"I will now read aloud from the Oxford English Dictionary, the most exciting dictionary there is."

June 19, 2011 2:35 AM

This Friday, I have to give a one-hour lecture to a group of Chinese 14-year-olds about American culture and learning English. What should I teach?

This is part of an all-day introduction for students who are about to enter high school. They will be hearing from teachers in the different disciplines about what to expect from their high school courses. I am representing the English department, and I have no idea what to say. (As an American, I have also been asked to add some information about "American culture" to my presentation, which only makes things trickier.)

What activities, facts, examples, stories, etc. should I include in order to make this presentation a) not boring and b) at least mildly educational?

posted by jweed to education (11 answers total)

I see you are in China. Then I'd guess that the 14-year-olds have had a few years of English instruction, and have had a lifetime of lecture and rote courses.

Do your English courses themselves exemplify American-style education with its exotic emphasis on discussion and creativity? Would the English courses read interesting stuff? (Cite some readings to which they'll connect, even British Harry Potter, Pride & Prejudice, etc.) Would the courses help students write creatively, put on plays, create newspapers, create Web pages, create comics, chat online, or critique American movies?

The vibe of a US classroom is distinctly American culture. Yeah, for better or worse, but that's another story.

With such experience in American-style courses, then in 3 years they will more likely win entry to an American university. And they won't be overwhelmed by the American college classroom. Competition is skyrocketing. (Hey, there's an interesting word.)

"During the 2009-10 academic year, 39,947 Chinese undergraduates were studying in the United States, a 52 percent increase from the year before and about five times as many as five years earlier, according to the Institute of International Education, a U.S. organization." NY Times, 5/30.

Wear something colorful.
posted by gregoreo at 4:17 AM on June 19, 2011

Most nations arose out of single linguistic-cultural-ethnic groups. America, exceptionally, is not, and is instead comprised of multiple ethnicities -- including enthnic Chinese. While the vast majority of Chinese are Han, China also is made up of numerous minority ethnic groups.

American was intentionally created 235 years ago; China has been around in various incarnations for over 2200 years, with the founding of the Qin Dynasty.

America has never been conquered by a foreign power, unlike China, but did undergo a civil war, not unlike the War of Liberation in China.

After the American Civil War, the Industrial Revolution resulted in the resettlement of many farmers and former slaves to the cities and factorizes, much as has happened in China in the last forty years.

That Industrial Revolution, the building of may factories and railroads and the development of export industries, resulted in great changes for most people and great riches for a few, just like in present-day China. In some cases development and the exploitation of natural resources was judiciously planned, but in may cases it was wild free-for-all, resulting in chaos and pollution, just like in China today. Sometimes, profiteers and enemies of the people grew greedy, and produced things like fake or adulterated milk and meat, to make money off of the great mass of the workers, just like in Chian today.

In America, these excesses of capitalism produced anger discontent among the people. The people cried to heaven for relief, which led to numerous political and bureaucratic reforms, to reign in the greediest and to restore harmony to the land. This was America's challenge at the beginning of the 20th Century; this will be China's challenge in the beginning of the 21st Century.
posted by orthogonality at 4:29 AM on June 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

I agree with orthogonality about emphasizing the diversity and youth of America; also its size (and geographic/meteorological diversity). I think what non-Americans, on average, have the hardest time grasping about the U.S. is how big and diverse it is, both in terms of things like the Midwest being quite different from the East Coast and in terms of an individual city being a little U.N. ... and in terms of the broader culture having bits and pieces of things from everywhere.

I saw my state legislature in session not that long ago -- one tends to read about the legislature, not watch it -- and even though I follow statehouse news I was relatively mind-boggled by how diverse our state reps were, with ethnic backgrounds from all over the world and some still sporting fairly heavy accents. Much, much more representative than Congress. In fact, if I were going to do some sort of actual project on American culture, I might do a little bio on all of my state legislators, who come from such diverse backgrounds, belong to many religions, have different political beliefs, different sexualities, different genders, different socioeconomic statuses and backgrounds .... and all strove to serve as citizen legislators in what is a decidedly unglamorous job. That's a bit much for a brief talk, though. :)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:55 AM on June 19, 2011

Don't rule out the importance of pop culture either, it's one of the last great things about this country that still captivates foreigners. Perhaps some basic history of Hollywood, American art and architecture, American sports etc. I also think it's a good idea to point out the diversity, perhaps highlighting immigrants who went on to hold major roles in American society.
posted by the foreground at 6:14 AM on June 19, 2011

Answering your question is tricky because we don't know much about their level of English (and perhaps you don't know much either). Even if we surmise that their English is above average or very good by Chinese standards, given that they'll going into a high school that uses English as its instructional language, it could well be that they don't feel very comfortable yet about speaking English.

So, while my bit of advice would be not to set up your time with them as a 'lecture,' you may indeed find that quite difficult, with few in any students wanting to offer much in the way of interaction. (see below for ice breaker)

Another stipulating factor is how much ESL work you and your department are going to be responsible for as opposed to perhaps more traditional high school English course content like reading classics, getting better at composition and critical thinking, etc.

With these caveats in mind, I have a few themes to recommend:

* Reminding them of the import of English for their further professional and academic aspirations, in other words for kicking doors open in the future ...

* Getting them to give some thought to the idea that to really master a language one must to a certain extent master the culture of that language as well, which is why they should not think they'll be coming to your department just for the mechanics of English, but for something more. This is definitely a rather abstract idea for 14 year olds but you might try to introduce by way of asking them, for instance, if they like following certain American TV shows and if it ever occurred to them that they're not always completely able to keep up with what's going on in them.

*As others have referred to above, sensitizing them to the differences between the workings of a Chinese classroom (let alone a Chinese high school) and an American classroom will be one of your top priorities, more so than, say, the Math department. I don't know how much experience you already have teaching but during the short span of my teaching career it has been quite difficult to get my Chinese students to interact as I would like them to during class discussions and recitations etc. Another related issue here is the relationship between an instructor and the students that you would ideally like to have with them; again, at least going by what some of my students have told me, there are some significant differences there. Here to make it more interesting or fun for your 14 year olds you might try to set up an analogy to fans (students) at a sporting or music event, where they respond to and interact with the performer or athlete (i.e. you). This might help them relate better to the American style of teaching, while, ok, the tricky part would be to keep them from seeing the instructor as someone frivolous or someone just there to entertain them.

*A last thing you might consider covering is the standard of excellence or value system at stake in the American high school English classroom. For instance, you might spend some time covering the American primacy of 'original work', by which I do not mean 'work not copied from someone else (though some students of mine have also had trouble with this), but rather work that is individual and unique, that says or shows something that no one else had thought of or explored, that is, work that allows that particular student to show themselves an individual with a unique and interesting point of view on the world. Perhaps you will think that I am using cardboard cutouts of both cultures here, but again in my experience this has been a difficult value to communicate, etc.

A nice resource you might consider looking at is Adrian Holliday et al's Intercultural communication: An advanced resource book, which I can't recommend highly enough. Perhaps it will be too heavy on the theory for your tastes, but it certainly has some wonderful anecdotes that may of use to your presentation.

[One effective ice-breaker I have always used where time and group size allowed was to play the 'assassin' or 'murder' game with my prospective students. It had been taught to me by some young students of mine as follows: you sit in a circle, and papers are passed around with one of four roles: judge(1), detective (or policeman)(1), assassin(1), and citizen (the rest of the group). No one shows anyone else their role, except for the judge, who announces their role and commences the games. The judge asks everyone to close their eyes and then asks the assassin to point at or indicate silently who will be 'killed.' The judge then tells the assassin to close their eyes and then has the detective to open their eyes. The detective then gets one (silent) guess at who the murderer is. If they guess incorrectly, then the judge has everyone open their eyes (after having the detective close their eyes, so they won't be given away). The judge then announces who has been killed, and that person gets to make one last speech from the grave, as it were, about who he or she thinks killed them. The right to speak then goes around the circle, with everyone making an argument about who they think is the assassin (or indeed the detective). After everyone speaks, a vote is held, and whoever is voted as the assassin gets killed. If it indeed is the assassin, the 'citizens' win. If not, the person just killed by the group gets to name and argue for a suspect, and then the judge starts the whole process starts over again.

There are different ways of deciding who wins or when the game ends. Some people play that the assassin wins if they kill the detective. Other people play that the game ends when there are only two people left (apart from the judge), i.e. the assassin and one other person. there are also fun variations with bigger groups like having two assassins and two detectives, etc.

After writing all this, I'm thinking you probably won't have time for all this (even if, begging your pardon, you already knew about this game). Nonetheless, a fun thing would be for you to have them teach it to you at some point - they will almost certainly know it.]
posted by rudster at 6:51 AM on June 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Keep it light.

Start with a brief introduction to yourself: describe your hometown and your family (if you can, bring pictures!). After that, talk about what topics/information will be covered during the semester/term. Then, talk a bit about American classrooms, things that fourteen-year-old Americans learn about in school. Also, sports they play (e.g. American football and hockey are always very interesting) and things young teenagers like to do in their free time (music, movies, etc.). If possible, create a power point presentation that includes pictures and short music clips from any artist you might talk about.

As much as you can, stay away from the "lecture" format. When I lived in China I often found myself giving these types of presentations. Many of the students will have limited oral English, so lecturing for an hour on things like politics and history will probably not have the effect you desire.

I would generally spend twenty minutes to half an hour on the "introduction to the course" piece of the presentation. During the second half, I would transition into some sort of large group activity (e.g. divide the class into two sections and play Taboo). Be sure to pick a low key activity. Dave's ESL Cafe has lots of suggestions that will work. The main idea here is to provide students/administrators/parents with a conceptual idea of what the class will look like . . . getting students involved with a language game or teaching a sample mini-lesson was my favorite way to pique students' interest and make the most of the allotted time.

Feel free to memail with any other questions.

Good luck!
posted by WaspEnterprises at 6:56 AM on June 19, 2011

I taught English in China for several years. Most likely, these students will not understand English spoken by a native speaker that well. (unless they're in a really special program with lots of foreign teachers or something).

So above all I'd speak slowly and clearly and use lots of visual representation. Involve the students as much as possible. If you lecture the whole time a majority of students may not catch any of it.
posted by bearette at 7:20 AM on June 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

I've taught English in East Asia, so I have some thoughts.

I think you should tell them what you expect in your class, how it will be different from their other classes, and maybe do an easy example exercise, which can contain some content, and be a little fun. It seems, based on your description, that this presentation will be just like the first day of any college class.

Ideas about cheating and plagiarism are very different from the West. It's much more accepted as OK in Asia. This is your best chance tell them your expectations. You'll have to start from the basics: not OK to copy from your friend, the internet, etc.; not OK to use something without citing it.

Explain that you want them to participate in class.

They're probably very shy about speaking English, you can encourage them to try.

I think there is a perception that there is some magic formula for learning English. "If I just do X, Y, Z, I'll know English". Really, it take a *lot* of practice, every day. That's the only way for them to get better. It sounds harsh, but if you want them to succeed, you need to scare them a bit.

One thing I wish I had done when I taught English is to correct mispronunciation more. You know, they are self conscious, and you want to build their self esteem, so you let pronunciation slide; they're trying, at least, right? You're really doing them a huge disservice, because they go on to think they're saying it right. So, tell them you will try to correct them every time; there's no reason to be embarrassed about it. You'll have to find your own balance between stopping to correct pronunciation and moving on with the material.

Also, explain that American is less violent than what they see in movies. They only see the violent action movies because you don't need to understand English to get them.

As for an exercise, it depends on the class size, and what kind of equipment you'll have. I'll assume it is a big class, and you have no computer, but a chalk board. If I were doing it, I would have them practice some introduction sentences, and you can write them on the board so they have some kind of framework. For example,

Q: What is your name?
A: My name is _____ .

Q: Where are you from?
A: I am from ____ .

What's your favorite school subject? What's your favorite hobby? etc. Ask them for suggestions, write them down, act them out. Then have them work in pairs or small groups to practice. Then, come back together, and have some students stand up and practice in front of everyone.

... OK, I'm rambling, but if you have any question you can message me.
posted by cupcake1337 at 11:28 AM on June 19, 2011

If you mean literally what to expect from your class, I can't help you much there. If you mean regarding the difficulties of learning English in general, I will ask tonight. I've been going out with a Chinese woman who is trying very hard to learn English. (She's doing a fine job of it, too. We have pretty complicated conversations with minimal use of an iPhone and Google Translate.) (which seems to suck at translating correctly, but gets close enough for most purposes)
posted by ctmf at 5:32 PM on June 19, 2011

Read some Ilona Leki.
posted by Jagz-Mario at 8:05 PM on June 19, 2011

I would mention that the English language is complex because all of these different tribes put something in: a bunch of saxons, danes, french, dutch, latins, germans, vikings and other people all hit each other over the head, and made the speech what it is, and made the grammar quirky as a result.

You may add a dash of American exceptionalism to taste.
posted by ovvl at 9:00 PM on June 19, 2011