I'm sure all the people reading this post, and other blogs on the net, about ELT will have experienced this quandary - how do you get your students talking and asking the teacher questions? I am very fortunate that this is not a regular snipe at teaching, in fact having this problem could be considered to be a bit of a rarity, but, once in a while, on a blistering hot day in the south-side of Guangdong, China, I find that certain days just don't fall as you would have expected and all you are greeted with are gormless faces and hanging heads.

Lessons that have been a success before, to the same number of students, to the same standard of learner, that have been relatively successful in terms of creating an amicable, communicative atmosphere fall absolutely flat on their arse! Weishima!
It all started with an 8am Communication class based on the topic, 'Your Memory'. Man, it almost brings tears to my eyes; brainstorming (blam), discussion (boom), interaction (thwack), games (crack), and story-telling (biff - the lesson is down, it looks like the end, the referee counts to 10... it's all over).
Then, to compound my misery, a Business Speaking (hah!) course and a Secretarial lesson. The inspiring questions were there, they were delivered in much the same manner as they have been previously, the challenges were there, the new vocabulary was filling the board and the ppt... but they just wouldn't take the bait.
At the end of the final lesson, a student came to me at the front, a delightful, young, intelligent girl. "I'm sorry, we didn't understand." I asked why she hadn't said anything during the lesson, when my clarification requests went unheeded, when my open questions, discussion, chat, individual assistance, circulating, facilitating all went down the pan, when my change of tack only brought me into another torridly, silent storm, why? Why didn't you ask then? "I'm not good at English," was the meek response. My heart sank. Had they not believed me when I told them not to be embarrassed? When I said you learn by asking questions? By getting things wrong? You're safe in this room.
(What really irked me, additionally, was the silence of the higher standard students. I walked to one guy to chat with him, he said, "I'm ok with this, I know it," - well, as long as you are ok, that's fine isn't it?)
Am I fighting a cultural battle? Am I a poor teacher? Are my students just not interested? Do I not create the friendly, safe environment I desire? Or, was it just one of those days? 

Well, I'm very happy to say I'm back at work and feeling like writing on my blog again. The university is now back in full swing, the second week about to end. Lots of new teachers, some old and some young. The mix of nationalities, experience, and personalities is really challenging (in a good way) and stimulating - already two of them have made me question my beliefs and readdress my methods in the classroom... but this problem is not related.

In my uni we have two week periods where we only see each class once. It's a communicative lesson and I really try and make it just that, communicative. The good thing is that, in the most part, my students are new to me, so I can play the 'True or False' game for the first 45 mins of the lesson; I tell them 5 facts and then tell them that some are true and some are lies (the reaction when I say I have a wife and five children is fantastic - Waaaahhhhh??!!). Then the game passes to them; write 5 facts (truths or lies) and I put them in mixed groups to play the game. 
As usual, the repetition of the lesson allows me to refine the instruction and management of the class. I now end with all students telling me one fact and I guess true or false. I have a beautiful assistant scoring on the board (a student) and if I win, that particular group will have homework, but if they win then I have homework. I tried in one lesson to give and take forfeits, but the students were less imaginative than I thought. Perhaps they didn't know how far they could push me. So, that's the first half and it works great. The problem comes after the break.

After the break I do my brief charade describing the past, present and future tenses, then remind the students that there are many different tenses, but these are the easiest to use. If they know more that's great, but the basics are important. Now comes the problem.
Usually the groups are five or six students. I instruct them that I want each group to write six questions and then ask all other students their questions; two questions in the past tense (when did you first kiss a girl?), two in the present (what are you doing now?), two in the future tense (when will you get married?). The students all write the same questions. The intention, obviously, to have them talk about English and the grammar they need to use. When they have made a decision on a question, they all write it down - resulting in each student having the same six questions as other members in the group.
Even writing this I can understand it's difficult to describe, and that's what I've found in the classroom. I instruct at the front then circulate to ensure that they understand the task as it stands. I've only really had one group do exactly what I wish. Usually the students think it's one question per student, 6 people in a group means 6 questions - or - they all write 6 different questions and don't do any talking. I've tried rephrasing the instruction, I've tried lowering the level of my language, I used examples of myself as a group member involved in the process, but still the students seem to be perplexed.
Ok, perplexed is too strong a word. Perhaps they're lazy, just can't be bothered, but I doubt it... it's the first lesson we've had, and we usually have fun. I've made a competition out of it (the group that talks to the most students wins), I've explained the aim and I've kept the aim secret. 
These are the things that you need your cohorts to discuss over a pint (or a blog) and that's what makes teaching English such a fascinating activity... as a teacher I'm still learning, I'm still meeting challenges, I'm still moving forward. Sure, it will get frustrating some times, but I don't think I'd ever want to go back to the old 9-5 routine and boredom of my old life. I love the challenge, even though I can moan about the downside (like the re-sit exams I've got to mark - surprise!), the upside is invigorating!

I couldn't be happier tonight. The students were screaming, laughing, and hiding their faces behind cushions. Why?
Lately, my work has been tiring, challenging, infuriating, and on the brink of  depressing, but tonight I am elated. The movie night (3rd week) was a swinging success. The first night, as expected, was a total miss (in more ways than one). The second night, which I didn't report on as I have been grading papers etc, was a minor success. But tonight, a classroom full to the brim... I would guesstimate almost 100 students, why? Well, the film for a start, 'Shaun of the Dead' - a modern day classic 'rom-com'. Also, the fact that the movie night was properly advertised (although in small scale) for the first time. Previously, the university had done some soft advertising on their website and all the teachers were informed of this new 'night', but this time I went the whole hog - I popped into town and had 200 flash colour flyers made up at my own expense. I distributed those throughout the week and the traffic on my website improved. A big thank you too goes out to other teachers in the faculty who are positively advertising the events as well. They can see opportunities here for lessons and writing exercises. I really think something good can come out of this night... not just for the students, but maybe for my research project ~ that's assuming the university let me carry this venture on into the new year.
Viva la video - I pray that next week is just as successful. Even if we get half as many students, I'll still go home in the evening with a smile on my face. I love teaching again... it's funny how it happens like this, isn't it.

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Krashen is quoted as saying, ' teaching remains an art as well as a science', I would like to know my visitors' opinions on this.  Do you feel that teaching is a defined, legitimate science, an art alone, or do you agree with Krashen's point of view, that it remains an art as well as a science? Research, the ever growing amount of, will tell us teachers that it is a science, but as a teacher what does your gut tell you?

A quote from a Blackadder the Third I believe: always comes into my head at times like these. This isn't a blog about my inefficiencies as a potential boyfried, in actual fact it is a sincere question about English, and perhaps worldwide, social norms. It's coming up to the eleventh year anniversary of my stroke; a life changing event to be sure. Yet, I haven't spoken to anyone about it for a number of years, and to be honest, that makes me sick. This is me people, and the sooner you start accepting this the better. I think about my stroke everyday, it's in every move that I make, every step I take. Do you, like me, find the strangulation of disability intolerable? It's so hard to talk about basic things with somebody 'normal' when you know you aren't coming from the same vantage point; you don't understand me, but I understand you because I was you, ten years ago. You don't ask me about my disability, my afflictions, my problems, so how could you know. The frustration of being unable to tell people what it is like to lose use of an arm, or lose mobility is heart-wrenching; I appreciate there are people with more life threatening issues, so I think myself lucky; but still have the frustration.  I started to write a number of passages about it, but they lacked coherence (often a problem when agitated) then I put them into wordle, I think it sums up my thoughts exactly.

An unexpected work orientated teacher conversation between lessons set me thinking about teaching styles and whether my style is appropriate for my environment at a Chinese university. Three teachers, me included, were chatting about what goes on in our classrooms.  There were stark differences between all our styles. Two of us remarked that class-observation would be of great benefit to us all as teachers, but we also expressed our apprehensions over observation.  These conversations ought to be developed with the authorities in the English department brought in, but unfortunately we only had a 10 minute informal chat between lessons and I doubt if the subject will be brought up the next time I see the teachers.  But, as I say, this conversation made me consider my style in the classroom.

I consider myself to be a 'communicative' teacher, usually starting my lessons expressing the topic and language we are studying in order to engage the students, inviting the students to use what language they know so I can judge the level and what additional language is required. There is more than often a short activity or two, then a little study and the lessons end with the students completing the major activity (with a short feedback summary from me). I had carried out a lesson on Natural Disasters two times a day for a whole week (yes, can get a little tedious, but allows you to perfect the lessons) and it had been successful. Students absorbed the vocabulary (apparently) and interviewed each other, with one student being a news reporter and the other student was Mother Nature.  The aims of this lesson were to improve the students question asking ability and to widen their vocabulary and understanding of the concept of natural disasters in English. But, today I changed my lesson two minutes before the lesson started motivated by the style of another teacher.

The lesson idea was to have the students peform in pairs at the front of the class. Student A was the anchor of a TV news show, student B was a field reporter. The topic? They were reporting on a natural disaster. Sounds like a quite good lesson, but here's the catch. You tell them what to do, then let them get on with it. (Slightly different from the other teacher's advice) The first 10 minutes were teacher focused, writing vocabulary on the board - natural disaster, verbs, adjectives to describe the disaster - and instructing what I wanted as a product at the end of the lesson - The News Report. Then, for 30 minutes, the students work to plan a script for the performance using their first language. Of course, I invited them to ask me for additional help; only one student took up that opportunity, so I was redundant throughout the lesson. I was amazed however at the reaction. The majority of the 30 students started ferreting away on their mobiles, looking through the coursebook, talking to each other in Chinese in an attempt to plan their performance.  I have never seen this in a class I have taught before, well, not to this extent. This suggests to me that my lessons are usually a little too complicated for the students... if I don't tell them what they are doing in the whole lesson, they get a little scared. 

After the break (5 mins) the students performed in front of the class.  I had told them that I was marking on language use, grammar, pronunciation, and fluency and that they should be silent when other students were performing.  In the most part, they followed my instructions and some of the students actually gave us all a commendable performance. But, what had they learned and how are the outcomes different between the two lessons? It was a peculiar experience for me, to sit in a classroom and not hear English being spoken, not to be asked questions by the students, and not to be circulating and encouraging use. This is a new style though - although obviously not perfected, I had to follow it through.

Firstly, I must admit that not much thought went into this lesson, it was definitely a little ad-hoc. Maybe with additional planning I could specify the language a newsreader uses, we could concentrate on the immediacy of the report, the importance of tense choice; in fact the only restrictions here would be time; time that the students need to prepare their presentation/performance. In this lesson, they used new vocabulary, both mine on the board and what they could find on google. Everybody spoke in English, even if it was for just 30 seconds at the end of the lesson. They actually did the work, that's what they were there for in the first place... this is a university after all. In this format I was able to take a seat and examine the individuals' performance.  For me, it was a very relaxing class, which made a nice change... I am usually exhausted by the end of the day by walking around the classroom, talking to groups and pairs. So, I used the other teacher's style as he had described it to me, and I think that it definitely has it benefits.

Will I use this style again? Yes, why not? Well, I know 'why not', it goes against my beliefs as a teacher. I don't want to be the focus of attention, but I do think as a teacher you ought to have a presence in the classroom. Students need to be able to ask for help and personaly I want to know what they are doing and how well they understand the lesson. Today, I just sat back and watched my little ants scribble words in their notebooks, talking Chinese all the way.  There was no English for the whole of the lesson  except for the final production. My classes rely on the students producing English through the many stages of the lesson, building conversations, asking questions, practising and hopefully mastering pronunciation, intonation and all the little things that an involved teacher gets to notice. For me, what I taught today was not speaking... in fact I find it hard to say what I taught. What I will consider is whether the beneficial elements of the new style can be incorporated into my lessons. I think that this was the biggest benefit from changing my style; a change is as good as a rest they say, and it will allow you to tweak your teaching beliefs.

It's official! I'm out of touch with the kids these days... I sound like my Dad. I'm old. Only one person turned up at my inaugral movie night night, which didn't upset me, but it's made me realise that there's a lot of work goes into making a succesful film night, and I just wallied in there gung-ho like I owned the concept.
The film choice was so obviously wrong it had only started to occur to me this morning. I'd used WALL-E in lessons 3 or 4 times and it received great attention.  I hadn't actually asked if anybody else had any ideas, or whether the students had a choice.  I just thought, WALL-E... that's about the environment, human destruction, freedom of choice, good film, we'll show that. I didn't actually contemplate that peope would have seen the movie already, that they wouldn't want to actually see the movie anyway, or that they wouldn't just say, 'School Film Club, yeah, [derisory] right!'  I know I would have turned my nose up at school clubs and teachers after hours.
Still, you live and learn. I tried to walk in straight away with a movie I could teach from, if I've used it before, it will work again. Arrogance. Yes, I still believe that the idea is good in principle, but my research idea, well that must come later. For now, bums on seats is the obvious priority. But I'm ponderous, the films that I think the students would like are full of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. But, to give them what you want, you've got to ask them what they want. Listen to the people. One thing that's troubling though is that the principle says we can only do the night once a month. Now that really puts a shot through my research ideas. So, I'm going to visit her tomorrow... any advice on how to handle this one?

While I was sitting on the bus travelling through the city, I began to think of the things that make my life in Zhuhai different from my life in Sheffield.  Some of my points may be well off the mark and I'll appreciate discussion; I am by no means an expert on culture. I'm fairly well travelled and do a lot of walking to explore places in the cities I live in, or visit, so in this post I would like to tell you about the little things - hopefully they will prepare you should you choose to visit China.  At first, these things were a curiosity, then in some ways an annoyance to me, now... well, they're part of my everyday life.

The cars are the first thing you'd notice being an Englishman in Zhuhai.  For a start their abundance, and the number of cars is accelerating, but the most remarkable thing is the way the Chinese drive.  I don't mean to support negative stereotypes, but the Chinese have a very 'original' driving technique.  They seem to follow the US's overtaking rules, not the English, but all the other rules seem out of this world. For instance, the roundabout; although people in the know have told me that the rules are the same here as they are in the UK (those wishing to join the roundabout give way to those on the roundabout), but in practice the opposite is in fact true.  Those on the roundabout will often be forced to slam on the anchors as a BMW joins at a junction at a ferocious speed. Buses cut up lorries, motorbikes weave through the roundabout traffic like some mad video game. It's no surprise that in rush hour policeman are stationed at roundabouts to bring a little order.

Also, and I often use this in my lessons, what do you call the black and white strips across a road?  Yes, a zebra crossing.  What are the rules on a zebra crossing?  Yes, the pedestrian has right of way... No.  Although again the rules are the same, if you step out on a zebra crossing in the belief that the traffic will slow you are very much mistaken.  Take heed, many an Englishman has fallen foul of this anomaly and spent weeks in traction as a result.  The cars stream through, switching lanes and violently honking their horn as they bruise passed us. The Beatles wouldn't have a chance!

That turns me to the use of car horns.  They beep their horns for anything and everything. A friend is on the street - PAH-PAH! - a car is indicating left - PAH-PAH! - a person wants to cross the road - PAH-PAH! - another driver cuts them up - PAH-PAH! - 'I'm turning right' - PAH-PAH! - every bloody mile - PAH-PAH! Yes, it irks me.  Apart from the noise, the shock of the horn has a weird effect on my right (stroke affected) arm and leg, they tense up, rigid as a board, as if I were a rabbit in the headlights... it's quite embarrassing.

Oh my god, parking.  I forgot about parking. The Chinese don't seem to have taken into consideration that as the car owning population increases, so the number of parking spaces in town needs to increase.  They need a Mr. N & Mr. C & Mr. P... NCP car parks in the UK (ok, not named after Mr. N, or C) were a revelation and resulted in multi-story car parks clearing a lot of cars off the streets.  Here, anywhere is a parking space... a curb, pavement, shop-front, middle of the road.  Honest, they will ignore the persistent honk of horns, park the car, alarm it and wander off to carry out their business totally unaware of the cafuffle. Remarkable. 

Talking about parking, when drivers have an accident on the road the whole world has to stop as a result.  The culprits park up their car where the accident happened, they don't pull the car to the side of the road, oh no.  Even if it's just a scratch, or a mild fender bender they have to stay exactly where they were at the time of the accident.  Then, they get out of their cars and start agruing.  For an instance, a car turning right is clipped by a car on the inside; where they come to a stop takes over three lanes of a four lane highway. Move the obstruction and talk about the matter away from traffic?  No. Keep the rest of the world waiting, trying to filter passed in one lane, everybody both trying to cut into the bottleneck to pass the obstruction while at the same time rubbernecking at the mild accident.  Why?  They are waiting for the police to come, take pictures of the scene of the accident, and help decide who is to blame. It's only when someone admits blame and offers cash or recompense to the other driver do things start moving again.

It's a bizarre world, come to think of it.  It may sound like I have a chip on my shoulder, but no... truth be told that's just the way it is.  You learn to brush off the weird differences because here they aren't weird, they just happen.  I have to say though, I didn't expect to write so much just about cars, so I'll stop now.  Next post is about taxis and buses... ho-ho-ho... now they are fun!

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