This is the main building in which I teach, building number three. Maureen has most of her classes in building four. However, we do share one teaching room on the third floor of this four story building, a classroom that is just to the right of the balcony seen in this photo. Of course we teach there at different times.
This is a photo of my class this morning taken in the classroom I was talking about. These students are in the College of Commerce studying e-business. Today’s lesson was a mixture of two topics – Classroom Rules and Mid-Autumn Festival. As Samson pointed out, both Maureen and I create lessons so that students can bring their knowledge to the classroom and find ways to use that knowledge in English. It makes for a lively set of lessons for us as teachers and for them as students. For them, it is about being active participants rather than the traditional recipients in the learning process.
For the students, they get to be teachers as much as they get to be students. We allow them to teach us about “their” assumptions, cultural beliefs and traditions. With them having their opportunity to speak about things they know, they are primed to hear us talk about corresponding ideas and cultural beliefs from a western world perspective. Students are involved and feel valued – and that is the key to avoiding conflict between foreign teacher and Chinese students. It all comes down to respect in the end. We respect them and their knowledge and they respect us in turn allowing us to be “real” teachers in return.
I agree – respect comes from respecting the students and their abilities – whatever their level of English. Respect comes when the students know you work hard to provide them with good classes and good feedback.
Minor rant at the moment – I am working with an FT who walks into classes and puts down students – to show them who is boss. He wants them to be a little afraid of him. He has a plastic hammer that he hits students with (we are talking about 18-22 year olds!) or he gives them a quick punch on the arm. He especially targets the monitors and natural leaders of the class to ensure that they don’t ‘get cocky’.
Not one of the students deserves to be treated like this. The majority of them work like hell, the ones who don’t either don’t come to class or sit up the back pretending to listen – not interrupting or causing problems.
For me, this is NOT gaining respect. He also has no respect for their potential. He has ‘re-translated’ Beowulf because he thinks they can’t understand the alliteration. Has he bothered to even try to go through it with them? No. And he wants to cover Beowulf in one class…. I’ve taught Beowulf to this level, and if you take it slowly and explain they end up really enjoying the fabulous images and language.
I get really frustrated when foreigners treat these students as if they are idiots. No way could I do as much as they do in a second language!
Sorry for the rant!
It is sad that so many FTs are not as interested in teaching as they are in feeding their ego. To be called Foreign Experts seems to bring out the worst in them. Students do know the difference between a foreigner who really is engaged in trying to help them learn, and a foreigner who takes on the role of a dancing monkey and is then angry at everyone.
No no, a dancing monkey is the wrong imagery. What you meant to say was “mean circus animal trainer:” they believe they are there to train the students to stand up and bark out English words like a tiger jumping through hoops. I have to wonder if there is not serious cultural racism happening there…
There is serious cultural racism everywhere, Lawrence, as you rightly assume. This cultural racism is harmful to everyone, the perpetrators as well as the victims. And it is double edged as there is a reciprocal cultural racism that gets entrenched making it harder for real teachers here. Interesting stuff, this world of cross-cultural contact.