Three useful words for the ESL student (3)

to crack down on something – this is when the government decides to take very severe or serious action against something they had been ignoring or avoiding in the past. i.e. New York City police have been cracking down on dangerous bicycle riders in Central Park now that two people have been seriously injured because of bicycle accidents. Or: There has been too much bullying in American schools. Teachers and administrators need to crack down on this type of harmful behavior. (bullying is when bigger and stronger kids harass or bother or beat up smaller kids)

outskirts – the outskirts of a city are the parts of the city farthest from the center of the city. i.e. When I lived and taught in Longgang, I almost felt like a prisoner because I was living on the very outskirts of Shenzhen and rarely traveled into the downtown area…it just took too long. Or: The poorest people of a city often live on the outskirts, far from the real life of the city.

to be looming – if something is looming, it is fast approaching. This term is usually used in regard to time and deadlines. i.e. I have to file my tax returns by April 15^th. It is already April 1^st, the deadline is looming. Or: Joe needed to finish his report by a tight deadline and he suddenly realized the day he needed to turn that report in was looming fast.

Three useful words for the ESL student (2)

to ramp something up – to increase something, like ‘ramping up an effort’ to finish something. A ramp is a road that goes upward, it is not level. i.e. This trade war is ridiculous. Negotiators need to ramp up their efforts to reach an agreement to end all of this. i.e. I have not been writing many articles these days. I need to ramp up my efforts to keep writing articles, I can’t get lazy.

tops –  this is the very highest offer a person will make…no higher offer will be made i.e. I will give you 500 rmb for that painting, tops! Or: I will pay you 60 rmb for those shoes, tops! Or: We will pay you 14,000 rmb per month, tops!

paydirt – if you “hit” paydirt, you become incredibly successful. i.e. I invested 1,000 rmb in a new company and I hit paydirt! My investment is now worth 100,000 rmb! Or: I went to an art gallery opening and met an amazing woman who is now my girlfriend. I hit paydirt!

Three useful words for the ESL student

to enforce something – when the government or police make sure that people are following a law. i.e. The Chinese government has started to enforce its work-visa laws more strongly. They are now arresting and deporting people who work without the proper visas. Enforcing the work-visa law will make sure the quality of English teaching is better in China.

to hunker down – to really focus and work hard on something because a deadline is coming up. i.e. I have a tight deadline for this project and I am running out of time. I need to hunker down and start working harder and more efficiently or I am not going to be able to finish on time.

an encore – this is when a performer comes back on stage after a performance and does more performing (even though he/she doesn’t have to). For example, a pianist who finishes a scheduled hour-long piano recital might come back and play some extra piano pieces. Or a rock and roll band might come back on stage and do extra songs when their show is officially over.  i.e. I went to the Shenzhen Concert Hall to see a pianist play four Beethoven sonatas. I expected him to do an encore of a couple more piano pieces, but he was too tired and he didn’t do an encore.

5 Best Places to Go in Shenzhen, China for the Western Culture Vulture

A view of downtown Shenzhen. Please click on the images to get enlarged versions.

Shenzhen is only 41 years old and is still a work-in-progress culturally. Frankly, after living a number of years in Chicago and New York City, soaking up every possible aspect of urban culture, I was happy to enjoy Shenzhen's many magnificent parks with their amazing banyan trees and other forms of flora and fauna not present back in my American cities. You can come to Shenzhen and really enjoy the nature that can be found within the city. Nanshan Mountain, for example, has always been one of my favorite places to go to for some exercise and its views of the city.

Yet, you can take the guy out of New York City but you can't take New York City out of the guy and there were times when I sought out jazz or blues clubs, good art galleries, museums and a nice concert hall. Also, I was able to introduce some Chinese friends to aspects of American urban culture by finding places similar to those I patronized back home. The people of Shenzhen are adventurous and open-minded, so come over and make lots of Chinese friends and take them out to some of these venues.

That being said, here are five places in Shenzhen that the Western culture vulture might enjoy:

1. ROOTSHOUSE - a music venue/bar for soul, jazz, blues, indy-rock at OCT Loft

Here's a review I wrote of ROOTSHOUSE for Wall Street International: https://wsimag.com/entertainment/62330-an-interview-with-moss

I would argue that this is, by far, the best music venue and bar at OCT Loft. There are other jazz clubs at OCT Loft, but they are a bit pricey and not nearly as swanky, diverse or inclusive as ROOTSHOUSE. At ROOTSHOUSE you can get by on a couple bottles of beer, usually there is no cover charge, and take in the very cool atmosphere and music for maybe 200 rmb. 

So if you are there from 9pm to midnight, 200 rmb is certainly worth it. But, their bar is fabulous, so please feel free to get yourself a couple cocktails to help soak up the jazz or blues more deeply. If you leave the club at about midnight or 1am, you can take a Didi back to your place or just grab a taxi - taxis often flood OCT Loft at night. If you get stranded (you won't), just sleep under a banyan tree until morning. :P

2. OCT Loft - Hive Center for Contemporary Art Gallery, various art galleries 

OCT Loft has a smattering of art galleries, most of them good. The problem is that you have to wander around to find them. I have said many times that Shenzhen would be well-served with a gallery guide that attempted to list all the galleries in the city. Perhaps there should be a gallery coalition and they could even have gallery-crawl nights or weekends where free wine and cheese is served and folks can wander from area to area and check out the galleries. To be honest, until I got stranded in the USA due to the coronavirus, I was hoping to try to put something like that together.

The Hive Center for Contemporary Art is a truly first-class art gallery that is anchored in Beijing. That a Beijing Gallery would experiment and come down to Shenzhen is to its credit, as Shenzhen simply does not have enough meaningful art for a city its size.

Here is a review I did of a great show at Hive in Shenzhen: https://wsimag.com/art/52298-subjunctive-mood

There are other, larger, exhibition spaces at OCT Loft. Here is a review of art at one of these larger venues: https://wsimag.com/art/51630-sui-jianguo

Random images of art from an OCT Loft exhibition space:

So OCT Loft has a smattering of galleries, a smattering of music venues and many places to hang out and eat or get something to drink: either coffee, tea or potent potables. Shenzhen young (and older) folks seem to especially enjoy getting together with friends and spending time in these venues.

3. Dafen Art Museum and TNT Gallery in Dafen Oil Painting Village

In its initial stages, Shenzhen was developed, in large part, by entrepreneurs from Hong Kong. Land prices were much less expensive in Shenzhen than in Hong Kong and many Hong Kong business folks merely crossed over the river to Shenzhen to extend or further develop their businesses. One of these entrepreneurs sold replicas of famous paintings or paintings of rural scenery to various restaurants and hotels around the world. Yes, there was, and is, a huge market for knock-off paintings. So a remote area of Shenzhen known as Dafen became an area where painters could be hired to complete knock-off paintings or paintings of beautiful scenic spots for export around the world.

To this day you can go to Dafen and get a replica of a Van Gogh painting for under 100 rmb. Indeed, famous works by various old masters can be bought as replicas in Dafen. These days, the painters have branched out a little bit and some of them do their own types of decorative paintings, some of which can be quite stylish. I've traveled to Dafen to buy some inexpensive decorative pieces.

But, there is now a problem. It is much cheaper to generate these replica paintings via a computer program and using much less skilled painters. Dafen painters are facing competition from other entrepreneurs who are using the latest technology to make knock-off paintings more quickly and cheaply. 

So Dafen seems to be changing. If you go there you will see many store fronts where knock-offs are painted or where painters will paint whatever you want them to paint for you. But there is now a museum in the middle of the area called the Dafen Art Museum, which actually contains real, original art from local and regional Chinese artists. Not all of it is as thoughtful as you might like it to be, but you can be surprised by quality work at that museum. Its goal seems to be to highlight the creativity of original artists in Dafen, Shenzhen and other parts of China.

Just a couple shots from the Dafen Art Museum.

One of the first REAL art galleries to set up in Dafen is called TNT. Indeed, this space not only has an art gallery, but it also has a residency program which invites several artists at a time to live together and create around and with each other at the TNT facilities. The artists are chosen from various countries, as well as China, and there is a great deal of cross-fertilization that occurs here.

Three shots from the TNT residency studios:

What's special about TNT is that it is bringing international artists to Shenzhen to interact with Chinese artists, so the artists from China are able to learn about what might be happening in the visual arts around the world while influencing those foreign artists. TNT also has a gallery with exhibitions that change periodically.

Here are a couple of shots of a recent show where a French artist focused on the Dafen community.

So if you head into Dafen I would recommend wandering around the studios of the artists who are painting commercially. You are welcome to buy directly from these artists. Also go to the Dafen Art Museum - it is 100% free. Also, drop by TNT Gallery - it is free as well.

My review of Dafen from Wall Street International: https://wsimag.com/art/57383-your-buyers-are-your-art


4. The Jupiter Museum

Some random shots from the Jupiter Museum - Shenzhen's latest and best art museum, featuring meaningful and thoughtful pieces.

The Jupiter Museum was recently created in Shenzhen and its first exhibit showcased the work of some of China's most established and respected contemporary artists. The first show was very Beijing-centered and academia-centered, as many of the artists held professorial positions at Beijing universities.

So the museum might be invaluable to current fine art students in Shenzhen who wish to see what some of their forebears have done in the field of contemporary art and where they, themselves, might want to carry the newly established tradition and trends (Chinese contemporary art seems to be younger than even Shenzhen is). 

Also, with about 60 artists represented, the show provides much challenging work for the viewer. A person could easily spend an entire afternoon in this one venue. The ticket prices are worth it: about 100 rmb at the door. The museum is located in Futian. Exhibits will change periodically.

Here is a brief notice I wrote about the opening of the museum: https://wsimag.com/art/59672-a-world-class-museum-for-contemporary-art

5. The Shenzhen Concert Hall

The Shenzhen Concert Hall is near Book City (where you can buy English books, especially at Eon Books) and the Shenzhen Central Library. There are many cafes and places to get snacks and you can even hear some pretty good buskers in a nearby square.

You can hear piano (and other) recitals at this concert hall as well as orchestral works. Indeed, they have a quite diverse program of Western and Eastern music. I was very happy to be able to see Sir Simon Rattle conduct a program of Brahms with the London Symphony Orchestra. I also went for a performance by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra. 

I paid over 1,000 rmb for an individual ticket for the London Symphony and I paid 250 rmb for the performance by the Armenian Orchestra. My seats for the London Symphony were much better, however - behind the orchestra so I could watch the facial expressions on Rattle's face.

The standard of living in China is still more affordable than in Europe or the USA, so large, famous orchestras know they are not going to make much money playing in Shenzhen. The London Symphony is one of the few really famous orchestras that seems to come to Shenzhen, and kudos and thanks to them for this. But that's fine, the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra brought along a fun and engaging program of primarily Russian works, as well as the obligatory and super satisfying Khachaturian pieces you have heard and enjoy hearing over and over again.

Now, if you are used to going to Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall for your music, you will find a classical music concert in China to be different. At Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall you are expected to observe a somewhat formal dress code. If you don't, that's OK, but it's kind of expected. I, actually, like that. Going to a classical performance is a special event with performances from highly skilled and often brilliant musicians. 

One should take a formal approach, in my humble opinion, and be dressed for the occasion. If you disagree, that's fine. I value your opinion but do not share it. At the Shenzhen Concert Hall the men seem to come in tee shirts and shorts while the women often come in quite elegant and stylish dresses. So there's quite a discrepancy in styles between the guys and women. Just pointing out a sociological fact, here.

Also, another big difference is the presence of children. There are often many children at these performances as parents seem to feel that immersing their kids in classical music is beneficial.

This can be problematic at piano recitals. Some of the children cannot sit still for very long, wiggle around, talk to other children, drop things - it can get pretty annoying. The Shenzhen Concert Hall is aware of this and seems conscientious about finding a solution to this issue.

If you look at the images of the hall, itself, you might feel it looks a bit angular and harsh. You might even feel it looks more like a hockey arena than a concert hall. That's OK as far as I am concerned. It's a type of modernist architecture that I am not used to, but I have fallen in love with this venue and recommend it highly. The Shenzhen Concert Hall is a great asset to the city of Shenzhen and we should all support it.

Drama Queen English - Teaching Emotions and How to Express Them through English

I would like to offer an activity to teachers of English which I created and which has worked quite well for me. I call it: Drama Queen English. In fact, it might even work in an American classroom for children who are native English speakers.

Basically, you can help students learn the names of various emotions, help them with their pronunciation and students really seem to enjoy playing this educational game. 

One of the lessons is that spoken English is rarely emotion-free and that non-verbal communication is often employed when speaking English.

Of course we all know what a drama queen is:

image from forums.phoenixrising.me

This is a person who over-reacts emotionally and often makes a big deal out of nothing. In the game Drama Queen English the student should be encouraged to go totally overboard, and express over-the-top emotions while making simple statements.

So here's how you do it.

You start by creating a number of slips of paper with basic statements and slips of paper with emotions. You might do a PowerPoint on emotions before playing the game, and you can remind students of what the emotions are as you play.

Basic statements:

Emotions:

Of course, now, students will take one statement and one emotion randomly and have to present it as a drama queen in front of the class. 

They should be encouraged to be as expressive and dramatic as possible - that's the point of the exercise/game. Also, emotions that don't seem to fit the statements actually can be made to fit the statements - therein lies the fun!!!!

The student joyfully says, "I need help!"

The student says "The tea is not ready." as if he/she is in love.

Sometimes I will have a pair of students in the front of the room and after one emotes a statement, the other responds with an equally goofy/silly emoted statement.

e.g. First student, “Lovestruck” “I hurt my elbow.” 

Second student, “Happy” “I had a strange dream.”

You wind up creating strange and funny little absurdist dramas/dialogues in which students display emotions using rhythm, tone of voice and body language.

So there you have a simple exercise/game which will allow your students to express themselves, feel more confident about being in front of the class or other groups, teach them different emotions and help them realize that when speaking English we do not speak in a monotone and we use our bodies and faces in the expression of various statements.

I really hope you can try this and that it helps you. Feel free to experiment...

Daniel Gauss

MA, Teachers College Columbia University

(currently teaching in Shenzhen, China)

danielgauss31@gmail.com

Read the essays of Daniel Gauss here: https://goodmenproject.com/author/daniel-gauss/

A teenager in Oregon gets harassed with homophobic graffiti, but responds with grace and humor

This article has very useful vocabulary and I chose it to show that the United States is not as open-minded as many folks around the world might think. Because this teenager admitted to some friends that he is not "straight" or "heterosexual" (to be "straight" means you are a guy who likes women or a woman who likes guys) people secretly came to his house and left anti-gay graffiti all over the place.

Everyone's right to make his/her own decisions about his/her life is supposed to be protected in the USA, but, as you can read, there are still many hate-filled and narrow-minded people who enjoy causing harm to others.

The article:

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/oregon-teen-turns-homophobic-graffiti-teachable-moment-n1038206

Vocabulary:

homophobic - if a person is homophobic, he/she hates people who are not straight; someone who hates gay people. In this article the teen states he is "bi" which means bisexual, so he likes both boys and girls. So I guess the term homophobic can be used to describe people who do not like bisexual people either.

grace - if a person acts with grace, he acts calmly and peacefully and kindly

to be harassed by someone - this is when someone deliberately tries to harm another person emotionally,;when one person bothers another person

graffiti - this is when paint or markers are used in public places, often illegally, to convey messages or designs. There is something called "graffiti art" but in this case the graffiti is not art, it was meant to emotionally harm the teenager.

a teachable moment - when something bad happens but you use it to teach people something important. So the teenager used the graffiti to create more positive art and to get people from his community involved in a process to take action against hatred.

to be vandalized, vandalism, to vandalize - this is when public or private property is deliberately destroyed or ruined by someone for fun or out of hatred.

LGBTQ - lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer: lesbian = women who like women, gay = guys who like guys, bi = liking both sexes, trans = switching from one sex to another, queer = you don't want to be called any of the other stuff, but you are not straight

anti - against. If someone is anti-gay, he/she is against gay people. The opposite of anti is pro.

bass - pronounced "base"...a musical instrument that produces a very deep sound

disturbing - not calm, not peaceful, anything that causes one to worry or be scared

tagged - painted

to be flabbergasted - to be deeply surprised to the point where one is shocked

the slur "fag" - a slur is an insult against someone because of how they look or act. The word "fag" is an insulting term for someone who is gay or lesbian.

to spray paint something - this is paint that comes out of a spray can

to cope with something - to deal with something bad in a healthful way

pride - a feeling that one should be happy about or satisfied about something. 

pansexual, asexual - pansexual means liking every gender or sex (I think), and asexual means you just don't care about sex

inclusive flags - inclusive means everyone s welcome to do something or be somewhere. So there are flags that represent this attitude in the LGBTQ community.

bullying - when ignorant, hateful (often stupid) people bother, harass or attack innocent people. Usually the people being attacked are peaceful and kind and easy targets for the idiots who do this.

to confide something to someone - to tell something to someone secretly. If there is a person you often tell secrets to, he/she is your confidant.

an outpouring  of support - a huge amount of support, like water pouring out 

the community has stepped up - the community took positive action, people came forward to help even though they didn't have to

a bias crime - to be biased against someone is to hate someone because of how he looks or acts. A bias is, basically, a prejudice. In the USA a bias crime is a very serious matter because everyone is supposed to have the right to be whatever he/she wants to be. 

Testimonial: learnTEFL.com - a good way to become TEFL certified

Even though I went to Teachers College at Columbia University, and I have experience teaching, I like to keep up-to-date on the latest teaching trends, methods and debates. Therefore, I decided to take an online course to become TEFL certified. TEFL stands for Teaching English to Foreign Learners. If you want to teach English to foreign students, this type of certification will help you greatly. I recently went on a trip to China and it became apparent to me that virtually every English center there requires TEFL certification.

If you want to go overseas and teach, I would highly recommend this course offered by https://learntefl.com/ They even have a job placement specialist who can help you a bit and answer any questions you might have. If you are a fluent English speaker, a good person, and you care about helping others through the field of education while experiencing other cultures, by all means become TEFL certified and get out there! You can have amazing experiences while helping folks.

Now, lots of folks who speak English believe that they can teach English to others without any special training, and if you look through classified ads at folks who offer English tutoring, many of them have not studied education and have not had teaching experience. It is a huge fallacy to assert that just because you can speak English you can teach English. A sound knowledge of English grammar is necessary as well as a knowledge of various teaching methods and materials that are effective. Frankly, a good teacher must also have certain character traits. I think a good teacher has to be patient but a bit assertive while always remaining positive and supportive.

So I recently completed a TEFL certification course through learnTEFL.com and I was quite satisfied. The course was actually more challenging than I thought it was going be, but anyone who is dedicated and serious about putting enough time into studying the lessons should be able to pass this course. It is a 150 hour course packed with thought-provoking lessons.

There are 12 modules with quizzes after each (except for the 12th), 3 assignments and 1 final exam. If you take this course, I would recommend that you keep a notebook and take notes of new terms or interesting concepts for each module, because the final exam is comprehensive and it really does a good job of testing the important points throughout the course. There is a lot to learn that can be applied to your teaching of English.

The course follows the Communicative Approach or the CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) approach. According to this approach grammar is important but it is in the service of communication or fluency. In fact, I liked many of the issues that they brought up while introducing this approach. For example, I have always wondered what the best approach would be if a student were speaking while making multiple grammar mistakes. According to this approach the teacher should allow the student to finish before going over the mistakes. Honestly, I am not sure I totally agree with that, but I did some research and it seems that if you allow a little time to pass before correcting an error, students are more predisposed to learn. So these folks are probably right after all.

Also I enjoyed reading about the difference between "prescriptive" and "descriptive" English instruction. "Descriptive" English instruction focuses on how people tend to speak English in the general population. "Prescriptive" English is the type of English that follows established grammar rules. For example, most English speakers use "if" incorrectly. They will say, "I don't know if I should wear a sweater today." This is "descriptive" English. But "if" really shouldn't be used this way. "If" should be used in conditional statements - "If it rains I will wear a hat." The word "whether" should be used when you are indicating a choice: "I don't know whether I should wear a sweater today." These folks do not force you to choose one approach over the other, but I sensed that they lean more toward "descriptive" English. I lean more toward "prescriptive" English since most of the foreign students I teach or tutor are professionals or students, and I feel they want to speak a high level, grammatically accurate type of English.

There are numerous fascinating issues addressed throughout the course - another would be motivation. There is a section where future English teachers are offered tips to help them motivate students who seem apathetic or unengaged. I created a formula long ago which goes: desire + confidence + focus = achievement. Unless a student is motivated he/she is simply not going to learn. 

Essentially, this course touches on numerous issues that are essential for a conscientious English teacher. Based on my experience, and I am not being compensated in any way for saying this, I would recommend that you check learnTEFL.com out. You'll even have your own experienced tutor/mentor to help you. Mine was such a sweet and kind person -  I am really grateful for her concern and support and assistance. 

Good luck!!!! Get TEFL certified and get out there and help people learn this amazing world language!!!!!!!!!!!!!