collageIn the near future, do you visualize studying in Chinese university? If that’s so, what do you really know about Chinese universities? This is why reading the article below is crucial since it brings you to some of the important facts, like chinese classroom management. Simply read on to find out more.
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f you know anyone who’s visited China, you’re likely to have heard a common list of bizarre cultural disparities. Things like the squat toilets, questionable driving and complex dining etiquette don’t go unnoticed by foreign tourists. Though, ask a foreign teacher what they noticed, and you’ll probably receive a different answer. Working within one of the worlds most successful education systems, foreign teachers experience a new realm of disparities that exist between China and the West, most notably in Chinese teaching methods. It’s easy to forget that such differences may exist, but as a foreign teacher it’s important you’re aware. So, how do they differ and how will it affect you?
Chinese Teaching Methods
A classroom full of students obediently taking notes and only breaking their silence for a prompted chorus of repetition is nothing but a fantasy for most teachers in the West. Believe it or not though, this scene represents classrooms across China, from primary school to university.
This idyllic setting characterises learning and teaching methods favoured by most schools across China; the ‘teacher-led’ approach. Here, a teachers’ expertise makes them the most important person in the classroom and gives them higher status than their students. This makes the teacher an authoritative figure who is the sole source of subject-specific knowledge.
The Chinese believe that students learn best by memorising information supplied through repetition and note-taking. Teachers therefore use a systematic approach to planning and delivering information-packed lessons to students who passively receive information. Focusing almost entirely on the teacher, this approach requires few classroom resources and allows for little to no student engagement.
The reasons the teacher-led approach is the favoured Chinese teaching method can largely be attributed to cultural values and beliefs. A Chinese person’s entire educational career centres around success in the notoriously difficult College Entrance Exam (gaokao). Considered one of the toughest exams in the world, gaokao results determine a person’s future career prospects and earning potential. This makes it one of the most important events of a Chinese person’s life and places extreme stress on even the brightest of students. The looming pressure of this exam becomes apparent from an early age in China; students as young as 6 are conscious of the need to work towards success no less than 12 years later. This inspires an admirable work ethic in students of all ages and acts as a strong incentive for good behaviour. This pressure to succeed plays a key role in effective classroom management in China.
The importance of this exam influences Chinese teaching methods. Memorisation is widely regarded as the primary route to successfully acquiring the large volumes of knowledge tested in the gaokao. Their ‘expert’ status in the Chinese classroom means the teachers instruction is considered the most efficient route to achieving this. This belief, combined with a widespread respect for teachers in Chinese society, inspires a keenness among students to listen to the teacher. Such is the sense that the teacher knows best, few students ask questions and some consider group discussion a waste of time.
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