My Chinese Language Teacher
Module 3:
In my four years (or so) of learning Chinese as a foreign language I have had a number of different teachers, some good, and some bad, however during this time I had one particular teacher who I learned from almost exclusively. That was my Chinese professor at the University. Sometimes it is hard to be critical, since she taught me nearly everything I know, and was always there for consultation and help whenever needed. Which was one of her greatest qualities as a teacher. However, her teaching methodology (I felt) was old fashioned and linear too a point of absolute frustration. Weekly assignments were streamlined, and the cadence of the class was predictable. At this point, I do not know the exact terminology for her methodology, however, it is a pretty standard practice in places such as China. Interestingly enough she had not lived in China for well over thirty-years, yet had still retained those "traditional" methods in her practice. For instance, I attended class three days a week for 45 minutes (far to short!) and during that time: Laoshi gave us a quiz, checked homework, provided some inspirational dialogue to keep us going, refreshed our memory on new words, had us take turns reading aloud the weekly lessons (sometimes in a performance skit), and lastly delegated time for us to practice in groups reading the grammar and new words. The quizzes/tests were the cornerstone of our entire class, because in order to pass the student must rote memorize the questions and answers provided on the weekly homework. This meant, memorizing how to write the characters and copying entire sentences down from memory. I spent most of my time outside her class rote memorizing individual characters (usually 30) per quiz, and afterward memorizing my homework sheets in order to pass the tests. This was usually done before class so that the new information would be fresh on the day of testing - and afterwards it would be slowly forgotten. At the end of the day, the problem was that the only exercise which truly counted towards our class was re-writing information that had already been priorly given, and therefore limiting our L2 acquisition to systems of repetition. In all, her methodology was to imprint our minds so that we may create a firm foundation within our language, which is something that has stuck with me as a great attribute. From her methods, I can confidently engage with the Chinese language, such as; character recognition, stroke order, translation, and grammatical foundations. However, on the other hand, due to the extreme focus on rote building exercises, I have weaknesses in conversation, complex grammar, and listening.
In my four years (or so) of learning Chinese as a foreign language I have had a number of different teachers, some good, and some bad, however during this time I had one particular teacher who I learned from almost exclusively. That was my Chinese professor at the University. Sometimes it is hard to be critical, since she taught me nearly everything I know, and was always there for consultation and help whenever needed. Which was one of her greatest qualities as a teacher. However, her teaching methodology (I felt) was old fashioned and linear too a point of absolute frustration. Weekly assignments were streamlined, and the cadence of the class was predictable. At this point, I do not know the exact terminology for her methodology, however, it is a pretty standard practice in places such as China. Interestingly enough she had not lived in China for well over thirty-years, yet had still retained those "traditional" methods in her practice. For instance, I attended class three days a week for 45 minutes (far to short!) and during that time: Laoshi gave us a quiz, checked homework, provided some inspirational dialogue to keep us going, refreshed our memory on new words, had us take turns reading aloud the weekly lessons (sometimes in a performance skit), and lastly delegated time for us to practice in groups reading the grammar and new words. The quizzes/tests were the cornerstone of our entire class, because in order to pass the student must rote memorize the questions and answers provided on the weekly homework. This meant, memorizing how to write the characters and copying entire sentences down from memory. I spent most of my time outside her class rote memorizing individual characters (usually 30) per quiz, and afterward memorizing my homework sheets in order to pass the tests. This was usually done before class so that the new information would be fresh on the day of testing - and afterwards it would be slowly forgotten. At the end of the day, the problem was that the only exercise which truly counted towards our class was re-writing information that had already been priorly given, and therefore limiting our L2 acquisition to systems of repetition. In all, her methodology was to imprint our minds so that we may create a firm foundation within our language, which is something that has stuck with me as a great attribute. From her methods, I can confidently engage with the Chinese language, such as; character recognition, stroke order, translation, and grammatical foundations. However, on the other hand, due to the extreme focus on rote building exercises, I have weaknesses in conversation, complex grammar, and listening.
As you said that most of your classes over four years were from one teacher, I think this was at university in the U.S. rather than in China. Is that correct? Thus, grades were important. If it makes you feel any better, young kids in China labor over writing characters for years. Soon I'll have to make my oldest son do the same, which I'm not looking forward to. I spent hundreds of hours doing the same, and it's not enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how context and goals can play a role. You mention at the end that, despite the progress you've made with regards to reading and writing characters and to grammar, you identify weaknesses in conversational Chinese. While I was in China, I took a year off to study Chinese fulltime. My roommate and I were both non-traditional students. Whereas our Korean, Russian, Japanese, and Malay classmates were university students who needs good scores to report back to their respective universities, my roommate and I were both living and working in China. We had no concern for grades at all other than to get to the next level. Rather than demotivate, that inspired us to work harder and focus on the skills that we wanted. My roommate, had no interest in learning to write in Chinese. (He can read just fine, so he can type messages on phones, computers, etc.) He was intentionally late to every 听写 quiz so that he wouldn't have to take it and hear the teacher criticize him. All in all, though, he did fine and still lives and works in China.
All of that to say, when context is different and goals are different and consequences are different, what one learns varies quite a bit. It would be interesting to see how you would refocus if you could prioritize your own learning goals.