China update...

Greetings from Nanchang,­

The winter coats have been carefully stowed away and the umbrellas have been brought out in anticipation of the rainy season here in southern China . I'll spend a few moments in my dry apartment to send you a sampling of the experiences I've had this past month.

Excuse me Mr. Cottrell, can we talk for a moment?

We're now in our sixth week of our spring semester and I've been having a wonderful time with our new group of students. Having been an adult learner I've become more in tune in assisting our students as I understand from personal experience what it means to be an older student.

Our students and the Chinese people I interact with don't have a lot of opportunities to practice speaking English with native speaker's people. Depending on the topics or my free time I'm able to be a conversation partner for my students or Chinese friends who ask to speak with me on a one on one basis or even in a group setting. As you could probably imagine saying no is a difficult response when I want to help as many people as I can. In this scenario our students have priority over who requests to practice English with me.

Lesson Planning:

This aspect of teaching has provided me with both challenging and stretching experiences. "It's easier said than done" being in teacher role instead of sitting comfortably in the student role. I had a rough time with lesson planning during our Pasadena summer training as we had practice teaching two to three times a week along with an assortment of other sessions. To alleviate the stress of planning I'm taking more time preparing lessons while keeping the individual students needs in mine.

Joey and I teach beginning and advanced level students so I have to be mindful in how much time I fill a class period up with. This term I started with the beginner level class for a total of sixteen hours and the advanced level class for a total of four hours each week. At the mid-point mark of our semester Joey and I will switch classes and I'll take the advanced class for the same amount of time I had the beginner class during the opening weeks.

Student - Centered Approach:

In our organization we try to create an interactive environment for our students to be able to learn and practice English. What we try to do in our class each day is make sure our students have a safe and comfortable environment so they can try their best to make a progress in learning English.

We not only create a comfortable environment but make learning fun by planning out of class activities where our students can practice English during a meal, shopping excursions, or taking walks around a Nanchang lake.

In addition to having a student centered classroom I invite our students to contact me by phone and/or email so they aware that I'm available to assist with their English questions or other subjects.

Student Led Activities: Practicum 101

Having spent this year with University teachers Joey and I have had the unique privilege of watching our student's present English lessons in our classrooms in the course called Student Led activities. This weekly class entails our students pairing up with a classmate and teaching an English activity to their classmates.

This is by far my favorite course to facilitate as I get to exchange teaching ideas with students. I also have the privilege to witness from a distance and close-up the preparation and delivery of a finished product from our teaching teams. What's been an added highlight for me is I'm able to share about my previous team teaching experiences and about my role as co-teacher with Joey.

Common Question: Is there a McDonald's in your city?

There are two McDonald's in Nanchang and both are located near the pedestrian-only shopping street. There are also several McDonald's stores that serve only ice cream cones and beverages. There are also number of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and two Pizza Hut restaurants.

Sadly there are no Starbucks's in Nanchang but my Joey, my team mate, can probably pinpoint within a few meters the exact locations of the stores in Hong Kong . To emphasize this fact I'm willing to place a friendly bet that he can find the stores while being blindfolded.

Cultural highlight: weighing in

Life in China has created memorable experiences wherever I happen to be. One aspect of living in China is the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables that are sold at sidewalk stores or in the supermarket. In America before we purchase our fruits and/or vegetables we must use the store provided weight scale to determine how much the food will cost at the checkout stand.

In China there is a different procedure that must be followed. For example, if I want a pound of tangerines I fill up my plastic bag with what can be considered a pound and then I take the filled bag to a weight counter where a store employee weighs the items for me and attaches a tag giving the weight and cost of the items. This procedure works well but I've caught myself several times forgetting to visit the weight counter. Luckily for me the store employees have assisted and led me to the weight scales.

This concludes my monthly China update. Thanks for taking time to stop to read this and my other updates. I'll look forward to sharing more with you about our students and experiences next month.

Until then, have a safe week.

Brian

one month of little sleep.

August 2nd 1990 was the day Iraq invaded the country of Kuwait. I remember this date like it was yesterday. Let me share with you my personal background to this date.

I was stationed aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) a nuclear powered aircraft carrier home ported in Norfolk, VA. My job was that of an Aviation Storekeeper which entailed keeping track of the aircraft parts for our
embarked air wing. I was in the Navy for nine years and the Eisenhower was my first assignment. I had a positive experience onboard the Eisenhower and consider it one of the many memorable times in my life.

Our Battle Group of 8-10 ships had been conducting operations in the Mediterranean Sea during the spring and summer of 1990. We had left Norfolk in March and traveled to a variety of ports in Spain, Israel, France, and Italy. In a Battle group there of ships of different sizes and purposes. I recall fond memories of the port visits and participating in group tours or exploring the cities in a small group of friends. By far my favorite port visit was to Haifa, Israel as I was able to take a bus up to Jerusalem to tour the historical sites.

Naples, Italy was our last port visit of the deployment as we would begin to look ahead to the time of transiting the Mediterranean and Atlantic toward Norfolk. But something had occurred in the Middle East that prompted our schedule to be quickly adjusted from a westward transit to a south-eastern transit.

Iraq had invaded Kuwait.

Our commanding officer announced over the addressing system that higher authorities in Washington D.C. ordered us to change our course and head toward the Red Sea. This was no drill because now our ship was going to a combat zone. Our battle group was to provide a advance U.S. Naval and airpower presence. I was beyond words during this period of time as I was now apart of something really big that would affect not only our country, Kuwait but the world in terms of its relations with Iraq.

Yes, this was the beginning of the First Gulf War but in my mind this was the continuation of the events that have surrounded the mystique of the Middle East. This wasn't the first (or last) time America was going to be in the region and not the first time the region was shaken up by one country.

We transited the Suez Canal and remained in the Red Sea operating area for a total of one month. During this time personal and military resources were being staged in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for the orders to enter Iraq. Our air wing flew a variety of reconnaissance flights while battle group companions conducted standard search, board, and seizures of suspected boats in the Red Sea.

My global outlook before the Navy and particularly this event was mainly focused on Asia, Europe, South America, and North America. I had read plenty of the history found in the Middle East but didn't realize I would someday be apart of a major event as the one I participated in during the summer of 1990. Today my global outlook or perspective includes more of what occurs in the Middle East and the other regions I mentioned.

I returned to the Middle East a total of two more times while I was in the Navy. The Eisenhower made a return deployment to the region as we transited the Suez Canal, Red Sea, and operated in the Persian Gulf. I was also stationed aboard the USS Independence (CV-62) and deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1994.

One memory that I¡¯ll have of those deployments was witnessing the handling of missiles and bombs that were being transferred from our ships armory to our assigned aircraft. These weren't the practice bombs that were utilized in range practice but the real deal.

In closing, to this day I'm not sure what prompted Iraq to invade Kuwait. I've heard from many sources that oil was the cause of the invasion. Whatever was the reason for the invasion or why we have to project our presence in the Middle East is something we'll have to contend with for many years.

By the way, when I say we this means everyone in our circles of influence.

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