my english interest course {3rd stop: the university main gate}

Tuesday, October 28:  Today is the third and last outing for my English Interest Course.  My choice would have been to go to the place called Dog Hole, a rough and grimy area on campus where vendors sell food, household items, keys, and bicycle parts.  There is a bicycle repair lady there who keeps perpetually busy servicing all the bicycles on campus.  It would be a great place to take pictures.

But my students don’t want to go to Dog Hole.  I don’t know why because I know the students spend a lot of time there in their off hours.  Some tell me it’s too stinky.  Others may just not want to run into their friends.  I’m only guessing.  They vote that they want to go to the main gate of the university.  I think that will be pretty boring because there really isn’t much between the Experimental Building, where our class is, and the main gate. Nothing much except gardens and the view of the building and the actual gate through which people enter the university.

At the next two sessions, each of my 22 students must present a 5-minute, 10-slide presentation telling a story of some aspect of their lives.  Eleven will present each session.  That will take up the last two of the six total classes.  Then I’ll get another batch of students to do another 6-week session of the class.

We go outside to walk around the main gate area and we see some pretty pots all lined up in rows.

pots in front of the Experimental Building

Two of my prettily dressed students go wandering off on their own.

two of my students walk along the path

Looking back we can see the huge Experimental Building where I teach every day on the 9th floor.

The Experimental Building. I teach classes here on the 9th floor.

Some nice street lamps line the wide walkway, which looks almost like a boulevard.

street light

The flowers are losing their summer luster.  It’s still hot and humid here, but the nights are getting cooler and it’s raining more frequently.  Maybe a change of weather is around the corner.

fading flowers

is fall arriving?

summer fades to autumn

fading flowers

a bud in a bud

petal droop

white on white

I like the conical hat on the gardener’s vehicle.

the gardener

As we approach Daxue Lu (Road), we can see cars entering the main gate and a bunch of students dressed in blue T-shirts.  I ask them what they’re doing and they tell me they’re advertising a hotel.

a group advertises a hotel

Hotel advertiser

Out past the entrance, we nearly get run over by bicycles and motorbikes.

Motorbikes

bicycles and motorbikes

A crowd of them are waiting for the light to turn green.

Waiting for green

As we walk back inside the main gate, we find some circular garden features.

I spy

And we end up right back where we started from.

pathway

Later as we all go our separate ways, I walk past the lotus pond, which was nice and green when I arrived in September.  It’s now drying up and turning brown.

the browning of the lotus pond

I actually find these photo walks a little boring, and I imagine if I do, the students probably do too.  I am now reconsidering whether to do my original idea of “Road Trip American Style” for my next six-week round of this class.  It will require more work on my part, but maybe it will be a little more interesting. 🙂