Speaking Nearby: Cultural Exchange in China

Can You Engage an Other? Where? How?

“Why not go and find out for yourself when you don’t know? Why let yourself be trapped in the mold of permanent schooling and wait for the delivery of knowledge as a consumer waits for her/his suppliers’ goods? The understanding of difference is a shared responsibility, which requires a minimum of willingness to reach out to the unknown.” (Trinh 85).

“[A]ll one can do is try not to ‘speak about’ but to ‘speak nearby’…[Speaking nearby] conveys an idea of a closeness but with a necessary distance because of difference; a concept of ‘approaching’ rather than ‘knowing’ an Other” (Kaplan 201).

Teaching in America versus Teaching in China

Being “The Foreigner” in China

Laowai and WaishiLaowai:Means foreigner or alien, usually applied to Westerners. Sometimes a laowai gives valuable information that the home culture can use to enhance itself: “Chinese learning for essence, Western learning for use.” A laowai can also function as a status symbol--the presence of Westerners signifies success and prestige.Waishi:“[C]ultivating a sense of the foreigner as a potentially troublesome, if also potentially useful, outsider, an alien creature to be impressed by China, and by Chinese benevolence” (Ford 222).

Intercultural Exchange with Students

China Outside the Classroom

A Riot of Commerce and Color

Broadening the Western Palate

The Philosophy of Food

It Is Our Pleasure

What are these?

English Fun Time