COAL MINER'S FAMILY

I LIKE THAT Frank, my husband, is an explorer. His passion for travel prompted us to accept a job in China to teach English as a second language. We loved the country and it’s people so much we stayed and worked as English foreign experts for four years.

            For our first six months in China we lived in Yichang. All about Yichang, China

            Teaching middle school youth was our classroom challenge and we jumped in feet first with enthusiasm. We spent a great deal of our time preparing elaborate daily lesson plans but when we had spare time, Frank would bring me out of the gated teacher’s living quarters into the bustling streets of Yichang. One day, Frank heard clunk, clunk, clunk from behind a group of depilated buildings and went to investigate. He found a family making coal bricks. It is common for the people in rural China to burn coal bricks to heat their homes and cook their meals. The smoke hangs thick in the air and settles on everything it touches. The crushed coal is shoveled into a hopper where it is stamped into cylinder-shaped forms. The forms are punched with holes to help the air circulate when they are set on fire with kindling. The solid coal bricks are placed by hand into a man-drawn cart and transported all over the city.

          Frank walked away from the experience happy to have had the chance to witness the entire family operation. 

ENGLISH STUDY LEADER

            I LIKE THAT every classroom in China has an English Study Leader. The student’s designation comes from achieving the highest grade after examination from the Chinese English teacher.

            The same position in the Canadian classroom is called the Monitor, a reference that has taken a turn for the worse because the students see the person as a snitch and hence the famous code of silence.

The English Study Leader in the Chinese classroom is respected and he or she takes great pride for maintaining order amongst the collection of fifty-nine or more students in the room. They will dutifully stand with you as you conduct your class and, with encouragement from you, will travel around the room guiding the other students in their study of the English language.

            Prince, the English Study Leader in one of my classes, came to my rescue regularly and I was very grateful. I didn’t have a command of the Chinese language, so when a student didn’t fully understand my instructions, I would ask Prince to interpret.

            I asked Prince if he minded helping me and he said, “It is my honour and duty, Mrs. Black.”

Frank entertains Uygur students

Susan teaching song at English Corner

Students celebrate New Year

THE TWO ESL TEACHERS

 I LIKE THAT I had the great privilege of teaching English as a second language in China from 2005 to 2009 with my husband Frank. We lived and taught in five provinces and travelled to many more in the Motherland. We returned home to Canada with great admiration for the people and their kind treatment of us.

While in China, I read Aesop’s Fables and took the liberty of translating the stories into ESL Teacher Tales. Here’s one example:

THE TWO ESL TEACHERS

 Two Foreign Experts who where teaching English as a second language in China, one with a degree in linguistics, the other without, were swept down a river of lesson planning locked in a company-dictated team-work environment. The linguistics teacher told his companion to stay by his side, and he would advise him and protect him.

            “Thank you for your offer,” said the recent ESL graduate, “but that’s just what frightens me. If you’ll just keep your distance from me, I’ll be able to plan on my own and float through my semester unburdened with your experience and in safety. But if we come in contact with one another, I’m bound to be the one who’ll suffer.”

Avoid ESL teachers who are too powerful. When the collision happens the weaker one will be destroyed.

Students entertain with song

Frank and his Chinese teaching colleagues

Susan interviews entertainers

NEW YEAR FREEDOM

 I LIKE THAT Frank and I took a run on our Russian URAL bike to commemorate the New Year. The temperature in Campbell River was about 0 degrees Celsius so we protected ourselves with extra layers. I wrapped my bulky upper body in four layers of clothing including a t-shirt, hoodie, fur lining and my black leather jacket. Frank’s gear was much the same except that he covered his face with a bella clava.

            The sidecar accommodates my bag, water bottle, seat cover, lap blanket and me. After I sit down and cover my legs, Frank brings the URAL hoodie over my head and fastens the clasps to the windshield. I’m protected from the elements. Frank boards the attached motorcycle, a re-engineered version of the 1936 German BMW and starts the engine. I’m glad that I’ve remembered to wear my earplugs. I sit right beside the source of the noise.

            The bike draws a great deal of attention even before we head out. Our neighbours call out that we’re crazy to be heading out on a bike. We feel differently about it because it is our only mode of transport. Today we are heading out to our singing group.

            We moved forward and I reached out for the metal handle bar in front of me. I can see all around through the windshield and the plastic covered windows on each side. I can also see the ground moving beneath me through a small opening where the hoodie meets the sidecar. I feel a great sense of freedom.

            We purchased our freedom online. We were teaching English as a second language in China and thinking about transportation when we arrived back to Canada for the summer.

            “Look at this, Honey,” Frank said.

            I stared at the sidecar rig and it caused my face to smile.

            “It looks like fun!” I said.

            With the click of a button we became the proud owners of a shiny green Patrol.

            Today, as we travel around the city, the wind blowing past us, it is clear that we are the adventurous type and a bit quirky.

            Freeeeeedom!!!

P.S. if you wish to learn more about the URAL you might like to visit http://www.curdforum.net/

URAL hoodie by Frank

New Year Run

Travelling by URAL

HAPPINESS IS A SISTER

I LIKE THAT my second oldest sister, Colette, called on Christmas Eve. We hadn’t spoken to each other in three years.

            Her voice ignited starbursts of memories in me. I imagined her animated hand movements as a display of her joie de vivre (joy of life). In my mind’s eye, I could see her short curly hair, big brown eyes, round nose, and her thin laughing lips. I listened to her enthusiastic voice describe how she and her husband, Hans, needed to take a break from their North Bay home on Lake Nipissing in Ontario. I thought it interesting that she wanted to be apart from what I considered to be a Canadian ‘Shangri-La’.

            “My God, Colette, how fantastic to hear your voice,” I said.

            “It’s been far too long,” she said.

            I heard Hans’s gentle voice in the background say a cheery ‘hello’. Another wave of comfort feelings surged through me.

            Thirty-eight years before, my newly-wed sister and her handsome, university-educated husband, had taken me into their small apartment so that I could attend college. They generously provided a clean, safe place for me to live for a year.

            Now, we are four thousand, two hundred and fifteen kilometers, including a ferry ride away from each other. My husband, Frank, and I live on the Vancouver Island.

            My mind focused on Colette’s cheerful voice as she asked that we consider a family gathering during the upcoming summer months somewhere on the Island. Our four voices tossed meeting location ideas back and forth but in the end we agreed to talk about it another time.

            The idea of another conversation with my long-lost sister warmed my heart. I like that sister bonds are flexible.

I Like That I Won A Prize

Here's my second prize entry at the Powell River Writer's Conference 2010

COWBOYS AND INDIANS

by Susan Black

The lung punching minus forty degrees temperature and frozen tundra of Thompson, Manitoba was a playground for our family. Nothing could prevent Cookie from hauling Marc, Andy and me, into the frosty air.

At five years old, I was deliriously nearsighted and saw the mining town through the eyes of my siblings. One day we played at a construction site. Cookie hollered to me from across a narrow board.

          “Come on, Sam!” she shouted. “Don’t look down. Just step on and go!”

          Suddenly, Andy ran across the slippery plank. Marc shoved me and I wobbled across the narrow drawbridge into the arms of my older sister. Marc hopped on one foot across the board toward us. When he stood close, Cookie plucked the feather hat from his head and pushed him away.

          “Let’s play cowboys and Indians,” she said. “I’m the Chief!”

“Sam, Andy, you’re the warriors. Marc, you’re the cowboy,” she said.

          Marc spun around and ran. We lost sight of him. When Cookie spotted the cowboy she shouted a command.

“Stop! I shot you with an arrow and you can’t move,” she said.

The cowboy stood motionless. When we caught up to him, Cookie pulled a pair of scissors from her pocket, pushed Marc against a tree and scalped him. She squeezed the clump of curly hair in her mitten and let out a yelp. Marc screamed and cried. Andy and I gasped in horror. Cookie had taken the game to a whole new level.

Later, in our warm house, our mother trimmed Marc’s hair, sent Andy and me to bed and gave Cookie a licking saying, “You took the game too far and you took my scissors!”

Teaching ESL in China: The Consequence

While teaching English as a second language in China for four years, I decided to write a book and titled it "The Little Red Book: Teaching ESL in China". My husband, Frank, contributed the sketches for each chapter and we were happy with the results. The consequence came about when we tried to promote the book at the next ESL teacher gathering. The truthful stories revealed to us by other ESL teachers and our Chinese English teacher colleagues all appeared in the book along with our discovery of how the Communist system of government in China could be acted out in the classroom, much to the benefit of the teacher.

We were denied the privilege of promoting the book to our peers and left the conference feeling rejected and humiliated. My husband and I talked for long hours about our expectation that the book would be welcomed as a learning tool for new teachers and experienced instructors alike. We decided in the end that we would be wise not to have any expectations at all. What a relief! Reducing our expectations since then has opened our hearts and minds to what would naturally unfold.

http://www.trafford.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000131605