During summer break I had the opportunity to go study abroad for a duration of one month in Shanghai, China. I became Miss Lu’s acquaintance, a Chinese teacher for non-Chinese speaking students in Shanghai International Studies University SISU.

• What challenges do you face when teaching Chinese to students from mixed cultural backgrounds, and how do you address them ?

I believe the biggest challenge I can encounter is language.  Working in a beginner class with students who  can only speak their own languages and not English, Chinese or even German, is a real predicament to be understood and have a dialogue.

By working with group talks and giving students topics to talk about with each other, I try to create a warm atmosphere to eventually do presentations. Often we search for different living habits, the aim is to let students talk.

• Can you talk about some cultural shocks that you experienced in class ?

Although I consider myself quite tolerant on this matter I remember being surprised by the usage of toilets in different countries. I once had Vietnamese and Thai students who very much disliked the university’s toilets ( Turkish style). They weren’t satisfied either with their dormitory toilets as a result they had to buy for themselves extra furniture ( a bidet). This was my first time realising the cultural hardships foreigners students could encounter while coming to China.

Another cultural shock I experienced was the behaviour of some students during exams, mostly from Russia or central asia countries ( Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,…). Although phones and chatting during exams are prohibited, they are still put in practice. Following a discussion with them we learned that it is what they are used to in their home country.

• Do you have any opinion regarding Chinese academics ?

Actually I think there is a real difference between the chinese education before the gaokao and after. Before this exam  students are trained very well with very competent teachers but Chinese universities are not keeping up the level. I think China could take other countries for example and let students choose their major, take a job or go study abroad and come back to continue university where they stopped. In my opinion this could be very helpful to understand what one truly wants to do for a living and what one needs, also to improve studies results yet more. Moreover, Chinese teachers in university seem to follow the guidelines of the school office, there are very few good teachers if i can say. The qualities of a  good teacher are, according to me, not only about the knowledge or written skills but mainly about knowing the students well, being patient and knowing how to guide and lead students by themselves. I am of the opinion that Chinese students are not able to think very well, they mainly behave according to parents and teachers advice and notices.

• In what way do you think language has a cultural impact in Chinese culture and how do you manage to transmit these types of cultural meanings ?

Language has definitely an impact on culture because it is at the very core of society. I think it is mainly through language that one can learn about a culture. In Chinese it is through characters and their history. For instance just by knowing characters, we learn that Chinese people love the number two. Indeed almost every single word is made of two characters. Furthermore because language keeps on evolving, culture and language are inseparable. By way of illustration, we think that asking whether someone has already eaten or not is a form of greeting;

• “你吃饭了吗?” ni chifan le ma?

Or saying that they don’t have time for something instead of directly turning down someone;

• “我今天不方便” wo jintian bu fangbian.

This enables the learner to have a frame of Chinese culture, and here notice that Chinese people do not talk directly and openly about their true feelings.

When learning difficult words in class I first ask my students if in their own languages there is a word with a similar meaning, we then have a conversation about situations when the word can be used or not, this helps truly understand the meaning. The aim is to find a different way of explanation by giving very complete context. I doubt that translation is a good way to learn Chinese. It is more about understanding and adapting to Chinese lifestyle and culture, in order to understand Chinese logic.

– Margaux Mannone