[Dominick: not his real name]
Dominick was on the part-time degree course.
The polytechnic (upgraded to university status in 1992) would run a week-long intensive-revision course for them just before the exams.
The timetable included language revision (listening, speaking, translation) and talks on topics related to the culture, such as Confucianism or TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). For the talks, the students would (i) listen and make notes; (ii) then break up into small groups for Q&A and discussion, for extra listening and speaking.
I happened to be the teacher for Dominick’s Q&A and discussion group that year. Whenever he made a mistake in his Chinese, I’d correct him. He said, “Stop interrupting me! You wait until I’ve finished saying what I have to say, then you correct me.” Fair enough, as his flow of thought was being disrupted — but then, when I tried to go over the list afterwards, he denied everything, “No, I didn’t say that.”
(London, 1987?88?)
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