A Newsweek article this month criticizes Chinese language programs for foreigners in China, describing a money-grabbing program based on old fashioned Confucius-style teaching methods (i.e. ME, teacher, YOU underling student), outdated textbooks and an emphasis on memorizing characters as opposed to practical conversation skills.
False false false. I was one of the 100,000 foreigners to “flood” into Chinese campuses in recent years. The tuition was relatively (i.e. very very) cheap compared to US tuition and yes, we did get put in nice dorms (with maid service and our own ensuite), but our teachers in the classroom were engaged, down to earth people who emphasized all aspects of the Chinese language: reading, writing, listening and conversation skills.
I learned a lot while I was traveling in China, but the foundation was built in the Chinese classroom. And let’s be very clear on one thing: it’s a huge advantage to learn a language in the mother country. It’s called immersion and it’s always the better way to go. I’m not sure where this Newsweek writer is getting her information. It seems that, like the alleged outdated textbooks, her information may be out of date.
4 comments
Marc Kuo says:
Aug 12, 2009
I was another one of the 100,000 students in China previous year; the article is a disgrace!
In one year, I’ve managed to learn a lot of useful Chinese…Teachers were indeed very very good at Tsinghua, engaging in plenty discussion. Admittedly, sometimes from out dated textbooks (with Chinglish translations), but only those texts have the rich cultural load and folklore that is essential to grasping the language. How much I enjoyed baffling locals with my Western-accented ancient Chinese proverbs.
Staying outside China to study Chinese is faux pas. Waste of your time and your foreign currency. I’ve spent 4 years on a Saturday school in Holland, which was equivalent to an intensive 2 week of class at Tsinghua. Nice dorms that come with it is a choice of your own, you either take it or not. I took it, and it was part of what made my study year heavenly.
Don’t listen to Mary Hennoch, who just got the insight from one Kenyan Mutune Kisilu. That is one opinion out of the 100,000. Now you already got two countering that.
Maile Cannon says:
Aug 12, 2009
This article really is a disgrace. What’s more, the premise that it’s better to learn a foreign language in the U.S. is preposterous. Has the writer actually ever tried to study a language out of country? I studied French for 11 years. I’m fluent now, but that was only because I devoted hours upon hours, OUTSIDE of the classroom, to self-study.
If you really want to learn a language, you’ve got to have the right context. The quickest and most enriching way of creating it is going to the country.
Annie says:
Aug 19, 2009
Wow! What kind of racist/culturally ignorant/horribly biased article is this??
“Blame it on Confucius, who emphasized deference to one’s elders and teachers. His influence still haunts China’s education system. Instructors are expected to talk and students to listen. But this isn’t how the brain learns languages, says…”
So
1) Confucius sucks and haunts China’s education system
2) Talk about generalizations???
3) As a science reporter, I cannot stand for citing one source to support an argument, and an argument against an entire system?
Where did this person’s reporting come from? Where is her evidence (aside from the one student) that language classes are this way in China?
Is this the “new age” reporting that isn’t really journalism, but is just people ranting about things based on their own, isolated experiences, or worse, opinions?
Also, WHICH country has one of the WORST education systems in the entire developed world? (And which has, probably, a better one though still being a developing country? And, not to mention, had one of the best education-based governments in ancient history? In which country do more people, proportionally, actually speak a second language?)
Annie says:
Aug 19, 2009
By the way, I like your blog.