Job Discussion Forums

[hesterprynne]

A little out of season- The Gift of the Magi?

[rickinbeijing]

Once again Roger is wrong. Animal Farm is no longer banned in China. In fact, it can be found in most larger bookstores owned by Xinhua News Agency. You can stick to the fable aspect if you're timid or limit the allegorical references to "the Soviet Union under Stalin," the supposedly atypical Russian Communist. If you're students are clever, they'll connect the dots, or at least you can begin the dot pattern for them.

Of Mice and Men works very well since the language is so accessible and the plot so straightforward and engaging.

A personal favorite with English majors but very challenging is Faulkner's novella The Bear. One of the great short novels of the last century.

You could do Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer which, although a bit longer is straightforward in plot. Of course, you will need to work your way through the brambles of Southern river dialect.

Have you considered doing a modern play?

[woza17]

One of my students" connected the dots". To be honest I don't go there.
I just lent the book to student's whom I thought would enjoy it.
We often make literary allusions as do the Chinese, for example, Journey to the West, so I like to aquaint the students with certain literature for that reason.

[Yu]

The only short stories I really remember were by Poe. The Tell Tale Heart or The Black Cat. I also believe Stephen King wrote some short stories.... not so in tune with American Lit... but maybe interesting.

[Roger]

When I hear "short stories" I instantly think of Somerset Maugham; then again I don't think his stories would meet with the enthusiam they deserve.

[frigginhippie]

Hello people,
After all your suggestions (excellent stories, thank you), I think I have a winner. "The Country of the Blind" by H.G. Wells. The text and other shorts are here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11870
or for a quick summary and spoiler, go here:
http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/wells928-des-.html
The latter link offers summaries of hundreds of texts - helpful when searching for something specific.
Thanks again!
-fh

[deezy]

The BBC TeachingEnglish site has some good literature, complete lessons, with exercises, the lot. Check it out.

[writpetition]

Do you think your students would like a story like the one that follows?

Yu Ming, the Village Teacher

Yu Ming came from a family of farmers. His father like his grandfather and great grandfather before him were all farmers, as were his uncles and granduncles. He had inherited all his earthy wisdom from his family, but as a child he had also shown a propensity for learning. Therefore, while his uncles and cousins had headed for the fields soon as they were old enough to carry the hoe and plough the earth, he had been sent to school. Yu Ming spent long hours at school and after returning home he would sit with his books, letting their wisdom and knowledge seep into him. He would also go to the fields often, watching the processes of ploughing, sowing, reaping and the like with an avid interest and give his family a helping hand every now and then. His father would admonish him at times, telling him to concentrate on his studies, but that was only on occasion, like the times when he would see Yu Ming sitting dreamily, sometimes watching the sunset and other times the frolicking of wild animals and birds. Yu Ming liked watching all those birds and animals and even tiny insects and would listen to their chatter, wondering what they were talking about. Yu Ming�s father could not understand what was happening inside his precocious child�s little brain. Yu Ming was curious about everything but there was no one who could answer his questions. Therefore, Yu Ming tried to think things out, observing what he could of life around him.

It came as no surprise to Yu Ming�s family when, one day, they learnt that Yu Ming had received admission to college, a rare privilege in the decade of seventies. In the history of the village where they lived, only a few residents had seen college, let alone study in one. So, the day Yu Ming set out for college was a big one for the village. The village-folk were all, proud of the bright young man and feted him happily. There was also a ceremony where the village elders and leaders extolled the virtues of education and advised their youngsters to follow Yu Ming�s lead and example. The village had high hopes from their young man, they told him, and wanted him to return after his education and help the village, perhaps by becoming a doctor. There was no doctor in the village and many people had died from the lack of adequate medical attention, they reasoned.

A few months after Yu Ming�s departure, came the news of his education. The elders in the village felt let down that Yu Ming was not studying medicine. Instead, he had chosen to study the humanities. He could have easily taken up the study of medicine or even physical sciences but, for some inexplicable reasons, Yu Ming was studying literature, art and languages. Slowly, the village began to lose interest in their young man and soon forgot about him. Where they had earlier spoken of him with pride and a sense of ownership, they now chose to ignore him totally and even avoided speaking to him when he returned during the long Spring Festival holidays. But, Yu Ming paid little attention to these happenings around him. He was made aware of the disappointment felt by the village leaders and elders, but he had his mind set on a profession of his choice, and their attitude did not disturb Yu Ming.

Yu Ming performed consistently in college, his grades always near the top, though never really at the very peak. His teachers often wondered why Yu Ming was not topping his class, because he was the brightest and quickest among the students and could have easily scored the best marks if he tried a little harder. They did not know that Yu Ming spent a lot of his spare time, studying subjects the very subjects that his village elders had wanted him to, the sciences and mathematics. To Yu Ming, education meant learning, not merely scoring the highest marks. His method was simple, paying total attention in class, absorbing all that his teachers taught and then sitting down in the library with books of his choice, widening his horizons further than the rigidity of a system would permit.

Seasons went quickly by and then, one day, Yu Ming returned to his village, armed with a degree, the first in his village. However, this time there was no ceremony, speeches or feting. If anything, Yu Ming received a cold reception at his village. His parents, however, felt proud of their son and were happy to have him back, thinking it would not be too long before he would head out of the village to some big city and find a good job in some big enterprise. They asked him his plans and what he was going to do. Yu Ming said, �I will teach.� His parents were a trifle disappointed because teaching, though a noble profession, was not a very rewarding one, financially.

Yu Ming had believed his old school in the village would be happy to let him teach there. But, there were machinations at work, and though well-qualified for the job, Yu Ming was not given a teaching position there. But, Yu Ming did not despair. He decided to go and teach at a village near his own, where a bigger school was functioning and was short of qualified teachers. While his own village-folk ignored and snubbed Yu Ming, not because of any misdemeanor, but purely because of their own belied hopes, the other village folk welcomed him and he soon became well-accepted there. Sometimes, the people from the other village would ask Yu Ming to move his home to the new place but he would refuse. �It does not matter where I stay,� he would tell them. They persisted for a long time until they finally realized that Yu Ming was really quite happy with the arrangement.

Yu Ming�s work soon began to be noticed and students started enrolling at the school in large numbers. People noticed that students who had found school a dreary and forbidding place, were now going happily there and most of those were Yu Ming�s students. Yu Ming enjoyed his work and loved it when his students were curious and asked questions, especially questions that had few answers in their text-books. He would explain ideas and concepts patiently, encouraging the students to enquire and reflect and find answers. The students loved Yu Ming and his teaching. The elders from village realized their mistake and wondered whether Yu Ming would be interested in teaching at the village school where he himself had studied, sending a friend of his father�s to talk to him about it. Yu Ming agreed on the condition that he be allowed to teach in the evenings because he did not want to desert his students at the school in the neighbouring village. That was something that could not be arranged and Yu Ming had no choice but to continue where he was teaching. However, soon all the students from his village began to move to the school at the neighbouring village. They had heard how, almost all his senior students, had performed in the examinations, and most had received admission to college.

The school in Yu Ming�s village soon became nearly non-functional but all the children from the village became his students. Ten years after Yu Ming started teaching, his village had sent more students to college than they had ever dreamed. The village even produced two scientists. And two decades later, it was hard to count the number of students from his village who gained admission to the best colleges in the country and returned with honours and degrees.

Meanwhile, Yu Ming�s father�s health had begun to fail. Lying on his death-bed, the old man was reminiscing about the days gone by. A warm smile lit the dying man�s face as he counted the number of doctors from his village.

[frigginhippie]

I like it. Good message. Got anything else like it with:

[writpetition]

Hi FH,

Thanks for the feedback. If you like you can order a copy of a book called 'Hua Fei Hua' (English title, 'Jack's Short Stories') at your local Xinhua Book store. The stories are all about 1500 to 2000 words and the characters are Chinese students, farmers etc., essentially contemporary and common people in China today. The publisher of the book is the same as the one that publishes 'Overseas English' viz. Anhui Science and Tecnhology Publishing House. If you have difficulty finding the book I will try and provide you with a contact address where you should be able to order it.

The book may not fulfil all the criteria you have mentioned, but it might just work in the sense that it could possibly give your students something to identify with.

Cheers!