Let the Work Begin

Late September and early October are difficult times for education in China.  The holidays seem to run together and bump school and education right out of the formula.  Now, however, with the Moon Festival and Golden Week celebrating Chairman Mao are behind us, it is time to for the work of educating Chinese students to begin.

Craig and I both have seven scheduled classes of Master's candidates.  Two classes of 35+ students from the graduate school on Monday, one each on Tuesday, two on Thursday and two on Friday, approximately 250 students each.    Each class period is two hours long.  Students arrived at SCUT early in September to take the English Exam to determine their placement, the results of their exam would place them in either the "A" class or more advanced English,  or the "B"class would be intermediate English.  We were given the "A" students with the large numbers of students in the classes.  For many students this is their first experience to have a Foreign Teacher.  We have several students who have elected to add in as a audit student just to participate with a Foreign Teacher.  Each student will receive a grade at the end of this semester. Each class has cameras for monitoring not only the class but also the teacher, I am told they do that regularly with the Foreign Teachers.  You have to keep an eye on the Foreigners!

Attendance, tardies, behavior are never a problem.  Students arrive early and stay late just to have a conversation with you. They stand when speaking in class and respond respectfully to every question.  I have been able to make them laugh a few times but they are on the whole very serious students. Most of my students are engineering majors, with a wide range of engineering titles.  They understand that being able to speak English well will propel them automatically into a higher paying job category.  They all have a very impressive memorized vocabulary and read English well from a script so the part we have been working on is oral communication.  Giving directions, explaining, asking/answering questions, syntax and diction.  I have heard some very interesting pronunciation.

 I gave an assignment to watch an English movie  over the weekend, preferably without subtitles. They are able to purchase any mover, first run that are in theaters now or historical anytime on the street.   I put them in small groups to discuss their movie reviews or critiques.  It was great to listen to them and the impressions they have about America from the movies.  They also give oral reports on current events every day.  They have absolutely had a great time with the U.S. Government Shutdown at the expense of the U. S. Government.  Words like "ungovernable," "on the brink of disaster" and "U.S. losing creditably, no longer a super power" were in the newspaper everyday. Hard to defend ridiculous behavior internationally.

I have to say I love working with students, it has been a great experience to learn about the Chinese school system, listen to students explain the exam system and the ranking of students and universities that is done by the Chinese Government. I think Chinese students work very hard and are very appreciative of the opportunity to attend a university.  They are amazed at a smile or any small kindness or understanding gesture I have shared with them.

 Notice the one-to-one computer ratio in each classroom.  Every student has access to a computer at their desk.  They use headsets to communicate with students for two reasons, to keep the noise level down and to allow the teacher-student communication to be private to cut the risk of a student loosing face with an audible classroom answer.