Teaching 101: Introduction to the Chinese Classroom

Lesson 1: There are MANY students... and very little room to put them...the classrooms are small and the Great Wall of Textbooks takes up half the available space. Each of my classes has between 70 and 80 students. Even sardines have more wiggle room.

Lesson 2: Students are accustomed to passive learning. Even raising their hands to answer--or, heaven forbid, to ask--a question is unusual and uncomfortable. But they'll get out of their seats to take a picture, of course.

Supplementary Material
Item 1--Students inhabit the classroom. They stay in the same classroom all day; it is the teacher who moves from classroom to classroom. The students prepare the classrooom for each teacher's entrance. The students clean each teacher's mess when the teacher leaves. The students sweep and mop the classroom daily.

Item 2--Chinese high schools have three grades: Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3. Within each grade, there is a ranking of classrooms. Generally speaking, the best students (best = highest performance on exams) are all in the lower-numbered classrooms. I teach all twelve classes of the Grade 1 students and four classes of the "best" Grade 2 students. I also have three English corners each week.

Item 3--Chinese high schools rely heavily on the textbook... I do what I can with it.

Welcome to the Chinese classroom!