Each term, local and foreign teachers have to join one of the clubs offered by the school. Club happens on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for one period. Last term, I joined the photogaphy club, but that ended up being a real dud in terms of how the Chinese teacher conducted the club (kids were constantly talking or playing on their phones or iPads while she talked). (I also felt like there wasn’t enough talk about famous photographers and their work.).

This term, I decided to join the calligraphy club. I don’t know anything about calligraphy, and I only recognize a small number of characters, but my job is not to teach but rather to help out the Chinese teacher leading the club. I do know that calligraphy can be likened to what we call “script” or “cursive” in English. Much like cursive, calligraphy is a rather artsy and stylized form of Chinese penmanship.

On the first day of club, I thought there would be some kind of instruction, but instead the kids were just told to grab a brush and a book of characters and hop to it. I was encouraged by the assistant Chinese teacher to try, so I did! Below are two of my pieces. The club has only happened maybe five times so far, but this is what I’ve churned out in that time. I should probably do what some of the other students do and practice the individual strokes for forming characters, but I just chose to dive right in.

I had some students looking over my shoulder and commenting on the fact that my calligraphy was good. Coming from them, I took this as high praise. It’s a shame I’m not more fluent in Chinese. I was told that if I could understand Chinese, then the teacher could teach me more about calligraphy. Even though I can’t understand his verbal instructions, I was able to watch him give a few demonstrations to the students about brush strokes.

Maybe I’ll continue to practice and see how much I can improve throughout the term.