What Most Chinese 101 Classes Got Wrong?

HERE’RE THE REASONS

WHY MANY PEOPLE FIND THEIR BEGINNER CHINESE CLASSES DON’T WORK FOR THEM.

Wrong Chinese 101 Textbooks

First of all, let me tell you what a good Chinese Class 101 textbook (or a beginner Chinese textbook) should look like. It should have pinyin for all conversations and vocabulary. And actually, there should be pinyin in all second books because many Chinese language learners opt for not learning Chinese characters.

A good Chinese textbook should introduce the most basic and essential Chinese vocabulary and grammar first. The textbook language should be plain, simple, and clear. The purpose of its language is to have students discover the underlying rules of Chinese.

An unorganized Chinese textbook will blend rudimentary and advanced grammar together and makes the language both challenging to teach and learn. A beginner is not at a stage to acquire a flexible and sometimes even ambiguous language expression that should be introduced at a later point. There’s nothing too easy for beginners. The worst thing a terrible textbook will do is to scare off a potential Chinese language lover.

Wrong Chinese 101 Culture Focuses

Many Chinese language teachers think culture is a big part of the language. Agree. However, they forgot their students are signing up for a language course, NOT a course on Chinese culture. And very often, teachers put too much time on teaching very specific Chinese cultural events. It turns out that the students are not interested at all.

By no means do I want to blame the Chinese language teachers for this. They got this idea from their teachers and professors. And, all of them got this idea from textbooks.

A good amount of Chinese culture knowledge is good, but it should be forcefully injected in textbooks and a student’s classroom. As a Chinese language teacher, they need to carefully observe what their students interests and preferences are and tailor their cultural focuses based on their students learning needs.

Wrong Chinese Class 101 Teachers

Teaching a language is not as easy as many people think. A professional language teacher will guide their students through. I’ve known, met, and interviewed too many Chinese teachers who think they’re capable of teaching Chinese, but fail to fulfill their words. Some people even told me that they’re not suited for teaching Chinese after receiving my feedback.

You have a Chinese teacher from college, but it doesn’t guarantee that teacher is qualified. Most colleges (and even private Chinese language learning centers) only seek someone who can speak the language to teach the language. There’s really no supervision.

A native Chinese speaker is hardly equal to a professional Chinese language teacher. Try to teach English to someone who doesn’t speak English at all, and you will know what I’m saying. And English is among the easiest language to teach. Now, you know why letting your friend or girlfriend teach your English will never work.