Posted on the TEFLChina List Wed, Apr 13th, 2005

These are some tips and hints gathered from [the list member's] experience as a middle and high school teacher here in China. They're geared mainly to help newly arrived teachers to understand the different classroom expectations here in China a bit better. I remember when I first came here, how mystified I was by Chinese students. After 18 months, I feel I know them somewhat better, but sometimes it's still an uphill battle trying to motivate 700 kids divided into classes of 50 whom you see for only 40 minutes a week and who are all hellbent on passing exams, and not much else including your class as your class is never on the exam.

1. DO NOT SHOW UP LATE, AND DO NOT MISS CLASSES WITHOUT TELLING SOMEONE.

This may seem really obvious, but it's surprising how often it happens. I know of teachers who have been fired for missing classes. The thing is, if you do miss a class you are as likely not to get called up about it as you are to get called. This makes some teachers think that no one is noticing they are missing classes - until it's too late. Believe me, missing class is no mean thing here, and someone probably the principal) will definitely notice and it will not look good.

2. FIND ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES TO SIMPLE ELICITATION.

This seems to be one of the biggest areas of confusion for new foreign teachers in China, and is probably the reason that Chinese students tend to be mis-labelled as "too shy". Imagine the class topic is "Friends and Family". Many foreign teachers will walk into a Chinese classroom and start off with a question like "So, who can can tell me something about their best friend", stand there and wait for students to respond, only to be met with a deathly silence. What's going on? Does no one in China have friends? Of course not. Is no one able to give an answer to a relatively straightforward question such as this? Of course they can. Unfortunately the problem is reinforced by the fact that many Western textbooks begin with open elicitation questions such as this.

The problem is that Chinese students are not enouraged to volunteer and they're not used to volunteering answers in class, or asking questions for that matter. (For this reason, the other classic elicitation "So, any questions anyone...?" will also always be met with deathly silence.) Because the question above creates a possibility for them to make grammatical and pronunciation errors, there is a risk that they will lose face in front of their classmates. Making mistakes is equivalent to losing face - that's just how it is. And if they get it right, that's not much better either. They will stand out as special from the group. The group is more important than the individual and it's just not good to stand out - either as a success or as a failure.

How to get around this? Simple:

1. Nominate students. Don't wait for volunteers, just nominate a student. That way the student is not responsible for being made to "stand out" from the group - and it's not their fault if they either make mistakes or get it right. Chinese teachers usually do this, so you will get answers if you nominate students.

2. Always give them time to prepare an answer. Although this may not be ideal in the eyes of Western teachers, students will be much more confident if you give them a minute to think about and write down an answer to a question.

3. If you really want to elicit answers, make sure there is no "right" or "wrong" answer involved. Try asking something like "What is your favourite colour?" or "What styles of music do you listen to?" and you would notice that students will volunteer information quite happily.

3. MANY CHINESE ARE "VISUAL-PERCEPTUAL" LEARNERS AND NEED CLASSROOM FOCUS.

Some people claim that this is especially true of the Chinese as their script is based on character recognition rather than phonetics.

I remember one activity I tried and which failed miserably, was when I asked students to listen to a piece of ambient music and write a paragraph based on their feelings from listening to the music. Everyone sat there stunned. After two minutes or so, they complained that the exercise was impossible to do. At the time I didn't realize what was going on, but later I found out that many Chinese students are perceptual learners. This means 1) they see the classroom as a single whole field, and, 2) they need a central point to focus their learning energy on - a visual one.

The problem with my musical writing exercise was not, as I first rather pessimistically thought, that Chinese students have no imagination, but that 1) a piece of music is not associated with a classroom "field" 2) as a point of focus it was much too diffuse for them to relate to. They simply didn't know where to begin. I also did not provide them with a model text (see next point below).

So:

• Do not clutter the class field with multiple focus points. Stick to the front. For example, Western teachers often like to walk around the classroom when they are teaching. Use this technique sparingly, for example when you notice too many students doing homework. As you walk around you'll notice books and papers suddenly being shuffled, closed and hidden from all directions. This can be quite amusing to watch.
• Don't have more than one thing happening at once. Do not have some people doing this, while you are teaching a second group, while a third group is doing something else. Chaos will reign within minutes. Remember to keep it simple, stupid. This is not because Chinese students can't cope with complex tasks, but because in a classroom they are accustomed to rote and memorization learning. If your instructions have more than three points, they are too unfocussed and students will tend to get lost.
• When you teach, stand up. Don't, for example, sit down causally on a desk close to the back for a quick rest and continue teaching from there. It will confuse the students and make them uncomfortable. Besides, this is not acceptable behaviour in a Chinese classroom. (For the last class of a semester, I usually just show a DVD to let students have a rest or study for their exams. I let it run and sit at the back. I notice students constantly turning around and looking at me as if they're checking that I haven't disappeared - the teacher as a focal point seems to run this strongly.)
• Backing up what you are doing with visual cues means success. Chinese students often complain of poor listening skills. This is not just a Chinese problem, most students in the world are visual learners. However, it's amazing how smoothly your class will run when you back up what you are saying with written information. If you're lucky enough to be at a school with functioning AV resources and you can manage to prepare and teach your classes using PowerPoint presentations, your job as a teacher here will be heaven. Never just give instructions and tell students to go for it - always back up your activities with a visual example.

4. TEACHING THE MACRO-SKILLS.

WRITING: In China, writing is learnt from model texts. Students will take a model sentence, and might copy pages and pages of that one sentence. Memorizing other people's work is the key to good writing here. Copying is a valid way of learning. Many foreign teachers are shocked when they receive written pieces that are obviously copied from other sources. The fact is, that in China, this is a legitimate learning practice. That does not necessarily mean it is the best one, or even a good one: this is up to you to decide. However, whenever you ask them to write something, anything, give them a model text from which to work. Without it, they will have a hard time figuring out what you want. Make sure there is a legitimate need to write. I once asked students to write SMS messages to each other. They refused. When I asked them why, they said "Because it's too easy and we can just talk to each other." Makes sense, really.

Remember that, in China, it is better to show you know the wisdom of the masters, by being able to copy their teachings, than by showing off your own wisdom. It's just the way it is.

SPEAKING: It is an unfortunate myth that Chinese students cannot speak and have no imagination. They certainly can and do - in Chinese. When it comes to English what is lacking is practice, confidence and being used to giving their own ideas about things in English. However you decide to get them to speak, realize that it will take them time to get used to you. Have them speak the obvious at first, then gradually make it more difficult. Careful scaffolding is a key skill the foreign teacher needs to use here. The problem is that often students will have a wide store of English vocabulary in their head, but it is behind a cultural lock and key. This means that they might get bored with having to answer the obvious, even when they are terrible at doing so. Make sure you explain carefully that at this stage you are focussing on form, not content. Content can come later when confidence has been built. Take care with fluency activities such as group work, pair work, class discussions and role-plays. These are not common learning strategies and students will not take to them easily. You have to really push them in these areas. Even then, expect a high failure rate at first. Don't get frustrated. Always be patient, friendly and encouraging. Keep pushing gently and eventually they will open up to you, especially when they realize they cannot get it wrong. After they have finally opened up, then you can focus on accuracy if you want.

READING: This shouldn't cause too many problems. A good practise is to get students to read the text aloud, as a group, rather than just having them read it individually. They really enjoy practising their spoken English in this way, which for them is completely safe and non-threatening. With discussion questions after a text, have students prepare answers by writing them down, before beginning a discussion. Remember that, as in any class discussion, you will have to nominate students.

LISTENING: Avoid the vague and general comprehension type listening questions often exemplified in western textbooks. It's a waste of time. The secret is that a listening exercise is actually a great way of getting students to speak some English in class. When I do listening exercises, I have students answer one or two questions. Then I play the tape sentence by sentence and have the students repeat each sentence as a class. Then I have them practise the conversation with each other out loud. Now they have a great model to work from, which they have practised and feel confident about: from here you can have them make up their own role-play or discussion based on the listening passage. It works!

5. CHART YOUR OWN COURSE: DON'T DEPEND ON STUDENT FEEDBACK TOO MUCH. TAKE CONTROL.

When teaching adults, I never bother with class evaluation sheets or student needs assessment forms in China anymore, because these are usually highly misleading. Usually on the form the students will indicate they want this, that and the other, for example, Western-style learning and free discussion, but when you give them those things, they find they cannnot cope with it and become very unhappy. Just recently I "demonstrated" a Western style class to a group of adult students, by giving them some activities and letting them go and remaining there as a "guide". The class was a miserable failure. They had all told me they wanted Western-style classes, every last one of them. I explained to them that this is the sort of thing a Western-style class often entails. I asked them again: do you want a Chinese-style classroom or a Western-style classroom? They all said they still wanted a Western-style classroom. The truth is, often students will tell you what they think you want them to say in order to "give" you face. In China, the kind of class taught is not up to the students to decide. Don't be misled when students tell you they want you to be a helper and guide rather than a source of knowledge and a leader, because the latter is exactly what they expect of you as a teacher. After all: you're the native speaker, so you are by default the expert. They expect you toshare your expertise with them in very practical ways.

6. DON'T BE A PIONEER.

Do not come to China expecting to enlighten the "backward" Chinese education system with your "progressive" Western teaching methods. You will fail and you will be resented for it as well. There's nothing wrong with introducing Western methods into your class, but do it gradually and with careful planning and sensitivity. For example, don't come to class, give students a text and tell them to "discuss" it. Nothing will happen. Avoid issues that concern politics, religion and sex - these are always inappropiate topics for class discussion. Scaffold your teaching style appropriately. After having them do a Western style exercise, let them do a traditional style exercise. Always encourage your students. You will soon learn that fluency is all that matters anyway. After a few weeks (or even months), you will be so happy that a student actually volunteers an answer, that you won't care if it's the worst English sentence in the world! Remember that the "teacher as facilitator" is a relatively unknown concept here. Don't be afraid to "teach" in the traditional sense. Teachers are considered "founts of knowledge" here and command much respect. Chinese students don't just care about the communicative act - they like to get into the mechanics of the language as well. Know your grammar and your phonology. If you know your stuff and can teach it confidently, you will be greatly respected for it. If your only qualification is being a "native speaker", then you should probably think twice about teaching here.

7. STAY COOL AND STAY POSITIVE.

Avoid complaining at all costs. Not only does it make you look bad, it gets you absolutely nowhere and is a waste of your energy. If the electricity goes off for a day in the middle of summer and it's 42 degrees and there's no one to fix it: tough luck. "This is China." Find a way around it. Go the the shop, buy some beer, get roaringly drunk and forget about it.

On the other hand, I find that many foreigners here are asked to do things they find unreasonable and instead of avoiding those things, they do them anyway and then spend a lot of time complaining about the ill-treatment they're getting. I find this a bit strange. If someone asks you to do something you find unreasonable, it is OK to let people know: just do it in a polite and friendly manner. If you still don't get your way, don't make a big fuss about: just don't do it. That's the traditional way of resistance in China. (However, don't miss class as a way of resisting. It's not fair to your students.) For example, even though my apartment is 30 metres from my office, and I need to work on my home computer (because it has an English O/S and a printer) I was asked to spend all my spare time (of which there is a lot) in the office. I just don't do it - there's no point. If you know someone is calling you at 8AM on a Saturday morning regarding work, don't answer the phone. If they ask why, tell them the truth: "I was sleeping and I did not want to be disturbed." If the headmaster calls you at 3PM on a Sunday asking you to come to his office, say, "Sorry, it is the weekend and I am out shopping."

If the school says there is a curfew and you must be back by 10PM - don't get upset and angry, just ignore it and come back at 3AM. Wake the guards up: it's their job - they have to let you in. (SHANGHAI: In worst case scenarios involving curfews, it is not unknown for teachers to call the police. The police will be on your side. The guards are supposed to be awake and if they're not the police will wake them up in a very loud and very certain manner! Usually they are asleep because of a deal with the school. Don't listen to any apparent concerns about your "personal safety". It's just a ruse.) No one will get at you for it, you are just making it clear where you stand. Make it clear in a polite way what you will and won't tolerate. Remember, as a foreign teacher you have status. More likely than not, it has taken the school a lot of effort to get you there. If they are worth anything, they are certainly not going to fire you or cause you trouble because you refuse to follow their curfew. And if

But don't lose your temper.

8. INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR

A. DON'T BE A CLOWN.

Chinese students often seem to have unrealistic expectations that foreign teachers should be funny and very lively and that foreign taught classes should always be lots of fun. If you go and sit in on your Chinese colleagues' classes, you'll definitely notice that this is not the norm. So, in reality it's an unfair expectation of foreigners. If you do act the clown, or always play games and do "fun" activities, your students will like you that much the more for it, but it will be very hard for you to get them to ever take the class seriously. Discipline problems often follow. When you ask them to do some "real work", such as writing an essay, they will be very reluctant or even just refuse to do it. And worst of all, after a while, they will get tired of having a comedian teach them, rather than a teacher. You will lose face and lose the respect of the class. This is not to say you can't make jokes, have a sense of humour and have some fun, but, temper your class with activities that they would expect from any Chinese class, even if it means you get criticized for not being lively enough. "Being lively" is not part of the job requirement for a foreign teacher, just as it is not for a Chinese teacher.

B. BE PROFESSIONAL.

Dress professionally. Do not eat, drink or chew gum in class (water is OK). Be on time and finish on time. Don't jump on desks or lean casually on things, or make sudden loud unexpected demonstrative noises (even if you're just making a joke, some students really get a bad fright!) or sit down when you are teaching.

Above all: never lose your temper and raise your voice! Losing your temper, shouting and getting angry is JUST NOT ON in China. If you find yourself losing your temper, stop the class. Tell them slowly, and in a serious way that you are very angry and if they do not behave you will end the class and see the headmaster. Raise your voice sparingly. An occassional shouted "Be Quiet!" is fine and can work wonders, but move straight on from there.

C. WHEN STUDENTS ACT UP.

This can be a problem. How to discipline in China? If you take the right approach, Chinese students are usually extremely well disciplined. In any case, you can be certain they will never insult you directly and they will never be overtly disruptive in a malicious way. This would bring shame on them, as teachers are very respected people. They would look bad in front of all their peers, as well as causing disharmony in the whole class. That's a big NO-NO here. However, students can be uncooperative by doing homework, reading newspapers, chatting, listening to MP3 players, playing with mobile phones and so on. What to do?

Firstly, from the outset, make it clear that you expect the same standards of behaviour as would a Chinese teacher. Don't be a softie. Do not talk over low, ambient levels of chatter as these will soon become high, intrusive levels of chatter. (This can be very hard if students persist and you keep having to stop.) I have found that students often chat when you are doing a Western style activity they don't understand the rationale for. Switching to a traditional activity ("OK, now we're going to practise pronouncing and spelling the following words together") is often the magic cure. Suddenly everyone is attentive and knows what is expected of them. (Even the most boisterous and noisy of my classes suddenly become quiet as mice when I start a listening activity.)

If an individual student is causing trouble, do not under any circumstances discipline them by making them stand out from the group. Never kick a student out of class. Never ever yell at a student. Never ever ever completely lose it at an individual student. The appropriate thing to do is take them aside after class and sternly but calmly tell them what they are doing wrong and what you expect in the future. If a student persists, you can discipline them by asking them to stand up for a minute or two. That's all you have to do. School prncipals here have told me that this is a very serious cue to the student in question as well as to the class that they have been warned and bad stuff is just about to happen. And it's a serious warning indeed. A few weeks ago, I told a disruptive student at the beginning of class that the next time he disrupted the class I would make him stand up. I didn't even have him actually stand up, but he was well behaved for the rest of the class.

I should note that, ironically, this goes both ways. It's almost as bad to overtly praise a student for their excellent work in front of the class as it is to yell at a student for being bad. Praising a student (eg "I'd like everyone one of you to see how good Johnny's work is. He is by far the best student here. You should all be like him.") in front of the class will cause acute embarassment, as you are disconnecting them from their peer group and making an example of them. You are making them stand out from the group and it will not be appreciated. Actually this is not true just for Chinese classes, I think this is universally true, but for cultural reasons, even more so in China. If you want to commend a student for good work, do it privately where no one else can hear. Of course, saying "that's good" or "that's great" is fine after a student answers a question. Just don't make too big a big deal out of it.

9A It's OK to drink the tap water, just make sure it's boiled before you drink it.

9B Yes, Chinese TV really is that bad.

10. Smile! Smile! Smile! Sometimes your students' seriousness can lure you into becoming too serious as well.