I teach English to university students in China: Ask Me Anything

[travel bug]

You mentioned other cities in one of your replies : do you get to travel to other regions and cities much?

 

[jemsister]

What are your students like? What is their attitude towards learning? Are university students in China the same age as university students in the US (typically)?

 

[GoGiants]

You mentioned other cities in one of your replies : do you get to travel to other regions and cities much?

Yes. If you teach at uni or public school, there's tons of time to travel. I'm planning on going to Thailand at the end of January. If you teach at a private academy, not so much luck.

As for cities I've been to in China:

Beijing
Danyang
Guangzhou
Luoyang
Nanjing
Shanghai
X'ian
Xiamen

What are your students like? What is their attitude towards learning? Are university students in China the same age as university students in the US (typically)?

Yes, they are the same age.

Depends on the students. The English majors are motivated and genuinely do care. The non-English majors are just looking for me to tell some stories about college life in America (they love that) while teaching them occasional English.

Everybody has the idea that Asian students are ultra smart and that we have to "catch up" to them. That could not be further from the truth. The Asian students that go to America for higher education are like the top 1% of their country. Plus, their parents have to have some serious cash to get them there. So there's no screwing around when these students get here.

 

[jemsister]

That makes a lot of sense, actually. A friend of mine recently had a Chinese student stay with them for a few weeks, and they said the same thing about them having to come from a family with money. They didn't say anything about the education level, but it stands to reason that they would have as many "C-average" students as we do.

I don't remember if anyone mentioned this yet, but your living situation--do you have your own place? Did you choose where you live, or do they set you up before you get there?

 

[GoGiants]

That makes a lot of sense, actually. A friend of mine recently had a Chinese student stay with them for a few weeks, and they said the same thing about them having to come from a family with money. They didn't say anything about the education level, but it stands to reason that they would have as many "C-average" students as we do.

I don't remember if anyone mentioned this yet, but your living situation--do you have your own place? Did you choose where you live, or do they set you up before you get there?

And if your family has a lot of cash in China, they can normally buy you out of any trouble you happen to get in. There is a social concept in China called guanxi which defines the amount of connections to have to higher places. Think of it as a type of networking. If you suck but are from a rich family, then you'll end up in good shape in life. If you're very smart but are from a poor farming family, it's hard to make it big. This isn't America after all.

Yes I do have my own apartment. As a uni teacher, you live in a 2 bedroom apartment on campus though I normally use the other place for a computer room. You can negotiate a housing supplement and live off-campus, but that can be a pain in the ass for a foreigner to deal with. For private institutions, housing supplements and apartment hunting is your only option.

 

[Efather]

I love the translate word guanxi=关系.

 

[GoGiants]

Another social concept is called miànzi (面子). The translation for this word is 'face'. While in America, it is used more as a colloquialism ('saving face'), it has very significant meaning in China. Personally, I hate the entire concept as it makes people use others as scapegoats and lie to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions. But people do those things because of the potentially destructive consequences losing face can have on a person. The concept not only exists in China, but also in most of Asia as well.

An example that Westerners may realize is when Toyota cars had to recalled due to multiple manufacturing problems that occurred over the course 3 years (2009-2011 Toyota recalls). Problems ranged from the accelerator getting stuck to issues with the anti-lock braking system. Rather doing a mass recall and losing face, Toyota slowly made recalls to cover up the inevitable 7M+ car recall that was coming.

Even when they claimed to fix it, the problems still persisted for some. The problems were overwhelming and led to the deaths of over 30 people. The company lost face when it could no longer practice damage control. Eventually, the company could not save any face at all which led to [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIHgB6GHTwQ]this apology in front of a Congressional hearing [/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OItBnWHjlFM]CEO Akio Toyoda crying shortly after the hearing[/ame].

 

[Efather]

you are right, most Asian so Concerned About Saving Face. Although i am a chinese.