July 11th
Last night was the first night students spent in home stays. When they arrived at the inn for classes this morning, everyone had many stories to tell about their initial experiences eating, talking, and doing various activities with their Chinese families. Without exception, everyone felt challenged by the language barrier, some more than others. During classes, we discussed different ways of making the most out of this rich opportunity: asking more questions and directing the conversation more proactively, initiating fun activities (basketball, soccer, board games, Chinese TV) and asking home stay siblings and parents to go out, making sure to ask speakers to slow down and repeat phrases, and visiting each other's home stays and arranging larger gatherings.
Today was the first day that our other Chinese teacher, Jiāng Méi (江梅), met with students for conversation class. Students really enjoyed speaking with her, and she commented about how impressed she was that all the students were making such an effort to communicate, take notes, ask questions, and engage with her. Students even have had the chance to interview and converse with members of the staff at the hotel.
This afternoon we headed out into the heart of the old town to learn about traditional Tibetan painting (Thangka), which traditionally was valued not just for its beauty, but for its usefulness as a meditation tool. We drew a likeness of the Buddha according to traditional proportions, and colored our drawings in using traditional colors. We used colored pencils because the traditional paints are made from mined, crushed rocks and are extremely expensive! This activity ties in nicely with our visit two days ago at Songzanlin lamasery, where students come from all over the province to become student-monks and learn not just about following the Buddhist path, but about math, science, and the humanities.
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