Results of March 14th Meeting to Evaluate Teaching Methods/Experiences

The monthly Xu Bo gathering in March included a morning session to discuss experiences volunteers have had in the Shanghai urban and rural area. The discussion was very productive and a summary of the meeting presented below.

In the afternoon, all volunteers joined in a Karaoke Party which included a complimentary buffet and, as the photo above shows, a good time was had by all!

Morning Evaluation Meeting

Summary of Meeting Discussion and Results

Jessie initiated the meeting by clarifying the purpose was to help volunteers placed in the Shanghai urban and rural areas get more out of their assignments by sharing their collective experiences and different points of views. As volunteers, we share a mutual desire to succeed in our assignments while, at the same time, promoting cross-culturual understanding. We all encounter difficulties at times and we can learn from each other what kinds of methods or techniques have been effective or not effective. Jessie used seven questions/issues to initiate and guide the meeting and a summary of the discussion which they generated is presented below.

1. What made you decide to volunteer in Shanghai?

Almost all agreed that the opportunity to experience cultural diversity was an important reason why they have volunteered. They expected and hoped to meet many people and learn first-hand about the culture of China. Some volunteers hoped to learn how to speak Chinese so they could more readily communicate with Chinese people during their work day or while having fun after work. One volunteer is doing an internship at a Shanghai hotel where she can see and learn quite different things as compared with her home country, Norway. She came to volunteer in order to do something very new and different from anything she has done before. One volunteer was motivated to volunteer by an interest in Asian cultures. Another volunteer wanted to help children who may not be able to afford a good school, to give them an opportunity to learn more about the outside world, and to learn more about herself through teaching. Some volunteers have been here over a month and others have just arrived: all have expressed how they have had to adjust to "culture shock", learning the different ways things are done here compared to home. All have encountered difficulties with communicating, discovering that even apparently simple tasks can be very difficult to explain to students, who are often confused. One volunteer is teaching on an outer island, where students are very different than those in urban Shanghai and, seemingly, more willing and eager to learn new information from the foreign volunteer teacher.

2. What achievement(s) have you had in recent weeks?

Some volunteers have achieved what they hoped to: the volunteer working at the hotel has learned about check-in, check out, giving service to guests at reception, learning about exchange rates, and has been enjoying the opportuntiy to meet many different people. At present, she is taking Chinese lessons, and thinks improved language capability will increase her chances of acheiving her goals. Volunteers working in the rural island settings have been satisfied that their lessons have been effective and well-received by the students, whereas volunteers in urban Shanghai have not had such a satisfying experience. Rural students seem receptive to about everything the foreign teacher offers wherease urban students are a little more difficult to engage. Volunteers speculated that perhaps the isolated rural areas are more welcoming to foreigners because there is less to do outside of school and because it is more rare to see a foreign, different-skin-color person on the islands than in urban Shanghai. Urban kids just don't get as excited about meeting a foreigner as rural kids do and this makes it more difficult to engage them in class. But the volunteers in urban Shanghai haven't given up on their children and have continued to seek ways to get their students enthused about learning. Some volunteers have just arrived and had no achievements to report but were happy to learn from other volunteer's experiences.

3. What problems have you experienced during your placement?

There were a wide variety of responses to this question. Volunteers expressed feeling frustrated sometimes when they have tried very hard to teach students how to pronounce words or to bring them some new information but the students haven't really listened to them. One volunteers related this experience: one day while he was teaching class, some students suddenly asked him if they could work on a homework assignment instead of continuing his English lesson. He felt very disappointed that the students didn't seem to want to learn or speak English. Another problem expressed was that some city schools don't have a computer available in every classroom, so they must follow the textbook to teach students and add some additional vocabulary. When students don't understand the meaning of words, volunteers have tried use body language to describe things. Sometimes this works but sometimes it doesn't. Another problem is that every class has around 40 to 45 students. It is important that the local Chinese-English teacher be in every class the volunteer teaches in order to help translating new vocabulary works to Chinese when necessary and to help control and keep the children quiet. A volunteer who works in a Kindergarten indicated she can teach her kids only a very limit set of words but that the kids are lovely. A volunteer who works in a high school related that while high school students students may understand more they are also naughty. Also he indicated that when students sometime respond to his questions with brief responses like "Yes, with a nod of the head, or with short simple answers, he often felt uncertain about whether he should try to teach them more or just keep things simple by letting their simple answer suffice. In the rural areas, it seems easier to teach students because classrooms have the equipment for using Powerpoint lessons, where and lots of interesting pictures can be presented, keeping the students interested in the lesson. Some volunteers indicated that body language can be used effectively to signal to students to pay closer attention and focus on what the teacher is teaching. This seemed to especially work in the rural areas. All volunteers expressed wonder about why students need to raise a China flag and sing the national song every Monday, weather permitting, in particular because it seems to require the students arriving at school very early. They also wondered about the purpose of doing eye-relaxation exercises a twice every day and expressed that they found that a bit strange. When the final class of the day is finished, the student's families come to pick them up and all volunteers found that especially enjoyable and lovely. One volunteer, who just started her placement on a rural island, had no particular probelems with teaching except that she feels strange when her students come so close to watch her: she found it difficult to know how to talk to the kids in this situation and felt the students also seemed to not know how to answer her questions.

4. What are you doing to address problems?

If students are out of control in classroom or don't understand the foreign volunteer, the regular teacher who comes with, and observes, the volunteer will help translate for the children and help control them. Most volunteers find the game "Hangman" a useful teaching method that helps restore order to an unruly classroom. This game helps keep them focused and to concentrate on the questions being asked. Unfortunately, Hangman doesn't work in Kindergarten, so the volunteer working there sticks with simple words and simple body language. The volunteer working at the hotel said she thought, before her placement, that most Chinese people are hard-working. After working in Shanghai for some time, she says she thinks the truth is somewhat different because she has seen that some Chinese people who work there are a bit lazy and like to take a nap at lunch time.

5. What support do you need? Teaching materials? Assistant in class?

Volunteers agreed that it really helps to have a Chinese teacher sitting in every class to help communicate between students and the foreign teacher and to help maintain discipline. They also agreed that it is very helpful if the Chinese teachers at the school help guide volunteers on the subjects that should be taught, as this helps the volunteers develop lessons that fit the needs of the school.

6. What can you share about good teaching methods?

In rural areas, volunteer teachers have their students use fingers to spell all new words and. They also use lots of pictures in their Powerpoint presentations. During English corner, they found that using candies or other treats as prizes for the winners of fun games or contests was very effective. Another teaching method that has been very effective is for the teacher to use body action and movement in class as students then enjoy joining in the fun. In city schools, volunteers mostly use the "Hangman" game to help students concentrate on learning things. Some volunteers stated that they are really uncertain about how to get the kids to learn. One of the volunteers whose school has a football team says he can use some sports topics to teach and this helps increase the student's interest in the lesson.

7. How do you use your spare time?

Most volunteers go sightseeing during their first weeks/weeksends. After that, they tend to their spend time going to pubs for their entertainment on evenings and during weekends. Two of the volunteers made a weekend trip to Suzhou and they found it a very beautiful place and enjoyed the trip very much. One volunteer said she occasionaly enjoyed activities like visiting an art gallery in an area of town with many little galleries and coffee shops. She also enjoyed hiking and visiting a jazz pub where live music was played until midnight. One volunteer has visited some of the parks around the Shanghai area by purchasing a train ticket in Shanghai Indoor Stadium the day before traveling.