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JISHOU, HUNAN — I’ve been busy these last few days getting ready to close up shop for the Winter Holiday. My last exam — for the Western Civ classes — is next Friday, and I’ll have a week to read those exams and hand in grades before I jet to the USA for a three-week stay.
My free time, which is not that ample to begin with, has been taken up by giving oral examinations to more than 120 freshmen and sophomores, two at a time for 15 minutes each. This year, I’m using a combination of the Cambridge IELTS and BEC speaking tests: IELTS prompts for two student partners. That way, the students can do the talking while I carefully listen and evaluate pronunciation, intonation, grammar, vocabulary, rhythm and speed. After two years, I’m finally getting a handle on this oral English stuff.
I’m calculating those students’ final grades this weekend (I only have a few left to examine), so the remaining Big Tasks are (1) reading the Western Civ students’ last unit test and (2) reading their final exams. I included a short essay on the final, and I gave them the three possible essay questions earlier this month, so I expect to do a lot of reading after Jan. 7.
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JISHOU, HUNAN — First, the link. I can’t embed the video. Fuldans à lá Wheaton.
One of my students, Luo Ye (Ellie), sent one to me. (That’s her in the previous post, with icing all over her face, by the way.) A Swedish band, Fulkultur (Ugly Culture), created the site to market themselves and raise a bit of money. For $1, you can upload a mugshot and personalize the dancing body. For $5, you can get high quality downloads of their music, too.
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JISHOU, HUNAN — I just came from the English Club Christmas party, where we danced a version of the “Bunny Hop” to a catchy tune I haven’t heard anywhere else but in China.
So, in keeping with my recent tradition of scouring the Internet for perfectly useless trivia, I went googling, yahoo-ing and baidu-ing to learn something about it. Since it seems to be something akin to an oral tradition, getting anything definite about it was a real challenge.
In China, the song is called “Rabbit Dance 兔子舞,” since the basic steps are just like the American “Bunny Hop” dance. [Ray Anthony's band did a 45 of this in the mid-1950s; the B side was the "Hokey Pokey." So now you know.]
But if you pay attention to the lyrics to “Rabbit Dance,” the song we hear in China says nothing about rabbits or bunnies. The animal in question is … penguins. Here’s the lyrics. If I’m violating copyright, please excuse me. Tracking down the performers was hard enough.
left left right right go turn around go go go
left right
left left right right left left right right go go go
left left right right go turn around go go go
Jumping grooving dancing everybody
Rolling moving singing night to day
Let’s fun fun together
Let’s play the penguin’s games
Smacking beating clapping all together
Rocking bumping screaming all night long
Let’s go everybody And play again this song
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[Cross-posted at The Daily Kos.]
JISHOU, HUNAN — It’s getting to be speechifying season here again, and my first judging gig this year was a recitation contest for non-English majors.
The 29 contestants’ selections were a compendium of uplifting quotations, essays, poems, songs and miscellania that could have come from one of those never-ending paperbacks full of uplifting quotations, essays, poems, songs and miscellania. In fact, that’s where some of them came from. I think it’s an unwritten rule here that English recitation material has to be really sappy and sentimental.
Having nothing better to do than marking about 100 tests (no joke), I spent a couple of hours one night checking the provenance of all these uplifting pieces about love, mom, friendship, self-worth, growing old, love, life’s setbacks, and mom.
Here’s a rundown of the afternoon’s selections, to give you an idea of what I mean.
Taking the prize for the oldest selection is “My luve is like a red, red rose,” from 1794, attributed to Robert Burns. He collected and preserved old songs and poems in Scots, like this one, for posterity. That’s how we still have “Auld Lang Syne.”
It’s short, so here’s the poem in its entirety. Save it for Valentine’s Day, boys.
My Luve is Like a Red, Red Rose
Robert Burns 1794, from traditional sources
O, my luve is like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June:
O, my luve is like the melodie,
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.
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JISHOU, HUNAN — We finished the unit on the ancient Romans with a test Friday. I made four versions, to minimize copying from neighbors (more about that some other time). Here’s one for you to test your knowledge of Western Culture.
WESTERN CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION
FALL 2010
TEST #2: The Romans (25 points)
IDENTIFICATIONS. Use a few words or a sentence to identify the following people, places or things. Be specific to get full credit! (1 point each)
1. Rome
2. Italy
3. Gaul
4. Julius Caesar
5. Octavian (Augustus Caesar)
6. Constantine I
7. Constantinople
8. The Senate
9. plebeians
10. patricians
DISCUSSION. Answer the following with at least two or three sentences. Some questions may require more explanation. (3 points each) (Use the other side of the paper if needed.)
11. What were the three main periods of Roman history? Please give approximate dates for each period.
12. What was the basic structure of the government of the Roman Republic? How was governmental power shared by those in control of the Republic?
13. The Romans “copied” some aspects of Greek culture. Name three Greek creations that the Romans basically imitated (and preserved).
14. The Romans were also innovators – they created new things for later civilizations in Europe to copy. Name three innovations of the Romans.
15. The Romans’ longest lasting and most far reaching contribution to the world was their language, Latin. How has Latin affected society since the end of the Roman Empire?
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JISHOU, HUNAN — Considering my unimpressive salary (at least in US dollars), it’s really easy for me to live comfortably here. No joke.
To put things in context, here are few sample prices for common food items.
- A (half) loaf of bread: ¥5.00 = 75¢
- A 600 ml bottle of Pepsi: 37¢
- A package of cookies: 55¢
- Six packets of instant coffee: $2.25 (imported from Taiwan)
- An 18.9 liter (5-gallon) bottle of drinking water, including delivery: 88¢
- 1.25 liter (42 fl. oz.) bottle of Tropicana fruit juice: 55¢
- A dozen eggs: $1.70
- 200-g (7-ounce) package of bacon: $1.89
- A meal at the university dining hall: 44 to 75¢
- A nice lunch at a casual restaurant: $1.50 to $3.00 (per person) (Note: KFC costs about $4 – $5/person)
I recently bought a nice black double-breasted fall-weather coat at a local men’s store, where the prices are admittedly on the expensive side. It cost me ¥600, or about $88. In the USA, I’d reckon it would cost at least twice that. The sport shoes I bought a year ago were about $44, and are still in great shape. This week, I bought a friend a pair of knee-length leather boots for $38 as a birthday present. Both items in the USA would be at least double that. (And probably also made in China.)
My digital cable box with a year’s service was around $37. Of course, all I get is Chinese TV, so it’s not really comparable to cable in the US, but still way cheaper.
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JISHOU, HUNAN — Imagine the Beijing Olympics … on a much smaller scale. This is our college’s opening performance. Look for me among the faculty, behind the teachers in the long magenta (fuschia?) dresses.
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