Reflection Assignment 1 (T-3 days!)

Prompt:

1) What challenges do you think you might encounter when teaching and observing in Chinese schools?
2) What similarities do you think you will encounter in terms of the educational system, teaching styles or strategies, students, environment, classroom management in Chinese school system versus the American school system?

Response: 

The first challenge that comes to mind when I think about teaching and observing in Chinese schools is my lack of knowledge about Chinese culture. Learning to be culturally responsive in an unfamiliar place will be a huge challenge, but one that will really make me a better teacher when I come out of it. When planning my first lesson, I realized how many stereotypes I have and how much I really don’t know about China and its people. Each question I had just led to more questions: How much background knowledge in English do the students have? How much can they read? How much can they write? What is the best teaching strategy to use with students who don’t like to speak in front of the class and work in small groups? Do Chinese students really not like speaking in front of the class, or is that something I’ve just heard? And that’s just the beginning of the list…

Another big challenge is the large class size. The Handbook for Native Speakers (2004) says that most Chinese classrooms have 40 to 60 students or more. That’s way more than what I am used to as an American teacher. With a class size that large, it’s hard to use the strategies that I’ve been learning in my course work. What’s more is that I will be teaching about 10 classes a week. That’s about 500 students in one week! There is a lack of supplies and access to technology, so reaching the high number of students will be another barrier to face. Those are just a few of the numerous challenges I see.

There will also be many similarities between the Chinese and American school systems. The education system in China follows a similar Elementary, Middle, High, then College track. There are required entrance exams, but in China they are highly weighed, and can completely determine a students’ fate. Because of this, the goal of Chinese education for most students seems to be passing the test (could this be a stereotype as well?). 

According to an article by James Allen and Sun Changshun (1999), foreign language learning in China has taken on a natural approach, just as it has in America. Students are expected to practice the language by using it and not just memorizing the vocabulary and rules of grammar. This is what I hope to be one of the biggest strengths I bring to the classroom – my ability to stimulate actual conversation and natural use of English throughout the students’ day. I don’t want to teach grammar lessons on parts of speech or make students memorize our body parts in English. Instead, I want to encourage students to just talk.

Ultimately, I believe that students are the same everywhere: if put in the right environment, they are eager to learn.  When there is something motivating them – whether it is a sticker on a paper, external pressure from parents, or to pass the test – all students need a reason to want to learn. I want to show my students in China, just as I want to in America, that learning is fun and the reason should be an internal drive to want to grow.