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Learning, teaching break the ice for a stranger in a strange land
June 30, 2012, Saturday
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LAURA Giusti, a US citizen living in Minhang for the last six years, is both a teacher and a student, and she embraces both roles with gusto.
She is a volunteer English teacher in the community, which she calls a perfect way to reciprocate all the help and kindness accorded her by the Chinese people.
Giusti, 52, came to China because of husband Enrico's job. He works for an aerospace technology company doing business in China.
When the couple first arrived, Giusti said she was at a loss about how to cope with her new surroundings.
Her sense of being cut adrift was soon remedied by local residents who invited her to join in community activities, such as taiji, or Chinese shadow boxing.
It wasn't long before she felt like she was no longer a stranger in a strange land.
"I have been doing taiji for five years now," she said. "I have a wonderful teacher, Yu Shanyang, who holds classes in the community every morning, and she's become a very good friend, too."
Giusti has proven a good student of the art form. She has learned different styles of taiji, including the sword, broadsword and fan. In fact, she's grown good enough to participate in competitions and public exhibitions of the sport.
"Yu has taken us students countless times to Hangzhou and now this year to Taiwan," Giusti said. "We participate in competitions and exhibitions of the sport in local communities."
Giusti is a student on many fronts. She is also studying Mandarin, calligraphy, Peking opera and water and ink paintings. She has even bought a few traditional Chinese musical instruments, though she's yet to learn to play them.
On the fifth anniversary party of her taiji class last year, she performed a Peking opera selection, playing the role of an ancient concubine.
"I bought the costumes from a local costume store, and practiced for six weeks before the performance," she said.
Giusti said she has basically learned how to sing Peking opera through TV shows. She spends lots of time watching the operas about Sun Wukong, or the Monkey King, and other Chinese mythologies.
Television has also helped her learn Mandarin. Giusti confessed she has never used a Chinese textbook, preferring to learn the language by watching TV shows, especially period costume dramas.
She recalls watching all 60 episodes of a TV series about the first Emperor of Qin (259-210 BC), aided by Chinese subtitles. She didn't understand everything, she said, but she could recognize some characters in the subtitles, which helped her grasp the general plot.
"I learned some ancient terms like die (father) and niang (mother), but Chinese people don't speak like that anymore," she said. "Still, it was fun."
Giusti is now at the stage where she can carry on simple conversations in Mandarin.
"I cannot write many characters, but I know how they look like and how to pronounce them, so I can type out a letter in Chinese on the computer," she said.
Communication has not been a problem living in Minhang.
"Life here is easy for me," she said. "The community I live in is comfortable, and we have local stores with friendly shopkeepers. Also, it's easy for a foreigner to get around using all kinds of public transportation."
For her English classes, Giusti has written her own textbooks. The classes are non-traditional. She started teaching outdoors and later moved them to a clubhouse. Now she conducts classes mainly through an online blog.
Giusti has written 12 English textbooks. Each one includes small passages, poems, dialogues, grammar, vocabulary and exercises. She writes all the copy and takes the photographs used in the books. The covers feature her ink and water paintings.
"I studied oil painting when I was young, but Chinese paintings are so absolutely different from Western ones," she said.
Her English classes on blog.sina.com.cn/salsaclub are very popular.
"I always tell my students not to be shy and not to be afraid of making mistakes," she said. "I encourage them to try out their English more."
Her husband Enrico is equally enthusiastic about their life in Minhang.
"Although the working style of Chinese people is a bit different from that of Americans, the environment here is okay," said the Italian-born American. "Actually, I don't feel much culture shock here because the Chinese culture is similar to the Italian."Laura Giusti, 52, from the United States
Impressions about Minhang:
Generally it's a very good place.
Funniest experience in Minhang:
When I learned Chinese I talked in separated words, expecting people to understand me, but actually they didn't understand at all.
Favorite place in Minhang:
Minshen Garden (community), the neighborhood where I live.
Favorite cuisine:
Shanghai cuisine. Many people think it's too sweet, but I have a sweet tooth.
Advice for newcomers:
Open yourselves to the people here and enjoy every day.
Suggestions for improving Minhang: It would be good if the district did more to promote English reading material to expats.
Motto for life: Don't be shy.
She is a volunteer English teacher in the community, which she calls a perfect way to reciprocate all the help and kindness accorded her by the Chinese people.
Giusti, 52, came to China because of husband Enrico's job. He works for an aerospace technology company doing business in China.
When the couple first arrived, Giusti said she was at a loss about how to cope with her new surroundings.
Her sense of being cut adrift was soon remedied by local residents who invited her to join in community activities, such as taiji, or Chinese shadow boxing.
It wasn't long before she felt like she was no longer a stranger in a strange land.
"I have been doing taiji for five years now," she said. "I have a wonderful teacher, Yu Shanyang, who holds classes in the community every morning, and she's become a very good friend, too."
Giusti has proven a good student of the art form. She has learned different styles of taiji, including the sword, broadsword and fan. In fact, she's grown good enough to participate in competitions and public exhibitions of the sport.
"Yu has taken us students countless times to Hangzhou and now this year to Taiwan," Giusti said. "We participate in competitions and exhibitions of the sport in local communities."
Giusti is a student on many fronts. She is also studying Mandarin, calligraphy, Peking opera and water and ink paintings. She has even bought a few traditional Chinese musical instruments, though she's yet to learn to play them.
On the fifth anniversary party of her taiji class last year, she performed a Peking opera selection, playing the role of an ancient concubine.
"I bought the costumes from a local costume store, and practiced for six weeks before the performance," she said.
Giusti said she has basically learned how to sing Peking opera through TV shows. She spends lots of time watching the operas about Sun Wukong, or the Monkey King, and other Chinese mythologies.
Television has also helped her learn Mandarin. Giusti confessed she has never used a Chinese textbook, preferring to learn the language by watching TV shows, especially period costume dramas.
She recalls watching all 60 episodes of a TV series about the first Emperor of Qin (259-210 BC), aided by Chinese subtitles. She didn't understand everything, she said, but she could recognize some characters in the subtitles, which helped her grasp the general plot.
"I learned some ancient terms like die (father) and niang (mother), but Chinese people don't speak like that anymore," she said. "Still, it was fun."
Giusti is now at the stage where she can carry on simple conversations in Mandarin.
"I cannot write many characters, but I know how they look like and how to pronounce them, so I can type out a letter in Chinese on the computer," she said.
Communication has not been a problem living in Minhang.
"Life here is easy for me," she said. "The community I live in is comfortable, and we have local stores with friendly shopkeepers. Also, it's easy for a foreigner to get around using all kinds of public transportation."
For her English classes, Giusti has written her own textbooks. The classes are non-traditional. She started teaching outdoors and later moved them to a clubhouse. Now she conducts classes mainly through an online blog.
Giusti has written 12 English textbooks. Each one includes small passages, poems, dialogues, grammar, vocabulary and exercises. She writes all the copy and takes the photographs used in the books. The covers feature her ink and water paintings.
"I studied oil painting when I was young, but Chinese paintings are so absolutely different from Western ones," she said.
Her English classes on blog.sina.com.cn/salsaclub are very popular.
"I always tell my students not to be shy and not to be afraid of making mistakes," she said. "I encourage them to try out their English more."
Her husband Enrico is equally enthusiastic about their life in Minhang.
"Although the working style of Chinese people is a bit different from that of Americans, the environment here is okay," said the Italian-born American. "Actually, I don't feel much culture shock here because the Chinese culture is similar to the Italian."Laura Giusti, 52, from the United States
Impressions about Minhang:
Generally it's a very good place.
Funniest experience in Minhang:
When I learned Chinese I talked in separated words, expecting people to understand me, but actually they didn't understand at all.
Favorite place in Minhang:
Minshen Garden (community), the neighborhood where I live.
Favorite cuisine:
Shanghai cuisine. Many people think it's too sweet, but I have a sweet tooth.
Advice for newcomers:
Open yourselves to the people here and enjoy every day.
Suggestions for improving Minhang: It would be good if the district did more to promote English reading material to expats.
Motto for life: Don't be shy.
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