In June 2002， at the end of his contract， David decided to leaveNorthwest University for Nationalities to devote himself to full timework in Dongxiang. The local education commission expressed adesire to hire him as an education consultant at 500 yuan a month. InDongxiang even the local teachers can clear between 900 and 1，200 amonth.
However， it took well over a year to get through the red tape necessaryto hire this foreigner. In June， 2003， the Gansu Provincial Police，Foreign Affairs Office， Linxia Prefecture Police and many otheradministrative offices came together to Dongxiang to investigate Davidand his work. They reported， “He is asking for nothing in return， hasovercome difficulty upon difficulty… his principles and behavior aretruly impressive.” Not until January， 2004， was he actually officiallyhired. Although he now has an officially recognized status， David hasyet to enjoy receiving the 500 yuan monthly salary.
“No big rush. I can still keep living off my savings.” He says heis neither a smoker nor a drinker， so food， phone calls and stamps forletters are his main expenses. Four or five hundred yuan a month coversall that just fine.
I joked with him， “Sounds like you are just totally without faults. “Not a chance. I have lots of shortcomings，” he quickly retorted. “Imake no money. Pay no taxes. I’m a lousy consumer. I rarely bathe orwash my clothes. I pick my fingernails… David was born into an American middle class family in Cleveland，Ohio. His father works in upper management for the largest tiremanufacturer in the US. His mother had been a high school teacher296 but later was a full time mother to her four sons. Every summer theywould take a family vacation to the Grand Canyon or Florida.
After high school， David chose to attend the College of Williamand Mary， America’s second oldest university with over 300 years ofhistory and an outstanding economics program.
As a college junior he went to study abroad at Peking Universityin Beijing in August 1989. Like all foreign students he also traveledquite a bit， getting a taste of all China has to offer. He became awareof his strong desire to become a teacher while getting his Master’s inAncient Literature from Asbury College in Kentucky. Upon graduationhe went to teach in Japan for a year. In 1994 he returned to China toteach English at Zhuhai Enyi Private Primary School.
Hiring English teachers for the school one summer he discoveredthat four of his five selections had all come from Northwest China. Ifsuch quality people were leaving the northwest， who was there to taketheir place?
Thus David sent out his resume to several schools in the northwest.
Having been offered jobs at Lanzhou University and NorthwestNormal University， among other schools， David chose to work atNorthwest University for Nationalities. His choice was purely logical：“These college students will graduate and return to their homes，the minority areas， to become teachers. Those are the places most inneed. This is the basic idea motivating many of David’s later decisions：“Being a teacher you ought go to the places where you are most needed. Conducting Classes DifferentlyAt the Northwest University for Nationalities， David was notwilling to live in the foreign experts building， instead choosing a smallroom in the students’ dormitory. “I most certainly conduct my classesdifferently than other teachers. Take his literature class for instance. In the first week he informedstudents which authors and works they would cover. Then each student was required to choose an author， Dickens or Milton or whomever.
From the second week until mid-term exams， every student gotthe chance to go before the class and teach， using whatever methodologyhe or she wished， effectively explaining what ought to be learnedabout his or her author. David sat among the students every weekevaluating the results of the instruction and the choice of contents. Thesecond half of the term was entirely dedicated to reading and discussingfamous works. Which characters did you take a liking to? Werethere any places you still didn’t understand?
David converted one of his oral English classes into “Speechand Debate”。 Every week the students took a turn delivering Englishspeeches or were given a topic to prepare in team debating.
In his mind， a teacher must possess his own thoughts and ideas. Ateacher must clearly evaluate whether or not what is being taught hasreal value for the students. Foreign language is a kind of ability， a skill.
Yet presently in China， foreign language education is mostly aboutpassing compulsory examinations. Students lack the ability to speak，write or think in English.
At the Northwest University for Nationalities， David’s classesgained notoriety for copious questions and discussion in class andmounds of homework. “I am aware of what the students face in theirdaily lives， like how much homework other teachers have given orwhether the students are busy or free. If the school is having an activitysome week， I will lighten the homework load accordingly.” Hefound it hard to believe that some teachers of the writing class only requiredstudents to write five essays over the course of an entire schoolyear. And those five included the two mid-term and two final examinationessays！
A teacher has “homework” as well. That is to be aware of eachstudent’s ability， English level， and what he or she needs to workon. Students at Northwest University for Nationalities ranged fromoutstanding youths from Xi’an with fine English， to the countrysideminority students who had never opened their mouths to speak a wordof English before. When asking questions or encouraging students tospeak， a good teacher has to be wise about what to ask students， how298 difficult or easy to make things to meet that student’s interest and ability.
“That’s quite a challenge，” David admits.
Once， David was discussing students with one of the writingteachers.