aUotted to her and son
know, and I'm looking
Brian; who is joining her for
FROM PAGE C1
forward to that," she says.
at least the· first year, some
Other fine points include
tough decisions have to be
km from Canton, Mandarin not drinking the tap water.
made.
is the language· used at Apparently no one does, she
Books are only a smaU ·university.)
says, and water intended for
Seated in a small apartBy NANCY CAMPBELL .,
The language is difficult drinking is served hot.
ment overflowing with books _
_ part of the problem. A major
Burstein still doesn't know
one will be overcoming but fascinating, she says. .
of every description in piles
.b
"It seems strange from the . what to pack in clothesr
on the floor, Burstein does bit more · correspondence cu Itura1 problems Eng115
teachers over here ·never outside. , but once t'nst'de t't t's a 1though one friend who
not
look
like
the back and forth."
beautiful .. . there's lots of taught in western China
distinguished scholar she is.
The lack of correspon- think about.
"111 be teaching students music." Learning Mandarin wound up wearing light blue
But a quick look . at her dence has produced some
credentials is more than curious problems· for who don't have any not only enables her to get "Mao jackets" and pants aU
enough to convince the Burstein. For· example, she background in Western by on the streets, but gives year.
Another unknown is what
curious that Burstein is a doesn't know if she will be literature, a background that Burstein a better sense 'Of the
prime choice for Guangzhou . teaching graduates or un- . 1 just assume over here," problems her students face Brian will do for a year. The
(Canton) Institute of Foreign dergraduates, what she'll be Burstein says. A lot of in learning and speaking Institute appears to have
Languages officials seeking teaching (her specialities are allus.ons will have to be English, for example plans for him, · but the
Bursteins don't know what
"foreign expert" scholars for American and British explained. "I'll have to· fill in grammatical construction.
on
Biblical·
references,
She
also
finds
.
out
in
they are yet.
literature
and
composition),
·
their university.
In the meantime, Brian
An English .instructor at how many she'll be teaching, certainly, and it will have to advance that she will have to
Capilano College since it was or even bow she'll be . be done very delicately ~nswer to "B~h-eh-tine" · has bought a bicycle to get in
first created in 1969, Bur- teaching - by lecture or because there is still some mstea~ of. Burstem because . shape for what will certainly
hostility from the students."
the Chmese language cannot . be a trip into Canton every.
stein has her Ph.D. from discussion.
Other
puzzles
include·
I
accommod_a~e
· all our day from the Institute.
Consequently, guessing as
Boston University and 25
. What has the reaction
years of teaching experience to which books are most figuring out just which . ":estern stbtlants. parincluding Boston, University appropriate to take aU the languages are taught at the ~,tcularly ·~r" sounds. been to her appointment
~ea,vens kno~s what froni her colleagues at
of North Carolina (Chapel way to China is about as nine-language institute. "I've
Hill) and University of scientific as winning the figured out seven of them, B1_krta~ s name wtll sound Capitano? Burstein says they
but two have me stumped,"
e, sh~ sa_ys.
.
are pleased, delighted, even
notorious "Sweep Six".
Massachusetts (Amherst).
· : Burstem 15 also bomng up jealous,· and she is flooded
"I know I'll need obvious Burstein grins.
Right now, . though,
As .well as packing i 011 what else she can expect
Burstein has more on her books like dictionaries,
· mind than her academic thesauruses,
standard selectively (even though she ' ~hen she steps off the plane.
The food wtll be a dehght, I
qualifications as she tries to literary works, but as to the doesn't leave until Aug. 25),
pack for a one year, possible types of literature and ages I Burstein is learning some
two year, sojourn in China as haverit a clue," she says. "I 'Mandarin Chinese in adalso have no idea what the vance.
a lecturer at the institute.
"It was all a bit ota fluke,"· library will be like."
(Although the institute is 5
CONTINUED ON PAGECS
With only 140 lb. each
she smiles as she glances at
the chaos that was once a
living room floor. "All the
post-secondary
English
departments
received
notices last summer that the
Foreign Experts Bureau in
Peking was looking for
teachers.
"I wrote off and received
no word from them until the
end of March, when they
asked 'if it would be convenient for me' to start this
September.
"Somehow I expected a

WHAT STARTED AS A "bit of a fluke" for
Frances Burstein is now a solid fact as the
Capilano College professor begins to pack her
bags for China.

I

II

by. questions about the need
for other "foreign experts".
The
college
ad- ...._
ministration has been
particularly supportive, and
even gave her a professional
development grant, Burstein
says.
Her appointment is
certainly a first for CapUano
and possibly for B.C.
community colleges.
One of the things it does
do is show the community
the high calibre of instructors at the North
Vancouver college, most of
whom hold PhDs or MAs in
their discipline.
"Yes," muses Burstein,
"one of the mistakes we
made at the beginning I
suppose was · calling ourselves instructors instead of
breaking down into
professors, assistant
professors and instructors."
But though the name is
misleading to the community, the . quality oL instructors at the college is
what counts in the final
analysis.
Thoughout the interview,
Burstein's almost tangible
anticipation buoys the
conversation. Despite so
many unanswered questions,
her ·confidence seems big
enough to take on all of
China and win.

Goodbye Cap· College,
hello Chilla
NORTH SHORE NEWS

July 21, 1982