The most oft asked question people throw my way is “how do you learn/teach a language when one party doesn't understand the other's native tongue?” This will be a pretty quick blog because in large part it's one of those “you've got to be there” sort of things.
My Chinese classes and the classes I teach are completely different for a few reasons. The first is the discrepancy in proficiency. The English classes I teach are of either teachers (who are intermediate to advanced) and the better middle school students of Dalian (who are largely advanced). Both can get their points across on the by and large. In those classes I focus on vocabulary building. I give them words and explain the concepts behind them with simpler words or with adjectives I also act them out. The second discrepancy is the age range. The teacher training courses follow the middle school courses (mostly because I'm only so vested in it) so both are a little juvenile. I play games with them and act like a clown a good bit of the time. Another is that in the English classes all of the students are Chinese. In the Chinese classes there are Koreans, Japanese, Russians and Westerners. The first three have limited English abilities.
So how the Chinese classes work... basically at this point they go for low hanging fruit. Most of the things the teachers get across are simple concepts. There's a lot of simple vocabulary and basic question and responses. The main way we learn what a word means is either through them pointing or mimicking or through the book book which is in English and Chinese. The teachers generally speak a tiny bit of English and once in a blue moon will use it but as a rule do not. One big thing they like to do is have the students simulate conversations. The new one is pairing people into groups and then instead of repeating what's written in the book have us just “talk” about things, for instance where the office is located. There's a lot of “repeat after me” and “what's this I'm pointing at”. For Hanzi (the characters) she makes us get up to the blackboard and write them out. The western world is losing that battle progressively worse and worse. Watching the Asians do it is mind blowing. So essentially, the Chinese classes don't work very well. As to how it would work out at a more advanced level I can't say. It seems like it would be more like the classes I teach where I can use simpler English words to describe the more advanced ones.
In my opinion the best way to learn Chinese would be to come here with a few years experience under your belt and take classes in a study abroad program with an American university for a little bit and only after that to jump into the deep end. FSU's teachers at TFSU spoke immaculate English. Any time we had questions they could answer it. Asking questions is the essence of learning. That being said, I still feel it's possible to pick the language up this way, just exceedingly difficult. This is opposed to at home, where it would be impossible in my estimate.
As to the English classes, most of them are not graded. My take on it is that you're there to give them experience with native speakers but you're not really a full on teacher. The school system recognizes that teaching someone a language when you don't know their native tongue is exceedingly difficult. So the answer to the question “how do you teach someone a language without knowing theirs?” is: “with great difficulty”.
My Chinese classes and the classes I teach are completely different for a few reasons. The first is the discrepancy in proficiency. The English classes I teach are of either teachers (who are intermediate to advanced) and the better middle school students of Dalian (who are largely advanced). Both can get their points across on the by and large. In those classes I focus on vocabulary building. I give them words and explain the concepts behind them with simpler words or with adjectives I also act them out. The second discrepancy is the age range. The teacher training courses follow the middle school courses (mostly because I'm only so vested in it) so both are a little juvenile. I play games with them and act like a clown a good bit of the time. Another is that in the English classes all of the students are Chinese. In the Chinese classes there are Koreans, Japanese, Russians and Westerners. The first three have limited English abilities.
So how the Chinese classes work... basically at this point they go for low hanging fruit. Most of the things the teachers get across are simple concepts. There's a lot of simple vocabulary and basic question and responses. The main way we learn what a word means is either through them pointing or mimicking or through the book book which is in English and Chinese. The teachers generally speak a tiny bit of English and once in a blue moon will use it but as a rule do not. One big thing they like to do is have the students simulate conversations. The new one is pairing people into groups and then instead of repeating what's written in the book have us just “talk” about things, for instance where the office is located. There's a lot of “repeat after me” and “what's this I'm pointing at”. For Hanzi (the characters) she makes us get up to the blackboard and write them out. The western world is losing that battle progressively worse and worse. Watching the Asians do it is mind blowing. So essentially, the Chinese classes don't work very well. As to how it would work out at a more advanced level I can't say. It seems like it would be more like the classes I teach where I can use simpler English words to describe the more advanced ones.
In my opinion the best way to learn Chinese would be to come here with a few years experience under your belt and take classes in a study abroad program with an American university for a little bit and only after that to jump into the deep end. FSU's teachers at TFSU spoke immaculate English. Any time we had questions they could answer it. Asking questions is the essence of learning. That being said, I still feel it's possible to pick the language up this way, just exceedingly difficult. This is opposed to at home, where it would be impossible in my estimate.
As to the English classes, most of them are not graded. My take on it is that you're there to give them experience with native speakers but you're not really a full on teacher. The school system recognizes that teaching someone a language when you don't know their native tongue is exceedingly difficult. So the answer to the question “how do you teach someone a language without knowing theirs?” is: “with great difficulty”.
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