On the other hand, the University of Wyoming in Laramie is something to look forward to! Jeff and I will be moving down in about a week into our vintage trailer with the avocado green stove.
* * *
Now the celebratory mood begins!
On Tuesday night Jeff surprised me with a clean house, the dining table brought to the center of the room, and a candle burning brightly in the dim. He made me a spaghetti dinner on the sly, with an artistic vegetable plate, blood orange Italian soda, Cabernet wine, and huckleberry frozen yogurt for dessert. I grinned and hugged him for a good five minutes, thrilled that he'd do something like this. Quite a graduation present!
Next week I have a bit of tutoring left, and this week I wrap up my private sessions; I am glad, because this was a good run. Last semester the students tended to slack, but this one they have been quite dedicated.
Still, it will be a relief to go, as the difficulty of tutoring ESL students is far more of a strain than tutoring native speakers; I have to be a translator, cultural ambassador, and a dictionary all in one. I have to remind the students several times a session that I am not a trained teacher, only a tutor who knows a bit more about English than most other students because of the degree I am pursuing.
Because of my tutoring I have come to the conclusion that many students are sent abroad before they are linguistically ready to deal with a new language. I took three years of French before I visited the country, and though I was one of the best speakers in the group I also knew I was also woefully unprepared to live there longer than a summer. Many of these students here have taken English less than three years, so I can only imagine how difficult their classes are.
I also have come to the conclusion that not enough cultural training is issued by language teachers. Some of the international students are shocked when I know certain things about their individual counrties, and I don't quite know how to take that. I wonder if they think that Americans are largely ignorant of other countries –from their words of reaction I think that is so— and I wonder if that is because they have been taught this idea by their own country people or if they come to this conclusion after living in America for a semester. At any rate, they are both uncomfortable possibilities to deal with.
Many international students are largely unaware of the diversity of cultures within America. I often remind them how large America really is, when I say that I haven't been to New York (neither have they,) or don't like souped up muscle cars and techno music. I have a feeling that international cities, such as L.A. and N.Y. are held up as the bastions of American culture, and if Americans don't fit into those comfortable slots they are mystified.
This is not to say that all international students are like this. Many are well-informed and open-minded people, and these are refreshing to work with. I also wonder if cultural and linguistic ignorance isn't also factored by age; the students who seem to be more enlightened also tend to be a little bit older than the average student.
Congrats! I think when it comes to foreigners, they've been indoctrinated into our language and culture through movies and TV so much, they think they know all about Americans (aka "Baywatch" and Jerry Springer) but what most of us know about them is diddly squat. When you live in a huge isolated country like ours (isolated from Europe, I mean), unless they come to us, we don't get their influence other than an occasional Greek salad or a British song on the radio. I'm 46 and still haven't left the country (desperately want to, just haven't had the chance). For them, that would seem very weird since they regularly go from country to country like we go from state to state. I suppose comparing America to a place like Italy might be apples to oranges. What interesting work you're doing. It has to be so intriguing to be immersed in folks who grew up quite differently and value quite different things. As a writer, I think that would be thrilling insight.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you about the media and our movie/music exports rounding out the concepts of Americans. However, I think that any media exports from any country will color that country's people. For instance, if I look at So. Korea's exports I'd expect a lot of love triangles and class struggles in the general populous, but I know that those things aren't necessarily true. If I judged the French by their media I'd say they live in a state of constant ennui and walk on cobblestone streets. If I believed the British films, all women are secretly throbbing mattress kittens beneath their work-a-day exterior. It's fun and amusing to "define" a culture by it's media, as long as it's done with a huge grain of salt. :D