Teaching Dystopia in the PRC

As most of you dear readers know I’m in Shanghai! Teaching here has been an experience for sure, but I have some pretty awesome students to make up for the parts of my job that drive me crazy.

I've only read 5/12 =(

I recently completed a unit on dystopia with my 9^th grade English class. Dystopia is one of my favorite genres to explore. Not only is trending in YA literature right now, but it’s relevant to the world today regarding government, security, advances in technology etc.

I did a dystopia unit in the US with 12^th graders. It’s probably important to note that my 12^th graders were all reading different dystopian novels. My 9^th graders all read the same book—Lois Lowry’s The Giver.

Here’s the reaction to learning about dystopia I got from my American 12^th graders:

“WHY DO THEY HAVE CAMERAS IN THE HALL MISS SULLY!? THEY WATCH US DO EVERYTHING! THEY DON’T TRUST US! WE EVEN NEED PASSES TO GO TO THE BATHROOM! THIS SCHOOL IS A DYSTOPIA!”

So the 12^th graders were a little dramatic. Naturally, this time I was prepared for more dramarama but that’s not really what I got.

Most of my Chinese students haven’t been exposed to the genre before. They’ve seen the movies for Enders Game and The Hunger Games but didn’t know what those types of stories are called. So, a lot of this unit has been building background knowledge and bombarding them with as many supplemental texts which I will list later on. (Oh, you know that The Giver book review is on the horizon.)

Anyone else think he looks like Darwin?

Now, The Giver is an interesting one. I hadn’t read it in a long time and there was so much I missed the last time I read it! Starting with the fact that the Giver is an asshole and ending with the fact that Lowry very cleverly critiques and promotes the society she creates. The conversations between Jonas and the Giver about what is good for the people of the community are wonderful. And even in the end Jonas still struggles with what is better—the “perfect” society or freedom.

And then it comes down to what this has done to me. Maybe it’s just the way the year is going (we did a unit on myths and fairy tales and debated the importance of books and storytelling in our society) but I have started to see dystopia everywhere. I feel like I am becoming one of my former 12^th graders. I’m pretty much convinced society is going to become MT Anderson’s Feed.

But perhaps that is a better rant for another day.

There is also the overall impact this unit has had on my teaching, because in the end I have not been pleased with this unit. There have been some hiccups along the way (not enough copies of the book for each kid to have their own etc.) but I’m the dystopia gal. YA is my specialty and this is my genre. I know how to rock a dystopia unit and I feel like I didn’t rock it.

And I think this is the reason why…

Most of my students come from Chinese Local Schools. They have to have a certain English ability to get into our school, however, most have never read a complete English book before or (more importantly) been asked their opinion about anything.

Never before have I appreciated so much the power of asking “why.” Asking students to explain themselves. Asking them to agree or disagree or stand in the middle and defend their position.

Our school promotes an “East Meets West” education and dystopia is where they come head to head.

SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM!

There is me questioning Jonas’s bravery and the Giver’s good intentions.

Then there are my students who can tell me of course Jonas is brave and the Giver is good. Duh, Lois Lowry wrote it right here so it MUST be true.

But, this is really more about me. It’s about me knowing better. Me knowing the background of my kids and scaffolding the questioning. About me being more explicit and offering more practice for finding text-based evidence. Seeing that the kids come from a background where questioning isn’t encouraged and learning and memorizing are the same thing, so I should give them some more time.

Me saying that I will not lower my expectations but I can approach them in a different way.

Me saying next time I will be better.

Not to say there have been no positives in this unit. There were definitely students who embraced the genre and have started reading other dystopian novels. There were students I had to keep yelling at because they read ahead and tried to spoil the ending for everyone.

And there were students who were appreciative of the questions. Students who for the first time were told it’s ok to talk about the world and critique different societies—even North Korea.

One of the overarching concepts in dystopian novels is the idea of making everyone the same, and that if this were to happen the world would be a better place. In the end I’m confident I managed to hammer into my students that it is ok to be different.

In fact, I want them all to be different—with their own opinions and own questions—and that is what makes a western English lit class work. Bringing everyone’s different backgrounds and ideas together is what creates a richer and more meaningful reading of the text. This is something I will continue to work on and encourage with my students.

On the Move

I decided it was high time to revive this blog. A lot has changed since you all last read my Spinster English Teacher book reviews.

But no worries, I’m still a Spinster.

First and foremost I moved to China. Which has been a whirlwind to say the least. I’ve already been here for 8 months and it seems more like 8 weeks. I’ve made some great friends, had great adventures and of course teach the very best students I could ask for.

We aren't very good at making funny faces. 

So, to set the stage for future blogs I thought I would share some notes from the China experience.

7 of them of course, because I like things in 7s.

1. Face. Face is something I may not ever fully understand. It is pride and honor and family and a bunch of other stuff rolled into one. What I do know is that students are worried about it and I have none.
2. Taking care of my own face. Before I left I went product crazy (and have done it since in China) for face stuff. With the pollution here it’s important to have a good face regimen so the moneymaker is always pretty. And definitely sign up for the Sephora China card. Here’s a pic of my arsenal.

   

   We have, Vaseline Coconut body lotion, Origins Clear Improvement Face Mask, Clinique BB Cream, Dramatically Different Face Stuff, City Block Sheer w/ SPF, Eye Wrinkle Stuff, Neutrogena Acne Stress Control Face Wash, Some Vitamin E lotion, and that little jar is some free Sephora same I dunno what it is. I like Clinique a lot, clearly, because it is very plain. It has fairly simple ingredients and doesn't smell like anything. 

3. The Language. I’m in Shanghai so the language barrier is so-so. There are a lot of places that have Chinese and English on the menus. There is Chinese and English on the street signs and on the Metro. It’s easy to get around for the most part. However, also important to learn key phrases. Ones my friends and I refer to as “beginner restaurant and intermediate cab.” And be prepared to explain to people why you aren’t learning the language.
4. Your Realtor is your Friend. My roommate and I get along really well with the company that set us up in our apartment. This is wonderful. They helped us with Internet, bills, and making sure our expat status is registered with the police department. They are awesome.
5. This is all true.
6. Home. I love my SH apartment. I like coming here after a long day and cuddling up in my Ikea bed with my Ikea blankets and my Ikea pillows. But Home Home is important too. I always take time to Skype or Facetime with the parents, the bro, and my 2 bffls from home. My friends here are amazeballs but there is nothing like talking to someone who knows you better than you know yourself sometimes. 
7. Being a Spinster English Teacher. This is the nitty-gritty folks. First, it’s uncommon for a woman of a certain age to be single.  Students ask about it more often than I like, and their wish for me on my birthday was “find a boyfriend.” English teacher gets the eye from everyone else. It’s no secret there are many traveling expats who end up teaching English at foreign schools. They give us real English teachers a bad name. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to get the “And what do you do? Teach English?” *eye roll* “and what was your degree in sweetie?” Yes. I teach English. I teach English to kids who speak English at an international school. I teach the exact same English class I would teach in the Good Ol’ U.S. of A. And I don’t need your eye roll, didn’t your mother ever tell you your face will get stuck like that?

And there you have it (for now). Some important highlights of my move to China. There are more but I don’t want to bore you with my life, you’re here for the books right?

Come back soon for updates to the books blog. Where are we going next? The Giver and Teaching Dystopia in the PRC. Ah, it's good to be back. 

It's been so long!!!

Why women shouldn’t drive

Review of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

One of my most recent movie theater adventures involved two wonderful things.

The first of which was seeing Les Mis with my mom. It was a fexcellent film and I highly recommend it. Seriously, go watch it.

So now you’re back from seeing Les Mis and decided to read the rest of the post, which brings me to wonderful thing number two; watching Les Mis involved the preview for Baz Luhrman’s new film adaptation of The Great Gatsby.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey McGuire, the preview contained all the glitz and pizzazz I would expect of a Baz Luhrman production and I’m definitely going to see it. So, in honor of the newest movie version, this is my review of The Great Gatsby.

*Summary Contains Spoilers*

Lucas shows off my copy.

This tale of the roaring 20s opens on Nick Carraway reflecting on some life advice his father gave him when he left home: don’t judge people too quickly. Nick lives in a quaint little house in the West Egg of Long Island next door to the grand mansion of one Jay Gatsby.

Our narrator goes to visit his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her husband Tom as they recently moved back to the fashionable East Egg. Daisy is waifish and full of energy. Instantly the reader knows she’s a ticking time-bomb of instability, but its ok we like her anyways. It is also instantly apparent that Tom is a major tool and they are back in town because of some scandal.

She also introduces Nick to her friend Jordan who’s a competitive golfer and horrible driver. Jordan and Nick casually date briefly in the novel and he is always happy to point out to her what a crap driver she is.

But totally not in a judgmental way. 

Soon after this dinner, Tom takes Nick into New York City for the night. Before they go they stop at a gas station in the valley of ashes and pick up Tom’s mistress, a very loud obnoxious woman named Myrtle. Myrtle is married to the gas station owner, and they live above the station. She has dreams of grandeur her nice little hubby can’t make come true so she clings to Tom and his wealth. They have a rip-roaring night in the city and Nick is further convinced of Tom’s douchebaggery.

But he’s totally not judgmental.  

I’ll cut in now to say The Great Gatsby was one of the first books where every page screamed symbolism! and classism! Between the East and West Eggs and the green light and Dr. TJ my 17-year-old mind could barely handle it. This is the book that made me want to be an English major and talk about books. I wanted to be able to make predictions and talk about Gatsby’s longing for Daisy embodied in the green light without people yelling at me: “You’re ruining it! We’re not supposed to know he loves Daisy yet!” 

So, I guess the cat’s out of the bag again—Gatsby loves Daisy (even though she, like Jordan, is a horrible driver). Loves her so much he’s crafted his entire glitzy life in the hopes of one day winning her back again. With Nick's help a reunion is organized, and Gatsby gets to show off all the wealth he's acquired to impress his lady-love. Of course, Daisy loves Gatsby as well, but things are never that easy.

Considering what we already know of Tom the Tool, and Daisy the Detonator things don’t end up the way our hero Gatsby planned. There's also the classic case of unreliable narrators. A lot of Nick's information comes from Jordan who is a cheater and liar as well as a poor driver, and Nick himself is also not the most trustworthy person in the world. No matter how nonjudgmental he attempts to be.

Now, Nick may walk the line on that whole not judging people thing, but it’s his true understanding of Jay Gatsby and their friendship that makes him seem trustworthy. He sees past the glitter and understands that Gatsby is more than a rich snob. He’s a dreamer, a romantic, and a secret-keeper. Through Nick’s eyes the reader can see that Gatsby truly is a great man, which makes the conclusion of the novel all the more heartbreaking. 

Even if he did associate with women who can't drive.

Supplementary Texts:

Classism is a huge part of this novel. East Egg vs. West Egg, the different social standings of the Buchanans, Gatsby, Nick, and Myrtle—it goes on and on. To really get the students to grasp this divide I recommend immersing your class in the 1920s. A Gatsby unit should double as a history lesson.

Ok, most units should double as history lessons but I’m getting ahead of myself.

1) Listen to the music of the 20s, look at pictures of fashion, look at pictures of houses. Some songs from the era (such as "Ain't we got fun") comment of the class divide of the era and represent this glimpse in time perfectly. Research into the fashion of the era will also help students better envision the characters. I mean, not everyone nowadays can appreciate a man who wears sexy pink pants like Gatsby. And in terms of houses, Gatsby’s house is based off a real location on Long Island. There’s a lot of fun stories and articles surrounding possible Gatsby houses.

Not exactly Gatsby's house, but here's me snooping around Long Island trying to find it.

2) Read articles about prohibition, and also how social norms changed in the 20s. Boys and girls were allowed to date and dance and arranged marriages began to come to an end. How is a “looser” society portrayed in the novel, and how does it drive the plot? And how does it affect the characterization of the women in the story? Have your kids make a chart comparing/contrasting Jordan, Daisy, and Myrtle. How is the era captured in these women?

3) See what actual people in history thought of the novel. There are reviews of the novel written in the 20s, and who better to assess Fitzgerald’s accuracy of writing than the people who actually lived in the time period? Even have your kids write a review of the book as a reporter from the 20s. After all the history you throw at them they should be able to travel back in time and publish the article with no one thinking twice about it.   

Report Card:

 

I love The Great Gatsby. There’s no way I can get through this review without saying so. It’s dramatic and thought provoking. It’s a beautiful and tragic representation of an era people today only dream about (Hello, Midnight in Paris).

I’ve read Gatsby several times and keep falling deeper and deeper in love. I’m still not sure if I trust Nick Caraway or if I’ve unraveled the true mystery that is Jay Gatsby—but that’s what I love about it. In my opinion The Great Gatsby is one of the best books read in schools these days and it would be a disservice to kids if they are not made to read it. Of course it should not be rushed through either, or taught for the simple reason of using it as a source on a state exam.

The Great Gatsby should be enjoyed. And it gets an A.

On that note, back to the movie. If Carey Mulligan is half the Daisy Mia Farrow was I think we’ll be ok, and I’m overall excited to see Baz’s vision. And some really beautiful shirts.

Let me introduce you to my boyfriend, Huck

Review of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Here’s a fun fact about me; I’ve read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn five times.

1) Summer between 9^th and 10^th grade

2) Fall of 10^th grade once the teacher learned not everyone had read it

3) 12^th grade because 2 kids out of 14 hadn’t read it and the teacher thought that was unacceptable

4) Freshman year of college

5) Junior year of college, for fun this time

Huckleberry Finn has changed for me over the years, and has become a story I now truly enjoy. I own a beat-up old copy I bought for $1.99. It’s full of my notes; the cover is falling off, and written on that falling off cover are the addresses of my friends. Needless to say this paperback and the story it contains means a lot to me. After all, it is all about the journey, man.  

*Summary Contains Spoilers*

Huck’s story opens where Tom Sawyer left off. Huck has been “adopted” by the Widow Douglas. The old widow and her sister Miss Watson take on the task of “sivilizing” him. Poor Huck has to wear starch white shirts and read the Bible, and he’s having none of it. He joins Tom and some of the other local boys for some shenanigans, but even that doesn’t really help. Huck is itching for something to happen, and around that time his father returns and kidnaps him.

Now, Huck wasn’t a big fan of being sivilized, but living in the woods with his drunk, abusive father isn’t great either. So, Huck fakes his own death and hides while the village combs the river looking for him. While hiding Huck meets Jim, Miss Watson’s slave. Jim’s a runaway and after their hiding place is compromised the two grab a raft and head down the river. Their plan is eventually ditch the raft and take a steamboat north where slavery is illegal.

Of course, things don’t work out that easily. Huck and Jim have many misadventures on the river from meeting a group of robbers in an abandoned steamboat, getting caught up in a feud between two old Southern families, and running cons with the King and the Duke.

One of the most frustrating things about reading Huckleberry Finn the first time is the picaresque style it’s written in. I had never read anything like it before and found the episodic text puzzling. Especially to a kid who was always taught that every story has a predictable sequence with one distinct climax/turning point.

Now, the picaresque is one of my favorite things about this novel. The style of the book allows the reader to be taken on an adventure with Huck and Jim and meet all the crazy characters along the way.

There are many ways to interpret all the stops along with way, but overall Huck gets a picture of all the ways sivilization works. From the racists to the con men, to the liars and the lovers. Those in the midst of an ancient feud and everyone in between. Huck doesn’t meet a lot of likeable people, but isn’t that just the way the world works?

Even though the book is written episodically it can be argued that there is one distinct climax, and that’s when Huck considers turning Jim in but decides against it. Jim and Huck are a classic literary team and a lot can be learned from their dynamic about the time period the book takes place in as well as human interactions.

The end of the book doesn’t quite live up the rest of the text, and is a little abrupt. Legend has it that Twain didn’t know where he wanted the story to go next so he just tied it all up nicely with a shiny bow, had it published, and went along his merry way.

The ultimate question I’ve been asked about the book is whether or not the journey leads to Huck becoming sivilized. But, a better question is whether or not Huck wants to be sivilized?

And the answer? A resounding NO!    

Sure Huck wants some sort of family, but he’s so good at looking out for himself. Pap certainly isn’t good for our hero, but neither is the widow. He appreciates the people who try to take care of him, but he’s stifled but those who try to change him. Huck is his own man and he likes his freedom.

 

Supplementary Texts:

1) Articles about the “controversial” nature of the novel. (Like this one.) The book takes place in pre-Civil War deep south. People own slaves, they are racist, and they drop the N-word often. Editions of the book have been released with the N-word taken out, but I think that’s really detrimental to Twain’s vision. He provides a beautifully accurate portrait of a harsh time period and that cannot be overlooked. You could even…

2) Host a debate. Have your students debate the turning point of the book, whether or not Huck becomes sivilized, Jim’s intentions, and the use of racist terms within in the book.

3) Movie previews. When I read the novel the 4^th time, the teacher showed the class the trailers for the different movie versions of Huckleberry Finn. Just watching these trailers and small clips you can see what directors picked out as the most important parts of this novel and most of it is hilarious. These clips provide the class a great way to pull out important themes and motifs. Here’s the original. And the more recent Disney version. (There are several others too.)

4) Maps of Missouri. Have your students map out Huck’s journey so they can visualize. Fill your classroom with pictures of the era to get everyone in the mood for learning! Here’s an interesting lesson to get your map project started. It’s a great review tool too!

Report Card:

This book is deserving of its status as a classic and has so much to offer its readers. Huck is great for the classroom and I look forward to getting the chance to teach a unit featuring this novel. 

Huckleberry Finn is everything a high schooler should want. He answers to himself and has his own point of view of the world, and he should be applauded for it. Huck is clever and a problem solver. He’s an innocent and doesn’t let some of the ugliness he encounters change the way he views life (or his friends). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn gets a definite A.