Post by Nate M on Oct 29, 2005 4:29:11 GMT 7
Hello everyone,
In case any of you don't know, I'm now a student, no longer a teacher, taking Chinese classes at the U of MN in the U.S. I just got done writing a big complaint letter to my teacher about the way our classes were run. I thought it would be kind of interesting to post it here for teachers to maybe get an idea of what it's like to be a frustrated student trying to learn a foreign langauge, and the problems I've faced thus far, because I think it might be able to help people frame in their mind what students need to learn their language. So here goes:
I also thought I'd post it because I was curious if people thought I was being too harsh on her, and to see if maybe I'm in the wrong here about "the best ways to go about teaching a language". So yeah, whatya think?
In case any of you don't know, I'm now a student, no longer a teacher, taking Chinese classes at the U of MN in the U.S. I just got done writing a big complaint letter to my teacher about the way our classes were run. I thought it would be kind of interesting to post it here for teachers to maybe get an idea of what it's like to be a frustrated student trying to learn a foreign langauge, and the problems I've faced thus far, because I think it might be able to help people frame in their mind what students need to learn their language. So here goes:
I am writing because I feel that our class isn't getting as much out of the
classtime as we could be. It seems like many times we leave class and all
we've done the entire time is recite the dialog. We don't really do
anything in class that we don't do on our own. As a result, I feel like we
don't learn much in class. There are a few things I feel could be done to
help us learn more, especially those of us who are struggling, like I am.
1. More time to ask questions: It seems like we don't really get any time
to ask you questions about the material. It would be usefull if we could
have a good 5-10 minutes at least every day to have questions about the
material answered. Many times we figure out how to read a passage or how we
are supposed to answer a question without actually knowing what it really
means. We don't get a chance to ask because even if we make it through the
material early, you have us go back through it and translate it one at a
time. I feel like that isn't a very efficient use of time, and if we had
some time to ask questions, some of the problems we routinely run into
would go away.
2. More group and pair work: One of my biggest complaints with the class is
that most of us don't actually get to speak or read all that much Chinese,
despite the classes being reading and speaking centered. We mostly read one
at a time, and when we aren't reading we just sit around waiting for our
turn. This means that, in the course of an entire class, the vast majority
of us only get to speak for 2 or 3 minutes, maximum. Moreover, when we
asked to answer questions other students say it can be very difficult to
understand, because they say it from all the way across the room, mumbling
quietly in Beijinghua or in a Taiwan accent, with their hands covering
their mouths.
I know that we have had a few times where we've done group work before in
class, but it's usually just been "prepare a dialog", which is usually more
time consuming because we have to start more or less from scratch. We
aren't actually practicing the language, but just creating something to
recite to the class. I would rather prefer that we worked on pattern
drills, or perhaps even reading some of the reading questions from the
workbook to each other and working together to answer some of them.I think
if we had more practice time working with partners or groups, with you
walking around to correct us and help us periodically, we would be able to
speak much more during the class and we would be able to have a better
understanding of the material. We'd also be able to better hear and
understand our classmates accents, as well. We could also use this time to
help correct one another on some of the problems we have, instead of having
you do all of them in front of the class.
3. Let us know when to hand in the assignments: it would be nice to have a
little reminder at the beginning or end of class to turn in our
assignements. I think that many of the missed assignments our class has are
due to the fact that we forget to turn it in, not because it wasn't done.
Many times even if we do remember you leave before we get an opportunity to
hand them in.
4. A little more spoken English: Many of the words used everyday in class
are words that we haven't gone over previously, and aren't even in the
chapter we are studying, and thus it can be difficult for many of us to
keep up with what you are saying. I realize that this is a Chinese class,
and that we should already know some Chinese. Still, it is a beginning
Chinese class, not an advanced one, and even many of the people who do
speak Chinese speak a different dialect, and Putonghua is new to them and
difficult to understand. Explaining some of the ideas in English,
(especially the grammar rules), would help us understand much more. English
can be a crutch if used extensively, but if used to help students
understand some of the ideas and concepts behind what they're saying it can
go a long ways to helping us improve our Chinese ability, which will thus
increase your ability to use Chinese with us further down the road.
I realize that you teach many other classes, that our classes are short,
and that you thus may not be able to fit in all of what I'm suggesting. I
also think you're a nice person, and I don't mean this as a personal attack
in any way. But I, (and several of my classmates), have been frustrated by
many of these issues, and so I felt that I had to say something. I know
that I could have said this all in the end of semester teacher evaluation,
but I would like to make the suggestions now, so that hopefully the class
can improve somewhat before the class ends, and we can get more out of it.
I'm suggesting these things as a fellow teacher who has had to go through
many of the things in my own classes. I hope some of these things can help
improve the classroom environment in our class. If you have any questions
about anything I said, felt offended, or want to discuss these things in
greater detail, please let me know. zhu
hao
Nathan Mittelstaedt.
classtime as we could be. It seems like many times we leave class and all
we've done the entire time is recite the dialog. We don't really do
anything in class that we don't do on our own. As a result, I feel like we
don't learn much in class. There are a few things I feel could be done to
help us learn more, especially those of us who are struggling, like I am.
1. More time to ask questions: It seems like we don't really get any time
to ask you questions about the material. It would be usefull if we could
have a good 5-10 minutes at least every day to have questions about the
material answered. Many times we figure out how to read a passage or how we
are supposed to answer a question without actually knowing what it really
means. We don't get a chance to ask because even if we make it through the
material early, you have us go back through it and translate it one at a
time. I feel like that isn't a very efficient use of time, and if we had
some time to ask questions, some of the problems we routinely run into
would go away.
2. More group and pair work: One of my biggest complaints with the class is
that most of us don't actually get to speak or read all that much Chinese,
despite the classes being reading and speaking centered. We mostly read one
at a time, and when we aren't reading we just sit around waiting for our
turn. This means that, in the course of an entire class, the vast majority
of us only get to speak for 2 or 3 minutes, maximum. Moreover, when we
asked to answer questions other students say it can be very difficult to
understand, because they say it from all the way across the room, mumbling
quietly in Beijinghua or in a Taiwan accent, with their hands covering
their mouths.
I know that we have had a few times where we've done group work before in
class, but it's usually just been "prepare a dialog", which is usually more
time consuming because we have to start more or less from scratch. We
aren't actually practicing the language, but just creating something to
recite to the class. I would rather prefer that we worked on pattern
drills, or perhaps even reading some of the reading questions from the
workbook to each other and working together to answer some of them.I think
if we had more practice time working with partners or groups, with you
walking around to correct us and help us periodically, we would be able to
speak much more during the class and we would be able to have a better
understanding of the material. We'd also be able to better hear and
understand our classmates accents, as well. We could also use this time to
help correct one another on some of the problems we have, instead of having
you do all of them in front of the class.
3. Let us know when to hand in the assignments: it would be nice to have a
little reminder at the beginning or end of class to turn in our
assignements. I think that many of the missed assignments our class has are
due to the fact that we forget to turn it in, not because it wasn't done.
Many times even if we do remember you leave before we get an opportunity to
hand them in.
4. A little more spoken English: Many of the words used everyday in class
are words that we haven't gone over previously, and aren't even in the
chapter we are studying, and thus it can be difficult for many of us to
keep up with what you are saying. I realize that this is a Chinese class,
and that we should already know some Chinese. Still, it is a beginning
Chinese class, not an advanced one, and even many of the people who do
speak Chinese speak a different dialect, and Putonghua is new to them and
difficult to understand. Explaining some of the ideas in English,
(especially the grammar rules), would help us understand much more. English
can be a crutch if used extensively, but if used to help students
understand some of the ideas and concepts behind what they're saying it can
go a long ways to helping us improve our Chinese ability, which will thus
increase your ability to use Chinese with us further down the road.
I realize that you teach many other classes, that our classes are short,
and that you thus may not be able to fit in all of what I'm suggesting. I
also think you're a nice person, and I don't mean this as a personal attack
in any way. But I, (and several of my classmates), have been frustrated by
many of these issues, and so I felt that I had to say something. I know
that I could have said this all in the end of semester teacher evaluation,
but I would like to make the suggestions now, so that hopefully the class
can improve somewhat before the class ends, and we can get more out of it.
I'm suggesting these things as a fellow teacher who has had to go through
many of the things in my own classes. I hope some of these things can help
improve the classroom environment in our class. If you have any questions
about anything I said, felt offended, or want to discuss these things in
greater detail, please let me know. zhu
hao
Nathan Mittelstaedt.
I also thought I'd post it because I was curious if people thought I was being too harsh on her, and to see if maybe I'm in the wrong here about "the best ways to go about teaching a language". So yeah, whatya think?
