24 December 2014

Gentlefolk,

SEASONS GREETINGS, EVERYONE!

Although the shopping malls are full of Xmas decorations and music, Xmas Day is a normal workday in China. Actually, the university told us that we can have the day off if we re-schedule classes, but its difficult to arrange that at this late stage in the semester.

Being of European heritage, we always celebrated on Xmas Eve with family in Australia. Instead, tonight we'll go to a concert being organised by the International Students.

Hopefully we'll get to skype with Jennifer (Adelaide) & Andrew (Melbourne) & families, and also my sisters in Canberra.

What's my schedule for tomorrow, Xmas Day?  Bet it's different from yours.  I'll be up at sparrow's fart to teach my usual Thursday morning class from 8 - 9.50am.  Then off to the dentist (ugh!).  A Chinese professor has invited Vera & me to his home for dinner tomorrow night - will be nice to spend time in a family atmosphere.

I've been meaning to do a post on students and their study workload, so here goes.

...

Why do Chinese students perform so well when they study in Australia and other foreign countries?

I don’t think they are smarter than Western kids, but what sets them apart is their amazing work ethic.  China, with its huge population, is a very competitive society. And competition starts early. 

From a young age, from primary school, kids spend a lot of time studying. It gets tougher in Middle School, and the three years of High School leading up to the National College Entrance Exam get a bit crazy. In Shandong Province it is normal for students to study from 7am to 10pm, or later, leading up to the Gao Kao.

They get a shock when they start College and might “only” have 30 contact hours a week. They sometimes complain of not knowing how to fill in their free time!

Class timetable

The China University of Petroleum has split each working day into 5 classes - each class comprises 2 lessons of 50 minutes - as follows:

Class 1 & 2:  8 – 8.50am and 9 – 9.50am

Class 3 & 4:  10.10 – 11am and 11.10 – 12 noon

(There is a two-hour break from 12 – 2pm. A nap after eating lunch is common)

Class 5 & 6:  2 – 2.50pm and 3 – 3.50pm

Class 7 & 8:  4.10 – 5pm and 5.10 – 6pm

Class 9 & 10:  7 – 7.50pm and 8 – 8.50pm.

A siren sounds at the beginning of each lesson and again after 50 minutes.  The 10 minute break between lessons is used to go to the bathroom, make calls, stretch, etc. 

I have a student list for each class and always begin each class with a roll call.  When a student misses a class, usually due to illness, they will give me an official note afterwards.

Final marks at the end of the semester are based on 30% ‘daily performance’ (ie their attendance and contribution in class) and 70% final exam.  So regular attendance and participation in class activities is taken seriously.

Lecturers are expected to teach for the full 50 minutes of each lesson. 

One of my colleagues told me that at the beginning of the semester he finished a couple of classes 10 minutes early.  Each class has a designated leader called ‘monitor’.  The class monitor approached my colleague and requested that he teach them for the full 50 minutes – the students preferred learning to getting early-marks! 

The students are polite in their interactions with teachers.  If I ask them a question, they stand up to reply.  At first I thought that was a bit formal and told them that I didn’t expect them to stand.  But they prefer to stand – a habit they have grown up with – so after a while I just let it happen.

American-style descriptors are used to describe which year a student is in.  A first year student is called a Freshman, as second year student is called a Sophomore, a third year student is called a Junior, and a fourth year student is called a Senior. 

Student workloads

To get a better appreciation of the pressures the students are under, I asked some of my students for details of their workloads. 

Table 1: Weekly class schedule for English Major 1301,  2^nd Year students

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8 – 9.50am	Writing English	Oral English	Listening English	Translation	-
10.10 – 12noon	Physical Education	Western Culture	Reading English	Inter-cultural communications	Reading English
2 – 3.50pm	Marxism	Communication	Writing English	Communication	-
4.10 – 6pm	-	-	Marxism	Elective	Elective
7 – 8.50pm	Elective	Elective	-	-	-

The students are encouraged to take one or two elective (optional ) classes on top of their compulsory classes.  They can choose from a wide range of subjects, including: Oil & gas in China; Nuclear power; Career planning; International relations; Chinese history;  Military history; Psychology; Marketing; etc.

English major students must study a second language, starting in the 2^nd semester of their Sophomore year (ie next semester for this class).  French and German are popular.

English Major class 1301.

Table 2: Weekly schedule for Double Majors International Trade & English, 2^nd year students

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
8–9.50 am	Economics	Math	Math	English listening	English Oral	elective
10.10-12	Math	English writing	English writing	Math	Marketing	elective
2-3.50pm	Marxism	PE	English reading	English reading	International  trade	English reading
4.10-6pm	-	Western culture	Marxism	English listening	English Oral	-
7-8.50pm	Marketing	Economics	International trade	English reading	Accounting	-

The Double Majors have the heaviest workload of all students.  These students are doing a double-degree.  On graduating they will receive qualifications in their ‘main major’ (accounting, or computing, or chemical engineering, or geology, etc) as well as in English.  These students typically have around 25 classes a week – ie around 50 ‘contact hours’ with lecturers per week.

Some of the students in the combined Culture class English Major 1302 and Double Majors 1303 + 1304.  Vera bought me a pair of fake glasses to look "more professorial" - do they work?

English Majors have 13 or 14 compulsory classes a week, while International Trade Majors usually have around 15 or 16 a week.  Engineering majors (Petroleum Engineering, Chemical Engineering, etc) typically have around 20 classes a week, including laboratory time.

Of course, the students have homework and study on top of the direct ‘contact hours’.  If a student has 15 classes a week, that means 30 contact hours.  If you assume at least one self-study hour for every contact hour (1:1) then that student is looking at a 60 hour week, which is a very busy week indeed. 

Actually, from my observation they don't get much homework; some tell me that they usually only do an hour (sometimes two) a day of self-study.  After sitting through 6 or 8 hours of lectures a day I doubt I'd be capable of doing much self-study!

No wonder many students complain of being tired and stressed.  When I see their workload it surprises me that they cope as well as they do.

I asked a couple of friends who have kids at university in Australia.  Arts, law, finance, and economics courses seem to have around 12 – 14 contact hours per week (lectures and tutorials).  Science and engineering have around 20 contact hours a week, plus laboratory time.

On that basis, Chinese university students have at least twice as many contact hours as their Australian counterparts.

A young American teacher I met in Dongying compared College in the US and China, but I'll leave her comments for another post as this one is getting too long already.

My teaching schedule

This semester my teaching schedule is 7 classes per week, from Week 2 (commencing 15 September 2014) to Week 18 (commencing 5 January 2015); 5 classes of Western Culture (total of 206 students) and 2 classes of Oral English (total of 62 students).

In October and December I also taught groups from the Great Wall and Xi Bu Drilling Companies (an additional three classes per week). 

Table 3: Alex’s weekly teaching schedule, September 2014 – January 2015

Time/day	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Friday
8 – 9.50am				EM1303 Culture
10.10 – 12 noon		EM1301 Culture
2 – 3.50pm			Drilling Oral		Drilling Oral
4.10 – 6pm	Drilling Oral	EM1302 + DM Culture	NM199 Oral English		NM63 Culture
7 – 8.50pm	NM64 Oral English	NM198 Culture

Notes:

EM = English Major; DM = Double Major; NM = Non Major (these students are taking this subject as an ‘elective’.)

This semester most of my classes are sophomores (second year students).  The ‘13’ signifies that they started university in September 2013, and these students are now in their second year. 

The Non English Major classes are a mixed bag.  These students are mainly majoring in engineering subjects.  They are a mix of second, third year and fourth year students.  They take Oral English and Western Culture as ‘elective courses’.

University degrees

All undergraduate degrees here are four year degrees; Master’s degrees are an additional 3 years for science majors and 2 years for others. 

The fourth undergraduate year is a ‘light’ year.  In the first semester 4^th year students usually only have 3 or 4 classes a week.  The second semester (ie just before they graduate) is devoted to writing a thesis.  To graduate all 4^th year students have to submit and defend a thesis, on a topic agreed with their principal lecturer. 

Fourth year students are expected to devote much of their time to job-hunting.  Most will either find jobs (to commence when they graduate at the end of the academic year) or will decide on future study options, either at home or abroad, and will apply for relevant scholarships during the year.

Comment

The Chinese educational system is rigorous.  The students don’t have much time for extra-curricular activities, such as hobbies and sports.  Of course getting a good education is important, but there needs to be balance.  University should be a time to develop the ‘whole person’, not just a particular skill.  

There are often suggestions in the media that the system should change, but China is so competitive, and the pressures to succeed so great, that meaningful change will be difficult to achieve.

You can understand, now, why Chinese students in Australia do so well – the strong study ethic which they develop during school and college!

...

Best wishes to you all for Xmas and for 2015.

Keep well, and keep smiling.

Vera and Alex Olah

English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao

www.upc.edu.cn/english/

Wednesday, 24 December 2014

14 December 2014

Gentlefolk

One of the things I am going to talk about in my Western Culture classes this week is how we (westerners) view China.  As part of that discussion, I will describe who we see as the most influential people in the world, and why.  I will refer to the annual list compiled by Forbes, which I have spent the last few hours analysing.

Forbes 2014 “List of Most Powerful People”

Every November since 2009 Forbes Magazine has published a “List of the Most powerful people on earth”. The list has one name for every 100 million people; the 2009 list contained 67 names, the 2014 list contains 72 names. Click HERE for the full list.

Selections are based on the amount of human and financial resources they command, as well as their influence on world events (basically, their 'soft power').  It would probably be more accurate to call it “List of Most Influential People in the world”.

Time Magazine publishes a 'Top 100' list usually in April every year, but my assessment is that the Forbes list is more considered and solid.

The following table shows the Top Ten names on the 2014 list.

Table 1: Forbes 2014’s Top Ten

Ranking on Forbes 2014 list	Name	Position	Age
#1	Vladimir Putin	President of Russia	62
#2	Barack Obama	President of the United States	53
#3	Xi Jin Ping	General Secretary of the Communist Party of China; Chairman of the Military Commission; President of the People's Republic of China	61
#4	Pope Francis	Spiritual leader of the Catholic Church	77
#5	Angela Merkel	Chancellor of Germany	60
#6	Janet Yellen	Chair of the US Federal Reserve	68
#7	Bill Gates	Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Former Chairman of Microsoft	59
#8	Mario Draghi	President of the European Central Bank	67
#9	Sergey Brin &  Larry Page	Co-Founders of Google	41 & 41
#10	David Cameron	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom	48

Do you agree with their Top Ten? What would you change?

Obama obviously has more resources than Putin, but Putin has demonstrated his ability and willingness to use his power, especially this year.  

Personally, I would put Xi Jin Ping ahead of Obama because he is less constrained.  He is head of the Communist Party of China, and once the CPC determines a course of action, it happens.

I wouldn't rank #4 Pope Francis as high.  I agree he has influence, especially with 1.2 billion Catholics, but I would rank him lower, perhaps around #50. What do you think?

The 2014 list contains leaders of seven important international organisations.  They are:

#4 Pope Francis (Catholic Church)
#8 Mario Draghi (European Central Bank)
#33 Christine Lagarde (International Monetary Fund)
#40 Ban Ki Moon (United Nations)
#45 Jim Yong Kim (World Bank)
#67 Margaret Chan (World Health Organisation)
#70 Joseph Blatter (FIFA)

Regional origin

The regional origin of the 65 individuals on the Forbes list is shown below.

Table 2: Forbes 2014 list, by region

Region	Number	% of 65
USA	24	37%
Latin America	3	5%
Asia (including Australia)	19	29%
Europe	11	17%
Middle East + Africa	8	12%
Leaders of 7 International Organisations are in the list:   Pope; United Nations; World Health Organisation; World Bank; IMF; European Bank; FIFA. They are not included in Table 2.

The 2014 list of 65 individuals (excluding the international organisations) contains 24 Americans, 8 Chinese, 5 Russians, 4 Japanese, and 3 Indians.  One Aussie is included: #66 Gina Rinehart (#32 Rupert Murdoch is shown as American). 

{By way of comparison, the 2009 list contained 22 Americans; 6 Chinese; 3 Russians, and 5 Indians}

The eight persons of Chinese origin are:

#3 Xi Jin Ping (President)
#13 Li Ke Qiang (Premier)
#28 Li Ka Shing (Hutchinson Whampoa, Hong Kong)
#30 Jack Ma (Alibaba, e-commerce)
#41 Robin Li (Baidu, search)
#43 Ding Xue Dong (China Investment Corp)
#53 Ma Hua Teng (Tencent, social networking)
#71 Terry Gou (Hon Hai Corp, Taiwan)

Age distribution

The age distribution is shown in Table 3.  #22 Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook is the youngest on the list (30 years of age) and #11 King Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia is the oldest (90 years of age).

Table 3:  Forbes 2014 list, by age

Range of age	% of all names
30 – 39	3%
40 – 49	15%
50 – 59	30%
60 – 69	32%
70 – 79	15%
80 – 89	4%
90 – 99	1%

18% are younger than 50; 62% are aged between 50 and 69; 20% are 70 and older. The median age is 61. 

Women

There are nine women (12.5% of total) on the list. They are:

#5 Angela Merkel (German Chancellor)
#6 Janet Yellen (US Federal Reserve)
#31 Dilma Rousseff (Brazilian President)
#33 Christine Lagarde (IMF)
#46 Park Guen Hye (President of South Korea)
#55 Ginni Rometty (IBM)
#62 Mary Barra (General Motors)
#66 Gina Rinehart (Hancock Prospecting)
#67 Margaret Chan (WHO)

Although lists like this are subjective, I find them quite stimulating.  One can have spirited discussions about names on the list – for example, the inclusion of #70 Joseph Blatter, head of FIFA.  Is he really more ‘influential’ than say Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia, or Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia who are both not on the list?

A controversial inclusion in the 2014 list is #54 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State movement. Do you think he should be there?  Should people like Edward Snowden or Julian Assange be included in such lists?  Their actions have had big impacts, but do they wield real power and influence?  What about leading actors, artists, architects, scientists, or talk show hosts such as Oprah, or authors such as Rowling?

Postscript: I'm glad someone else compiles these lists -  big challenge!

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That's it for this post.

Keep well and keep smiling (it's only 10 days to Xmas!)

Best wishes,

Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn/english
Sunday 14 December 2014

11 December 2014

Gentlefolk,

Today is the 3rd anniversary of my mother's death, and I want to dedicate this post to her memory.

Herewith a snapshot.

Mum (in later life the whole family called her Omi, which is 'grandmother' in German) was born in Dresden, Germany on 18 May 1920 and christened Edeltraut Johanna Goerner. Aussies couldn't get their tongue around her name so she used the shortened version 'Traudi'.

She grew up in a loving family and reveled in the culture and history of Dresden.

When she was 20 she was drafted into the war effort, and sent to a radar station on Germany's north coast where she worked as an administrative assistant.  In March 1945, with Germany facing certain defeat, the radar station was abandoned and she returned to Dresden only to find the city in ruins. Her immediate family survived the devastating bombing: her father, mother, and elder sister (who had two little girls - her husband would join them later) - a miracle.

Somehow they managed to get to Bavaria, the American Zone, and settled in a small town called Weilheim, between Munich and Garmisch. She met my father, Akos Olah, who had been an officer in the Hungarian army, became a prisoner of war, and was later designated a "DP" (Displaced Person) when he refused to return to Soviet-occupied Hungary .

They had three children in quick succession (the 4th was born in Australia).  Germany was devastated and the future of Europe looked bleak.  So, like many others in similar situation, they decided to seek their fortune elsewhere.

Australia was the first to offer them sanctuary, so that's where we ended up in January 1951. After a while Dad got a job in Cooma NSW on the Snowy Mountains scheme.  The scheme was completed in 1974, Dad was retrenched, and they moved to Canberra.  He passed way on 25 July 1990 (aged 78) and Mum on 11 December 2011 (aged 91).

I'm sure everyone's mother is special, and Mum was no exception.

For us children, it was all a big adventure.  But looking back now we marvel at her strength and resilience. She bore four children in difficult circumstances - for example, the day before I was born she was out searching for fruit which had fallen to the ground. The voyage to the other side of the world was a nightmare, spent in the hold of an ex-troop carrier. The country they came to was strange: language, food, attitudes, manners, everything was different; no family, no friends.

She was made of stern stuff.  Always the optimist, she experienced hard times but refused to give in to despondency and despair.

A woman's capacity to protect her young and care for them is truly amazing.  I honestly don't know how she did it, but she always seemed to be there when we needed her.  A cup of hot chocolate on a winter's day, a band-aid for a cut, a kind word, and a gentle smile of encouragement when we felt down.

Her children and later her grandchildren always came first.  They had to be fed, clothed, cleaned, kept warm, while her own comfort and needs were set aside.

She was a very special lady.  May she rest in peace.

Here are some photos of the last year or two of her long, eventful, life.

Omi died on 11 December 2011. Over 100 family and friends attended the funeral service at St Pat's church in Braddon.  She is buried in Gungahlin Cemetery in Canberra. Her four children: Alex, Angie, Andy, and Aniko at the burial.  She instructed mourners to 'wear something yellow' as she wanted us to celebrate the joys of her life, not the hardships.

May 2011 Omi finally left her home and moved into Morshead Retirement Home in Lyneham, Canberra.  She had a nice room and was well looked-after.  When her health started deteriorating, Vera & I quickly returned from China and we were able to spend the last two weeks with her -  a precious time.  Angie came up from the coast.  Here we are chatting with Mum and singing songs.   Her mind was sharp till the end - we were often surprised at her ability to recite long poems and songs from her youth.

Omi always loved the festive season.  Here Aniko is singing Xmas carols with her. Aniko, despite her very busy job, was always the first there in the morning, and the last to put her to bed at night.

Omi surrounded by her extended family.  It was Aniko's birthday, January 2011. 

Aniko's birthday, January 2011.

My favorite photo with Omi.  We attended a function at the Indonesian Embassy, September 2010. This photo is the background on the Dedication Page of my book "It's all about the students". 

The three most important women in my life: mother, wife, and daughter, Canberra 2010.

January 2010, Mum with 3 of her 4 children; Angie 'missing in action'.

Andy's 60th birthday celebrations, January 2009.

The family always celebrated Xmas at Mum's house in Ainslie. She spent hours decorating the living room, and preparing the food.  It was a special time.  

A few simple words can't convey the kindness, the inner-beauty, and strength of my mother.  But I wanted to try anyway and it was good to go through the process on this day.

...

That's it for this post.

Only 3 weeks of teaching left for me this semester.  The final exams will be held in the week beginning 4 January 2015;  a few days of marking, then we will head south, to warmer climes.

 Until the next post, keep well and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn/english/
Thursday, 11 December 2014