Job Discussion Forums

[Shandy]

Hi folks,

I have just got a job teaching literature at a Chinese University. I have not worked in China before and am a small bit intimidated by the prospect. I would welcome comments from those of you who have experience in the field. In particular, I would like to know if teaching literature at a Chinese University is similar to teaching literature at a British one. For example, is it a case of standing at the top of a lecture hall with a loudspeaker and dictating lecture notes or is it something altogether different? Is the literature syllabus offered at Chinese Universities as difficult as it is in British Universities? Any comments on the above questions or your general experience of teaching literature at a Chinese University is much appreciated.

thanks,

Shandy

[eddy-cool]

Your concerns are well justified: Prepare for a rough landing in a Chinese lecture hall!

You will hardly be 'dictating notes' to your students, analysing a text or setting it in correlation with historic events and social development in the country where it is set.

What exactly you will be doing will probably be left to your own decision but in any event you mustn't expect to be teaching to students with an avid interest in British novels. Literature is simply one of the several purely theoretical subjects normal university students have to take; none will likely read a whole book of fiction from page one to the last page. Most probably, your students will have to remember some names of classic English writers; Bernard Shaw and Joseph Conrad may be their only 20ieth century writer names - for reasons you can easily figure out. Remember, in China literature and the arts have to support the Party's interpretation of history; only 'realist' writers are welcome.

Charles Dickens, the Brontes and similar novelists are the usual standard fare in liteature classes. Heavy, over-salted and easy to digest but your students won't have to digest them.

[Shandy]

Hi eddy-cool,

thank you for this insight. Is it a case, then, that literature students have no end of semester literature exam? I'm not sure what you mean when you say literature is a purely theoretical subject. Given that I won't be teaching to students with an avid interest in British novels, will there be a 'babysitting' element in the lecture hall? In other words, will these literature students be mis-behaved in class? Finally, Will a year's experience teaching literature at a Chinese University enhance my chances of securing a job teaching literature at a British University?

I appreciate your time,

Shandy

[fitzgud]

If you start them of with The Beano, then, with a lot of effort (from you not them) by the end of the year they may have progressed to The Hotspur.

An alternative title of their choice would of course be Sleeping Beauty.

[arioch36]

Your experience could be different.

There is a Brit Lit test. Whether what you teach is related to that test, I don't know. The test is all dates, and periods, and who the major authors were of that period, and what their major works were. No real discussion of the actual literature, not time allotted for it.

Your experience could be different.

Misbehaving usually is sleeping and texting

[Beyond1984]

[Shandy]

thanks for all your insights and helpful advice. I get the impression that teaching literature at a Chinese University is quite like school teaching at home in Britain. I was hoping to get away from this type of teaching experience and now regret signing a contract to lecture at a Chinese University.

[randyj]

Likely the students will be third-year English majors. Classroom discipline will not be a problem, but these students are worrying about what jobs they can find after graduation. British literature does not relate directly, hence the word "theoretical". Probably most of them will give the subject short shrift.

During this past semester, one of my colleagues taught this subject to third-year English majors. She is a very experienced teacher, with several years in China. The students were unhappy with the class scheduling, to begin with, so things did not start well. My colleague is a pretty tough taskmaster. The result was a mini-rebellion within the class. It was a devastating experience for her, to the extent she declined to stay another year.

[lf_aristotle69]

Hi Shandy,

Welcome to China.

What type of program will you be working for?

I think the respondents so far here are assuming it's a regular Chinese university English major or elective course. Is that the case? Or, is it a part of an international partnership program with a British, or other foreign, educational institution? There are a few of those programs around.

I'm guessing you will have 'small' size classes of 20-40 students in a regular classroom, as opposed to mass lectures with 100-200+...

A lot of English major students are more focused on their International Trade, or other, minors these days. The resistance to intensive work/research/study and their resistance/difficulty in producing well reasoned written or verbal responses could be disheartening for you. But, you will have at least a few language and literature lovers in the group, I hope.

Good luck.

LFA

[eddy-cool]

[Shandy]

thanks again folks for all your valuable insights,

it's nice to get an idea of the job you're going to before you go there. I'm not sure, though,of what type of program I will be working for. On the contract, it just says I will be teaching literature to University students at a teacher training college. It doesn't specify if this course is a major or an elective one. I have, however, looked at information on the college and found that English is offered as a major. Hopefully, teaching there won't be as difficult as I first imagined. I do find it funny, though, that a student can deliberately skip your classes and then have have the audacity to demand a pass grade. I remember how I was failed when I failed to turn up for my Middle English tutorials all those years ago. Of course, my lecturer was right to fail me and I would find it difficult to act in a different fashion, lest I make a mockery of the natural relationship between reward and merit. Still, it is hard to be interested in a subject that is mediated through a language you don't fully understand. These things considered, I am now looking forward to the challenge.

[Beyond1984]

[arioch36]

If it is the average Lit course, it is expected to be a survey, and I would say that you would be remiss in not including Chaucer.

if you are talking about actually discussing works in class, if it is the standard uni Brit lit course, the time to actually discuss works is extremely limited

[China.Pete]

"It's nice to get an idea of the job you're going to before you go there." -- Shandy

You may or may not be teaching future teachers. Most Chinese universities have expanded their majors far afield of their titular remit. Nonetheless, if you're tasked with teaching English Literature, you will more likely than not be teaching English-related majors. You will probably need to develop your own syllabus. There may be no coursebook, or the coursebook previously used may be wholly inadequate for the task and you might have to choose one in a hurry from among the range of titles that are co-published in China. You won't go too far wrong if, as Beyond1984 suggests, you "focus on one or two plays, poetry, and any cool short stories about which you are enthusiastic."

[Leon Purvis]

If you received a list of responsibilities before your arrival, don't do anything until you arrive at your school.

It's a good possibility that you won't be teaching entire texts but rather excerpts from works. Those excerpts may be little more than a few pages. My students were shocked to learn that "Romeo and Juliet" was an entire play with a whole cast of characters.

My advice is not to sweat it. Wait until you arrive at the school and find out what your responsibilities will REALLY be. What the FAO (or worse, an agent who claims to work in the FAO office) tells you and what the foreign languages department tells you will probably be two completely different things.

My observation of Chinese teachers' notes left on the blackboards is that it is common for western literature to be taught through Marxist terministic screens. That makes for interesting interpretations (especially in Am Lit such as Huckleberry Finn), but the students aren't told that there are different kinds of criticism.

I was asked by a student taking an American Lit course the meaning of the "wreath" in Steinbeck's work. It turned out that she was referring to a misprint in her book which mistitled Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wreath." The Chinese teacher, apparently, didn't catch it either.

Wait until you arrive at the school before you become concerned about your curriculum.