Student EssaysDuring the summer of 2007, two MFA students from ASU – Meghan Brinson, poetry, Max Doty, fiction – went to Singapore to teach creative writing for six weeks at the National University of Singapore. In 2008, Want Chyi – fiction – and Katie May – playwriting – continued this program. See the Opportunities page for future trips. Below are excerpts from essays about their experiences. “I was especially impressed with the students’ level of engagement and enthusiasm given the relative absence of literary culture in Singapore. Unlike the US, Singapore lacks creative writing programs at the University level; thus Singaporean writers tend to be employed in non-academic professions (lawyers, politicians) who view writing as a side-job. Few if any Singaporean writers are read internationally, and even within Singapore most writing (fiction especially) is imported from abroad. “On one wait for a long light, in the blaring mid-day heat of an exposed intersection, I noticed a man of about sixty staring at a screw lying in the road. It seemed to bother him, and when he noticed a break in traffic he stooped over and picked up the screw, examining the sharp tip that had been exposed to oncoming tires, and then picking an out of the way spot on the sidewalk to safely deposit it. When he stood up from placing the screw to the side, he noticed me looking at him. I couldn’t help but smile. There is a commercial with really poorly written and yet obnoxiously catchy lyrics that tells Singaporean drivers to “Pass It On.” Like so many things Singaporean, underneath its seemingly superficial packaging there is an earnest desire to do the best thing for the public good.” “In planning our course work for the summer I had conceived Singapore as ‘English Speaking,’ an assumption that turned out to be both short-sighted and embarrassingly naïve. While school is conducted primarily in English, Singaporean students separate each day according to ethnicity and spend a few hours of each day in ‘native’ language instruction. Ethnic Chinese learn Mandarin, Indian Tamil, Malaysians Malay. It is possible to sit for an hour on a train or a bus in Singapore and not hear a word of English (except over the intercom system on the train, which makes announcements in three languages). In our first week it seemed evident that English in Singapore is primarily a language of utility. A way to bridge the communication gap between races, used in schools, in the business world, and on the nightly news, but not the language of homes and families, or of intimate communication and emotional revelation that we so often focus on in creative writing. Upon realizing this, I have to admit that I was a bit worried. Not so much about our student’s proficiency with the English language, but about our encouragement of them to write honestly and from the heart, to ‘go for the jugular’ in their writing, using a language that was perhaps not their first tongue. It is difficult enough to teach native English speakers in the states to learn to write dialog that sounds natural when heard aloud, and I was thoroughly daunted by the task of critiquing the dialog of students not writing in their native tongue.” “Working with a class full of eager, intelligent, and open-hearted people was every bit as joyful as I hoped it would be. But I also realized how arbitrary the role of teacher and student can be. Many of my students were older than me, and already living what I consider to be The Dream: working yet making time for writing. Discussing the structure and emotional honesty of my favorite short stories taught me more about how to incorporate those techniques in my own writing. And I felt honored to know more about how Singaporeans feel about their own country—one that is somewhat notorious, particularly in the U.S., for its rigid legislative policies. Teaching in Singapore also reconnected me with my love of working with young teens.”
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