Job Discussion Forums

sharpe88 · Joined: 21 Oct 2008 Posts: 226

Red is more positive here than most countries. But red is universally "negative" on marking papers, not just china

"Go easy on the red markers. Red can have negative connotations in China when used to mark or write someone's name. "

evaforsure · Joined: 26 Jun 2004 Posts: 1217

theincredibleegg · Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 224

dialogger · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 419 Location: China

This thread has been valuable as although I have seen students with papers a few inches from their face I have thought 'forgotten glasses today'.
My own resources are in 12 point Ariel. I might increase this by a click or two.

dialogger · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 419 Location: China

WOW Dagmar!
Re names:
The worst FT I came across in PRC was a Brit woman.
She marched into a class of Y3 (uni) students (English majors) and announced 'I don't like the names you have chosen and I'm going to give you new ones'.
These kids had had their English names since middle school or earlier!
'Oscar - you're now Donald' The boy got the message "Donald Duck".
'Why? because you look like a Donald'.
'Helen - you're now Pauline'
'Why? Because you remind me of my friend Pauline'
...and so on.
I had taught these students the semester before and I had a stream of them coming to me to complain. Out of professional courtesy I didn't book her to the FAO but I should have!
It's not only young children who are cruel and unfeeling.

Dagmar · Joined: 08 Mar 2009 Posts: 44 Location: Sheffield UK

MOD EDIT

I tie up a lot of facts as such, about teaching which have finally come together at my great age and much experience all over the place, so if you want to know what I really think do email me.
All I can say is to repeat what I said earlier..

Why not translate the students' names into english or learn their chinese names. They are generally simple enough..and we are supposed to be teachers after all. We quickly learn to count in chinese and any amount of small passable chinese language ..so maybe some of us deserve the students' opinions on whites showing no intelligence at all. My students found great amusement in the way I pronounced their names, and it always started each class off with a laugh.
The chinese called me Miss Hei, which translates from my name exactly.

Sadly I have been told time and again, and yet again just now, not to bother to be pro - chinese, as they will back we Brits everytime rather than someone like you/me, honest and caring.'' This is true from their government but not the people and students/teaching staff, who are wonderfully supportive of any one who cares about them...That is the secret of teaching out there, it is not just about YOU- IT IS ABOUT THEM TOO...(corrupt english lab messing world wide etc-- I quote them: ''we get no opposition from over there- government- to using their students and lecturers'')
The Chinese have seen these things before as have we from the East They know to keep their heads down and get on with the everyday of life. It is the 'stupidity of the moment' the English are indulging in, as indeed I think the westernisation of China is, but it gives us jobs, so we have to take it as it comes.

Write to me directly if you want to know more...

Long ai gu · Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 135

I think the eye problem has something to do with the chinese characters they learn which I understand takes approx. 10 years. The complex makeup of some of these characters are hard to see and extremely difficult on the eyes. Our alphabet is very easy to make out in comparison. There is a lot of reading and coping of these characters and i believe this may effect the vision of the person right from the beginning as a child. I would like to know if the illiterate peasants of the countryside have the same percentage of eye problems as the literates do. Another strange fact is that many of them won't eat carrots or other foods and veggies that are orange or red in colour. The beta-carotene which helps develop vision also will turn their skin into a darker orangey colour than the white skin in which they crave. One of my students was a part-time model and she told me that carrots were bad for her skin--A few theories for y'all.

IT2006 · Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 7:51 pm Post subject:

In my experience, I've noticed that female students refuse to wear eyeglasses for reasons of vanity. In most of the classes that I taught in China, 80% of the girls wore glasses. Some admitted that they didn't wear their glasses because they didn't want to be another four-eyes.

Others wouldn't wear their glasses "just because."

I learned that one of my students needed glasses while we crossed a street together. I asked her why she did not wear glasses. She was squinting at the traffic whizzing by. I asked her if she had trouble seeing the vehicles on the street.

Her reply: If they're big enough I can see them coming, so buses and trucks don't scare me too much.

mondrian · Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:26 am Post subject: Re: disappeared

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

That's a really good point. Students going abroad have got to benefit from our pronunciation of their "real" names. However, I am often worried I mispronounce the hell out of their names. Once, in Guangzhou, I had a student with a name Xiao, or something like that. Apparently, if you say the name in a wrong way, it may come out as "f*ck". So, and yes, we had a fun with it later as he replied; "ciao you too"...or, something like that Smile

In any case and to oppose this idea of "keeping their own names", our attempts may throw our classes off...if not raise eyebrows of our students.