Classroom behaviour

Exercising self-control

When in a group with Chinese, do not act as though you are the leader. Try not to be the one who asks for the aircon to be turned on, or who points out that something is wrong and ought to be seen to, or who suggests shall we start eating, or whatever. Just relax and wait patiently and see what happens. If you are with Chinese friends or colleagues and you all want a taxi, don’t stride into the road and hold up your arm like a policeman – leave it to them and see what they do. Observe how consensus – the feeling of the group – is important in Chinese life.

Our body language, especially if we have been in leadership positions, often suggests to Chinese that we are arrogant and ill-mannered. In China, humility is considered a positive character quality.

Bossy habits like interrupting to put someone right or to taking over someone’s conversation, are particularly ill-mannered in Chinese eyes.

If you belong to a profession where communication and expertise are highly valued such as doctors, teachers and senior executives you may have to work hard to keep your lips tightly pursed in order to show due deference to your new colleagues and counterparts.

First impressions

If you are starting teaching, you may well not receive your timetable until the day before term starts, giving you little opportunity to prepare. It is worth preparing a ‘First English Lesson Plan’ suitable for school or university use, which will enable you to give a good, well-prepared first lesson. It will give a good initial impression of you as a teacher and make a good start to your relationship with the class. Always dress up for the first class, and maintain a ‘power distance’. If you get too close to your students or colleagues too soon, they will soon lose respect for you. Friendship can come later.

Language

Learn to speak slowly, clearly and refrain from using idiom or slang. Don’t be fooled into thinking that short words are better. After some months of teaching, you will have a grasp of the words that are taught and the words that are unknown. However, the speed of speech is less important than good enunciation. It is also possible to speak too slowly for good comprehension.

Many young professionals wanting to be informal, speak to Chinese just as they do at home to their friends, but this will be almost impossible even for someone with good English to comprehend. Few courses for professionals going abroad to work attend to this matter. You may hear native English speakers talk at 150 words a minute to local people. This will not aid communication. If you know you suffer from poor diction or have a strong regional accent you will have to work hard to modify your speech. This is not to cast aspersions on regional accents – simply that they are less familiar to Chinese learners of English.

Learn how to read aloud properly, or to speak more slowly to a roomful of people. The fact is that many new foreign teachers are barely understood by most of their students, but they don’t know it. Also, if you are in a business or other professional context, the last thing you want is for your translator to misinterpret what you just said.

Noise

Speech full of ok / right / just / yeah / you folks / you guys / and stuff / sort of / and ums and ers, is referred to as ‘noise’. It has the same effect as someone blowing their nose during a conversation since it interrupts the flow of speech. It hinders comprehension, as well as appearing less than professional.

So, check with an experienced English as a foreign language teacher who has heard you teach or give a talk, whether your speech is reasonably easy for a local to understand. Outside of the classroom, make sure your voice is not louder than the Chinese you are speaking with.

If you are coming to the end of a lesson and haven’t used all your material, don’t start speaking faster to try and get through it, and don’t complain that you haven’t got time - just leave out a few points and next time plan your lesson better! Under no circumstances steal the time of the next speaker or the students’ break.

Exams

Everyone must pass (and 60% is the pass mark). You may feel this is unfair – and in a Western system it is. But before you work yourself up about this, consider: (a) you cannot seriously expect a university student to be expelled and have their future irreparably damaged just because he fails one exam (and the university probably won’t be perceive your exam as having the same value as that of the locals (b) all marks are processed by the Party office before being published, but they prefer you to make the adjustments or ‘re-test’ the student, and (c) you can’t change China.

Marking

Everyone knows that red is the colour of happiness and good luck, but red ink is only used for correcting exams and for protest letters. Avoid marking an X against a name, as it was used in the past to signify criminals (though the students may not know that). Use a tick or something else instead.

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