The flow of noise from any English language classroom is a bit like the flow of ketchup from a ketchup bottle. There is either too little or too much. But China's unique cultural fabric makes finding the right level of student engagement particularly difficult for a foreign English language teacher.
Eliciting responses from some students sometimes feels like pulling teeth because of an ingrained cultural inhibition to making mistakes in front of others (‘losing face'). While others, excited or emboldened by a foreign teacher's generally more relaxed approach to study, let loose and run riot in the classroom. These difficulties are often compounded by English language textbooks orientated for students living in typical Western societies and which take no account of China's unique social characteristics (for example setting exercises with brothers and sisters in a country where the majority of children have none because of the one-child policy).
But don't panic! With a little understanding of Chinese student mentality and access to the right resources, a foreign English language teacher's job in China need not be so challenging.
Photo: flickriver.com
Resources and Teaching Materials
Most of the larger chain English schools in China now provide their own brand textbooks which generally make a teacher's life much easier. If you are teaching at a smaller school however, or providing one-to-one classes, it is easy to become disheartened by the legion of boring, uninspiring English language text books commonly in use.
Don't give up all hope however, there are a couple of series which compare better than most and seem to have more success in the classroom. New English Parade published by Pearson Longman is good for younger age groups because of the high quantity of colourful pictures contained in its pages complementing the lesson content. The textbooks also contain sticker sets, which are very popular with all ages under 10, and come with a homework book with exercises that review textbook content.
For slightly older school students and adult learners the widely available New Interchange series published by Cambridge University Press is a comprehensive text book series, which comes with a teacher's book providing activities and advice on how to deliver lesson content. The grammar explanations are also very clear.
If your school's curriculum is fixed and you are stuck with a less than thrilling textbook, then try and complement your class with activities and exercises from elsewhere. A good place to look for these is online. There are numerous websites catering for the struggling English language teacher.
Best Topics
If you're teaching in a private chain school, class content normally follows a prescribed curriculum. Somewhat unusually (you might think) it is often in Chinese state schools or universities that a foreign teacher has more flexibility to individualise the curriculum. If you do have this opportunity, certain topics for certain age groups always seem to go down well.
High School Students
Most Chinese high school students' lives follow a rigid routine of schoolwork, schoolwork and more schoolwork. It is perhaps not surprising therefore that ‘Fantasy' is always a popular topic for this age group and acts as a good springboard for lots of class activities. You might like to ask your students to imagine what superpower they would most like to have and why. A good homework task is to ask your students to illustrate and write the dialogue for a short fantasy comic book strip, building on this media's huge popularity in China. Fantasy film imports from the West such as ‘Twilight' and of course ‘Harry Potter' are also hugely popular in China and make good subjects to talk about or base exercises on.
University Students
In common with university students all over the world, Chinese university students are making plans and thinking about the future. So what better subject to choose to base a lesson on? You might like to discuss how China will change in the next 10 years or ask your students to make predictions when certain events will happen (when will a Chinese astronaut walk on the moon?). On a lighter note, personalising the future and asking students to guess their classmates' future jobs and appearances always provokes hysterics and lively discussion.
Adults
Many Chinese adults are learning English because of work trips abroad or because they have holiday or emigration plans. Travel and cultural difference are therefore two topics which generally go down well with this demographic. Making picture puzzles of famous landmarks from around the world is an activity that works well, and asking your class to think of ways in which Chinese and Western customs differ markedly is also approached enthusiastically.
How to get them to talk
Overcoming a barrier of silence is often a foreign English language teacher's most difficult and frustrating task! There are a couple of different approaches you might like to try in order to get your class talking.
Make it interactive
As any TEFL course will tell you, make your class as interactive as possible. This is particularly important for younger age groups. For example, if teaching fruit names to younger children, spend 10 RMB buying the actual fruit from the market. Make a game out of it by hiding the fruit under different buckets, swapping them round and asking the children to guess which fruit is where. You'll soon have a class of enthusiastic children screaming out the fruit names in English.
Play the clown
As Mr Bean's popularity in China shows, comedy can cross many cultures and break down many barriers in communication. Playing the clown and slapstick humour can help you seem less intimidating to a class of children who have never seen a foreigner in the flesh before. ‘Losing' your pen by forgetting you have tucked it above your ear will always get young children giggling as will trying to read your textbook upside down.
Picture power
Illustrating verbs on the board with funny picture examples or giving nouns exaggerated characteristics in a picture (a big nose on a face, a very fat elephant) are simple ways to prompt your class to laugh and talk. They are also a good way of introducing new adjective vocabulary into the lesson. Picture power works surprisingly well with self-conscious teenage students too!
Group work
If your students don't have the language confidence to try and speak on their own, try setting small group work. A shy student will often have the confidence to attempt an answer in front of a smaller group of students.
Reward system
Many schools have a reward system in place but if yours doesn't then pop into a street-side stationery store and buy a pack of colourful stickers, which are cheap and commonly available. These can be used to reward students who answer correctly or even shy students who attempt an answer. It's amazing what impact these small stickers can have on participation levels!
Hopefully some of the above advice gleaned from long experience teaching in the Middle Kingdom will prove useful to the uninitiated. If you're already a veteran of the English language classroom in China, then any of your own suggestions for making a foreign English teacher's life easier would be very welcome in the comments section below!
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Keywords: tips teaching in China English teaching materials culture difference students China Chinese students best topics English teaching
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I feel learning English is a real big joke! What English are they trying to learn with the curriculum, time and attitude (students & parents & teachers using recordings when they can read out aloud!). The French (from my understanding are nationalistic particularly their historic relations with the British)have picked up and speaking up well and not embarrassedly! How many years since Chairman Mao was taught English by LG Alexander (New Concept English) which till this day is sworn by for obvious reason. I salute the French, shame the Chinese. Approach wrong, change it. Starting first with the educators. How you expect American-lingo teachers from days gone by to coach Oxford/New Concept English which is British English? Then again, the texts used in such books are a concoction! There is no standardization as in the legal field. Get this: "Can I help you?" Please choose correct answer - (1) "Give me a pear, please." (2) May I have a pear, please? What do such questions extract from a Primary One kid or even for adults? The answer is (2) because in the Oxford English 1A, a similar appears...."May I have a hamburger, please?" The point here is not so much of English but how the teacher's answer will be or how much the kid can retrieve from his memory, rather RAM!
Jan 09, 2016 19:02 Report Abuse
wow, the first comments are dated 3 years before the article was released. impressive yet not unexpected.
Nov 10, 2015 21:11 Report Abuse
People need to realize that this is clearly directed at new teachers. If you have been working in China for longer than a year then it is likely that you either know a large amount of this from experience or you have heard such things from other teachers who work or have worked in the different fields. Personally when it comes to teaching my opinions are simple. If you don't think that you're a good teacher then you should either stop teaching or make steps to improve your ability. A teacher should never stop trying to improve their ability and if you come up against poor Chinese teachers then you should help them improve their ability. If they are stubborn you could always shame them into improving themselves although that's a little aggressive. As a foreign teacher in China you are in high demand which gives you a certain amount of power. In other words don't let people treat you poorly and always strive for excellence. Take pride in your job even if others don't.
Nov 10, 2015 18:15 Report Abuse
Tip for university professors/instructors teaching English in China. 1 - If you teach at a high level institution in a prominent city, treat your course like a "real" college class with good content from high quality sources and/or your own research. That means teaching English and cultural theory, presenting problem solving activities in a simple and straight forward manner, and contentiously developing your curriculum with student feedback. It will not be easy, but you will you have high academic ratings and at some universities can be promoted and achieve full or near full benefits of Chinese staff if you take things seriously and can adapt it to Chinese culture. 2 - If you work at a mid-tier or lower end university at a 2nd string city, then stick to a simple, straight forward lesson where you have a lot of energy, enthusiasm, always show good face, and all the rest of the acting shtick... and get the hell out of there as soon as you have 2 years of experience, do not stay longer, you will be wasting your time and "prime" years of good face. Move on and establish your reputation somewhere that can collect actual money if you are going to do the university gig long term. Meaning you need to be making enough money to have retirement savings for "back home" if you are going to keep working in East Asia. That, or use step "1" to prepare after 2 to 4 years to get your CELTA, a 2nd Master's in a linguistics field, and or a PHD so you can make the $$$ in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Jakarta, or a private uni that will pay you something more than a substance wage. Long story short: work at a small university no more than 1 to 3 years, go to a better university 2 to 4 years (unless you have a really great position and upward mobility), and then step up your game and use your experience to hit the big leagues in Singapore ECT.
Nov 10, 2015 01:47 Report Abuse
In reality, foreign teachers are the lowest paid foreigners in China. But if you love kids it could be a fun short-term gig if you don't get screwed by a school or agent. There are 19,000+ schools operating in China and education has become a big business full of scams and exploitation. Most all public schools and public universities are legitimate and honest. Ditto for international schools. Everything else is a crap shoot. Just google "foreign teachers scam china blacklist" and you will see that hundreds of teachers have been victimized one way or another - unpaid overtime, no last pay check, or schools that want to charge them money for invitation or release letters. If agents are involved be prepared to give up 25% - 66% of your wages/salaries every single month to people whose real names you will never know. If you must teach be absolutely sure to get your "work visa" (known as the z visa) before you come to china or you might end up like the 57 foreign teachers rounded up over the last few weeks now being deported after they were caught working on student, tourist, and business visas. Lastly, if you have student loans to pay, your teaching job will just barely cover your expenses in China unless you are willing to have 1 or 2 roommates. After takes you will be luck to have 500 dollars a month left after your rent, transportation, and food costs are paid. Having more than one job helps a lot.
Mar 21, 2013 08:37 Report Abuse
Yeah, In my opinion if someone is not putting 800 to 3,000 USD a month in the bank... after expenses... then they need to move on to a situation that pays that or else go home after 1 to 3 years maximum, because in some countries you may not be paying in for SS style retirement benefits.
Nov 10, 2015 02:07 Report Abuse
What about the rampant apathy in more affluent segments of Chinese society? What are we supposed to do with them, since they are a real market, and one that is decidely not interested in learning (English among other topics). Interactive classes don't seem to be particularly useful as a vast majority are engrossed in their own technojunk. Any suggestions would be welcome...
Mar 18, 2013 23:33 Report Abuse
I am a university teacher myself, and generally I would say that the tips in the above article are useful for engaging the students in your lessons. There are a couple of other websites as well that could be recommended, including esl101.com which have a lot of useful lesson plans. You can also do searches online to find a lot more. But for many (most) college classes neither the students nor the staff are very well prepared and so the demands are not very high. You can usually just do whatever you like in class and get paid for it. Sadly.
Mar 16, 2013 22:49 Report Abuse
I admit I was skeptical but after reading this article I think you must agree that it has a lot of good information, especially for a beginner. Maybe we're all insiders? Why argue, it's a title, it is supposed to get your attention. Bravo. Instead of complaining, he offers solutions and insight. Anyway, in my opinion this is a well written and useful article.
Mar 15, 2013 09:55 Report Abuse
This article makes me feel like I've been in China way too long. I would sit and write and article that blows this one out of the water, but I just don't have the time. A good rule of thumb, if an author says that Chinese college students are like other college students because they are "making plans and thinking about the future," they haven't taught at a uni here. My co-workers and I have a combined experience of 20 years teaching in China. It is very interesting when you actually here the truth about China's education system. I would love to go into details about how the inefficiencies within the system are actually responsible for most of the cheating, but again I don't have time because I'm too busy grading make-up exams where the students were caught cheating, but "they have to pass because their parents paid the money." Students wait to be told what to do next by their parents and teachers. There's no planning here. It's sad.
Mar 15, 2013 05:28 Report Abuse
Chinese culture demands something for somehing. so, if the parents paid money into a school, they expect their child to at least pass and get whatever certificate, diploma, etc. Im not saying I agree with it, but rather being realistic and saying "it is what it is".
Nov 10, 2015 12:39 Report Abuse
Anyone who has been around long enough knows that Dave's esl cafe is a joke. It started out with the right intentions but then money took over. Try saying a bad word there about any school that advertises on dave's, or question a mod, or suggest alternative sites and the message gets deleted, if you whimper in protest, you receive a threatening email, if you continue your account gets deleted. There is no free speech in Daveland
Mar 12, 2012 00:11 Report Abuse
Well then why don't you pen a "Insider's guide" and distribute your vast knowledge?
Mar 07, 2012 18:46 Report Abuse
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