[My Story with GDUFS] The Old Days at GDUFS

At 2pm on April 16th, 2012, at the exit of Narita International Airport, I kept checking the arrival time of a China Southern Airline flight, with my heart beating excitedly. It was all because Hu Jing would take flight No.2385 and arrive at 2:35. After a while, a crowd of passengers trotted out. It was quite easy to find Hu Jing with her suitcase. I couldn’t keep myself from waving my arms at her:

“Mr. Kihachi!”

“Hu Jing, nice to meet you again!”

To improve her Japanese and then fulfill her dream of accomplishing a Master’s degree, Hu Jing took a flight to Japan to study Japanese at a language school. At the airport, we failed to find a Japanese staff member from the language school who had planned to meet her. We then tried to ask one of the crowd whether it was him, but our instinct turned out wrong. Meanwhile, a group of young Chinese people walked out, the person at the front of which looked a little bit familiar, but I just couldn’t recall him in my mind. They came towards us and then, out of the blue, I spotted Professor Liu. When I worked at GDUFS College of Continuing Education & Open College, he looked after me. It was incredible to meet an unexpected person at an unexpected time and place. Liu was also wondering why I was there. We greeted each other and explained why were there—I was there to meet my student Hu Jing, and he was leading students to Japan for further study.

It had been one year since Hu Jing and I were together. She was the last graduate of my class, and also one of the few students who succeeded in passing the Japanese Language Proficiency test in the first grade. After graduation, she took a positon in a Japanese company. I kept in touch with her through phone calls and emails. I had never thought she would fly to Japan for further study. This time, we talked about her future job and marriage.

On August 22th, 2005, I arrived at GDUFS College of Continuing Education & Open College to work as a foreign Japanese teacher. My first class was on 12th September. My courses were for students in grades three and four. Most of the students graduated as long as they passed the Japanese Language Proficiency tests. As a consequence, in order to gain the certificate, many were applying for senior grade. And they were of different ages. Some of them had worked for a few years, and some of them attended my courses for their interests in Japanese anime. Although they attended senior courses, their levels of Japanese differed a lot. In order to improve their oral Japanese, every five minutes after classes began, I would introduce Japan’s latest news to them. Meanwhile, I would slow down my speech compared to the normal speed of Japanese. In order to make sure they had understood what I said, I asked them to raise their hands if they could understand. I was a little disappointed to see only about 60 percent of them did. Even so, I didn’t give up, but made up my mind to work harder. In my opinion, comprehending the content is very important. Improving communicative ability depends a lot on intonation. Sometimes classes would overrun if I had to answer their questions. For me as a teacher, it was also a kind of study.

The dorm building I used to live in has gone. It used to stand on the opposite side of the street to the university. The first time I was led to my dormitory, I walked from the front gate of GDUFS, wandered towards the canteen and then we got to the dorm building. Even though it has become a luxury hotel, I can still remember the shops along the street nearby.

The memories I have of the senior grade’s big classroom are the dim light, the big fans, and the long and thin desks. I was astonished when I had the first class in that classroom—there were more than 50 students sitting in it, and those who had no seat to sit on stood along both sides and at the back. At that time, I hadn’t got the name list of my students. I felt a little worried about whether I could carry out the communicative course smoothly. In Japan, we used microphones to have classes. But it was inconvenient in a communicative class. I still can’t remember the reason I asked all of them to introduce themselves in Japanese. Everyone had three to five minutes. However, such a big number of students couldn’t finish in a 90 minute-long class. When it came to the end of the lesson, I could only leave those who hadn’t made a self-introduction to the next class. To be honest, this class is rooted in my memory.

It took me 25 minutes to walk from the teaching buildings to my dorm. So if I had one class in the morning, two classes in the afternoon, I couldn’t choose but to spend time travelling between them. I thought it would be quite time-wasting, so I immediately bought a bike. I got it in the second-hand bike store on the opposite side of my college, with help of my student. It was about 100 yuan. Since then, I repaired or bought new bikes there. Every time I got there, the owner would smile at me, who’s an unforgettable friend for me in China.

I have another memory about the bike, a painful one. One day, I took out my bike from the parking lot to ride to have class. Hurrying all the way, even though I knew I’d got a flat tyre, I rushed down the slope with my bike. All of a sudden, I fell off onto the ground. My face was grazed and shirt torn. I rushed back to my dorm and found my face had swollen up. It was time to have class so I made a phone call to another teacher but no one answered. Then I changed my [JC1]shirt, washed my face, dragged my bag and rushed to classroom. Although I was not young any more, I was still confident of running. Unfortunately, when I was running, I developed cramp in my leg. Bearing the pain, I eventually got to the classroom but I was already late. Normally, I would arrive at classroom at least ten minutes earlier. Students also felt something was wrong. When I came into the classroom with a swollen face, they trotted towards me and asked what happened to me. I explain the whole issue to them and apologized for my lateness. Then we continued to have class. I failed to give a satisfying lesson to them due to the severe pain. After class, when I was back at my dorm, my leg was already badly swollen. It even became hard to walk. With the help of my student, I visited a doctor. But the doctor didn’t give me any painkillers, but merely medicine patches. As a result, I could only live with the pain before it went away.

The canteen was the place I communicated with students mostly. Sometimes in my dorm, my students would cook a nice meal or I would coach their Japanese. And sometimes we would discuss studying abroad, how to write a personal statement, and so on. Of course sometimes I would visit students’ hometowns as well. What’s more, I participated in activities held by each class. In addition, holding discussions on the themes of Japan and China was a really good opportunity to have a better understanding of the Chinese youth.

Another activity I really enjoyed was the monthly regular shopping activities and tours around Guangzhou, held by GDUFS International Office. It was delightful to visit places of interest that couldn’t be visited on my own. At ordinary times, I didn’t have many chances to communicate with other foreign teachers. These kinds of activities provided us with a great opportunity to know each other better.

Having lunch with other foreign teachers in Lijiang, Yunnan province

It has been four years since I came back to Japan. At present, I still keep in touch with my students through emails and phone calls. Sometimes they would visit my home. Some of them have married Japanese people and together with their kids they would visit me. Some working in Japanese companies visited me as well.

Farewell dinner to Japanese teachers

Students singing for me at the farewell party

Just a few days ago, I was informed that Hu Jing, mentioned above, graduated from Kokushikan University and she gained the Outstanding Paper Award with her Master’s thesis. Her job has been settled: she’s going to work in the city of Gifu from this October.

On the morning of 9th October, my student Wangwang, from the College of Continuing Education & Open College, phoned me.

“Mr. Kihachi, do you know what day is it today?” I guessed, but was wrong.

“Today is Chinese Teachers’ Day! I hope you are happy and healthy every day. Mr. Kihachi, when will you go to China?”

I forgot Teachers’ Day! Actually, she phones me every Teachers’ Day. I think I will always keep in touch with them like this in the future. I sincerely wish for their health and bright future.

Information of the author:

Name: Kihachi Takahashi

Gender: male

Nationality: Japanese

Work Period: September 2005 to July 2011