The Language Shop

Our school has two new foreign teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, this term. I am very lucky to have them sitting just beside me. Every day we talk a lot about different topics. Most often we talk about teachers in America and in our country. The Browns tell me that teachers in America don’t gain as much respect as we do in China. They think they might suggest President Obama set aside a special day for teachers. But on September the tenth, teachers of our department let them experience a real Chinese Teachers’ Day. We gave them a surprise: a small present. Students of Senior One are also very considerate. They brought them gifts without being told by their teachers.

Another topic being mentioned usually is language. We told them some examples of Chin-English, such as “long time no see”, “mountain people mountain sea”, and “give you some color to see see”. Mr. and Mrs. Brown listened with eyes wide-open. They found them quite interesting.

I benefit a lot by getting some first-hand information about American culture. I read some reports about American music and movies, but Mr. and Mrs. Brown’s description gave me vivid pictures of American life and how differently adults and young people look at pop culture.

语言小铺

本学期我校新来了两位外籍教师，布朗夫妇。我很幸运，能坐在他们旁边，与他们一起办公。我们每天谈论做多的话题就是中美两国教师的工作状况。布朗夫妇说老师在美国并不能得到在中国一样的尊敬，他们说他们会考虑建议奥巴马总统留出一天作为教师节。而9月10日那天，外语组的老师们让他们体验了一会中国的教师节，我们给他们准备了一份惊喜，一份小小的礼物。我们高一的学生们也是如此的体贴外教老师，各班都带来了礼物，他们这么做并没有自己老师的提醒。

另外一个经常谈论的话题就是语言。我们跟他们讲了一些中式英语的例子，比如：“好久不见”，“人山人海”，“给你点颜色看看”。布朗夫妇听得聚精会神，他们觉得这些说法很有意思。

    我从布朗夫妇那里得到关于美国文化的第一手信息，而收获颇多。我读过不少对美国音乐和电影的报道，但是布朗夫妇的描述给了我美国生活的真实写照，美国成年人和年轻人怎样从不同的侧面看待流行文化。