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Hi,Dear Friends
Hello, Dear Friend:
How are you?
Today, January 20, 2025 (American time), is a special day in the USA because it is both Inauguration Day for its 47th president and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. As a traveler who has visited the US 12 times, I have been fortunate enough to witness four inaugurations during my visits from 2008 to the present. I truly admire the American people for their openness and confidence in their country and democratic system. The stories about Martin Luther King Jr. feel like they happened just yesterday; now, the country has had a former Black president and a new president who was previously a businessman.
As a foreigner, what I have learned from this country is that anything is possible here, and any dream may become true if we do our best on this land.
Now, during my 12th trip to America, I have completed the 4th and 7th lessons in my two ＾Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art Workshops,￣ respectively. The third workshop will be held at Ozarks Technical Community College from Wednesday, January 22, 2025, to March 12, 2025. Here is the in-college advertisement from Ms. Linda Whipple, the College Director of Adult Education and Literacy (AEL).
In the past week, there were also two things that inspired me. One is a ＾small matter￣ related to my English instructor, Mrs. Fran Gigilio.
As I told you before, I have been enjoying her course since the first day I entered her classroom in 2015 because she taught us not only the English language but also American culture, which has opened my eyes and often gives me new inspirations. However, last Monday, the first thing that caught my eye was her wonderful red cap, just like a picturesque scene of American culture amidst the cold winter classroom.
When she started her lesson, I just knew that day was American Cap Day. Mrs. Fran Giglio used her body language and appearance to show us the interesting aspects of this celebration. This reminded me of many times when she did similar things for us, demonstrating interesting cultural elements through her own expressive style.
For example: On December 12, 2024, she wore a dress with poinsettia flowers on it because that day was National Poinsettia Day in the United States. And on Thursday, December 19, 2024, she wore clothes featuring a Christmas tree because that day was National Look for an Evergreen Tree Day.
Although she didn¨t explain her reasons for wearing specific clothes, if we observe carefully, we can see that Mrs. Fran Giglio has dedicated herself to her educational career so deeply that even the choice of what to wear each day is made with careful attention. On the surface, these choices seem like minor details related to a woman who loves life and wants to live beautifully and delicately. Beneath the surface, however, we can also see how much Mrs. Fran Giggle loves her educational career. She has, in fact, immersed herself in her teaching job 200%, making her one of the living embodiments of American cultural history.
The second thing is what I have seen and learned from one of my young students.
This is the story: One day, when I was having an English lesson at OTC, I met a few new classmates. While talking with them, I discovered that some of them came from the same church where I am currently teaching. A lady mentioned that she hadn¨t enrolled her son in the art workshop because she didn¨t think he was patient enough for painting Chinese paintings. However, after seeing some artworks by my other young students, she wanted to bring her son to try on Saturday. I was glad to hear that and said to her, ＾Maybe you can give your son an opportunity to choose.￣
Then I saw the lovely seven-year-old boy, and he asked me, "I haven't registered yet. Can I join you?" I said, "Yes."
Can you imagine? Not only did he persist in completing his first Chinese painting after working for about three hours, but also, when all the other students had finished their tasks and left the classroom, he was still not in a hurry but continued working on his painting patiently. He told me that he wanted to show his work to his art teacher at school.
I wonder if you have looked at his painting (I am sure you can find him by checking the age in the group of pictures below), can you imagine that this is his first Chinese painting, which he learned to paint when he was just seven years old?
From this experience, I have learned that no matter what kind of decision we want to make, we should not judge too early. Instead, we should try to give ourselves and others an opportunity to try.
Do you agree with me?
Do you have any special insights or experiences to share?
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Sincerely, I am just a lifelong learner in the arts of painting, music, English, management and Chinese art teaching, and work on the website in my free time. I would really like to do something with what I have learned and make this website a little electronic bridge for cross-cultural and integrated/comprehensive art and Chinese language studying. This way, I can help others while improving myself.
Thank you always for your understanding, guidance and assistance and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to write to info@ebridge.cn .
Shirley Yiping Zhang
Jan 20, 2025
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