Diane T. Anderson

Teachers Without Borders - China

August 2006

Undoubtedly, my journey to Sichuan, China this past summer was very special, professionally and spiritually. I found China and the Chinese teachers incredibly beautiful and welcoming. I found the teachers I worked with giving and generous, and I found the leaders I followed visionary. I was personally rewarded when I had the opportunity to climb Qingcheng shan—actually two times, once from the front and once from the back -- the mountain where Chinese Daoism was supposedly founded. I had never been to a “Daoist” place before, and as Daoism has long fascinated me both intellectually and spiritually, I felt as if I were on a pilgrimage of some sort. This pilgrimage took me 8 hours, left me with rubbery legs, but filled me with awe. In many ways, the teaching and learning that occurred for me on this trip was like that pilgrimage up and down Qingcheng shan. It asked me to give in ways that I don’t usually give, to endure in ways that I don’t usually have to endure, and to be joyful in ways that I have not felt joy before.

I taught an English as a second language workshop with Erin Wilson, Andy Corcoran and Fred Reppun. The students reviewed grammar, read Chinese and American literature, practiced reading aloud various articles and excerpts, sang songs, recited poetry, wrote formally and informally, and did a lot of collaborative group work. We had them sit around round tables, or in small groups facing each other during class. These teachers have studied and learned basic English well; they speak and hear well enough to engage in good conversation with us. Their greatest need and desire seemed to be to converse extensively with English speakers. We adjusted our original plans to provide more time for oral work with us and each other.

After two five day workshops, I learned:

1. That after 40 years of teaching English(literature and writing) at Punahou, I have never had to “scaffold” a lesson as much as we did when teaching ESL to the Chinese teachers. Consequently, I learned a great deal about how many more steps some learners need as they learn grammar, or vocabulary, or a thought process. Erin Wilson, the trained ESL teacher, was very good at this: very patient, very deliberate.

2. That teachers in China and USA share similar dreams and frustrations: we both believe we are impeded by numbers of students in the classes, lack of resources, lack of time, requirements and mandates that are not of our own choosing; we both want to motivate students to love learning, to prepare our students for quality futures, to have our countries well positioned in the 21^st century, and to have no ill will beset upon the other. In fact, the Chinese teachers are eager to learn about American culture and people and seek their friendship. The wealth of their generosity and the wealth of ours should be able, combined, to bring our two countries into harmony and peace with each other. And, since we represented an organization that is without borders, our efforts together should be one step toward global harmony and peace.

3. That the “power of one” is indeed great – much greater, in fact, than the good desires of many. Yunus Peer and Fred Mednick both exemplify how much an individual can accomplish with a single, and initially perhaps lonely, dream. To improve the world in significant ways, one needs a compelling dream, the determination to take one small step after another, a small community of people who have the courage to walk with him/her, and great faith in other people. In our ESL workshop, we taught an Emily Dickinson poem, “To make a prairie” to the Chinese teachers, many of whom chose to memorize it. I have imitated Dickinson’s poem below as a small tribute to Yunus and Fred:

To create world peace

It takes one teacher,

One teacher, a dream

And people to follow.

And if followers are few

Then the teacher, alone, will do

I remember that Fred Reppun, a colleague on this trip who thanked the Chinese teacher in Chinese at the end of each workshop, referred to a Confucian apothegm which says that whenever we walk with each other, one of us is a teacher. Our Punahou chaplain, George Scott, also reinforced this idea when he quoted the Apostle Paul who said that it is not so much how rich in resources we are as people, but how well we use the resources we have that determines the richness of our spirits. The Chinese teachers I worked with had so few resources, relative to my resources, but they are as rich, if not richer in spirit, than I am.

4. And finally, if there is any hope for world peace in the not too distant future, it lies in the hands of the world’s teachers, and teachers can be greatly supported by coming together as we did in these workshops. We are the group that must be willing to walk together.