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Q: Will Western teaching styles work in China?
I've been offered the 'Director of Teaching' position at my Language Training Centre, in charge of all aspects of teaching but particularly I've been asked to develop the Curriculum and introduce a Teacher Training evaluation and monitoring system, with a specific focus on bringing in a 'western' teaching ideology to the Centre.
Our Centre has a high percentage of IELTS / TOEFL students so it is 'useful' to teach individual thinking rather than memorised answers (if you want to score above 5 at least) so I'm pretty sure this is a huge step forward, (for the LTC).
I'm going to be pushing the following:
Learning style assessments
Bloom's Taxonomy,
Maslow's hierarchy of needs,
Non threatening teacher evaluations, (i.e. you won't be sacked if you get a poor report it is a training aid NOT a test),
Any more ideas? I don't want to change too much too quickly but I think I've got a good chance to change something for the better here.
10 years 49 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - Other cities
A mixture of western and eastern styles are the way to go - New Oriental's tips and tricks to master the test plus actually learning vocabulary. Make sure your students have the basic academic fundamentals to process what you're planning to teach (especially critical and analytical thinking). Integrate the teacher evaluation with a course evaluation. Teacher evaluations always end up as a popularity contest. You can have a great teacher with a lousy course (or class) or a lousy teacher with a great course (or class). both need to be evaluated to provide accurate metrics. Good luck...you'll need it! I'm doing exactly what you're intending to do and you'll have to battle the parents, the students, and the administration when the parents boo-hoo-hoo about how difficult the courses and how they do not achieve the test-taking mastery of Chinese schools.
Hugh.G.Rection:
Thanks for that; yes I'm intending to redesign the curriculum alongside the evaluation, I recently attended the British Council run IELTS Seminar and it introduced some interesting items.
The academic ability of the students is going to be a problem, not that they cannot adapt, but I suspect a large number may not want to and as they are paying customers I have to find a way to make them want to adapt. My idea is the 'do it this way and you're scores will improve' method which will be true, especially in IELTS. The general English lessons may be more of a problem.
Teaching the students to think is the first big issue. We have initiated a week-long orientation for new students. In these classes, we do exercises to train the students to use their brain instead of their memory. This is a big challenge for students who have been pacified and harmonized into little lambs, but it is required before they can go on to take the westernized curriculum. In addition, we prepare the parents to actively support their children at home and not always nag and pressure their child. It's an ongoing process, but it is helping our students to adapt to the new way of learning.
Hugh.G.Rection:
I doubt our finances would run to a week long initiation, but I would be interested to learn about these train the students to think exercises.
Hulk:
I was wondering when you'd chime in, xinyuren. I've been thinking about what you said about your school, and it seems like a really good idea. Got any advice for us novices? I do like to play brain games, and get them to question things. They normally go by memorization, but I throw in a few thinking games here and there. It catches them off guard big time.
xinyuren:
I like it when we have them read the reference material (for example, a story), then I ask review questions with answers that are not in the story! If the character in the story had to solve a problem, I will ask them how they would solve it. Or why did the character solve the problem the way they did. Or make them take the ideas they learned and use them in another setting. Anything to force them to use the ole' noggin'.
ambivalentmace:
i have the students debate a topic to help with critical thinking.
one side supports the one child policy and one does not, use this for current bbc topics in the news. seems to help get them thinking, then go back and review compare and contrast to write an essay on what they just debated.
Why are you using Maslow's HoN's?? I've been contemplating it recently (currently one of my study colleagues wants to use it in our assignment, and I'm really not seeing much of a place for it...).
Personally, I think Vygotsky's got the right idea!
Yes, 'western' teaching styles WILL work... but you'll need to have patience, and slowly convince them that they do work. This will require numerous head-bashings!
Also, be careful with the vocabulary lists you get them to learn... I've seen too many vocab lists where they learn stuff we would almost NEVER use, and yet, don't know simple things like how we talk about the weather, parts of the body, food, football or other sports terminology.... if Ss don't even have the basics to talk day to day stuff, then what hope do you really have when it comes to the more complex stuff??? What they really need is language that can be used every day.. then worry about the more academic stuff when they've got a good handle on that.
I'll just put in my 2cents worth and say, those 'tips and tricks' will only work if a student is a low-level, to go up one or 2 bands (to a max of about 4)... it will NOT get one above 6, and unlikely to get to a 5 unless it's dropped in nicely and appropriately. I had a student not long ago, and she reeled off this quite obviously memorised response, and I thought to myself "you have absolutely NO idea, do you???" Some BS about it's an interesting question and there are different sides and everyone has a different opinion so it's hard to answer... blah blah blah.... ( I don't remember the question, but something like "do you like boats?" 
)
Hugh.G.Rection:
I will use Maslow in my teacher training as, in the UK at least, it is the most widely known 'humanist' theory. However it is the overall idea I will be putting forward rather than specifics, i.e. a student won't learn unless the environment (physical and social) is in place.
As to unusual vocabulary, unfortunately that is not my decision, IELTS demands 'less common' idiomatic phrases and collocations as well as higher level vocabulary, and so whilst I agree with you as to it's usefulness in everyday English, so long as we are bound by the dictates of IELTS there is little I can do if I want my students to get a high score in IELTS which at the end of the day is our 'bread and butter'.
Shining_brow:
PM sent...
RE: Maslow - gotchya!
RE: IELTS... we native speakers wouldn't be likely to use 'higher end' vocab, and yet we still would get an ok score (usually enough to get the 6-7 than is required to enter into uni). So, as I tell my students, it's how well you use the basic stuff.. In my classes, it's unlikely I'll use a lot of 'less common' vocabulary... but I use what I've got in a particular style (much as this post is..).
So, I'd still suggest teaching them the basic stuff, so then they've got something to work with that they can use. Nothing really sucks more than having students who feel they can't talk... and giving them those basics gives them something to talk about.
Hugh.G.Rection:
Understood, when I say 'higher' end I think I may be being slightly misleading. I'm really talking about one or two latinate phrases (e.g. ergo / per se) and some collocations, 'pop icon', 'night and day', 'breathtaking view', 'role model' etc aren't really high level language per se ( ;-) ) but they do increase the lexus remarkably if used accurately naturally and flexibly.
PM received, thanks.
Shining_brow:
Oh, right! Yeah, the easy but idiomatic stuff!! Sorry, I thought you meant more technical or academic vocab... (although, if you're referring to writing, there is, of course, 'incline', 'decline',, 'steady', etc etc etc - as I'm quite sure you know!)
I've got a student who just LOVES "kick back and relax"... I think he's used it about 3-4 times in prepared speeches, now :p
ambivalentmace:
i use basic words and get them to change the words for the vocabulary score, initial instead of first, numerous instead of many, various, diversity of,
how long, approximately instead of about for the vague language.
getting them to practice using the words is the hard part.
Officially, China requires ESL teachers to use what it calls "CLT with Chinese characteristics." It's description of this is that it is an eclectic mix of "ALM with Chinese characteristics" and "GTM with Chinese characteristics."
Reality, it is mostly 1930's style GTM, with Chinese "improvements." They just use the term CLT to appear to use modern techniques.
The Australian accredited Global Assessment Certificate (GAC) appears to have blended Western and Chinese styles successfully, as well as providing advanced standing for some universities in USA, Australia, Canada, UK, NZ and other countries. It is difficult to get Australian approval though, considering that the Australian governments have closed down 300+ sham "international" schools in Australia over the last few years.
A typical 30 minute grammar teaching sequence could go something like this:
Lesson: Present perfect and past simple
Aims: To identify the difference between present perfect and past simple verb tenses
Teaching sequence:
Examples - Present perfect verb tense explanation – positive, negative and question forms
Examples - past simple verb tense explanation - regular and irregular verbs; positive, negative and questions forms
Exercise – identify whether a verb tense is present perfect or past simple from a list of eight sentences
Exercise – select the correct verb form from a choice of two in a list of six sentences
Exercise – work in pairs to write down as many irregular verbs as possible, in the past simple and past participle
Exercise – match the beginnings and endings of pairs of similar sentences, selecting the correct verb tense
I actually did a short masters thesis on teaching English (grammar) to Chinese students (Distinction), which I can send you if you like.
If your school budget doesn't run to GAC, I also have some alternatives. You can PM if you are interested.
juanisaac:
You wrote a good response here. Yes, Chinese teachers mostly use the grammar translation method to teach with mostly chalk and board. A few a more innovative using ppt. Also, GASP!, I saw one teacher conduct a debate in his class. But then later he told me he got that from me.
Where I have seen big changes are the Chinese teachers who go overseas for training. They use realia and actual projects for the the students to do.
I try to bring in all the above plus I incorporate the different learning styles that people have: visual learners, tactile learners, visual, and audial learners. I teach at a public middle school; even with all this it's still hard to get their attention.
I have better luck with my private students. I have 12 year old who can use the present perfect and knows when to use many other verb tenses. My younger private students talk better than my high school kids.
