Job Discussion Forums

[dharma86]

Hi, I am teaching university students oral english and for some students to differentiate between he/she him/her whilst talking about people is still a problem.

Although I know that an effective way is to always have them practice talking about people, I cannot let this turn into the sole focus of the classes.

Do any of you have any suggestions or advice on dealing with this problem. I feel it is something that should be vitally eradicated for an English major student.

[johntpartee]

It is difficult, it's the most common error among Chinese speakers. They're not used to it, that's the biggest problem. Spoken Chinese does not differentiate between male and female. The written language does, though, so the only thing you can do is keep hammering away, just keep correcting them. They'll get it eventually.

[JamesD]

For He/She I usually pantomime with hand chops how the male form is straight and hard like the lines that make the 'H' in 'He'.
Then I show them how the 's' is curved like a woman's form. This seems to help the guys remember.

[colonel]

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

common mistakes like misuse of he/she (among many others) is simply result of the student reverting back to, or thinking in their L1 while trying to speak in L2. the result is this chinglish. students need to keep in mind the rules of chinese don't apply to english. the good students will improve in this way, the not so good ones won't.

every time i hear something new in the world of chinglish, i write it down, and then i add it to a table i've created. the table lists the chinglish, the correct use in english, and then the reason why the mistake is being made. i usually go over this table with all classes at some point during the year.

[themanymoonsofjupiter]

[nickpellatt]

I dont really think its L1 interference, but more a lack of practice. When they write, they rarely if ever make this mistake, but never practice this simple language point in oral English. They normally say something like 'We learnt this in primary school' and are then resistant to any kind of practice on this simple point.

I work in fairly small classes....and in pair work I always make them repeat what their partner said, 'he said that he thinks ......'

I have also imposed a fine of 1 RMB per person per he/she mistake...that makes them think a little more. Im pretty confident I can eliminate this mistake totally...but students would never let me focus on this single point so it remains a common error.

Im quite lucky in my job because on a nice day, I can take students outside to the park etc. Its not something I really do often, but when I next do this, I will keep asking students to make simple statements about people we see. 'He is wearing a blue coat', 'She has a great haircut' etc. Any student who makes a mistake with have to do a dare or something similar.

Unfortunately, the only way to really eliminate errors to to focus on the language point...if you arent prepared to do that, you have to be prepared for a lifetime of correcting them, having them nod their head and say thank you...and then making exactly the same mistake next time.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[themanymoonsofjupiter]

[xiaolongbaolaoxi]

Well, obviously, the class fund should be used to buy xiaolongbao!