Meet the typical chinese student - Part 2

So we've just finished the 5th week of teaching and not much has changed with my students. They're still unable to raise their arms above 10 degrees from their sides when i ask a question, and I'm still talking to myself and answering my own questions in class. Thats right, in 5 weeks i have never had a hand raised to answer a question, even an easy question that they all know the answer to! Sometimes i wonder where all the future leaders and managers of china's government and private sector are. did they end up going to other schools? I wonder if i speak more mandarin to them if they'll be alot less shy! i mean, surely i'm not that scarey and intimidating. i smile to them as much as i can in class, and laugh at my own lame jokes. what do i have to do to make them open up? start acting more motherly?

and when i do choose a random student to answer the question there is the danger that they will have no answer whatsoever after standing up (because they always stand to answer questions), or give an answer that is completely unrelated to the question. you see, chinese students are incapable of saying "sorry i don't know'' , which i would've been completely cool with. so one must learn the art of 'guiding' the student to the answer, giving them hints or blatantly pointing to the answer in the textbook. and if they still don't get it, i'll usually say ''that's an excelent answer............if i was asking another question'' or ''you're close, but ......'', just to try and save their face. theres been a few times when my attempts at trying to save their face have failed when they've gone off on a complete tangent, and they just crumple into a heap after i ask them to sit down (because usually they won't sit down until you've asked them to).

some classes are easier than others. i've got 6 classes in total - 4 speaking and 2 writing. the speaking classes are alot of fun, while the writing classes have been a bit dry. it also depends on what time the classes are scheduled. i've found the morning classes are most attentive, while the 130pm after lunch class and the 320pm final class of the day are the least attentive, to the point where they are sleeping in front of you while speaking. The picture to the left was taken during the 10 minute break between periods. so the dozing is not this blatant during the lesson.

i've learned alot more about chinese students from the activites i've set for them in class. when i asked them to write some things about themselves, they seemed to come up with the same sort of responses - i can or can't swim, i have cats, i have dogs, ect. but i think it's more the fact that their vocab is quite limited, something i hope to help them with. its funny though when you assume they'll understand a word or concept but later find out they haven't a clue. I had to explain what a 'tan ', sunbathing, and sun lotions was! though i shouldn't be suprised seeing asian women desire white skin. i feel like telling them it's no good for their vitamin d and bone density though.

and some of them choose the strangest english names, often on purpose because they want a unique and memorable name. i think many of them end up changing their names if they study in a western country after quickly realizing how badly westerners get confused with their obscure names. Some of the more stanger ones include Jelly, Crane, Pirate, Druid, Purmaple, Sophila, Damny, Geraints, Iverson, Judyea, Echo, Jerusha, Sapphire, Green, Carrie (i know where that one came from), noyebuster, sunshine, tip, c.jiro (korean pop/drama star?), winner, jannten, j.raw (sounds like a file extension type), ariel, alian. So you can see some of them name themselves after characters in western tv shows and movies, NBA players for boys, computer game characters, scientific names of flowers, or they just randomly spliced two words and stuck the parts together.

Some of the more normal sounding names very popular among my students include daisy, sherry, cherry, jane, amy, fiona, joyce, coral. And then of course many of the names sound similar to their names in chinese. i know Winner came from wen na, so i didn't think she was trying to be cocky.

Although my writing classes have been pretty dry to teach, I did get some fascinating insights into their characters after asking them to write descriptive essays of themselves in the first lesson. After seeing how shy and reserved my speaking classes were, it was a shock to discover how expressive they were when it came to writing. I mean, the vocab and grammar wasn't there, but i still understood what they were trying to express, and they really did want to express themselves. I guess it's because they know their writing is only for me to read, comapred to speaking in class where everyone hears you. I mean, chinese people, (including westenrnized asians), are not known for expressiveness and openness. but most of them wrote about their strong love for their familes, hometown and friends. many also expressed a desire and regret over not having a sibling (due to the one child policy), and then opennly acknowledged how their parents had laboured hard and sacrificed everything for their futures. 99% of them described themselves as 'shy', and homely sort of people, but explaining that once familiar with someone they can be 'crazy' (outgoing and more talkative). most of them just liked music, movies, surfing the web, shopping, and also described sleep as a hobby! i think it's in the genes, because i can't get enough of it either. most of them were quite circumspect, acknowledging themselves as lazy and vowing they needed to change rectify this, and many of them had dreams to travel outside of china, more often than not to eat the delicious food of other countries! by the way i had to teach them to start writing 'good food', rather than 'delicious food'. one of my students wrote a bit of a disturbing essay though, saying she was so depressed and lost and just wanted to go somewhere far away from here. not sure if i need to sit her down and talk to her, or whether theres a student counseling service i can refer her to. i doubt the later though. it's not fun though, proofreading 135 essays a week, so i'll probably get my writing classes to submit work every 2 weeks rather than every week!