Associated Asian Women's Conference 2014

I have just returned from a weekend in Hong Kong attending the 2014 Associated Asian Women’s Conference. It was a great blessing to be counted as one among Asian Women.  This was the 8^Th annual conference to be held with growth in numbers and spirit every year. A few of the founding women that started this whole event had attended all eight years were in attendance.  The opening session began on Thursday afternoon and the conference continued through Saturday noon.  There were keynote speakers, breakout sessions and a closing general session on Saturday. 

Thursday was a class day for me so we left Guangzhou Thursday afternoon after class on the high-speed train to Hong Kong.  We arrived late to the 7:00PM Opening Session and about half way through Elder Funk, of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, giving his opening address.   Friday morning we were ready to go full steam ahead with the breakout sessions.  Women from all over Asia were attending and presenting, only two presenters were imported for Utah.  There was a standing roll call by country of attendance: Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Jakarta, Saudi Arabia and Mainland China, twelve countries all stood together 250 strong to represent their location. I have never participated in an event that represented twelve countries. The common thread that provided discussion on so many levels was “Thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this” Ester 4:14

Asian Women are most definitely amazing women.  They are intelligent, strong, independent, committed,  and well informed about their role in their country. Each country represents an unusual political structure and set of circumstances that must become part of the daily routine and religious practices.   The majority of women attending were expatriot women living in Asia for business purposes, U.S. Embassy and Consulate employees or teachers in English programs throughout Asia. 

I have to say I did find it reassuring to understand that many of these women have lived in Asia for many years and their Mandarin wasn’t any better than mine.  I remember thinking when we served in the Hispanic Initiative in North West Salt Lake City that the reason that Hispanic Women never learn English is because they cluster with other Hispanic women and only speak their mother tongue.  I have been provided a deeper understanding of how exactly that happens.  I have witnessed it here with English speakers clustering and only speak English; unable to learn Mandarin and I am sad to say I have fallen in that bucket but I do have great company. 

I particularly enjoyed the closing session with Elder Gerrit Gong, President of the Asia Area addressing Asian Women.  Most especially I loved hearing from his wife Susan Gong.  I worked very closely with Susan when I was the Principal of Lone Peak Elementary implementing the Dual Immersion Mandarin Program.  At the time Susan was at BYU teaching Mandarin and I was working with Chinese Native speaking teachers to implement Mandarin Chinese in 50% of the content area for students at Lone Peak.  It was a huge learning curve and Susan and I worked tirelessly to stay one day ahead of students.  It was great fun to see her in another role. 

I am one lucky woman to have had incredible opportunities to allow me to be a life long learner, this one was priceless experience.

SERVICE PROJECT

We assembled school kits for the Hong Kong Based Crossroads Foundation who will distribute the kits donated to students in need throughout Asia

4th floor Faculty Lounge

This is the 4^th Floor Faculty Lounge in Teaching Building 31 on the campus of South China University of Technology.  I am assigned to room 401, just down the hall. There is not much collaboration going on in this lounge or anything else for that matter. Notice the hot water machine on the back wall, most of the staff pass by there before and after classes to get hot water for their tea, but even then, hardly a word is spoken between faculty members.  Nothing on the walls, no soft comfy chairs, no professional periodicals, no magazines or reading materials, nothing on the windows or floor, a very austere-no frills approach to dispensing knowledge and information.

Collaboration, conference and teamwork are not qualities that are valued at this Chinese University.  Most professors teach six or seven classes, many are three or four days a week with 50-60 students in each class.  From my observation is largely lecture with some sort of Power Point presentation.  Students are expected to participate only if they are assigned or called upon to do so, other wise they take notes, memorize their textbooks then regurgitate the information on an exam. Khan Academy or flipped classrooms, student interaction and participation are not regarded as educational experiences merely student entertainment. 

As you can tell from the photo of the lounge, most professors are very serious and their expectations of students is to be respectful of that seriousness

Student Communication Tool

I have discovered a great student communication tool and it is free for teachers.  Check out Classjump.com.  It is easy to use and provides email communication for you to communicate assignments, documents and feedback directly to students.  I have been posting my Power Point presentations as well as assignments and links for students to read before they come to class.  It has eliminated making copies.  The other side is students can also reach you via classjump as well. 

Student Feedback

This week I spent class time focused on working with my students to introduce themselves in a professional western conference, seminar or job/ university application interview.  Chinese students are not used to shaking hands or looking people in the eye.  I stood by my classroom door and greeted each of them with a handshake and eye contact as they entered my room.  We discussed the culture of China and the culture of the West in greeting people.  My Power Point slide covered the six things they would need to do as they introduced themselves to other students. It was a very simple basic presentation and class discussion with overwhelming student feedback. 

Making Introductions

1.  Firm hand shake

2.  Eye contact

3.  Greeting

4.  State your English name

5.  Tell three interesting things about you
6.  Conclusion

This is the letter I received in my email after class.  Pretty amazing!

Dear Professor Anderson,

It is even hard to make a greeting when I started to write this message. I will try to make myself clearly.

First of all, thanks for the wonderful class you brought today. I like the way you smile, the way you introduce your family, and the way you look at us. I think you are right, eyes are the window to one's heart. Maybe that's why I want to share the feeling with you.

English is not only a language for us, our generation.

Most of us started to learn English before we are able to think about why. Foreign language was equals to English before we went into college. It is a little sad, but I am not going to talk about this. The fact is, most of us have learned English more than ten years (or more). We have watched hundreds of movies and TV plays, like Forrest Gump, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Toy Story, Big Bang Theory and so on. Also hundreds of English songs in my music box. I can chat with you about this all night.

These things open a window for us, to another world. Different looks, different language and different culture, but not that strange. I can understand some of the lines, but I can never speak like that. I can watch movies without translated subtitles, but I feel really nervous chatting with an individual who is a native speaker. You know what, when you are speaking English, it seems like a movie star just came out from the screen, stand in front of me!

These things make me curious about the Western countries. I notice their behaviors, the place they live, even the bags they take from the market. I can see it, but I can never touch it. For all these years studying English, it seems like I have been used to the distance between us. Until the "movie star" stands there, looking at me with her beautiful eyes. No, these things are not just a scene out of the widow, not a TV show, they are exist.

I want to say thank you, for all the amazing things you brought. I am sure I will make the trip to the outside world someday.

Your student

Joyce