Today I completed my first round of courses in Manhattan. I transferred there a month ago after seven months in the Bronx. I am happy to report that I have enjoyed new growth through new experiences and people.
The first class, from 9-10 am, was "American Ways." I've been teaching an advanced group of about twenty students (usually sixteen on any given day) about American society, values, history and government to start the day five days a week for five weeks. The class would normally be eight weeks, but they're doing a massive overhaul of the curriculum in midtown starting next week, so we had to go a little faster than normal. Then again, I'd never taught this class or at this branch before, so it was all new to me. Luckily, I have studied government and traveled around America before, so I knew the material like the back of my hand.
I had a very good time and learned much about other cultures and what that meant about my culture, and, more importantly, how my individual life is connected to the larger life everywhere. Every day we talked about some important aspect of American history, culture and values, and then reflected it from the viewpoint of each student, all of whom represented a unique country, culture and human experience. I was very pleased to once again have a class of people from around the world, but with much more diversity than any other school before. Every morning I have been privileged to go to work in Manhattan and converse with people from Western and Eastern Europe, Eastern and Central Asia, and Central and South America. I had my first ever German students, which is interesting because I already know so many German people because of my sister. I also had Spanish, French and Russian students, representing three lands whose people I'd met many times before while traveling, but never as a formal instructor. I had had students from Ecuador, Brazil and Venezuela before, but never so many. I also was happy to meet my first students from Colombia and India. Even though I'd begun my travels in India, I'd never taught anyone from India in a class room. I'd had students from Krygyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan before, but now I also know a pair of sisters from Kazakhstan.
The table of contents from the American Ways book by Maryane Kearny Datesman, JoAnn Crandall, and Edward N. Kearny is as follows:
1. Culture of the United States
2. Traditional American Values & Beliefs
3. The American Religious Heritage
4. The Frontier Heritage
5. Heritage of Abundance
6. The World of American Business
7. Government and Politics in the U.S.
8. Ethnic and Racial Diversity in the U.S.
9. Education in the U.S.
10. How Americans Spend Their Leisure Time
11. The American Family
12. American Values at the Crossroads
We talked about all of that. A very stimulating and deep way to start the day. To be honest, some of the students loved to express their opinions, viewpoints and knowledge, whereas others weren't as comfortable with their abilities to express or even the act of expressing and participated by listening, although I tried to call on each person as much as possible. I understood that it was the first class of the morning, and many of the students, as in San Francisco, are on student visas, and come as much as necessary to serve their other purposes. I don't blame them. I've traveled. I understand. Even so, sometimes I paired them up or put them in trios, and they seemed to express themselves and communicate much more than in the group setting, although I would make each trio report on their discussion, just like I'd done with the pairs in San Francisco.
The next class focused more on the present perfect, present
perfect continuous, past perfect, reported speech, tag questions,
future, future perfect and so on. They were a smaller group of about ten students, although only a handful of them had begun the class five weeks ago, as many had gone back to their countries or just arrived. This class was ten people from various continents and cultures. Although most students were college age or in their early 20's, we have had quite the age range. We began with a retired Spanish man who kindly gave me a pin with the official seal from the armory he worked at in Spain as a thank you gift when he left the class during his vacation in America. As I read that sentence, I can see his wonderfully confused face he happily exhibited with a smile so often during grammar lessons where I had to differentiate tenses we have in English that they don't have in his language. After he left, a retired Spanish woman joined the class, and is going to San Francisco to visit her son tomorrow. She asked me about where she should go. I was happy to give her some honest directions. One of a handful of students who were there most every day the entire five weeks was a middle-aged doctor born in Siberia, educated in Austria and practicing in Sri Lanka, but on his way to California. I thought he had quit the class when he stopped showing up this week, but he returned today for the final exam after a pleasant visit to Boston and Harvard. He said he enjoyed both, but especially the latter because he had grown up in a university town to academic parents in Siberia. I had always thought there was something about his accent, since he'd claimed he was from Sri Lanka. He seemed like a pretty happy person. On the other hand, there was a twelve-year old who surprised us all by strolling in with a school backpack a few days into the class, and then answered more correct questions than anyone else because he was younger and more accustomed to studying and learning new information, especially languages. Some of them are leaving in a few days, and others have already started new lives as working members of my society.
Speaking of which, the class after that was a one-hour advanced group of about sixteen to twenty students from most of the continents. All but a few students were in their 20's, and the others were in their 30's. They felt like a group of my peers, but none of them were peers from my society growing up, only currently as temporary residents of perhaps the most iconic international city in the world. We used a book with listening exercises called Academic Listening Encounters: Life in Society by Kim Sanabria. Once again, eight weeks were covered in five weeks. The focus of this class was American social issues and how society has been changing. I had to talk about many subjects that most of the students seemed reasonably comfortable discussing. I give the authors of these text books credit: they sure know how to stimulate conversations:
Belonging to a Group:
Marriage, Family and the Home
The Power of the Group
Gender Roles:
Growing Up Male or Female
Gender Issues Today
Media and Society:
Mass Media Today
The Influence of the Media
Breaking the Rules:
Crime and Criminals
Controlling Crime
Changing Societies:
Cultural Change
Global Issues
They were very surprised today because I forgot to tell them there was a test, because I didn't know there was a test. I think they had sent me an e-mail with many documents at the start of the course, but we hadn't had a midterm like the other class, so I hadn't thought about a test. Especially since most of what we did was listen and discuss, whereas the test was mostly vocabulary. Then again, it worked out even better this way because pretty much all of them aced it. That means they'd learned it honestly without cramming. That means they're more likely to remember it in real life. As for me, I learned a lot about the way people's day to day lives are affected by their societies. I also learned from their outsider's views of my society. I realized amazing things about this country simply by expressing what I already knew and had experienced. I knew it was a good text book, because most people I know have talked about these topics, which means many humans can relate to them and learn through them.
After quickly grading my third round of tests, I had my two-hour private lesson with the two beginner-intermediate Brazilian women, an architect and a dentist on vacation away from the World Cup. But that will continue next week.
As for the students who graduated to some new level of life, whether they're continuing at the school or going back to their home country, I know I will miss many of their smiles, personalities, thoughtful insights and, especially, their senses of humor. There will be new ones. That's the journey we're all on.
The journey has always been going, but the first true milestone of my adult journey began when I moved to New York City, having just graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca. I am visiting tomorrow for a reunion with friends and 4th of July celebration. I haven't visited since I saw my writing professor and a few friends two years ago on my way west.
I remember when I first moved to New York and didn't have any idea how to network beyond speaking to people I met. My friend had a Radiohead DVD on his shelf named Meeting People is Easy, which was about when they first became famous. It seemed like they had a lot of pressure. As for me, all I was really concerned about was how I was going to make a life as an adult, especially in such an intimidating city. I wanted to live and tell stories, but I knew that would only happen if I shared with people. As with many messages in life, the perfect words came at the right time. I'll always be inspired by the liner notes, something I learned much about in my 20's:
"If you have been rejected many times in your life, then one more
rejection isn't going to make much difference. If you're rejected, don't
automatically assume it's your fault. The other person may have several
reasons for not doing what you are asking her to do: none of it may
have anything to do with you. Perhaps the person is busy or not feeling
well or genuinely not interested in spending time with you. Rejections
are part of everyday life. Don't let them bother you. Keep reaching out
to others. When you begin to receive positive responses then you are on
the right track. It's all a matter of numbers. Count the positive
responses and forget about the rejections."
I have had many rejections since then, especially from snooty or simply rude New Yorkers, but that hasn't stopped me from meeting hundreds and hundreds of human beings from many walks of life, all of whom have helped me. Whether they taught me something or allowed me to teach them something, they have served.
This evening I continued this practice of meeting people, using time to give and accept gifts of life energy, knowledge and understanding.
Everyone has their own way of saying this, but many people have told me this is the best skill you can hone in life:
Expressing what's inside, also known as Chung Fu, to those around you, and understanding what's inside of you by listening to the voices that are true, so that we see, feel and know the glow of our flowing, growing show.
