Friday, December 30, 2011

2011: Year in Review ESL Discussion Questions

What does it mean to review? Re-again. View – look.


Was 2011 a good year for you? Why? Why not?


Was 2011 a good year for everyone you know?


Was 2011 a good year for Wuxi? For China? For the world?


What was your best moment of 2011?

What was your worst?

What was your biggest regret?

Did you lost somebody?

What was the funniest?

What did you learn in 2011?

What was the best movie you saw?

Did you travel anywhere?

Did you meet anyone interesting?

Did you start a new relationship?

What new things did you buy in 2011?

Was 2011 a year of big changes for you?

Was 2011 a milestone year for you?

What did you accomplish in 2011?

Are you richer now than when you were in January?


Who was the most interesting person of 2011?

Who were the 2011's bad guys?

What famous people had a good 2011?

What famous people had a bad 2011?

Did the American president have a good year?

What famous people left us?


What were the biggest news stories? Big sports stories? Local stories? Stories in your hometown? Celebrity stories?


What will be most remembered about 2011?


What was the biggest fad of 2011? What were the fashions like?


If you could change one thing about 2011, what would you change?




Friday, December 16, 2011

Words that begin with the letter "F"

What is your favorite word that starts with “F”? (Free Food)


What are some of the most commonly used words in English starting with “F”? Below is the top 25 in order by use and then listed alphabetically.

1 for
2 from
3 first
4 find
5 form
6 follow
7 father
8 found
9 food
10 four
11 far
12 few
13 feet
14 friend
15 fish
16 face
17 feel
18 family
19 fire
20 farm
21 fast
22 five
23 fall
24 fine
25 fly

face
fall
family
far
farm
fast
father
feel
feet
few
find
fine
fire
first
fish
five
fly
follow
food
for
form
found
four
friend
from

Divide the class into two or three teams and give points to each team that can guess a word.

Now ask them what their favorite word is?


Here is a list of discussion question topics starting with the letter “F”

  • Facebook

  • Fads & Trends

  • Faith & Faithlessness

  • Family

  • Family & Alternative Lifestyles

  • Famous People

  • Fashion

  • Favorites

  • Fears

  • Feelings

  • Films in Your own Language

  • Fire Safety

  • First Dates

  • Food & Eating

  • Free Time

  • Friends

  • Fruits

  • Future

Take a poll to see which topic the student would most like to discuss. Then have the students formulate questions about the topic.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ESL Discussion Questions

What does "frequently" mean?

What questions are frequently asked? (Tell the students to use the five W questions and how. Yes-No Questions. Have other students try to answer the questions.)

  • When you first meet a person?

  • When young men meet young women?

  • When you buy something? (e.g. Cars, televisions, computers, mobile phones, food)

  • To a teacher?

  • To a Language Teacher?

  • To a government official?

  • To a foreigner? (e.g. American, Japanese, German, Canadian)

  • To Chinese by foreigners?

  • When you have a visitor?

  • To a policeman?

  • To a computer technician?

  • To a financial expert?

  • To a child?

  • To a pet owner?

  • To a store clerk?

  • To a movie or pop star?

  • To a sports star?

  • To a scientist?

  • To a doctor?

  • To a Taxi driver?

  • To a bus driver?

  • To you?

  • To someone who just went to the cinema?

  • To parents (of twins and so on)?

  • To an ninety year old person?

  • To someone who just did a stupid thing?

  • To someone who just did something very clever?

  • To another person after you both saw a UFO?

  • To someone who is in the hospital?

  • To some who has just been in an accident?

  • To someone on a day with good or bad weather?

  • To someone who looks tired or sick?


At the end of the class:

  • What questions are you frequently asked?

  • Are there questions that you hate being asked?

  • Is there a question you would like to be asked?

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Words that begin with “E”

Have students brainstorm a list of words that begin with the letter "E"


Add these words to the mix if the students can think of many. Perhaps, match a word for every word suggested by the students


eye excellence elegant earnest each explode

earn easy extra eat eccentric echo

ecstasy edge educate entertain effective effort

ego eject elaborate elastic energy electric

elephant elevate elite embarrass empty enough

encourage end enemy energy engineer English

enjoy entire equal erase error escape

eternal evade even ever every evil

exact exam excite exist exit expert

explode


Once, you have a good list, play with the words.

Think of questions you can ask about the word.

Try using the five W question words and how.

What do the words mean?

Ask the students to try to make sentences or questions with the words.

Ask the students to think of famous people of places that begin with the letter "E."

Saturday, November 12, 2011

ESL Discussion Questions about Trust

What is trust?

Words made from trust: Trustworthy, Trusting

Who do you trust? Why? What do you trust?

Who don't you trust? Why? What don't you trust?

Can we trust anyone in this world?

What would happen if we couldn't trust anyone? What do we need to trust people?

Did you need trust to come to school?

How can we get your trust? How do we gain others' trust?

Is trust an easy thing to get?

Is the level of trust in Wuxi or China high or low?

When you have someone's trust, what will you do with them?

What occupations do you trust? What occupations don't you trust?

What kind of people don't you trust?

Do you trust your neighbors?

Do you trust foreigners?

Do you trust the opposite sex? Which sex is most trustworthy? Which age group is most trustworthy?

Who is the most trustworthy person you know?

What kind of people will we quickly trust?

Do you trust the police? Do you trust shop keepers? Do you trust your neighbors?

Do you trust young people?

What happens if you lose trust in a person?

What do you do if you feel your trust has been betrayed?

Can you tell if people are trustworthy by how their appearance or mannerisms? What physical action do untrustworthy people do?

When do you know you can trust a person?


What is the meaning of these expressions using "Trust":

  • You have broken a trust.

  • I will put my baby in your trust.

  • My trust in that person was misplaced.

  • I will take what you say on trust. (*What do you take on trust?*)

  • I trust him to finish the work on time.

  • I wouldn't trust him a inch (a millimeter).

  • Trust me!

  • I wouldn't trust him as far as I could him.

  • We will have a brain trust look into the matter.


Friday, November 11, 2011

ESL Discussion Questions about Rules

What are rules?

Give some examples of rules.


Fill in the blank:

We _____________________ rules.


Why do we have rules?

What would happen if we didn't have rules?

Who makes rules? Who should make rules?

What do we call leaders rulers? Where are you the ruler?

Do bosses always to get make the rules?

Do you always follow rules exactly?

Do you cheat on a rule? Did you break a rule today?

Is there a rule you hate? What rule would you like to make?

Guys and Gals! What rules would you make for the opposite sex?

There is an object called a ruler. What do we use if for?

Does everyone in society follow the same rules?

What rules do you follow at work?

What rules do you have for your children?

What rules do students have to follow?

What rules do you have for yourself?

What rules do your parents make for you?

Can we have one set of rules for the whole world?

What is the number one rule of living?





Expressions using "rule". What do they mean?

Rules are made to be broken.

As a general rule, he can be found in the pub.

You are bending the rules.

I think we can rule out him as a possible friend.

The judge ruled against the man.

The Court ruled for the woman.

Qaddifi no longer rules the roost in Libya.

As a rule of thumb, I say use "in" if you sleep there, "at" if you visit there.

Would you prefer I rule with an iron fist or a velvet glove?




Friday, November 4, 2011

ESL Discussion Questions about Freaks

Freaks


What are Freaks? What is a Freak?


1. A thing or occurrence that is markedly unusual or irregular: A freak of nature produced the midsummer snow. Have you seen any freaks of nature? Has the weather been freakish?

2. An abnormally formed organism, especially a person or animal regarded as a curiosity or monstrosity. We would think of dwarves, midgets, and two-headed people as freaks. Have you ever seen human freaks? Animal freaks? Do these freaks scare you? Do they interest you? Do you feel pity for them?

3. A sudden capricious turn of mind; a whim:"The freaks of the psyche can no more be explained than the Devil"

4. Slang:

a. A drug user or addict: a speed freak. Are there any drug freaks in Wuxi? Have you seen any?

b. An eccentric or nonconformist person, especially a member of a counterculture. Are there counterculture type people in Wuxi or China?

c. An enthusiast:rock music freaks. Is there anything you would be a freak for? e.g. Sprorts freak.


What does freak mean as an adjective?

Highly unusual or irregular:a freak accident; a freak storm. Any freak incidents in your memory?


What does freak mean as a verb?


1. To experience or cause to experience frightening hallucinations or feelings of paranoia, especially as a result of taking a drug. Often used with out. Does alcohol make you freak out?

2. To behave or cause to behave irrationally and uncontrollably. Often used with out. Mice cause women to freak out. What can cause you to freak out?

3. To become or cause to become greatly excited or upset. Often used with out. The long wait caused me to freak out. The customer freaked out on the service people. Have you freaked out? Have you seen others freak out?



Are you a freak? Do you know any freaks? Tell me about them? Have you seen any freaks? Have you ever seen a circus freak show?


Finish this sentence: Freaks are_______________________.


How would you feel if you were a freak?


What would you do if your child was a freak?


Are all people freaks in their own way? Was Steve Jobs a freak? Adolf Hitler? Osama Bin Laden?


Do you like stories full of freaks?


These times have more freaks or less?


Are there more freaks in the city or the countryside?


What do the following sentences using freak mean?


The boy staring at me freaked me out.

Don't freak out when I tell you the bad news.

I am freaked out after seeing a tiger in my apartment.


Saturday, October 22, 2011

ESL Discussion Questions about Death

Death


What is it?


Whose death has affected you the most?


Have you ever been to a funeral?


Have you seen a person alive one day, only to hear that he died soon after?


Is there an honorable way to die?


What is a dishonorable way to die?


Are you afraid to die?


How do you want to die?


The most famous death in history?


What happens when we die? Is there anything for us after death?


We must live like we are about to die?


Idioms and expressions about death:

I had a brush with death

matter of life and death

sick to death

at death's door

frighten to death

nothing is certain by death and taxes

the kiss of death

will be the death of me


Friday, October 21, 2011

ESL Discussion Questions about Beginnings

Beginnings


What does it mean to begin?


What is the opposite of begin?


What have you begun lately?


Did you begin anything today?


Are there things you want to begin, but never do?


What do you want to begin?


Is every day a new beginning?


What is more satisfying? A good beginning or a good ending?


Is a perfect beginning a good thing?


Is there something you wish you could begin again?


Is it easy to overcome a bad beginning?


What is a good way to begin a story or a movie?


What is the best way to begin a class?


What is the best way to begin the day?


What is the worst way to begin the day?


What is the best way to begin a meal?


What is the best way to begin a game?


Are you always beginning but never finishing things?


What have you finished recently?


Expressions

To begin on the wrong foot.

Begin to see the light.

Charity begins at home.

Life begins at forty.

Jumping Off Point.

He is a good beginner, but a bad finisher.

He who would climb the ladder must begin at the bottom.

To begin with, I have no money.


Thursday, October 20, 2011

100 most used English Nouns

Actually, it is 99.

  1. Area

  2. authority

  3. body

  4. book

  5. business

  6. car

  7. case

  8. centre

  9. change

  10. child

  11. city

  12. community

  13. company

  14. council

  15. country

  16. court

  17. day

  18. development

  19. door

  20. effect

  21. end

  22. eye

  23. face

  24. fact

  25. family

  26. figure

  27. form

  28. friend

  29. government

  30. group

  31. hand

  32. head

  33. home

  34. hour

  35. house

  36. idea

  37. information

  38. interest

  39. job

  40. law

  41. level

  42. life

  43. line

  44. man

  45. market

  46. member

  47. million

  48. minister

  49. money

  50. month

  51. mother

  52. mister

  53. name

  54. need

  55. night

  56. number

  57. office

  58. other

  59. part

  60. party

  61. people

  62. percent

  63. period

  64. person

  65. place

  66. point

  67. police

  68. policy

  69. power

  70. problem

  71. question

  72. rate

  73. reason

  74. report

  75. result

  76. right

  77. road

  78. room

  79. school

  80. service

  81. side

  82. society

  83. state

  84. study

  85. system

  86. term

  87. thing

  88. time

  89. use

  90. view

  91. war

  92. water

  93. way

  94. week

  95. woman

  96. word

  97. work

  98. world

  99. year






The top ten nouns are:

  1. time

  2. person

  3. year

  4. way

  5. day

  6. thing

  7. man

  8. world

  9. life

  10. hand

Top 100 English Verbs

  1. accept
  2. allow
  3. am
  4. are
  5. ask
  6. be
  7. begin
  8. believe
  9. borrow
  10. break
  11. bring
  12. buy
  13. can
  14. cancel
  15. change
  16. clean
  17. close
  18. comb
  19. complain
  20. cough
  21. count
  22. cut
  23. dance
  24. do
  25. draw
  26. drink
  27. drive
  28. eat
  29. explain
  30. fall
  31. fill
  32. find
  33. finish
  34. fit
  35. fix
  36. fly
  37. forget
  38. give
  39. go
  40. has
  41. have
  42. hear
  43. hurt
  44. is
  45. know
  46. learn
  47. leave
  48. listen
  49. live
  50. look
  51. lose
  52. make
  53. need
  54. open
  55. organise
  56. pay
  57. play
  58. put
  59. rain
  60. read
  61. reply
  62. run
  63. say
  64. see
  65. sell
  66. send
  67. shut
  68. sign
  69. sing
  70. sit
  71. sleep
  72. smoke
  73. speak
  74. spell
  75. spend
  76. stand
  77. start
  78. study
  79. succeed
  80. swim
  81. take
  82. talk
  83. teach
  84. tell
  85. think
  86. translate
  87. travel
  88. try
  89. turn off
  90. turn on
  91. type
  92. understand
  93. use
  94. wait
  95. wake up
  96. want
  97. watch
  98. work
  99. worry
  100. write

Friday, October 14, 2011

ESL Discussion Questions: The World in 2050


The world in 2050


Are you interested in the future?

What do you think the world would be like in 2050?

How will we watch television or movies?

How will we travel? Will everyone have his own plane?

Will we still be using oil and petrol and coal for energy?

What kind of clothes will we wear?

How many hours will we work in a day?

Will Robots do our work?

Will there still be books and newspapers?

Who will be the most powerful country in the world?

How long will we expect to live?

How far will we have traveled in space?

How many people will live in the world?

Will people be religious?

What will 2050 people think of 2011 people?

Will 2050 be a dark age or a golden age?

Will you be alive in 2050?

What will your children be doing in 2050?

What will Wuxi be like in 2050?

Will man live on the Moon? Will man have traveled to Mars?

Will China have won a World Cup by 2050?

What predictions do you think you can make for 2050?


Do you think things will always get better? That is, do you believe in progress?

Do you think things will get worse?

Will people be happier in 2050? less happy? The same?

Will people be richer? More free?




ESL Discussion Questions about Weapons

Weapons


What are they?

Noun

  1. any instrument or device for use in attack or defense in combat, fighting, or war as a sword, rifle, or cannon.

  2. Anything used against an opponent, adversary or victim: the deadly weapon of satire

  3. Zoology. Any part of organ serving for attack or defense as claws, horns, teeth, or stings.

Do you have any weapons? Why? Why not?

Explain: Are you armed?

Do you think weapons are interesting?

Can anything be a weapon? Can words be a weapon? Can looks be a weapon?

Elicit examples of weapons from the students. Ask the students if they have had any experiences with these weapons.

Are there a lot of weapons in China?

Do you have the right to carry a weapon?

Is it a good idea to stop people from having guns?

Is you body a weapon? Are parts of your body weapons?

What was the earliest weapon?

If everyone has a weapon, we are more polite to each other. Agree? Disagree? Why?

Guns don't kill people. People kill people? Agree? Disagree? Why?

Ideas are mightier than guns. Agree? Disagree?

What is the most dangerous weapon in the world?

Have you ever used a weapon?

Have you ever fired a gun? What was it like?

Have you ever hit anyone with a weapon? When? Why? Who? How?

Is it okay for children to play with toy weapons? Why? Why not?

Are there times when you should carry a weapon?

Can words be weapons?

Do you think that one day, there will be no weapons in the world?


Weapon Expressions

Under the gun

beat the gun

going great guns

jump the gun

pull a gun (on someone)

stick to one's gun

a smoking gun

son of a gun

hold a gun to someone's head

with guns blazing

He is armed to the teeth

small arms fire





Thursday, October 13, 2011

ESL Discussion Questions about Admiration

Admiration

Use the words admire, admiration, admiringly, and to admire in sentences.

Is admiration love?

Is admiration respect?

Is admiration envy?

Is admiration only love? Is admiration only respect?

Can you admire a person and not love them?

Can you admire and envy a person? Can you admire a person and by jealous?

Can you admire bad people?

Can we admire all successful people? Are some successful people scoundrels?

Can you admire an ability someone has?

Can you admire a quality a person has?

If you admire a girl's beauty does that mean you want to have a
romance with them?

Can a married man admire the beauty of a woman who is not his wife?

Can a married woman admire the handsomeness of a man who is not her husband?

What things do you think we can admire people for?

Can you admire your children?

Who do you admire in your life?

Who is a famous person you admire?

If we don't admire people, we __________ them. (*despise, pity, feel
contempt for*)

Are there people you don't admire why?

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Discussion questions about heroes

What are they? Who are they?

What do heroes do?

Can anyone be a hero? Do you have to go to school or train to be a hero?

Who is your hero? Why?

Are heroes extraordinary or ordinary?

Do heroes do spectacular things or mundane things?

Can common people be heroes?

Can these people be heroes: teachers, bankers, businessman, farmers?

What occupations do we commonly think of as being heroic?

Do you think that we make heroes of the wrong people?

Who are your movie heroes?

Do you have a favorite super-hero?

Who are some famous Chinese heroes? Why are they thought of heroes?

Who are some famous heroes of the world?

Is one man's or country's hero the villain of another man or country? Can you think of some examples of these kind of people?

Are these people heroes: George Bush, Barack Obama, David Beckham, Jay Chou, Lady Gaga, Mother Teresa, Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Napoleon, Bruce Lee.




Do you want to be a hero? Why? Why not?

How can a person become a hero?

To whom are you a hero? Why?

Friday, October 7, 2011

ESL Discussion Question about Gifts

Gifts


What are they?

What other names do we have for them?

What was the best gift you ever received?

What do you wish you were given as a gift?

Is it better to give gifts or receive them?

What is the best gift you ever gave to someone?


Have you ever received gifts you didn't like?

What was the worst gift you ever received?

What do you do when you received an inappropriate gift? Can you get angry at the gift-giver?

Is it okay to pass on your gift to someone else?

Is giving gifts an easy thing to do? How can we go wrong when we give gifts?

Is gift-giving an art or science?

Do you sometimes wish people didn't give you gifts?

Can gifts be traps? That is, can gifts put you in a situation where you are obliged to do something?


In what situations do we give gifts?

At what times of the year do we give gifts?

When do you like to give gifts?

Do the Chinese love to give gifts?

What gifts would you like to get from a foreigner?

Is bribery a form of gift-giving?

Have you ever received a gift from an anonymous person? Have you ever given a gift anonymously? Why give anonymous gifts?

Do you like to surprise people with gifts?

Have you ever given a gift to a stranger?


Santa Claus is a famous gift-giver in the West? Are there famous or legendary Chinese gift-givers?


What gifts are given to: teachers, beautiful woman, old people, mothers, fathers, children, graduates, newly-weds, new parents, and foreigners?



Monday, September 12, 2011

Saturday, September 10, 2011

9/11 ESL Discussion Questions









Do you remember where you were when you first heard the news about the September 11, 2011 attacks?







What happened that day? How many planes were hijacked? How were the planes hijacked? What was done with the hijacked planes? What happened to each hijacked plane?







What image will you never forget about the attacks?







Why were the planes hijacked? What were the motives of the hijackers? Who was ultimately responsible? How did the hijackers get into America? What were the hijackers doing in America before the attacks happened?







Did America deserve to be attacked in this manner? Is America a good country or a bad country? Why?







Is America good for the world? Why? Why not?







Do most people love, like, or hate America? Why is this?







What did America do in response to the attacks? Was America right to respond to the attacks?







Was 9/11 caused by religion?







Were the 9/11 attackers brave or courageous?







How has the world changed since the 9/11 attacks?







Did the terrorists win?







Has 9/11 affected China in any way?







Will air travel ever be convenient again?






Will terrorism ever be stopped?



Thursday, September 8, 2011

Press Conference SPC

Press Conference SPC

In this English Corner, individual students, pretending to be a celebrity or a news maker,  will field questions from the class in the manner of a press conference.

First explain the concept of a press conference to the students.

Pick "volunteers" to field questions from the class for the following situations where they are a news maker or a celebrity:

1. Bruce Lee is going to make a new movie.
2. President Obama.
3. Jackie Chen.
4. A farmer who claims he was abducted by a Flying Saucer.
5. Michael Jackson
6. Yao Ming
7. JK Rowling
8. God
9. Liu Xiang
10. The  Head Coach of the Chinese Football Team
11. Tiger Woods
12. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.
13. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
14. Da Shan
15. A cowboy.
16. A taxi driver.
17. Warren Buffet, billionaire.
18. A panda
19. Lake Taihu
20. Ronald McDonald the Clown.

On the road to Siempelkamp: The Wuxi China New District

On the road to Siempelkamp: Wuxi, China Freeway

Friday, August 26, 2011

English Names the students have given themselves: August 2011

Amelia
Alien
Android
April
Arrow
Aurora
Axel
Blue  (*A sad girl was Blue.*)
Bonnie
Caesar
Celeste
Cheney
Chirly
Coral
Crystal
Dancey
Gosick (* The student, if I recall correctly, told me that Gosick was a cartoon character*)
Gundam
Gustav
Jade
Journey
July (*We could have had a class with April, May, June, and July.*)
June
Killer (*Killer was a girl.*)
King
Kitty (*Hello Kitty! I say, and I get a laugh from the students.*)
Levine (*She preferred the pronunciation "Leaven"; not "le vin"*)
Lion
Loner (*How did you get such a name?  I asked.  The student misunderstood and said he had lots of friends.*)
Luffy
Lydia (*I ask her if she has heard of Lydia the tatooed lady.*)
Maple
McGread
Nena
Rock
Rocky (*He told me he had never heard of Bullwinkle.  However, he had heard of Sylvester Stallone.*)
Sand  (*It's the Sandman!*)
Spinach
Stark
Steel
Stella (*Hadn't heard of a Streecar Named Desire.*)
Stone
Vanilla
Visa (*Do you have a friend named Mastercard? I asked.*)
Wade
YiLine
Yoh
Zoe
Zorro (*The student asked if Zorro was a cowboy.  Not exactly I said.*)

Saturday, August 20, 2011

ESL Discussion Questions: Traffic accidents

Are they are a problem in Wuxi, China? 

Are there too many traffic accidents?

Do you watch traffic accident videos?   Do they fascinate you?  What is the most interesting one you have seen?

What is the worst traffic accident you have heard of?

What is the most recent traffic accident you have heard of?

Did you pass the scene of a traffic accident recently?  What did you see?

Have you seen a traffic accident?
Have you seen near traffic accidents?  Close calls?

Have you ever gotten angry at someone who almost hit you?

Have you been in a traffic accident?

Have your friends or family been in a traffic accident?

What are the causes of traffic accidents?   Do people need to educated?
Do you think some drivers in Wuxi are foolish?
What can be done to prevent traffic accidents?
Is drunk driving a problem in Wuxi?
Are some Wuxi drivers selfish and inconsiderate?
Do some Wuxi drivers have bad eye sight?
Where are the most dangerous places to drive in Wuxi?

Do you worry about being in a traffic accident?

Who always loses in a traffic accident?  Who wins? (e.g. truck versus bicycle)

How are traffic accidents resolved?  Who has to pay for the accident?
If you are hit from behind, who is responsible?
If a car hits a pedestrian who ignores the traffic signal?  Who pays?

Expressions
He is an accident waiting to happen.
Our son was an accident.
It was an happy accident that we met.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Has Living in Wuxi Changed Me? An Investigation.

(*I had planned to submit this article to a local Expat magazine that is now defunct.  So with no place to take to it, I will publish it here.*)

Circumstance governs destiny. 
Cause and effect are an infinite cycle. 
Zhang Jiuling, Tang Dynast Poet


Does Living in Wuxi change an Expat in ways that say living in Shanghai, Shanxi, or Shaanxi wouldn't?  Writing in a Wuxi Expat blog, I would like to think so.  And I have lived in Wuxi for seven years so I think I am entitled to have a say of sorts, though I fully acknowledge that I haven't spent all that much time in Shanghai, Shanxi, or Shaanxi to know what those places can do to an Expat. Still, six years in a place and it will grow on you; and you even start to think to you have a feel for its people and have become like them in some way.  But then again, six years being a long time in a person's life,  it is natural that one does change and one has the hope or presumption that one has picked up some wisdom in that stretch of time.  And when one does contemplate life's changes and tries to ascertain where and how the changes came about, one has to separate the changes that can be attributed to time and the changes that can be attributed to the place or circumstances one is in (as well as to one's own personal  idiosyncrasies). Also, once one has identified the changes that can be attributable to a place, one must separate them into physical and  metaphysical changes.

So, this essay will be a search for changes, that can occur to a person, brought about by unique Wuxi factors.  Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the only test-animal this essay's author can use is this essay's author — I have managed to successfully (or unsuccessfully) separate myself from other Wuxi Expats so I can say that I haven't been" tainted" by their changes and mindsets, and I don't have time to do surveys which seem so unpoetic anyway...  I will try to list as all the possible sources of change and my personal changes  that can be attributed to the time during which I have been in Wuxi.  While doing so, I will then determine if these changes could only have occurred in Wuxi.  However, Wuxi is a small city in a Chinese sea of humanity, however, so try as I might it will be hard to separate Wuxi-only effects from the more massive Chinese effects.


Immediate Changes  on arriving in Wuxi
Did my first few days in Wuxi culture-shock  me hard like a sucker punch from an irate co-worker?  I would have to say it didn't.  I lived in British Columbia (or British California as one witty Canadian has referred to it) after living in Manitoba which was the equivalent of moving from North Dakota to Seattle, or Siberia to Paris.  But that is not to say that I  was a jaded mover, a gypsy , or an anthropologist, if you will, before I got here.

The first thing that struck me as  a Canadian coming to Wuxi in 2004 was  the sheer numbers of people it had.  Never ending crowds of people, even in the boonies.  The masses of people immediately changed my concept of space.  Go within ten feet of a Canadian and he will look at you sternly.  In Wuxi, I had to learn to not be offended by close proximity.  However, this concept of space is something I could have picked up anywhere in China — not just Wuxi.  Wuxi, I later learned, was not considered to be all big or crowded by the locals but instead it was quiet and sedate

Another thing that moving to Wuxi immediately showed  me was that people were capable of anything - things I couldn't have imagined became possible in Wuxi.  My perception of the strangeness of people moved up a level.   For instance, I never thought I would see motorcycles and pedestrians and cyclists blatantly ignore traffic rules as they do here.  There is a sort of pragmatism in their attitude to traffic rules that I find admirable and repellant at the same time; and of course following the maxim about being in Rome, I have adopted their habits — even the ones I thought repellent, when it suited me.  Whether this has expanded my worldview or outlook is something I wonder about.  People, everywhere, cheat and ignore rules when possible..  Everywhere in the world people are trying to put food on the table and get ahead.  

I also quickly discovered that it may well be me that is strange and comes from a strange place.  My first day in Wuxi, I was taken to Nanchang Market, and I thought I was being stared at hard.  I now wonder why is it, for instance, that we don't cook lettuce in hot water, and why it  is that I was so preoccupied with sex.

I remember that I was quickly able to establish  that you can't escape oneself, as Chesterton said in an essay in which he said it was more of a journey to talk to your neighbor than it was to go to the other side of the world.  Traveling to find oneself is the stupidest cliché ever invented.  Truth is, one is trying to find a new self or escape from one's weaknesses which is impossible.  I have seen that however my relations were in Canada, they haven't changed one iota here in Wuxi.  People have their faults and there isn't a higher grade of person to be found here.  I have the same faults that have made or broken relationships whether they be in Wuxi or Canada.  Although in Wuxi, I was quickly made to hear of them from many a plain-speaking Brit, Aussie, or American — Wuxi did make me temporarily more out-going.  Conversely, I meet many a person, whether Chinese or Expatriate, with a fault so glaringly obvious as to make one shake one's head.

So, moving to Wuxi has paralleled  the other moves I have made in my life.   I have always thought of my move to Wuxi as just another move in my life so similar to the many moves I made from the frozen plains of Central Canada to the Mountains and Forests of British Columbia.  The effects of all these moves on me being subject to the laws of diminishing returns, I will have to say that Wuxi had no immediate change on me. I was just another boring fellow who had come to British Columbia to China.



Radical Changes brought about by marriage
But over the six years I have been in Wuxi, the changes in my life have been radical.  When I first came to Wuxi, I was single and could have competed with Dick Clark for the title of World's oldest teenager.  I came to Wuxi to change my career, to have worldly experiences, to be able to say I had been somewhere, and because Chinese women were beautiful.  I fashioned myself a well-read person, erudite, and all-around wonderful and of the conservative persuasion.  

Now, I am married, turned middle-aged, and I have a child.   Anyone, even those who are just a little serious about marriage and parenthood, cannot helped but be changed by the experience. Certainly, my Jiangsu wife has me disbelieving all I had previously thought of myself.

But marriage and wives have always changed men everywhere.  What I  have noticed is an entirely modernist attitude to marriage among the many Expats who come here.  Shacking up is a good way to test ride potential wives, I have heard many a foreigner say.  Wuxi people don't take this attitude as far as I can determine.  As soon as I meet, my wife, I was married.  I assume Chinese women are like this all over China.  Chalk up a change to China, but not necessarily Wuxi.



Wuxi changes a bachelor?
 I believe the changes brought on by marriage are so radical that they can drown out any other possible changes, making it hard to find changes that can be attributed to other factors, like being in Wuxi.  As soon as I got married, I could say that I almost ceased to be a conventional Wuxi Expat  -- I became a conventional husband trying to keep his wife and child happy — a universal circumstance for a man to find himself in, even if he is from the jaded secular West.  

So, I will have to study my bachelor days recollections very closely, since the Canada Andis and the Wuxi Bachelor Andis are the same except for changes brought about by time and living in Wuxi.  In my Wuxi Expat bachelor days, I did meet a lot of strange people , seemingly thrown out of the asylums in their countries and offered as sacrifices to the Chinese Dragon.  But having lived in British Columbia, Canada, I had seen enough odd types already and seeing the international differences was not something I couldn't have extrapolated from having lived in other parts of Canada beforehand.  

Still, Wuxi can get to an expatriate bachelor's head.  Many bachelors acquire a status with women that could never have achieved in their home country.  But exoticedness can work on women all over the world, I have learned.  Oswald, the waif who shot JFK, had to go to Russia to find a wife.


Changes brought about by other Wuxi Expats
I can't plead complete exile from the rest of Wuxi Expatdom.  Try as I might, I haven't not meet other Expats.

I have meet  Canadians, Americans, Brazilians, Germans, Ontarians, Brits, French, Australians, Danes, Italians, Japanese, Koreans, and Kiwis in Wuxi.  I can't say that any of these people did anything to change my worldview that those who I did meet  in Universities or Hostels in Canada have  They have maybe changed my view of myself.  As I mentioned previously, I have been made aware of my shortcomings from the more frank of the expatriates I have meet.  And seeing their shortcomings, I realize how the status one can get here is nothing, nothing at all.

In fact, isolating other Expats  from my search for Wuxi uniqueness is a must.  I really have to think of the Wuxi people I have met.

Not being the only Expat to have live in Wuxi for six years, I will have to say that Wuxi Expats have changed me but then so have the fly-by-nighters that it has been my misfortune to meet.





Changes brought about by Wuxiren?
Plenty of Wuxiren I have meet in my time in Wuxi.  What can I say about them?  They can be kind to the point of embarrassing me.  Frequently, they yield their seats to me on the bus — that is older Wuxiren.  One time, a Wuxi policeman shook my hand after I was pulled over for a traffic violation — showing to me that situations don't have to have a gravity to them unless we want them to.  Again, I have been told that this is not unique to Wuxi.

The more time one spends in Wuxi, the more one should expect take on Wuxiren habits.

However, I don't add "a's" or "ehs" to everything I say more than I have already done. Though I have been told that I have become louder in the years — I don't know if this can be attributed to getting old or hanging out near Wuxi Ren.

I have been told that Wuxiren's matter of speaking is such that people speaking Suzhou dialect, sound like lyric poets when cursing compared to Wuxiren muttering sweet-nothings in their lover's ears.  Six years of Wuxi can give one a tolerance for squawking.

Wuxiren are also generally richer than the average Chinese person.  The economic development one has seen in Wuxi does make one more optimistic about the World economy than if one lived in Jiangxi province.

The economic development has also attracted Chinese from other parts of China to Wuxi.  Having frequent contact with them, my pure Wuxiren experience is diluted.  So try as I might, the Chinese have changed me more than say Wuxiren.


Wuxi makes one provincial?
Shanghai and Beijing are most certainly world-class cities.  Suzhou, says every Expat, is a great city too.  And so Wuxi seems to pale in comparison.  But is this a fair assessment?    I would think not.  Six years has made me older and wiser and I can't help but look at the snatches of what as I see as being the current culture,  and be amused.  Lady Gaga!?! Come on!  If anything, one can say Wuxi shelters one from the current idiocies (fashions).  

If there is one thing, I have become a snob about, it is the fact that I have lived in Wuxi.


Changes in Personal Habits
I take two showers a day instead of one. I take a shower in the evening because my wife insists, and I take a morning shower because I insist.  Other than that, I don't spit, roll my my trousers or shirts in hot weather, squat, or make noises when I chew.  I do sometime urinate in public — damn lack of public urinals.

Part of these changes can be attributed to Wuxi's climate which features, to me anyway, a very humid Summer.



Changes brought about by Wuxi Women?
The difference between Wuxi men and Wuxi women is like night and day. Wuxi women are full of spunk, common sense, and femininity.  They have a left a strong impression on me. The men, on the other hand, are nice guys, as long as they aren't driving or boarding a bus at the same time you do
.
Married to a Wuxi girl, I will admit that I am prejudiced somewhat when I tell you I think Wuxi women are great.  But then I had to marry one, I decided, when I first saw them. If I had never married a Wuxi girl,  I would have always admired them for their slimness and their being traditional.  

I have been very fortunate to go to work and  admire the bearing and character of all the wonderful women who work there.  They have restored this man's respect for the female sex, damaged so much by Feminism in the West.

When I took my Wuxi wife to Canada, she treated my parents in a manner that was exemplary and put me to shame.  She showed me how to treat family.  I had gone to her home with the Western impatience of being with the unhip.  The sight of her dancing with my father to his native Latvian music was something I would never forget because it taught me something. My father was impressed by her common sense.  But this was not a display of what I believe to be a Wuxi trait — though it was a fine trait — but of a Chinese trait.


Changes for a Conservative?
Being a stick-in-the-mud conservative, I have to keep  very select company in Wuxi which means I keep to myself often and that I have had me to stear clear of many a person. It raises the question of whether Wuxi has changed me a metaphysical or philosophically way.  I would immediately answer that it hasn't.  More than ever, I believe in my conservative ethos because of what I have seen in China.  I have seen that the family is important  and that markets are how to improve the lot in life of everybody.  But that is not something Wuxi has been hailed as proving.  Wuxi re-enforced personal beliefs I already had without enhancement.

For example, going to the Ling Shan Big Buddha, one sees religion being practiced which is cool in my books.  But the imagery and rituals have no deep meaning for me unlike the Christian forms I was exposed to growing up.

The Chinese that changed my view of the world are long dead.  I haven't meet any Tang Dynasty poets or Confucians in my time in Wuxi.


Countervailing Influences
I haven't meet an Wuxi Expat yet that doesn't miss something from his home country and culture.  In fact, Expats like to trade tales of where they have found rare reminders of home in Wuxi.  Many of us do come to Wuxi to present our cultures to Wuxiren.

Has Living in Wuxi made me forget about what's happening back in the home country?  In my case, I would say it has somewhat.  It was five years before I was able to make a return trip to Canada, and to look at a place I spent forty years at after a long absence, was eerie.  But it didn't take me long before I felt at home, and yet there was so much I had to catch up on.

In Wuxi, I haven't been able to access sports.  I was a NFL. MLB, and  NHL fan when I came to Wuxi — sports the locals don't care for.  I could have followed them if I had chosen to buy an Satellite dish but I didn't; and if I had a satellite dish now, I wouldn't be able to watch it anyway as my wife and son's preferences would rule.  I have tried to follow European soccer but I can't throw away old North American attitude to the sport — the game can be dull as dish water if you have no emotional attachment or disattachments to the teams playing.  I follow the standings on the Internet for my leagues but the teams and games have become abstractions to me — I don't know who the star players are anymore.  Having recently seen video highlights on the Internet, I am surprised how the look of today's players turn me off.  I prefer to watch my DVD of ice hockey played in 1972 — they looked like men in those days.

I find I follow U.S. politics with a passion at the expense of local Canadian politics.  While the U.S. will always make a splash, Canadian politics, I have found, barely ripple outside its borders.  I didn't know what the opposition leader, a significant figure in Canadian politics, looked like till I saw him on TV in Canada.  I didn't know who were the premiers of the provinces I used to live in.

And it is my view of my home and native land Canada that being in Wuxi has changed in me.  I an always asking my students what they know about Canada and I find it isn't much, even among Wuxi Ren who are going to Canada — I get satisfaction from this because I love to see how all the Canadian government attempts to make a splash haven't been very effective at all, and that the things Canadian that  are well-known often are because they merit it.   Canada, I see, is a pleasant but unexciting place to live.  It can never stir one's imagination as the USA and China can.  

I have also become aware of the traits of many a European country that I of course knew of but rarely had contact with.




Conclusion
So most of what I have said about my experience in Wuxi certainly isn't unique to Wuxi.  I am sure that I would have discovered the same things about myself and travel whether I had lived in Suzhou or Xian or Kunming for six years.  So I have to ask is there anything unique about Wuxi that has changed me so that this article isn't boiler plate enough to be stuck in a general China expat narrative?  Will I take a bit of Wuxi with me, that is recognizable to other Wuxiren and Wuxi Expats if by chance I run into them somewhere else in the world; and they can say "Hey, have you been in Wuxi?" (perhaps they can smell the Wuxi sweet)

Other than my Jiangsu wife, I don't think so.  As far as I can tell China, more than Wuxi; the travel experience more than China that has put a stamp on psyche.  It may well be that there isn't in Wuxi anything that makes it stand out from other Chinese places — unless you count the Tom, Dick, and Harrys that are here.  People have said that some Wuxiren are barbaric.  But people are all barbaric and in their own way. People have said that the food in Wuxi is sweeter than all other places in China.  Taste is taste, but that doesn't affect one's soul in a meaningful way?  (Did it matter what Jesus and Mohamed or the Buddha ate?  Did it affect their souls?)

Still, Wuxi occupies an unique time and place in space, and since one can't be at more than one place at one time, Wuxi can't help but change people.  Choose to live in Wuxi and you have chosen to have Wuxi change you. A Wuxi Canadian is different from a Suzhou or Shanghai Canadian of this there can be no doubt.  But how they are different is a product of the fact that every person you meet anywhere has a unique destiny brought about by unique circumstances.