Huangguoshu Waterfall Extravaganza

Huangguoshu Waterfall location

The world's third largest waterfall cascades 60 metres and presents a luxurious spray of cool mist from various viewing vantage points.

Our generous employers, at Guiyang No. 1 High School in Jinyang City, Guizhou Province, paid the 90-yuan per person fee to get them and us through the guarded entrance gate to the first viewing station, and another 30 for the ride up the steep escalator after our tour.

The view at the bottom of the falls is breathtaking. The water from the top of the mountain cascades with a tremendous force and fills your ears with thunder. The large pool of water at the bottom continues to flow down a smaller series of drops until in disappears into the deep forest.

Frank and I, along with several Chinese teachers and our leader, Ms. Shelly, walked along the prepared path to a steep set of stairs leading to the caves behind the flow. We ducked to avoid the low hanging stalagmite and stepped carefully to avoid breaking what were left of the stalactites. It was dark and a bit precarious for me but Frank was steady and encouraging. We spent nearly two hours at the wondrous site. Guizhou province is a precious location in China and a recommended destination for the explorative type.

Guizhou is a mountainous province with karst (limestone terrain), steep gorges, warm summers and mild winters. About 35% of Guizhou's population is made up of over 80 different ethnic minorities in remote villages: Miao, Bouyi, Dong, Yi and Hui to name a few. The majority of China's population is Han.
We are still in touch with dear friends that we met in Guiyang City.

* our camera broke so I've borrowed some photos from the Internet.

Path to Huangguashu Waterfalls

One of the spectacular views of Huangguoshu Falls

Huangguoshu entrance to behind the falls

The English Study Leader

In all middle and high school classrooms in China, there are as many Study Leaders as there are subjects to study. Write the words English Study Leader on the blackboard and ask for that person to identify himself or herself.

Cheng Fei Xiang

Meet Fly, the English Study Leader in Class 14, Grade One. His Chinese name is Cheng Fei Xiang and he conducts himself as English Study Leader with pride.

“Please tell me your duties as English Study Leader”, I said.

“I help all the other students with their English studies,” Fly said.

“What things do you do to help them?” I said.

“When we have English study time, I make sure the other students study well,” he said.

“How do you do that?” I said.

“I help the students write down English words,” he said.

“What else to you do to help the others?” I said.

“I help them say the English words,” Fly said.

Fly’s actions are a living display of a Confucius philosophy; “It is pointless to learn merely for the sake of learning. Application must be the end and learning the means.”

The Chinese believe that it is education, which has been responsible for the ascent of mankind and progress in society.   

Classroom Artwork

Frank at Qidong Middle School

Susan with Penny, another English Study Leader

Susan using fashion as an English topic

You Are Old

The Emporer and his wife

On Friday, October 21, 2005, Frank and I were met by Lemon, the Foreign English Teacher Intern, at the gate of Yichang No. 1 Middle School.

“Why have we been chosen to have our photos taken?” I said.

“You are old and every year the Chinese have a festival for old people. It is part of the Chinese New Year celebration,” Lemon said.

Together we travelled by taxi to the Love Photograph Shop. Our hosts invited us to try on a formal North American wedding gown and tuxedo. We accepted and returned from the dressing rooms in outfits that brought tears to my eyes while reminiscing about our wedding in Canada a year before. Frank laughed at how he looked in his ‘get-up’ as he referred to it. He asked the shop owner if we could wear traditional Chinese wedding garments. The accommodating proprietor instructed his staff to clothe us in outfits fit for an emperor and his wife.

We stood in various poses orchestrated by the photographer. Afterward, the photographs were prepared and refined on a large computer screen. We chose the ones we liked best and left with a computer disk and fond memories of being old in China.

Frank and Susan in Yi

Rule No.6: Enjoy yourself.

The Unbroken Rule

Quidong Foreign Language School

One of the rules issued by our employer in China was not to take on work outside the classroom. For example, they didn’t want their contracted English teachers moonlighting at other training institutions. At the middle school in Qidong where Frank and I were instructing we were approached by several of the parents who asked us to take on their child in private lessons. We explained the company rule to them. They persisted so we agreed to spend time with their child if we could gather at various locations and conduct English Corners.

An English Corner in China is orchestrated by foreign English teachers at libraries, restaurants and permitted public meeting sites. The instruction consists of promoting general conversations on sorted topics. The three ‘T’ topics to be avoided are Tianamen Square, Taiwan and Tibet.

Enjoying a meal at a private setting

The topics we covered with our group of students included western food and how to eat a hamburger with your hands, ♪ music ♪ , the good and bad of zoos, the power of family and the love of friends.

We enjoyed the students’ company immensely. Their rapid conversation and upbeat energy kept us buoyant in a country with a great number of rules. One regulation we learnt from our students was that the ratio of adult to youth or junior youth in public was two young people to one adult. For example, Frank and I supervised six middle school students on our various outings. At a restaurant, which is considered a private setting, we could be with as many as eight students, but if we went to a public place, like a park or a shopping centre, it was necessary for at least one or more of their parents to attend.

Rules aside, we had a tremendous time with our students, inside and outside the classroom. We highly recommend that you take time to be with your students so that you may learn from them.

Beautiful students

Curious about the food

Hello Mr and Mrs Black

Qidong, Jiangsu Province

Rule No. 5: Respect the rules.

Get to Know Your Group Leader

Precious Pear

To paraphrase a quote from Mao Tse Tung, "If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. If you want to know the structure of a middle school and high school classroom in China, you must take part in teaching English as a second language in China. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience."

Front row group leaders

You will recognize the Group Leader in your middle or high school classroom once all the students are seated. He or she sits in the first desk of each row. The number of Group Leaders you have available to assist you in your classroom depends on the number of rows set up in the room.

The primary duty of the Group Leader is to collect the homework or in-class assignments from each student in his or her row and hand the work to the teacher. The Group Leader is also responsible for distributing hand outs to each student in the row.

Get to know the Group Leaders in your class by asking their names and recording their position on your student roster. Like everyone else in this big world, the students love to hear his or her name. Also, your enthusiastic 'thank you' goes a long way in maintaining the Group Leader's support and cooperation.

Tip No. 4: Get to know your Group Leaders.

Tears of Joy

Train Tickets

All Aboard! We boarded the train from Yichang, Hubei province to Beijing. Our tickets had been purchased for us by our Yichang No.1 Middle School Foreign Teacher Administrator. We were told that our return tickets would have to be purchased in Beijing. We were unaware that Frank had been assigned room number 3 and I was allocated 13. Being separated from my husband so early in our overseas excursion made me uncomfortable so I sat patiently on Frank’s bunk until the conductor found a way to have us travel the 17-hour journey in the same room. 

After we shared conversation with a young Chinese girl and her mother, I fell asleep to the repetitive clacking sound of the train rolling along the tracks.

Soft Sleeper

The next morning, we sipped on tea and ate oranges with our roommates. From the window I admired the view of corn stacked on the top of houses, posted signs in Chinese characters, old buildings, vehicles of various makes and sizes and workers along the train tracks. Some picked up garbage with bare hands while others used large chopsticks. It appeared that everyone was working at something or travelling from some place to somewhere. We passed a graveyard, cornfields and buildings crumbling because of the pollution. Those scenes became very familiar to us in China.

Once in Beijing, we located a room at the Beijing Rainbow Hotel. Our biggest surprise was that there were no mattresses on the beds. In most Chinese motels or hotels, you sleep on a box spring. We chomped on bananas and headed out the door.

Air China tickets

At the train ticket office we were told that there we no return tickets to Yichang for at least two weeks. Our stay was to be for one week and so we were forced to purchase China Air passages to Yichang. From that point we headed to the Forbidden City museum.

Tears of bliss fell down my cheeks as I entered the enormous grounds of the once imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. I was overwhelmed by the majestic detail and that Frank and I had journeyed from Port Hardy, British Columbia to China.

Teaching English as second language was one impressive aspect of our expedition, equal to the discovery of everything Chinese we could absorb.

Imperial Palace Museum ~ Beijing, China

The Chinese Classroom Monitor

Qidong, JiangSu Province

Every middle school and high school classroom in China has at least one Monitor. He or she takes the duty seriously. Their primary duty is to be assistance to the teacher.

Meet Maggie. She was my classroom Monitor at the Qidong Junior Middle School. Qidong is located in JiangSu province. Sweet Maggie was 13 years old. Her daily duty was to observe and report on the overall conduct of the teacher and students in her class. She reported directly to the Head Teacher after each teaching session. She was a quick runner.

Maggie reported on the conduct of the teacher, foreign or otherwise, the behaviour of the students, late arrivals, unfinished homework, homework not handed in, inappropriate language by the teacher or the students and absences. My Monitor was always attentive.

“Maggie, how were you chosen to be Class Monitor?” I said.

“The Head Teacher chose me as Monitor because I have high marks in every subject,” she said.

Maggie's English is a band score of 4 International English Language Testing System. Although she is a limited user and has basic English language competence, she still has enough comprehension to gather your words and actions in the classroom and report your activities to the Head Teacher.

The duty of a Chinese classroom Monitor was described to me by Peng Wen Juan, a Chinese English teacher.

“In my opinion, the job of the monitor in a class is to be a good example and a good guide. He is to lead the class to having a good attitude towards studying, and also to help teachers to have good classes.”

Tip No. 3: Get to know your classroom Monitor.

Drawing by Maggie