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Today I asked all the students to ask questions about America. Here are some of them:

Is the business of America business?
What books do Americans read?
Do we have lanes on the roads for bikes?
Do college students read Chinese books?
What is in an American house? Its rooms?
How does an American pay for a house?
What is my favorite food?
Are there many Chinatown? How many times do I go to one?
What did I think about the Cultural Revelotion? (I was careful about the answer but can say that almost all of the students, as well as any other Chinese person we have talked to, said that the Cultural Revolution was a terrible mistake and many good people were hurt. They did acknowledge that whatever Chairman Mao said was the law but now in retrospect they believe that he made many mistakes. One student suggested that Chairman Mao started to believe that he was God and could make no mistake. Interesting! )

These were some of the many questions that they asked, but you must remember that I have spent 2 full weeks with the class and have already discussed sports, foods in general, American life, vacations, holidays, etc. So this day is the final day that they had a chance to speak directly to an American about any topic that they wanted to speak about.

I'll do the same this PM class. My partner and I got together during the lunch break and jointly agreed on a grade for each student. Instead of A, B and C we gave each an A an A+ or an A++.
What's in name????? The mark doesn't count but is just to tell the student how we think he or she did. Persnoally, I would have given all A and be done with it, because everyone tried real hard and everyone has had significant improvement. Notwithstanding that, many still have a long way to go to have long and meaningful conversations, but all could easily get along in America on a limited basis. Confidence and practice is all that is needed.

Tomorrow, I have seven different groups of students presenting TV shows about the Olympics and Friday is just to hand out the assessments and certificate, (that Julianne and I made up unofficially) have a farewell party and finish before lunch. Shelley and I leave to go to the airport via a school provided bus at 8:00am on Saturday. Then the long trip to California. Both of us feel it is time and we are ready to leave China. The school is hosting a farewell dinner for us tomorrow night and tonight we are having diner with the parents of one of the teaching assistants, the one Shelley has become friendly with. That should be another new experience for us and we are excited about it. I am sure that Shelley and I will have plenty to tell when we get home.

Stay well, love to all and we miss you all a whole bunch.