Primary School Practices In Xian. Part I

Over the last semesta or so I have begun to recognize a couple of important facts, the first maybe I should have always noted but didn’t, that primary education may well be the most important stage of education and have the most lasting impact, the second, that the structure for teaching English in Primary Schools in Xi’an is generally pretty poor.

When I studied for a PGCE in the UK, we were required to organize a two-week placement in a primary school before our training in the secondary school system commenced. The idea was to get a sense of where the pupils were coming from. The over-riding impression I was left with, was that after only the first few years of primary school most students’ academic level and subsequent achievement was laid out for them- somewhat of a disaster really in educational terms.


In terms of teaching a foreign language in China, it is quite obvious to see the importance of the foundations that are laid in matters of language acquisition and, we have to include it, levels of discipline in the Primary school sector. In the various schools I have taught in there are quite different standards already appearing, even in equally affluent areas, though particularly where the wealth of the parents has a major influence. In China, with the emphasis on continual extra-curricular studies for children, wealth makes a big difference to a child’s ability. However, that aside, it is enough for now just to comment a little on the poor structure of the teaching of English in most, if not all of the schools here. 

In one of the schools I teach in the senior students, in grades 5 and 6, have a co-ordinated programme of study and homework with a Chinese-English teacher but no foreign-teacher, the younger students, grades 1-4, have an external foreign teacher but no qualified Chinese-English teacher and no structured programme of homework. The foreign teachers are supplied by external private language schools. It is not my intention here too analyze the nature of private business practices on schools and schooling, as I am sure I will do that at a later date, particular with the profusion of private English teaching institutions already here in China and which are exceptionally influential in the extra-curricula sphere.

The exam in Grade 6 is of great importance, so maybe the thinking by the school above is to have a full-time Chinese-English teacher for the upper grade so to prepare the students as best they can for their exam in the short time they have available, having not previously had English as a compulsory subject. However, I would argue the most important aspect would be first to make sure that a reliable and comprehensive programme of study is set in place for the younger students, so that in 5 years time they have the best possible chance that they can for achievement. It seems that every year that these changes are not implemented it constitutes an abdication of responsibility for these young children's education.

The problem is in the nature of a results based education policy and the emphasis that is placed on last-minute fulfilment of requirements and not a reasonable thought through process of knowledge acquisition, from the most suitable source. In some contexts, this may be multi-media based educational provision or closer to the issues involved here, whether the teacher is foreign or Chinese, or both, and if both how the work between the two can be co-ordinated so to be relevant and comprehensive. It would seem obvious that a results based education and a well structured process of education are not mutually exclusive aspects, however they often seem to be treated as such.

The main concern I have is that foreign teachers are not being used correctly and that they should supplement the Chinese- English teachers work and should certainly not be left to be the soul provider of the early years students foreign language education. Though this would be based on the postulate that the Chinese teachers know what they are doing in the first place and that the resources and syllabus available are relevant. I will continue this theme next week with another couple of examples from the other schools I am presently teaching in.
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Teaching Again And Talking About The Financial Crisis In Chinese

The week that was, was a week of settling back into a routine that required early starts and late nights. The early mornings involved being both woken by an alarm clock by my bedside and re-awoken a short time later by the young masses gathered before me in the classroom. Late nights, as learning Chinese often requires, although is not always given, a candle burnt at both ends.

I spent the early part of the week outlining to one Chinese teacher why the use of Chinese by foreigner teachers is actually constructive rather than destructive. Explaining that the use of Chinese in the classroom by a foreigner helps the students concentrate on the target language taught, is quickly understood and seemingly more piercing in its effect when giving instructions or getting attention, and finally, creates amusement. The frustrating aspect of this little discussion, is the light it actually shines on Chinese teachers' over attentiveness on teaching everything that is in the textbook or requesting, without proper thought, that foreign teachers only speak English in the classroom. When firstly, alot of the content in the books taught here is often not particularly useful, secondly, that the Chinese phrases often used in class are either so inconsequential the children already know them in English or don’t need to know them.

Thirdly, if more advanced English is used together with the focus language it can quickly become a case of new language overload. In this scenario, the children are distracted from the key words and phrases being taught, largely because they have difficulty distinguishing the new words introduced from the random. Ofcourse, as the students get older this is an important skill to develop but I would suggest that acquiring a good basis in a foreign language is initially of most importance, before being subjected to further confusion. Teaching is a balancing act that requires patience, reflection, creativity and the skills of adaptation, as well as, and maybe most importantly, quite an acute appreciation of the mood, not only of individual students but of the whole class. These are skills that are sometimes a little lacking amongst Chinese teachers, though this may well be said of many foreign teachers here too. Humour goes along way towards alleviating boredom, regaining attention and lightening the load, foreign teachers speaking Chinese can often be a very quick way of creating these results, as well as attaining the more formal benefits of understanding and discipline.

The week also required a re-engagement with regular Chinese classes and the attention to detail in the preparation that this entails. My Kou3 Yu3 (mouth language) confidence was significantly boosted by the chatting that went on in class this week, especially my 45-minute monologue on the so-called ‘credit-crunch’ (very useful radio broadcast explanation-click on ‘full episode’). I was, however, assisted by my teacher who fed me some of the topic specific vocabulary that I had yet to learn, such as bankruptcy, risk, credit and so on. This is actually a nice fluid process and makes for a confidence inducing exchange, discussing a reasonably advanced issue while being helped just enough to keep you flowing but little enough for it to still feel like an autonomous act. However, the reviewing system I have implemented in recent months had to take a back seat to the learning of new vocabulary and the identification of Chinese characters in the short articles being translated. Another week and another mild step forward, although not something this week that can be said about most of the world’s economies or simply the world’s economy, depending now on how we are supposed to look at it.
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Chinese New Year- If It Is Going To Go, It Might As Well Go Like That

Well, if the curtain has to be brought down on these celebrations then you might as well go down fighting for them. That is how it seems the Chinese greet the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year and marks the end of these weeks of travel, celebration and the good old-fashioned eating of too much food. Although, when they went, they went down with a smile on their faces.

From about 6 in the afternoon, to past 10 at night, there were fireworks and crackers being let off everywhere, and I must emphasise everywhere. If they were not in the sky over ahead, they were in the sky just ahead of me, if I was caught between two buildings they were reflecting in both the apartment windows and in those of the cars below. This crescendo of celebration also brought with it a little too much of what could be described as a crashing din, with the bang of the banger (popular!) reaching around every corner and within every building. This is one aspect of the night that can actually begin to wipe the smile from your face.


As I cycled slowly towards Shi Da Lu and with my attention taken by the lights and patterns ahead, I did not at first notice where the shapes and sounds were coming from, as I got nearer I realized that someone was, every few minutes, just putting a box of fireworks in the middle of the road. With vehicles still passing-by, rockets gained heat and then whistled into the night sky, above the shiny, reflective bonnets of the cars beneath. The odd one, with a low trajectory, sent a thousand multi-coloured sparks dashing across these metallic frames. It looked amazing, the more so for the fact I would probably be locked up for doing the same thing back in Britain.

After some time, there is a point surely, where you reach firework overload, I retreated to Sculpting in Time Café for a bit of study. But I soon realized my appetite for fireworks was unsatiated as I found myself bending ever lower in my seat to catch another glimpse of these locally named "fire-flowers", still rising and fanning out over the buildings and trees outside the window.

On another note, a pleasant thing I acknowledged this week that was connected with my return to work, was that after just a couple of days of being around young kids again I was feeling fresher both physically and mentally. I have noted it in a wider sense before, never in such a specific instance, but there really is something quite splendid about being around Chinese children. They are just so full of life and simplicity and not the duplicity, which I am afraid, seems to have infected even some of the quite young in Britain.

If I had to do this everyday then maybe I would not feel quite the exuberance I do. However, the limited number of teaching hours a foreign teacher can quite happily live on here, means that a taste of this youthful inhibition and honesty is rather uplifting, leaving you free to use your Chinese studies as a source of disillusionment and despair. On that note, I will conclude with the observation that 2-3 weeks away from regular classes and subsequent chatting in Chinese, has left my carefully choreographed Kou3 Yu3 (oral language) confidence in tatters. But, that’s nothing new and will be dealt with in due course.
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Chinese New Year Comes And Is Still Going

Chinese New Year (Guo Nian) seemed to have come and gone but on returning to Xi'an it is obvious it is still in the process of going, pleasantly. Back in the village, my girlfriend is actually from a small village outside town, New Year was spent trying desperately not to eat a feast of fine proportions at every home in the neighbourhood. However, when the neighbourhood consists of fields and homesteads drifting off into the far distance and when everyone seems to be a second father, an uncle, a sister, an elder brother or an aunty this can prove quite difficult. Even harder, having arrived at the destination where you have actually planned to have dinner, is to politely find excuses for why you cannot now eat all the delights laid before you. In areas of China where maybe the selection of food on offer is not usually of the widest variety, come Spring Festival things are different. Fish are found, pigs and chickens are killed and even the odd dog finds its way to the plate. This is the time of year in China to treat yourself and, as best you can, everyone else around you.

Now, having left the festivities behind and returned to the provincial capital of Xi’an, the centre of western China, I have found a sleepy city still suffering the feeling of loss, the loss of its population to neighbouring towns and villages. Many of the restaurants remain closed and the streets relatively quiet. There is still a week left of the 4 week holiday I have had from my school and this has meant I have spent the last days in true holiday spirit. (Many Chinese people still seem to get atleast a couple of weeks off for Spring Festival) It is quite a splendid feeling to enjoy the festivities of for example our own Christmas celebrations but have days to savour them, instead, as it is for so many now back in the West, a few days of dashing around to see family knowing full well that work is lurking in the background. Ofcourse, the more China develops economically or specifically the more it adopts Capitalist fundamentals, the more its major chains open earlier and the more holidays are cut short. Let us hope the number of family run businesses can hold off the onslaught of larger franchises and keep a hold on this great time of year and the opportunity it offers for reconnecting the increasingly disparate Chinese family.

As an aside and with reference to the subway system that is being built here in Xi’an, it is marvellous to have returned to discover Chang’an Lu (the main southerly tributary from the city centre and the south gate) free from a couple of sections of subway related road closures, that have been causing disbelief and despair for months. These closures seem to have coincided with a noticeable increase in car use over the last year or so and have led accordingly to a noticeable increase in the number of minor accidents. I will refer back to these issues in later posts, but it is enough to conclude here with the observation that people maintain the habit of crossing the road and swinging out of junctions as if cars were still a strange anomaly here in Xi'an, they are not. This week I am able to trundle down the street on my bike with an absentminded holiday attentiveness, next week I will not be able to do so, but then I will be back at work.
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