited Tiananmen Square. In Tianjin, workers were constructing a large stage for an upcoming Olympic celebration; that city will host all of the Olympic soccer events.
“Everywhere, people were preparing for the Olympics,” Vicki said, noting that special landscaping, flowers and trees were being installed.
The members of the Heidelberg team – which also included Dr. John Bing, Mel Casler, Dr. Ken Krieger and Sue Krieger, David Dietrich, alumnus Chris Monsour and senior Rob Kowalczyk – were struck by the hospitality of their Chinese hosts, both at the teaching institute and offered by the former faculty who had visited Heidelberg.
They all returned with memories and stories to tell. There was the Thai restaurant Chris and Dave liked so much they went back seven times and the exotic cuisine they sampled, including donkey, eel and seaweed for breakfast. “We all did very well with the chopsticks,” Vicki said.
But overall, Jan said the experience with the students was wonderful. “They were a joy to teach … so generous and so appreciative.”
Posted on Aug. 19, 2008