I know a lot of students on this campus, although I teach only a fraction of them. We have over 12,000 students here and my classes comprise of an average of 30 students each. Multiply that by 4 and you will see that I only teach 1% of the student body. But I am well known all over the school. Not bragging here, just making a point.
Between English corner and English club activities, student gossip and being a lone foreigner on campus when Victor is not here, I have a measure of fame. Seldom can I walk across campus or on the grounds without being hailed, invited to conversation or to some activity, or being asked how to improve English skills. Some students are genuinely friendly and interested in me, while others have an agenda.
One of the students that had no interest in taking anything at all from me is Tony. I met him last year at English Corner, when he was a freshman. He monopolized the conversation by comparing American versus Chinese education systems. His English skills rate far above the average student in this school, but that is not was makes him so remarkable.
Tony has an unbelievable depth of understanding and wisdom for one so young. He can express ideas that my contemporaries do not grasp or ponder. In short, this kid is amazing. A true gem of academia.
He is not an English Major and is not in any of my classes. However, he does seek me out occasionally and we have long conversations about politics and government, history and philosophy. Like I said: this kid is deep. Not ye average frivolous college kid at all, is Young Tony.
We were not able to keep in touch this summer, as I did with several other kids, but upon returning to China and turning on my China Mobile cellphone, I saw I had no less than 4 messages from my young friend. He wanted to know how I was doing, if I had come back yet, could we meet and have a dinner together to catch up?
Of course we were going to catch up! Tony is one of the kids whose progress I want to follow, and help along if I can. Not every day one meets a Tony. And that’s how I came to enjoy dinner in this extraordinary young man’s company, a mere 3 weeks after coming back from the States.
Tony is a sophomore now, so his classes started at the end of August. By the time we were enjoying our dinner, he had been in class for almost a month. After catching up with the chitchat and our news, he dropped the bomb on me.
Remember that English speech competition I helped judge before leaving for the summer? I wrote about it in the …. Entry. Well, while I was judging the English Majors, Tony was wowing the crowd in the other room, the one with non-English Majors. Naturally, he stole the show and took the top spot.
Now, as China prepares for its annual English Speech competition, each school across the country has been invited to offer up a candidate. Our school enlisted Tony. This fine young man was proud to bursting at the honor, but sweating the challenge. He wanted to talk with me about it. Now, I’m the one honored!
We talked at length about strategy and the competition in general. It seems that each region will host a competition and that winner will go on to the national competition in Beijing, held in the springtime and televised. It works pretty much in the same way as the competition in our school did: each speaker is given his/her topic 15 minutes before their turn to speak, and they have 3 minutes in which to give their speech. Tony has a good shot at walking away with top honors from this. He is anxious to do a good job of things. I recommended he take a sabbatical from the part time job he worked all summer. Also, he should forgo all unnecessary activities in favor of preparing for this event.
This was all unofficial advice, friend to friend. Or, teacher to student. Two days later I officially became his mentor, when Sam contacted me about this subject and asked me to join the coaching team officially. Now I’m reeling! First, having the honor of helping achieve something potentially great for the school and the camaraderie of being a part of a team of coaches. But mostly I was overjoyed at the prospect of working with this most excellent student, this fine young man with such a great mind.
We’ve been at it for the last month. Two afternoons a week, Tony and I meet. I have instructed him on the mechanics of speech giving, how to structure content, how to present himself and his topic. Naturally, he grasped these concepts like a baby grasping her father’s outstretched finger. Truly a marvelous student. I can’t say it enough.
The part that just knocks my socks off, blows me away, drops my jaw – whatever cliched phrase you want to use, is how this kid just GETS things. How many kids do you know that you can speak to metaphorically in their second language, and they draw a correct conclusion? How many 20-year olds do you know that you can draw analogies for and they get the meaning? Not just GET it, but expound on it? Every time I have the pleasure of working with this kid, I am struck by how profound he is.
Here is a fine example. One of the topics offered up for the official competition is ‘What are your views on life?’
Remember: he and I have already discussed the mechanics of speech giving; now we are going over topic and content. Some of these topics are way beyond his age level to discuss with any authority, and he was getting overwhelmed. Understandable, this is an overwhelming topic. He was afraid that he would not give the judges what they want (see how his mind works?), and thus fail.
“Tony, you’re only 20. What do you know about life? For you, life is a candy store. You’re too busy tasting all of the candy: a piece here, a piece there, this piece and that piece…” He interrupted me to conclude: “And then I realize that all the candy is sweet, so I have to choose my candy based on something other than sweetness. Right?”
Did your jaw just drop? Mine did when he blurted that out. I know adults who do not have that level of understanding. And that’s not even where I was going to go with that analogy, but it worked better than what I was going to say to illustrate my point.
With just 3 weeks till competition, Tony is really feeling the pressure. He has a school sponsored internship that he must participate in 6 days a week, 8 hours a day, with no absences allowed. He is coordinating secretary of the English club, and a member of the handwriting club. He is class monitor, and cannot delegate the role for fear of losing it forever. And he has this speech preparation.
His father told him: “Son, if you try your best and are comfortable with the results, then you can say you have done what you can.” I told him at our last meeting: “I almost agree with your father. You only have 2 more weeks to try your best. On competition night, you must DO your best. Do you understand the difference?” I could literally see the wheels turning.
He then looked up at me and said “Yes, I understand. You’re right.”
After talking with him for about an hour about being so overwhelmed I asked him: “How do you feel now, Tony?”
He thought for a moment, then replied: “Lighter. I feel much lighter than when I came here earlier.” And indeed he was sitting straighter, his gaze was more focused and his whole being appeared unburdened. See what I mean about amazing?
Don’t worry, you’ll hear about Tony again.
No comments:
Post a Comment