Teaching English in China

My trip to China came about because I was asked to do some Teacher Training for Chinese Teachers who teach English to students here in Suzhou. After a month, I have gotten to know some of them very well. They have been teaching me to cook Chinese food, they have been giving me instructions to interesting places to visit, and they have been trying to teach me a few word of Chinese. I have developed a great deal of respect for these teachers and the great job they are doing under difficult circumstances.

There are a number of factors that make their job very hard. As I work with them every week I am learning as much about the Chinese system as they are about the Canadian. Officially my job was to help them better understand the Canadian system of education, and to give them some strategies to help them teach English, but I quickly learned that there was a lot more to it than that.

The biggest difficulty they have is their own mastery of English. I had some of them tell me that I was the first foreigner they have spoken to. All their English was learned in public school and and in college afterwards, and some of them learned it all from Chinese teachers. This situation is made worse, because once they start teaching, these young students become their only source of English conversation. They tell me that they are actually losing a lot of their English skills because of lack of practice. They have no one to speak to except the students who are themselves just learning. In order for some of the Teachers to understand me I have had to modify the way I speak to such a degree that during a Skype call home, my wife asked me why I was speaking to her like she was in grade one? The teachers have had to do this even more severely in their classrooms to accommodate their students , and they are losing the skills they developed in college.

The lack of English outside of schools creates another serious problem. The students have no real reason to learn English. They have no place to practice, and they see no need to learn it. The need is there though and getting more obvious all the time. I look around and see the biggest new apartment building and the biggest office towers advertising with English as prominent as Chinese, so just as the developers see the coming of the foreign boom to China and the need for English as a common language, I see that these students going through the schools now are going to need English to succeed in the International world that China is gearing up to exploit. The students, like children anywhere, do not see this. They speak Chinese everywhere they go. Other than to say “Hello” to the few foreigners and then run away giggling when we answer, they see no practical reason to learn or use English. To them they are studying English only to pass the exams. The students that do master English either because their parents pressure them, or someone else motivated them, are going to be the ones making the big salaries, driving the fancy cars, and living in the English named luxury apartments complexes . The lack of interest in English makes it terribly hard for the teachers to motivate the students to learn. At least ESL (English Second Language) learners in Canada are confronted constantly by the need to learn English to communicate, but here students just cannot see the need for English. Oh, the sign says "WET PAINT", but I didn't even need English to know that.

Lack of resources is the other major difficulty faced by these teachers. Their job is teaching English, but in most cases they are given standard exercises books, based primarily on Grammar. As I discussed the way reading was taught in canada with guided reading programs and explained about the hundreds of levered books needed in my little school of 300 students, I discovered that these teachers had no actual English books outside of the Exercise books. I explained the proven importance of reading aloud to students, but they explained they had no good books to read to their students. I discussed the importance of independent reading and was told the students had not books to read unless their parents bought some. When you realize that the schools here are between 1500 and 2000 students, you realize that it is almost impossible to do anything quickly about this. I thought I would be able to pick up books here, but there are none to be had anywhere. Even major book stores carry few if any English books. Even if teachers wanted to slowly build up a library, they are unable to get the books. I felt so bad about those hundreds of old children's novels I remember sitting in storage rooms because they were “old” and teachers didn't want to use them any any more.

Speaking to education officials in China, I realize that they recognize the difficulties these teachers are dealing with, and are trying to take steps to solve some of these problems, but they are such complex issues that it will take a long time to find solutions. Unfortunately the solutions may be too late for many of the students struggling to learn English in schools today. I think China recognizes the need to graduate an effective body of students able to function in the English speaking Global economic world that is coming to China, but they are still struggling to find the best way to do it. I like to think that in some small way I am over here helping with this.

China - An Initial Impression

China was not a location I had dreamed of visiting, but when the opportunity arose to go over with all my expenses paid, it was something I couldn't turn down. Someone felt that my 30 years experience in the education system was worth funding my trip in order for me to provide some training for teachers learning to teach English to Chinese children.

This initial post will deal with my first impressions of the country and it's people. I was not going in completely blind, as my wife had visited the country on another educational excursion, and a friend had spent a month doing much the job I was doing. I'm afraid as well I was guilty of a bit of racial stereotyping of a very general nature, as I was expecting something similar to Japan where I had a very enjoyable trip last year. I shouldn't have done that, because all they really have in common is the Asian continent, but I still was basing my expectation on my Japanese experience.

My very first impressions of the Chinese people was on the plane from Toronto to Shanghai. The majority of the passengers were Chinese, and I have never been on a plane where so many people ignored the rules. Now to be fair, I couldn't really tell the native Chinese returning from a visit to Canada, and the Chinese-Canadians going on a trip to the homeland. They made announcements in English, French and Chinese about sitting down,  putting on your seat-belts, putting seat backs straight, and tray-tables up, but the crew had to make more than one trip up and down the aisle reminding people, yet even after flight crew were settled for landing, people were getting up and moving around. I also had one of the “Little Emperor”Children sitting beside me, who was never told to sit still, or behave. He wasn't bad, he just did whatever he wanted, which included trying to change my video monitor, and laying down with his feet on me – hard to get any sleep during the flight with him sitting next to me.

I arrived in Shanghai tired and starting to get get sick with a cold on a cold damp dreary afternoon – not exactly the best way to start a trip after just getting back from Mexico and sun and 30C every day. We drove from Shanghai on a crowded bus through fog (or is it the famous China smog), so I couldn't even see much. Needless to say, my initial impressions of China were not positive.

I hardly noticed the next day, waking from sleep on the hardest bed I have ever experienced, with a splitting headache, a definite head cold, and a fever. My flat mate was not home, but I found some bread, peanut butter and juice, had breakfast and went right back to bed to sleep most of the day. I seem to recall looking out to another dreary wet cold day.

Being an eternal optimist I'm hopefull things will improve soon!