The Artist

 There is some sort of art within each of us. Being a music major, I feel like it is my destiny to say this, however there is a deep part of me that truely believes that everyone has the capacity to truely be an artist. The wonderful thing about art is that it can be expressed in an infinite amount of ways. Art is a true testament to the individuality within each of us. Yet it can also be a tool to see universal humanity. To truely understand it, one must not have the skills to judge, but the skills to see.

Jenna is a girl with a vision. She tries at English very hard and plans on going to school to be a doctor. But Jenna also has a love of music, and a love of art. She was designated our class artist the very first day of camp through a series of activities and I learned very early on as a teacher that she would be a help to me in the classroom.

Allow me to fill you in on what was to happen the first day of class. English Language Institute (ELIC) set up a curriculum that would allow us the first day of class to determine the English capability of the students. We had a series of games and testing that we would use and the four of us teachers would work together to evaluate where the students were to be placed.  After the division, we had a few introductory games and activities planned for only a half hour of time before lunch. Please do not be fooled, as this is what certainly did not happen our first day of class. LongDe Middle School #1 held an opening assembly for the arrival of the foreign teachers (...us) at which we were introduced to the student body as a whole. We got to sit in these huge leather chairs at a fine table before the students, making us feel like ambassadors for the UN. There was a constant hum of Chinese whispering among the student body, and a vast number of points and giggles as the students saw us for the first time. At the very end of the ten minute assembly, we were told by the school English teacher, Mr. Liu, that the students will be going to their classes. We explained to him that we had our own process for dividing up the classes. "Oh no, no, the students have classes of their own. They are already there."

"Mr. Liu, we have a process to divide students by their level of English"

"Oh. Well. The students have already been divided for you"

Testing process out the window, we now had 10 minutes to plan for a three hour lesson period, teaching students we didn't even recognize, none of us ever before running our own classroom. We didn't even have their textbooks for them. This was the first of may times that God taught us not to abide by our own plans.

As we walked down the hallways we could see the students sitting properly in their seats (mind you this was the only time...) and as we progressed Kristina, our team leader handed us random rosters to go with the classroom we were passing. Miss Jane, Class One. Miss Liu, Class Two. Miss Kayla, Class Three. Miss Stephanie, Class Four. As I and my fellow teammates entered our classroom,the kids broke out into a thunderous applause. 

Only the Lord knows how we survived that first day. I barely remember giving each of my students a speech/writing sample. In fact, the only part about that day that is vividly clear is when I had them gather in a circle as we thought of a class mascot. It is so important for the Chinese to have a symbol to unite behind, to have something that brings them together. After minutes of looking at each other and audible whispers in Chinese, I thought it was a hopeless attempt. That is, until one girl, Zhang Jingjing (Jenna, as she later picked her English name to be), inquired about the name "Summer Dream." I was immediately stunned at the suggestion, my immediate response was to ask "why?"...so I did. In very broken English she explained that this camp over the summer was like a dream come true for them all, and it made them very happy. Really and truely, I kid you not, it was a movie moment, because as I looked around the classroom, a wave of smiles, head-nods and approvals slowly made it's way around every single one of their faces. And that, my friends is how Summer Dream came to be.

Jenna, as I previously mentioned, was my class artist. The second day of classes we had a combined lesson about the American holiday of Thanksgiving. While planning this lesson, we as the teachers, decided it would be fun to tell the story of Thanksgiving with actions and sound effects. "Pilgrims", "Native Americans", "Thanksgiving", and "Turkey" were the special words of the story that had sounds effects to accompany them. Guess who's class got the pleasure of being the gobbling turkeys?  Yes, that would be the Crazy Miss Kayla class (trust me, I was so excited about gobbling up a storm. I have personally never gobbled so hard in my life). Of course, we had to have a turkey to represent us, so Jenna set to work. We also had a class banner that came with us everywhere. I thought it would be really representative of us if each of my students traced their hand, that way we could all be a part of the banner. I wish I could show you how proud the students were of their banner and what great respect they had for it, it was so endearing to watch every day.

Jenna was also my tomboy. Looking out at the courtyard she would be the only girl amongst the aggressive male 'futbol' game occurring. She was also my little keener. Now, in all complete honesty I had never heard of the term 'keener' before until my China experience. Simply, a keener is a student who is continually trying to impress the teacher and is the over involved student. Anything that I needed, Jenna was always there to supply it for me or to help me out.

The Summer Dream banner. We all had a "hand" in putting it together.

I was drawn to Jenna because of her unique personality. She definitely stood out in a crowd not only because she was one of the tallest girls with the purple glasses (woah--so similar to me), but also because of who she was, how she carried herself, and this confident smile and laughter that just radiated out of her. I sometimes like to think that God, when creating people, has these templates and then just tweaks them ever so slightly so that they can be adaptable anywhere world wide. With this thought, we all have 'twins' around the globe that are ridiculously similar to us by nature. Of course, we all are nurtured in different ways which also takes a toll into who we are, but the heart is made of the same foundation. I like to think that Jenna is my Chinese twin. 

As she had tears in her eyes, I distinctly remember telling her before I left that when she is sad, she can simply look at the moon and know that I see the same moon she does. This cheered her up so much, knowing that she and I could continue to have in common that we see that same moon. Plus, when you think about the moon, we really aren't that far away from each other.

Dear Kayla It is rain day, I really miss you. I remember It is a beautiful Summer that you came China time went by, It is Autumn.I think it is very quikly. How are you? It is a chance that I can write letter for.   Do you remenber you took so many photors in last day summer camp. I watch it everyday. I always talk it with Lily,Ned,Mandy,and so many classmates. We all like you. You are beauliful,funny ,and how much we love. You made us interested in English. We thanks you so much.   Time goes by.Our town is cool,I know Autumn will out. I still remenber the time when you leave.I was so sad,I want to play with you long time.I look at sky evernight .I remenber you told me if I miss you I can see star.Next year we will say bye for our middle shool.We have to study hard ,we are really bessy.   I really miss you ,I want to play with you next time.I really thanks for you giveing me a happy holiday.Kayla how about your time?Are you bessy? It is teacher's day In Sept10th.So I want to give you my congratulation,because you are my teacher.But I also sad I can't see you and play with you again. You are my sunshin my only sunshin, you make me happy. how much I love you .but ... Miss Kayla we hope you happy happy happy.smile on you face in you life .We will miss you in our country. see you next wensday.                                                                         Yous,   Jenna

-康妮