French Fries, the student

A new semester brings many new things. In this case, as many of you have anxiously awaited, a new list of ridiculous/awesome student names. 

Looking back over the previous two semesters' lists (seen here and here), I have noticed a slight progression towards the crazy and ludicrous (relatively speaking, of course). Perhaps, as my initial pep and enthusiasm has worn down a bit, I haven't continued to instill them with a sense that their chosen name should be the epitome of class and grandeur and that it represents their generation. Not that I ever really did that, but at least I used to try and guide their choices (which usually meant I simply told them that they shouldn't choose a ridiculous name like the ones they are prone to choose). But I soon realized the fruitlessness of this (an especially ironic word, given that many students ignore my "wisdom" and choose a fruit name like Apple, Cherry, or Grape) and now simply let the pieces fall where they may. Yes, I could tell them they must choose a different name upon hearing the "name" they've chosen for themselves, but I don't. B-Dawg and Blue Baby are just too much fun to say. 

Another trend I've noticed (as have the other teachers, a few school leaders, and upperclass students) is that the general level of English of incoming students has been steadily decreasing. This comes as no surprise, as the school continues to lower the standards of admission to bring in more students (i.e., more money). As my observation of this trend continues, I think I could make a graph to plot what has become another apparent trend: the lower the level of English for the student, the more likely they seem to choose a "unique" name. There are definite exceptions, of course: the vast majority of the 300+ students I teach, regardless of English level, still choose a standard English name. Conversely, some of my top students have chosen some of the more interesting and amusing names. For example, Bob. Bob was wonderful to teach last Spring and is still one of my favorite students. You should also note that Bob is a girl. 

The truth is, for most of the students I teach, my Oral English class is the one semester of English these students will really have (at least where they will need an English name). After their semester with me, their English name will be irrelevant, unused, forgotten. A few of the students (and often the ones with the most ridiculous of the ridiculous names) won't even come to class after that first week or two--it's almost like they know they're going down, so they might as well go down in flames. For most of the students though, there is no consequence outside of my class for the name they choose, so why not have a little fun? I've learned that they're going to choose that absurd name if that's what they want, so I won't try to fight it. And I've also learned that life, for all of us, is just that much better when I have the joy of calling on Pizza or French Fries to answer my questions. No one laughs when I call on Wendy or Sarah. 

For a more in-depth explanation of why many students choose the interesting names they do, plus the Spring 2011 names list, check here. For the Fall 2010 list, click here. Now without further delay, your day's bliss:

Names so common that I am no longer phased

Happy

Apple

Snow

Rain

Candy

Cherry

Coco

Smile

Seven

Ice

Icey

Icy

Names conceived while hungry

Salad

Pizza

Cocoa

Turkey

Ice Cream

Hamburger

French Fries

Tiramisu

Banana
Rasine (pronounced raisin) 

Names that should not be

Cloris

Mooya

Dats

Tob

Names that cannot be

atRose

Naix

Jcinta

So close

Kete

Levin

Vincy

Vivn

Kames

Dommy

Names that can be declarations

Done
Never

Students with competing names and the one student who will have to choose between them

Nokia

Motorola

Businessman

Boys with girl names

Helen

Names that are actually titles

Major

Diva

Names similar to what they had, right there in River City (and it starts with ‘D’ and that rhymes with ‘P’ and that stands for ‘Pool’) 

Double

Names that evoke the Care Bears-esque perpetual bliss of our childhood 

Miracle

Shinee

Cupid

Angel Baby

Eden

Dream

Dreamy

Memory

Sweet

Lucky Q

Purple

Air

Names that evoke the bleak, post-apocalyptic world from Terminator II  

Arrow

Somnus (x2) (A god of the ancient Roman pantheon, residing in the Underworld) 

Blue

Burning 

Silence (x2)

Windy

And there you have it. A longer list this time, but not bad considering I teach over 300 students a term. I'll take that. 

One more thing before you go: I've thought that it'd be nice for you to see some of my students, since you've certainly heard about them. The first ten photos are actually from last Spring when I took each class to the beach near campus. The last two are actually from last night: I invited some former students to come to my apartment and play Bingo. Total riot. I love these students.  

How a two-year-old changed China

The depth of our brokenness never fails to amaze me. We kill, steal, cheat, and destroy. We plunder our own humanity in the name of wealth, power, and comfort. And then we mine the depths looking for an even deeper abyss, as if we haven't gone deep enough. 

Such thoughts are on the hearts, minds, and lips of the Chinese nation as they collectively struggle to make sense of what has to be, in their minds, the most poignant and utterly disturbing example of just how cold their society has apparently become.

I'm talking, of course, about the tragic story of Wang Yue. In case you're in the dark about this heart-wrenching story, Wang Yue is the two-year-old whose untimely death became the center of a national crisis of conscience, morality, and humanity. Just over two weeks ago, Wang Yue's sad fate forever changed the nation of China when she was seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver in her hometown of Foshan, Guangdong Province. Unable to move from the road herself and her parents unaware of the situation, the small child was injured a second time by another hit-and-run driver. But it wasn't even the second hit-and-run driver's actions that spurred the greatest cry from Chinese citizens--it was the 18 passers-by who neglected to help her--and callously so, it seems--as she approached death. Only when an elderly garbage-picking woman (a position placed among the lower rungs of Chinese society) carried the girl to a safe place and called emergency help did the girl receive any aid. Wang Yue succumbed to her injuries in the hospital a week later. (The entire incident was caught on video, which you can access here. I can't even bring myself to watch it. It's just something I will never be able to digest.) 

At this point, one is tempted to make a myriad of generalized accusations and assumptions about Chinese culture and society. Every country has its share of problems, and like any such case, we must avoid figer-pointing and ask ourselves the deeper question: what kind of cultural and societal norms can allow for such an incident? Certainly, the Chinese are asking. I would be remiss if I didn't make it abundantly clear to you that the Chinese people are the most torn, disgusted, and demoralized of anyone by this incident. Millions and millions of Chinese have voiced their angst and disillusionment through the internet. And if what I read online from Chinese netizens isn't concrete enough, my students' faces convey what words cannot: broken, shattered hearts from a society that they see heading further into the depths while they feel completely powerless to stop it. 

And so an entire country has begun some serious soul-searching. As egregious as the Wang Yue case is, the more troubling reality is that it is only the latest in a series of national incidents where a devastating lack of Good Samaritans has indicated a troubling trend. While this and other such stories are horrific and uncommon in their scale, the underlying problems are not limited to these rare cases. The pervasive sense among Chinese that the country severely lacks Good Samaritans is an endemic crisis that certainly every person in China, including myself and the other expats I know, has encountered personally on at least one occasion but usually more. 

As outsiders to Chinese society and culture, our lack of understanding can easily lead us to several conclusions, the least of which is to inaccurately conclude that China is a land bereft of any human decency. I can personally attest that this is far from the truth. However, there is a distressing abundance of indifference for one's fellow man, and it is this issue that I hope to address in future posts. 

In my time in China, I have poured countless hours into the understanding of this particular issue--the apparent lack of Good Samaritans and the troubling abundance of indifferent bystanders--and in light of the Wang Yue story I can think of no better time than now to share with you the fascinating insights I've gleaned from hours and hours of reading books, blogs, articles, and talking to my Chinese friends and students. 

So my purpose in this post is two-fold, I suppose: to share with you this tragic case and the Chinese response to it, and to inform you that I want to spend a significant chunk of time writing about this topic so that you can better understand the complex climate that can produce such things as this. So stay tuned. I do have a few other quick posts I want to get out of the way first, but then I plan to dive head-first into this and pump out several posts on the topic in hopes that you can avoid simply writing-off China as a gaping hole that floods the world's attempts at staying morally afloat. 

Birthday fail

I had the joy of celebrating my 25th birthday last week among dear friends and students. Not one to disappoint, China's cake shoppes proved that yes, even birthday cakes are not safe from the domain of botched English: 

Juspin

生日快乐

Happy Birthday

And last year's cake is below. I see a worrying trend developing: 

Happy Birthday

Zustin

生日快乐

Because we need them

I was recently visiting 山海关 (shan hai guan), a forrest park near Qinhuangdao that contains a section of the Great Wall, when I stumbled across my favorite sign in China. Figured you'd get a kick out of this:

"Please keep off the grass because we need them." 

And a few others, just for good measure:

Apparently, the Elmer Fudd translation for "Narrow Passage" was used

Check here to learn more about Chinese-to-English translation and why its existence makes the world a better, healthier place (assuming laughter is the best medicine). Check here and here for other good examples of Chinglish I've encountered while in China.