China Summer Teaching Program - Testimonials

Trinkle Trinkle Little Star

by Peter Smichenko, Participant in China Summer Teaching Camp 2008

As teachers, we were a motley group. Rob from New Jersey had flaming red hair, wore ripped jeans, and his favorite hobby was fire-breathing. Tang Qiufen was quiet and disciplined in a traditional Chinese manner. Our other Chinese counterpart, Jin Guanhua was flamboyant and made us laugh with his unique English translation skills. These were my co-teachers for China Workcamp and we made an amazing team. I had one year of Chinese under my belt, and Rob knew how to order Kung-Pao chicken. Somehow the four of us were given the responsibility of teaching English to Chinese middle school kids...

Entering the classroom for the first time, Rob and I saw a very different learning environment than our schools in the States. The room was sparsely furnished with children’s desks and chairs that they carried with them to school on the first day. The windows were covered with iron bars and looked out to a view of mountains, rice paddies, and a chicken coup. The room reeked of Chinese chewing tobacco – an unfortunate addictive plant that some of my students enjoyed.

As we walked in, we were surprised to find a room full of students laughing at us. Physically, we were completely different from them, and they could sense our discomfort. The awkwardness though soon disappeared as we started laughing with them, and our English lessons began.

After a few weeks of teaching the basics – the alphabet, colors, numbers, time, and sports - we moved on to music. We started with a song that was a favorite among some of the Chinese students, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” After writing it on the board and singing it once for those unfamiliar with the tune, I opened it up for the students to start singing. They were reluctant at first, but soon enough they mustered up the courage to start, and with all of their might, they started singing “Trinkle trinkle little star…” My fellow teachers and I exchanged brief looks and suppressed our laughter.

I spelled “twinkle” phonetically and my Chinese co-teachers described how they should move their mouths to pronounce the word, but to no avail. I could not tell them they were “wrong” in their pronunciation, because they were already insecure with their English skills. They were so proud of their efforts as they kept looking up confidently saying “trinkle.” I went to each student personally and spent fifteen minutes slowly saying “twinkle” and moving my mouth so they could mimic me. Ling Cong, one of our students, came up to me and came dangerously close to saying “twinkle,” but when I excitedly asked him to repeat what he said, he confidently said “torango.”

Teaching the students how to sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” taught me an important lesson: sometimes learning is not about the final destination but rather the journey to get there. They were so proud of themselves, the pronunciation just didn’t matter.

At the end of camp, I realized that students had taught me more than they could have ever learned from a month’s worth of English lessons. They showed me what a great country they live in and the richness of the Chinese culture. Although living conditions are simple, their lives and hearts are full and they live with dignity.

I have never felt more loved as I watched them crying as we boarded the bus to go back to the U.S. I’ll never know if I changed any of their lives, but at that time I understood the potential that my generation has for promoting cultural understanding in this difficult and confusing world.