Help teaching English to Chinese postgrads

[Colossus]

Hi,

I thought I would write my dilemma here to see if someone could give me some assistance.

I am currently teaching English to Chinese postgraduate students and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on interesting class suggestions. I am drawing a blank currently. One of my biggest problems is that I feel like I don't have enough resources to do a good job. For example, I have search the various ESL databases, but I've pulled up next to nothing. Why? Because most of them seem to be directed at teaching English as a second language IN THE USA or some other English speaking country.

Here, the kids are not motivated and exceedingly nervous about looking stupid in front of their fellow classmates. I will literally ask them a yes/no question and there will be complete and utter silence. I will ask them to raise their hand and I will be lucky if I see some hands peek above the desk.

So, does anyone have any experience teaching upper level college kids English IN CHINA? I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to pick your brain.

[roddy]

Moving to the Teaching English forum . . .

[simonlaing]

Make the class meaningful if possible.

How big is the class? Sometimes it is hard to get people to speak if the class it too big?

Other times it can be that their level is very low?

What is their postgrad major? Perhaps that can help.

I taught various levels of older students.

Sometimes it can be that the students have come straight to grad school and have no life experience. so if you ask them questions about jobs they will have no idea.

Other times they will be extremely intelligent but have never been asked to speak in class before.

I had a beginner english class with some Bank Audit leaders who were over 35 but were obviously very clever. I had trouble because the amount of time I had was difficult.

I was still able tap into their knowledge base to make it interesting by using the names of famous people in an Adjective comparing lesson. Who was more handsome Mao or Zhou Enlai? Bush Jr. or Bill Clinton.

Don't feel that just because they are postgrad you can't play word games where they compete with each other for the answer. Also providing opportuinities for role plays after vocab and dialogue practice has been done works well.

Try and get word lists and simple dialogues from online or the local bookstore. Use them as a foundation and the build from there.

Another intermediate level group I had them prepare powerpoint presentations about their hometowns or activities they like to do.

If they have the vocabulary debates about certain social issues could be interesting. Anyway, remember to make it safe to answer questions. (Sometimes asking group questions and having people raise their hands works.)

Praising a wrong answer as a good try before correcting them will make the students feel like it is worth trying and losing face because you still praised them.

Make sure to adjust difficulty to the right level or they could be frustrated or worse bored!

Good luck,

have fun,

Simon:)

[wushijiao]

Another thing you could do, for any speaking topic, is have them first speak in pairs or small groups for two or three minutes. Meanwhile, go around the room and listen to what they are saying (trying not to be too obtrusive). That might be good because 1) it sounds like you need to get a better feel for their levels 2) it will give them more speaking time, and 3) you can always say, "Jimmy, I liked what you were saying with Xiao Wang. Could you tell the class what you were saying please."

I taught at the colleges for six years in China, including MBA students. I think what you have to remember is that just because they are in "university", that does not necessarily mean they have any communicative skills in English. On the other hand, most students have a tremendous amount of passive knowledge (ie. they know a lot of individual words, and grammar). But, they have never had a situation in the past in which they had to take that passive knowledge and make it active, through talking with a native speaker. So, in other words, they have been studying English for twelve years, but might still be at a beginner's level, communication-wise. As you could imagine, that would be psychologically depressing as hell. And many students are their own worst critics, as far as their English abilities.

Therefore, you job is partly to be a motivational cheerleader of sorts. You should praise a student in front of the whole class any time he or she does something genuinely well. You should also try to create a safe atmosphere in which saying stupid things or wrong things is ok. But don't worry too much. That atmosphere can take a few classes to make. The students have to feel comfortable with each other, as well as with you.

So, I think the activities simon mentioned are good. The challenge is to find topic that they find interesting. My guess is that that might include topics about China, topics about their new life in the US, social issues....etc. Normal dialogues are good.

Also, I used to run my classes by having the name list and then I would just call on people by name. Why? That way you make sure to get everybody talking. Also, if there are vast discrepancies in the level of students in one class, the students who are competent in English won't talk because they don't want to show off. The students who are less competent won't talk because they don't want to look stupid. Then, as the semester moved on, and as the class environment started to get better, I'd use the list less and less, and just rely on the students to volunteer to talk.

[fireball9261]

I was training some software engineers in Shanghai at one time, and they had the same reaction. When I asked a question, I faced total silence. Therefore, I also called out people to answer the questions to make sure everyone will participate. However, before I did that, I always warned them first that I would start calling someone so that they would have chances to raise their hands voluntarily.

I would also suggest that you could share some personal experiences of learning another language to let the students let down their guards. I think they are also afraid you will laugh at them, so if you can make them feel comfortable with you, they will have better reactions. Good luck!

[imron]

Never ask questions cold and expect students to answer it. If you have a question you'd like students to answer, first give them a few minutes to discuss it in English, either in pairs or small groups. This works wonders for their confidence as it gives them time to prepare an answer. It also means that if no-one volunteers an answer you can pick on anyone and they should have at least some answer prepared, which again might not be the case if you just ask them cold.

The trick is then to make sure they are only speaking in English during this preparation time. One good way to get them to do this is to have a "punishment" for speaking in Chinese. When I was teaching, at the beginning of the semester, I'd teach my (college level) students the nursery rhyme "I'm a little teapot", including the actions that go with it. Then, if I ever heard anyone speaking Chinese in class, they had to come up the front by themselves and sing the song/perform the actions. After the first one or two lessons, no-one would speak in Chinese anymore

Finally, try to plan tasks/activities so that students spend time talking to each other in groups or pairs rather than separately speaking with you, (again, only allow them to speak in English). During the activity you can then go around to each group/pair and give them help as needed. Once the activity/task has finished, randomly choose one or two groups/pairs to discuss their answers/views with the class. Do things like this ends up keeping most people occupied most of the time (so they don't get bored and distracted), and the random selection of people to discuss the activity afterwards makes sure that people stick to the activity because they never know if they'll be the ones chosen to talk.

[roddy]

On questioning: You need to

a) ask a question, then nominate someone to respond. If you nominate then ask, the rest of the class will fall asleep.

B) keep it random. If you go round the class in order everyone will fall asleep till it is their turn. Every now and then ask the same person three questions in a row. Ideally someone who's been sending text messages.

c) keep them listening to each other. After A answers ask B if he thinks that was the right answer.

d) challenge them. Are you sure? Are you really sure? Look disappointed and ask them if they want to change their answer.

Another thing you can do is ask the whole class a question - say it's a yes / no question, students raise right hand for yes, left hand for no, and everyone has to raise one hand or the other.

Something else I found worked well is to give them a bunch of questions to do in groups, then get them to scribble their answers up on the board. Then you tell them how many each group has got right - but not which ones. They then get another few minutes to discuss and adjust answers, and you repeat this until they've got them all right.

Say you've got multiple choice questions and a classroom layout that allows it, identify each corner as A, B, C or D. For each question then have to go and stand in the corner they think is correct and then persuade each other to come and join them in the 'correct corner'.

For speaking activities they're likely going to be shy to talk about their own opinions that much. So give them opinions. Group A, you believe WTO entry will be a disaster for the Chinese economy. Group B, you believe . . . Get them to brainstorm potential points to make onto paper before expecting them to say anything.

[Rincewind]

I have taught college students and adult post grads in China for about 2 years now. Chinese course in English tend to concentrate on high vocabulary, grammar and reading comprehension. They are typically week on listening and very week on speaking or creative writing (more than one sentence). However, once prodded, they do pick up these aspects very quickly. The trick is to prod correctly.

At this level, there is little left in any ESL text book that they haven't done already. You have to shift them up form second language to native fluency. The only way to do that is to immerse them in real English. Not English written for learning, but the English written for native speakers to enjoy. I stop teaching them English as start teaching them other subjects in English. So I will do classes on history, geography, and even once I did a class on mathematics (we did Pythagoras and basic calculus). As you go along, you will need to pause to explain the new vocabulary or idioms. This way you push them onto subjects that would not come up the text books.

Usually I get them to teach me something rather than me lecture to them. This can be hit of miss depending on whither the class knows about the topic or not. As a fall back, you should swat up on the subject yourself before asking them. So you are always asking questions that you already know the answer for. It does help if students prepare for the class topic in advance, however in practice they rarely do.

Try to adapt your materials to China. For example, the food lessons in my textbooks aways have the same list of apples, bananas, pizza, hamburgers and so on. I have a load of photos on flash cards with vegetables form the local grocer shop. It contains all the things that Chinese people really eat. So you get to teach them vocabulary like Egg plant, pumpkin, leeks, cabbage, pepper and so on. I was particularly fortunate today as one of my students had been shopping before class and had here bag with her. So I raided her bag (at her suggestion) and covered a wide range of items such as tofu, hazel nuts, pine kernels, sea weed, beef tendons, dried sweet potato and raisins. When you make the vocabulary relevant to their own lives, they have more interest in the topic.

One good activity to get the students talking to each other is to take a article or poem, cut it into 4 sections and stick one section on each wall of the class room. The students should be grouped in teams of two. One student is of each team is to write the article but is not allowed to get up off his seat. The other student may move round the class but is not allowed to write. They have to read the article out loud and listen to each other. The first team to present me with the complete, word perfect and punctuation perfect article wins.

Another lesson plan is based round a word of the day. For example take the work 'intelligence'. Write it on the board. Solicit the words meaning. Ask the students who they know (a famous person) who is intelligent. Write the names given on the board. Try to get half a dozen names. Now ask why these people are intelligent. Write the reasons as keywords next the each persons name. So you will get answers like Eddison - Science. If you can discus the biography of each person with the class. This will in part depend on your own personal knowledge of these people however you usually get the same bunch of names each time (since they give the names out their science and history textbooks) so you soon will know enough. Next rub out the names leaving just the reasons. Try to expand on this list adding more ways someone could be intelligent. So you end up with a list like, science, music, leadership, art, maths, sport, calligraphy, linguistics, etc. Next give the students some questions that from an IQ test. Try to pick one questions form each of the buzz words in the list on the board. So one question might be math based, another will be linguistic and so on. Lastly, hand out a questionnaire like you get in teenage magazines where you tick good, average, bad next to a set of questions then total your points to see what skills you have and what areas you lack in.

Similar plans can be made round other words such as communication, water, transport and such.

[Senzhi]

Try to adapt your materials to China. For example, the food lessons in my textbooks aways have the same list of apples, bananas, pizza, hamburgers and so on. I have a load of photos on flash cards with vegetables form the local grocer shop. It contains all the things that Chinese people really eat. So you get to teach them vocabulary like Egg plant, pumpkin, leeks, cabbage, pepper and so on. I was particularly fortunate today as one of my students had been shopping before class and had here bag with her. So I raided her bag (at her suggestion) and covered a wide range of items such as tofu, hazel nuts, pine kernels, sea weed, beef tendons, dried sweet potato and raisins. When you make the vocabulary relevant to their own lives, they have more interest in the topic.

I don't think that is necessarily true: I, in learning Chinese am also more interested in the Chinese meaning of dumpling (etc.) than in hamburger (also etc.) ... even though I may not know or understand all Chinese food.

Personally, I believe language courses are not only about language but also about the cultures that use that language. So I stick with the things we find in the several cultures that use English as a native language. Or for more specific business English, in the international business culture (outside China).

I did like the remainder of your post though.

[Rincewind]

I don't think that is necessarily true: I, in learning Chinese am also more interested in the Chinese meaning of dumpling (etc.) than in hamburger (also etc.) ... even though I may not know or understand all Chinese food.

I understand your point. To an extent both are true. Part of the lesson should be about expanding their horizons so they understand food from other places but at the same time you also have to build a vocabulary. Experience of an item makes it much easier to learn it a vocabulary. Today's class was on food (which is why my brain was focused on that last night when writing my post). The book had words like 'cereal' for breakfast and one passage mentioned eating black eyed peas with collard greens. For students who have never seen a box of cheerios or similar, there is no way they can understand cereal so they can't learn this vocabulary. As for the black eyed peas and collard greens -- I've never eaten these myself so I can't explain them to the students.

The same is true in reverse. If you had not been to china and had never eaten dumplings then you would not easily learn the words jiaozi or baozi and you would probably not understand the difference between them. Once you have seen (and maybe eaten) these foods, you can learn the names of them much more easily.

My solution to expanding horizons, as far as food is concerned, is to make the food and take it to class. Last Christmas I took in sausage rolls. When one book I was teaching in school had the word 'toffee apple' I made toffee apples and took them into class. During summer, I bought a large variety of cheese and brought them in so now the students have a vocabulary that includes brie, camembert, Edam, cheddar and philadelphia. There is no way they would have learned any word beyond 'cheese' without personal experience.

In case anyone is interested, they liked Edam and brie. They didn't like cheddar. Favorite was German smoked cheese and philadelphia cream cheese which I now sell to the students and my colleagues.

[Senzhi]

I bought a large variety of cheese and brought them in so now the students have a vocabulary that includes brie, camembert, Edam, cheddar and philadelphia. There is no way they would have learned any word beyond 'cheese' without personal experience.

In case anyone is interested, they liked Edam and brie. They didn't like cheddar. Favorite was German smoked cheese and philadelphia cream cheese which I now sell to the students and my colleagues.

Can I please please come to your class?!!! Not much of all this heavenly food to find in Shantou ...