Eat Well, Test Well

Written by Jae Will (University of Richmond), Student Correspondent for CET Shanghai, Fall 2024

They say if you eat well, then you will test well. Now I don’t mean eating healthy, I mean eating good. Good food, good company, and good experiences. When in China, the professors thoroughly live by this code; and guess what? It WORKS!

In CET Shanghai, every other week we have a test on Friday starting from the first week of class. Yes, the very first week of class you have a Chinese language test. BUT! That means the very second day of classes, we have the 中文桌子 (zhongwen zhuozi), the Chinese Table. What is the Chinese Table you ask? It is the “eat well” that comes before the “test well”.

At the Chinese table there is only one rule: You can only speak Chinese. And yes, I mean the 100 levels, the 200 levels, 300 levels, and all of the Professors get the glorious experience of FREE CHINESE FOOD, but at the cost of a little bit of sanity (just kidding). No matter what your Chinese ability, you are only allowed to speak Chinese during the Chinese table experience, and actually? It isn’t as scary as you’d think.

I mean, at first, we barely knew each other, and we barely knew our teachers. And we definitely did NOT know any Shanghai cuisine food vocabulary, frankly because we didn’t even know them in English. However, there is a caveat, you can look up English translations on your phone and either show the Chinese to the person you are speaking to, or find the pronunciation and use it yourself. Also, ironically, some of the lower levels thrive in this event more than the higher levels because they get to show off all of the new vocabulary they are learning, especially when they hit the food units in the 150 class.

The Chinese Table is not just for eating well. It is, in my opinion, the most useful immersion experience of the whole program. Not only is it a mini version of a Language Pledge that’s not as scary and not as permanent, but also they immediately introduce you to all of the local cuisine just a week after you land. The very first Tuesday, we all gathered up at 11:30 and took the very quick two minute walk over to the secret third floor of the school’s Canteen #1, which is actually a relatively fancy restaurant, and sat us down to a whole slew of some of the most amazing foods that you were probably scared to try in the first few days you got to Shanghai. The best part, the food is served the moment you sit down.

Better bring your own ice water though! Restaurants in China normally only serve hot water (yes, still steaming), and early in the Fall it’s definitely still sweltering outside. But your palette becomes more open, you get to work on your Chinese, and as you get later in the semester, the Chinese Table is joined by some awesome activities!

Halfway into the semester, we have already done calligraphy and a singing competition with Chinese folk songs, as well as having visited two local restaurants (including the one on campus). What warms my soul the most is seeing everyone slowly become less afraid of the “You can only speak Chinese! (你只能说中文！, ni zhi neng shuo zhongwen)” Chinese table, all happily shouting it together with the professors right before we begin. Instead, we began looking forward to the ridiculous shenanigans we can get up to, and the silly conversations we realize we can have because our Chinese levels have continuously been improving.

The best part? When you get to that Friday, you really do test well. In fact, I think I’d better keep it up when I get back to my own University.