Job Discussion Forums

Plan B · Joined: 11 Jan 2005 Posts: 266 Location: Shenzhen

Has anybody had any experience teaching a class of Chinese total beginners? Is it possible? What are the major problems, given that I do not speak Chinese?

I am teaching at a new school, and the enrollment so far has been for students right at the bottom, with only a few words of vocabulary. I am not sure whether they have had any English learning experience before, but I find it unlikely.

The school insists that we use New Interchange Intro. We, the foreign teachers feel that even this is not basic enough, yet the Chinese staff and teachers insist that the Chinese students will be content. Would they have trouble reading the dialogs?

Furthermore, they expect the first half of Intro to be taught completely within 40 hours. Is this a crazy and unrealistic proposition? What do you imagine the students' reaction would be to such a pace?

go_ABs · Joined: 08 Aug 2004 Posts: 507

I - and I think anyone would - need some more information before we can recommend anything.

What age students are you referring to?

Teaching absolute beginners who are thirty is a great deal different from teaching absolute beginners who are five.

I do teach absolute beginners - five year olds. In my first class I spend 40 minutes giving them and letting them use English names, finding out what English (if any) they already know, and introducing them to my style of teaching (ie playing games and having fun Wink

)

The major problems are of course getting them to understand basic commands, such as "sit down" and "be quiet". A teaching assistant will help in this regard, but can backfire quickly. So while I use my TA, I do a 'classroom commands' lesson fairly early on so I can then do without her as much as possible.

I actually find this level pretty easy to teach - animals, colours, foods, etc.

But of course everything I said may not apply if you're teaching adults, which I haven't done. Never used that textbook before, either - what is actually in the intro that makes it so hard to teach in 40 mins?

If your students have never said an English word in their lives, then of course dialogs will be waaaaay beyond them. Could you expect to have even a few-sentence dialog in Afrikaans in your first 40-min lesson???

Plan B · Joined: 11 Jan 2005 Posts: 266 Location: Shenzhen

I will clear things up a little.

It is an adult "total immersion" training centre. All the students so far seem to be in their 20's. We have given the students a placement test, which has placed all their levels below Elementary. A couple of them are even seemingly unable to write their name in pinyin.

New Interchange Intro would appear to at least expect the students have an understanding of the phonemes and alphabet.

The school does not have a DoS, so the decisions are largely being made by a Chinese administration with no experience in education, other than that of being a student.

....But maybe the Chinese can adapt and learn quickly. I am not sure. Has anybody ever used a coursebook such as Intro for such a level of student?

Girl Scout · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 525 Location: Inbetween worlds

These students will actually memorize anything you give to them. If you are expected to get throught the intro. and dialoges then simply do it the Chinese way. Help them memorize it as fast as you can. They will feel like they are learning something and it will keep your boss happy. I know its a terrible way to teach, but that is the way the Chinese do it. After they have done what it expected They will be more willing to actually learn things. You will probably have find good material yourself. There are a lot of good resources on the web.

I suggest you start with vocabulary that is part of their everyday world: school, shopping and home. Pattern sentence phrases that include want, have, to be verb, and like. I personally also teach preposition of position, days of the week, months and telling time.

I sure more people will give you more suggestions. I am sorry you got stuck with a book the is inappropriate. Many of us have been through that before. If you really don't like it, try not to let it dictate your class. In my experience though you will have to teach that material.

I am also sorry I suggested memorization. For the recorded, I hate it.

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Actually, the Intro is not TOO bad if they have even the most basics of English preceding it. The first chapter goes into the alphabet and numbers if I remember correctly. I teach from New Interchange Red and Blue books for my Senior 1, 2, and 3s and of course, they proceed along at a rapid pace but tend to revisit previous grammar points, vocabulary, and common threads (such as shopping, traveling, the work place, eating out, etc.)

School, shopping, and home are certainly covered in pretty good detail as the student goes through the different levels. You'll have colors, body parts, prepositions and other helpful topics to explore. I would encourage your students to bring a dictionary or translator so when you say, 'Let's talk about prepositions!', they can look up the word!

If they are in their 20's then they should have had English in their high school years and for those that went on to college, even more English. If they are still at the beginner's stage then they either had very bad teachers or they didn't do so well in their courses and are now realizing that maybe English could be important to them in the real world.

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

. . . (stupid slow internet!)

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Also, you may want to go through the book with them during that first class. As you are probably aware, the back of the book has vocabulary lists, highlights of the grammar points per unit, and a world map, amongst other things. Unless you specifically point this out, they may not venture that far back. Everthing may be gibberish to them at first, but they may find it nice to know those things are there. As a matter of fact, the first thing I ask my students to do for homework is to look up the words they don't know in the current unit we are studying. I will handle the pronunciation in class, it's their job to find the translation so they understand what it is.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

I pity you! Adults placed at the bottom level are more demanding and challenging than real total beginners (kindergarten kids).
Your employer is pocketing money in an illegitimate monkey business. These "adults" should have good CHinese English teachers, not a farcically-labelled "total immersion" programme. This is total nonsense.
As adults they have their set learning habits that are incompatible with your approach. They will need interpretation and translation all the time.

ivytony · Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:48 pm Post subject: Re: Teaching "Total Beginners"

hesterprynne · Joined: 16 Sep 2003 Posts: 386

I find that you need to do a lot of extra work to spoonfeed students. You do have to think like Chinese in this way. They will not do homework- not appropriately, not consistently. They will come to class 20 minutes early and rush through homework, making the same thoughtless mistakes they have always made, rather than actually learning. I give a list of class rules and this is on the list. If I see them doing hw just before class I will not collect it that day, but add to the next assignment. And tell them why. Also you must have a backup plan not based on them doing their homework. Important things they need to learn must be done in class rather than asking them to do it at home. Asking them to translate an entire unit of Interchange words? Never gonna happen. You will need to grab a dictionary with pinyin and do it yourself and give it as a handout. The good news is this will help your Chinese. Plus you can save the list on a floppy and use it again and again. The roleplays (Interchange activities on the "IC" pages in the back?) You are much better off looking through the home page and the adult esl pages on www.bogglesworld.com to find the equivalent. Bogglesworld has done the work for you - except for the translation. Their style works very well to get the students speaking and speaking correctly. Be sure to practice the roleplays two or three times in front of the entire class before turning them loose! Oh- and a funny website that is also useful www.skateforfun.com/englishteacherx --- do not read if you are easily offended! Here is one page from esl-lounge.com with some very basic activities. http://www.esl-lounge.com/level1asurveys.shtml

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

latefordinner · Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 973

First, unrealistic expectations, misassessments and bloody stupid texts are the norm in China. NI Intro isn't as bad as it could be, considering. I would be more concerned about Kevin7161's point:

hesterprynne · Joined: 16 Sep 2003 Posts: 386

Kev7161- thanks for the interchange link- can't wait to check it out!

carolh · Joined: 08 Feb 2004 Posts: 21

I am currently teaching the Intro Level "A" Interchange Series (1st half of the book) to beginner adults and must echo Kev7161's sentiments.

I am quite pleased with the progress my students are making with this program. (My students had already mastered the ABC's and basic numbering system before they were turned over to me for the Intro program). We complete half the book for each program. Class is held twice a week (evenings) for 8 weeks, for a total of 32 hours. We have only 5 classes left, yet are well on track to completing the first half of the book.

I believe the Teacher's Edition is crucial to the success of this program. Even if you pay out of your pocket, you will find this book very useful. You should be able to find it in the Foreign Language Bookstore in Guangzhou.

I don't teach every single activity for each unit in the book; I consider the book a source of 'multiple-choice' ideas for each lesson. If the students master a unit quickly, we do the majorityof activities; if they have trouble, I slow down and focus on the more pertinent ones.

The Summaries at the back of the book are excellent; I ask my students to review these prior to class. This gives them an opportunity to translate words and expressions into Chinese, which helps them to gasp the purpose of each unit more quickly.

I currently have a Chinese assistant for this class, but have cautioned her to translate my 'instructions', rather than each and every word I say. Otherwise, I tend to lose the attention of my students as they wait expectantly for her to translate. They have learned to stop me when they don't understand, so I can make another attempt to explain words they need help with. When this class progress to Intro Level B, my plan is to teach them without the use of a Chinese assistant. Things are progressing well so far.