Teach English in Nuojiang Zhen - Bazhong Shi

How are you? I'm fine, thank you and you? In my four years of teaching Chinese students online, you couldn't imagine how many times I've heard this script-based answer every time I would ask how are they? I am not saying there is a problem with the sentence structure or it has grammatical errors, if anything, I would say that this is my answer to the question, what is right but sounded so wrong? Wrong in a sense that they have been taught to respond in this particular question in a constructed, word per word, redundant but you can "never go wrong "answer. This is a complete 360-degree turn on how I was taught to learn the English language. We are given the freedom to experiment, to explore expressing our thoughts, ideas and feelings in a way that it is okay to make mistakes. We prioritize more on fluency rather than accuracy. We are encouraged to converse as natural as possible. We should think English and not translate English from our mother language and vice versa when we communicate. So how can a foreign teacher like me adapt to the opposite educational system and be efficient with my chosen endeavor facing the problems for learners in a country of my choice?. Today, I will narrow down common dilemmas of both young and adult students in a country known for its great wall, China. Yes, indeed you need to break down the boundaries of Great Wall to introduce not only the English language but another approach in learning the English language. And just like any other success stories you need to identify the problems which I call triple "C". First on the list is CULTURE. I always believe that a student can learn more if he/she can connect with his/her teacher. Being born and raised in two different countries will result in big cultural differences so how to connect? Simply by learning, respecting and embracing their culture. There are some topics, words or phrases that are considered taboo in a given place. For instance, in my country when we talk about death, we just use the word "die", but it sounds so disrespectful for Chinese students. They would prefer to use "passed away".You cannot say, Oh it's too hot in my country, I'm dying or ask them about their bucket list since death is regarded as a sensitive subject and is not openly talked about in normal, practical conversation. A big cultural difference is a major problem but can be resolved by awareness, curiosity to learn more and respecting boundaries to topics, phrases or words that might be okay from your cultural background but different from them. Next on the list is "COMMUNITY", back when we were babies and can't speak a single word we tend to copy the sound we often hear or learn "mama" or "papa" because our parents repeatedly push us to say it as our first words. It goes the same with learning English, the more chances to hear, speak and practice the better you become in learning not only the English language itself but about the English language. Unluckily, Chinese students are deprived of a good English environment. And although parents have resources to enroll their children to English institutions or join English clubs and corners that is the only exposure they can get from the language. Maximum of an hour, not daily can help but slows down the progress since they are using their mother language in a day to day study and work life. This problem is beyond our control since its an ongoing issue up until now and will take the time or not, to get resolved. From as simple as talking with their family members to watching movies dubbed in Chinese at the cinema, students have a long way to go with the English language because of limited exposure, to begin with. As a teacher, it's best for us to maximize the learning experience in our classes and provide an atmosphere with less pressure and stress even if the improvement is not at its peak. And lastly, "CONFIDENCE" although this can be linked to both culture and community this is a personal struggle that can be resolved both from the teacher and student's end. As we all know, Chinese people are relatively shy as part of their culture and taught to always sound smart with minimal mistakes possible to not lose face as part of their community. This limits their ability to explore the language and stick with a basic, standard way composing of words that are only familiar with them. They are afraid to open their mouths and hesitant to ask questions for topics that are not fully understood. Although this problem is more of an individual struggle, as a teacher we should encourage them and have a good balance of motivation without spoon-feeding them. We should maximize their full potential as a learner despite given problems. One of my goals as a teacher is to devise a method that would allow the students to have a good learning experience and making them come to class not only because they need it but because they want it.After all, a good teacher cares about her teaching but cares even more about the learning of the students.