My life in Winthrop

It’s really a good opportunity for me to spend three weeks in Winthrop to learn more about the high education system of USA,especially the student affairs.

During the three weeks,I tried everything I was interested.I was invited to many different staff meeting ,I interviewd 13 people working in different department,including vice president、professors、directiors、faculties and some students leaders.I attend a lot of students activities in the campus,such as Homecoming 、ensemble series、Winthrop Second Annual Golbal Games，etc.I was surprised to be the judge of talent show,and had the ticket to enjoy the step-show.I was also lucky to see Jon Huntsman and talked to him in Chinese.(He gave the opening speech in Winthrop and he is the presidential candidate ).

I was so impressed by the ideal of ‘student-cented’in Winthrop as Lander.Frank ,the vice president invited me to attednt the Board of Trustee Meeting and Executive office meeting. I took the picture with the Chair of Board of Trustee and President DiGiorgio.Winthrop has a very beautiful campus center for the students,the students affairs and academic departments collaborate well to propel the students development.

Frank invited me to his ACAD class(all the freshmen are required to take the class,one facultu and one peer mentor)and let me say something about the different between Chinese students and American Students.Acturally,duing my staying in both Lander and Winthrop ,I talked to a lot of students ,and I was impressed by their confident、active、friendly.I can not represent anyone to tell the difference,just tell my own feeling.I think the Chinese students and American Students have some common points:(1)they all love their country and their university(2)They all enjoy being a volunteer to provide service for the people who need help(3)students organizations are the most importang component of student affairs(4)they all have students honour award(5)they all have some good opportunity to develop and to learn how to get along well with each other,such as RA、Presidential Ambassodar(5)The university also like to share the resorce with the community off-campus(6)theay all have a lot of team-training program.

The Chinese students and American students have different culture background、different surroundings for grown up、different education system，so  they definitely have some difference。（1）class scope：no more than 22（Winthrop），more than 50，sometimes over 100（China）

（2）behaviour in class:students and teachers can talk to each other freely,and the students never hesitate to ask question ,they can get involved easily and willing to epress disagreement verbally(Winthrop);always be shy,and like to ask question individually or by email、on the website and more difficult to sau no even if one means no,express nonverbally（China）(3)objective of education:pay more attention to creative ability(Winthro);py more attention to basic education(4)relationship between teachers and students:more like friends(Winthrop);students also show respect to teachers（5）part-time job:they should feed themselves after 18 and most of the students have part-time job(Winthrop）；some students have part-time job,but most of them are fed by their parents (6)others:preview day、first look on Friday、ACAD class、Peer Mentor、a lot of leadership program、university college（help prepared for university scholarship、enhance ability、help students to have good study habit、 enhance students achievement programs and enable faculty and staf f involved（winthrop）；have a lot of interacademic activities、military training for the freshmen、parents meeting 、national competitions，etc.

    Anyway，I had a good experience in Winthrop.I can not put everything what I have learned into practice when I back to China,but it really broaden my horizon.I hope our students can be excellent in the future with academic ditegrity、freedom speech、personal responsibility、global and cultural diversity、consideration of others、social responsibility、civil engagement and environmental responsibility.

Interview with Randy

        As is known to all, as a university which has a history of 150 years, Lander has developed into a Multi-disciplinary comprehensive university with four colleges from a college. I have been in Lander for almost 2months, during which I have got along well with staff and students here and have been to every division of Student Affairs to learn more.
      Randall Bouknight,vice president in charge of student affairs spared me the time and gave me the opportunity to talk with him face to face.Our interview lasted for about one and a half hour.We talked a lot about student affairs work and share the difference between China and America.
      I asked Randy a lot not only about his personal experience but also student affairs.Randy told me that he worked in L ander from 1972,and he is glad to have a good work relationship ,all the faculty and staff in the department of student affairs are hard-working and do a good job.Dean of college and professional  teachers support for the development of students ,including study,career service,mental development,etc.Lander has a good network system ,they can  inform  the students from different colleges of  all kinds fo finformation in time.Furthermore,Lander has emergency olans for unexpected incidents,such as suiside,domestic violence ,being lovelorn ,study problems,etc.
        I'm so impressed by the concept of "student-centered",Lander want to cultivate the students to be productive 、respect、good realationship、good personality.And the teachers all want to face and resolve the problem with the students together to help them grow to maturity.Lander also has a lot of opportunity for the students to experience ,such asn Student Government Association,Student Club,to be a Presidential Ambassador,a RA, Cheerleader,Expoleader.From now on ,Randy will promot the 'Life Skill Program' for the students ,focus on educating and developing the "whole"student.The co-curricular  and life skills series are 'leadership development and experience','global and cultural awareness','career preparation',develop and maintain healthy(physically and emotionally),'volunteerism','business etiquette',etc.

      Next week I wil go to Winthrop University to learn  for about three weeks.And I hope I can also have a colourful life there as Lander.I really want to express my gratitude to thank Randy 、Dr.Park、Frank for giving me many opportunities to know more about the westen culture and student affairs work system.

A busy weekend

October 8th is the Parents' Day, which is mostly in the fall semester each year to carry out. All parents have come to the school not only to see their children's accommodation, campus surroundings, but also feel Lander beautiful environment.The family can take picture together and get a free beautiful printed photo .They can join the Square music ,have delicious picnic.The event continues from 11:00am  to 2 pm, the weather is good, good environment, good mood.

    The staff of Student Affairs are very busy and hospitable.I’m impressed  that they all love students by heart and look them as their children wherever the come from.

After lunch, Boyoung and I watched the performance named "Trojan Women",directored by Prof. Monique. It is held for 1hour,most actors and actress are from the performance class.Although props are simple, but with wonderful lighting and sound .This is my first experience to enjoy drama performed in English in foreign country.Exciting and enjoyable.

Sunday, after eating early lunch, walked to school, waiting Dr.Cowall (dance teacher) drove us to Greenvill  Peace Center to watch the U.S. Momix dance exotic performances.Throughout the  2 hours and 15 minutes show, I was shocked by the fantastic music and lighting and also very glad having a good time with de students.

To know about Wellness Center

In Kitty's leadership, I came to the Wellness Center and began to familiar with the work.

WellnessCenter, attached to the Student Affairs, which offers health services、disability services and counseling.There are six people in the center,the director、a secretary, two counselors, two nurses, one of the nurse also responsible for matters related services for the disabled.

Kitty is so considerable，and she arrange for me to have the opportunity to interview each of them. I carefully observed their office,each person has picture of family, friends, and more are arranged for the visiting students, and they make every  visitor feel relaxed and comfortable.

Kim is responsible for disability services, she told me that there are about 120 handicapped in Lander.She is in charge of their coordination of relevant departments, arrange their houses (as in the first floor, to be easily accessible), if the students need some help related to academic,she also can help themto coordinate the curriculum.She looks evey students as her friend,give them encouragement and assistance within its capacity.

CeCe is a counselor, an active lady. She provides counseling service everday,and she also responsible for group training. She took out her own notebook and  described in detail the work content.Also she  invited me to join their group training programs and Mental Illness Awareness Week.

The next day,after finishing my Montessori class,I went to the WellnessCenter again, to have a meeting with Justin and Kim.

Justine is 30 years old birthday that day, I told him in China 30years birthday is very special for man ,it means “you will be a real man and it is good time for your career development.”He smiled and told me, he felt lucky to work in the Wellness Center to help others. He enjoyed his work very much,although he has been worked for only one year, but he worked very hard, especially interested in group training and did a good job.During the meeting ,

he presented  training group projects to me and  share some photos.

Kim is a registered nurse,a nice lady.When came into her office,there is everything:bed, medicine, disinfection cabinet, masks, handset, etc., because her office is a simply medical room.She is very busy, and provide healthy service 35—40 a day.I don’t want to disturb her too much,so we will have a meeting again sometime.

Two days of the  Wellness Center staff interview all let me begin to understand and become familiar with their work, I think this is an affinity group, they do their best to give people who come to seek help best help.

Tour of Lide Apartment

It is a new beginning  of a new week, I looked from the balcony ,drizzling out of the window, this is the fifth time raining here.

I came to the office, smelling  a fragrance, there are  three pots of beautiful flowers provided by the Japanese Lady who gave the Tea ceremony.She is very nice.

A few minutes later,Jennifer came and took me to the lectures given by Amy to give the Business College Students a presentation on “Strategies for successful interviewing”.She gave us a lively class filled with practical experience and examples.

After lunch, I had a meeting with the Ra of Lide Appartment,Jalysa.She is a senior student,being a RA for three years.There are five buildings in this area, each building has an RA, each two-bedroom apartment houses four students.All apartments are completely furnished and feature a full kitchen ,private bath,living room and carpet.

In the process of her introduction,I can easily feel that she loves Lander very much.And she is proud of to be a RA,she also told me the most important to be a RA is the the ability to cooperate with others.

Time went fast ,It’s time for my Chinese Conversation Class.The students came to class early, and when I walked into the classroom, they use the Chinese to say ‘HELLO’ to me .I’m very happy to hear that and they pronounced well.In this class,we reviewed what we have learned last class,including initial、final、tone、polite expression and class expression。Then,we had a new lesson on ‘Name and Identity’。There a lot of new words 、phrases and text  to learn。So all the students were very diligent and practiced more and more in the class.I hope they can spend a period of  time to practice at home so that they can make progress.

    In my class ,I also have an introduction about Shanghai Normal University and some famous scenic  spot  of Shanghai.

I can feel that all the students are very interested in it and asked me to show more about Chinese Culture next class.

        今天是忙碌的一天，早上听了两个关于日本文化的讲座，听了Jennifer的职业生涯指导课，中午帮忙Tea Ceremony，下午约了Jennifer，专门了解了Lander在学生生涯指导方面所做的工作，所有这些做晚已经是5点15了，再过45分钟，即将开始我的第一节对外汉语课。
         提前10分钟走进教室，学生们都已经做好了，热心负责的Shelley（Continuing Education Department )也特地等在教室，她是专门来看下我的第一节课在设备或者其他方面是否需要她的帮助，等到一切准备就绪，她和我打了招呼便轻轻离开。面对坐在我面前的年龄不等这些外国人，有18岁，有65岁，看得出他们对即将要学的知识很有兴趣。其实我们只有8节课的时间，因此在我的课上，教一些生活用语和介绍一些中国文化，使这里更多的人对中国，对上海、对上海师范大学有一定了解，并能用简单的中文表达自己是我的初衷。Just enjoy yourself!是我一直灌输他们的，因为我要让他们觉得学中文是兴趣，不要有压力。整节课的拼音、课堂基本用于教授下来，他们比我想象的要掌握的快，我一直鼓励他们说响，说错没有关系，他们很给力。为了帮助他们回去复习，我将复习资料发给他们，但是我告诉他们不用占用自己太多时间，把它作为娱乐方式吧。

在教授过程中，我也观察了他们的上课表现，我感觉年龄越大越认真，除了听我讲，还不停地用他们自己的理解方式记笔记，好在我都有中英文对照，因此帮助他们理解比较快。好学的几个学生课后还来问我，我给他们的中文名字拼音怎么写？他们通过今天的拼音学习可以记住中国名字的读法。走的时候所有的人都不约而同地和我说“谢谢，再见！”，感动不仅是因为他们掌握了课上的内容，更是我看到了他们对一个外国人发自内心的尊重和谢意！

        今天是忙碌的一天,一早,和Pam,Dr.Park交流了下本周的安排，开始着手把周三将要上的第一节对外汉语课的教案准备了下，说实话，出乎我的意料，作为Contiuning Education 的一门课，有将近20人来报名，他们有的是本校学生，有的是住在周边的居民，Shelley告诉我，课堂规模已近比较大了，看来，这里的人对中国语言还是比较感兴趣的。不管怎样，我不是语文教师出身，虽然学了7年的课程教学论，但是用在老外身上完全是另外一回事，要把握认为简单但他们觉得难得东西用简单的方式让他们能在短时间掌握，对我而言并非容易，此时，我突然觉得小学语文教师其实很伟大。
         10点，Jennifer准时来接我去参加“学生就业指导课”，今天主要是针对经济管理专业学生课，因为学校所有的学生事务工作全由学校统一管理，学院没有学生事务管理的相关人员，因此，Jennifer作为“就业服务”部门的负责人，她亲自来上课。今天的学生都是本科生，基本是2、3年级，没有写求职信和简历的经验，一次，给他们上的第一堂课就是“how to write an effective resume"整堂课紧凑，师生活动好，不但有理论还有举例，关键是很实用。课后还给了学生"如何写好求职信和简历”的指导手册，并对学生说：“Feel free to contact me any time.".
1个小时的课，让我收获也不少，在听讲的过程中，我也罗列了一些问题请教，于是约了Jennifer周三下午面谈。
         下午，是‘Focus on Japan" 的开幕式，校长不但介绍了对于学校今后的规划，包括校舍等意见，还包括人才引进等软件，亚洲国际交流项目的开拓也是主讲内容之一，很荣幸，作为中国的第一个在Lander的访问学者，我也被再一次介绍给大家。此时，我真的觉得很骄傲。开幕式后进行了”和服show",来自日本的志愿者为我们展示了不同场合不同种类的和服，现场气氛很活跃，或许这是这里的人第一次现场看这样的show.

     有时候，有点感叹，在美国这样一个大学，要举办一个300人左右规模的“日本文化交流周”的开幕式及一系列活动，没有看到有人很忙碌，没有看到人加班，但是却在学校到处可以看到宣传，所有的嘉宾和场地的布置都很到位，学校所有的师生及工作人员都会自觉地正装出席，这是什么？是意识？还是效率？或许这就是不同的文化，活动不在乎有没有观众，这个活动本身吸引人或者大家都把他当成学习的机会也就自然会来了。什么时候我们的讲座如果不能敲卡，如果不需组织也能得到青睐，那说明我们搞得讲座吸引人，也说明我们的学生懂得学习了。