Living, learning, teaching... and rambling

Living, learning, teaching... and rambling

 

I have never had an alias or pseudonym, and if it’s good enough for deep throat, it’s good enough for me.  So, for the purpose of this blog I shall hence forth be known as Hot Tea.  Reasons for this may become apparent as this blog progresses, on the other hand it may not; we’ll both have to wait and see.

 

I began traveling six months ago and set up this blog in order chronicle and discuss interesting things.  But to paraphrase a famous Liverpudilan ‘life is what happens while you’re busy planning a blog’.  The first stop of my adventure is year-long stay in Taiwan (so I have time to catch).  I am currently learning Chinese and teaching English (American).  Thus this seems like a logical place to begin rambling.

 

At the risk of stating the obvious, Chinese is a particularly hard language to learn.  I’ve been learning for a little under six months and I’ve (in theory) learnt around 500 characters.  I have written each of these characters down around fifty times in a book in order to try and learn and memorise them.  This is the same as what Chinese, Taiwanese and many other East Asian children have to do when learning their language.  To put it bluntly, it is not a fun learning process, and I am as of yet undecided as to how beneficial this practice is (but it does give an insight into Asian culture, which I will become back to in later blogs).  I cannot state this with complete confidence (as like many native English speakers I am unilingual), but here is goes.  As with any other language, learning Chinese does have it fun moments, learning how to talk and express yourself can be very rewarding and due to its difficulty, being able to read and comprehend is most satisfactory.

 

Learning Chinese should come with disclaimer to Westerners (Europeans and North Americans).  As I have begun to allude to, learning Chinese is a lot of hard work, it is not taught like a European language and expectations are very different.  If I could pick the perfect person to learn Chinese, it would not necessarily be the multi lingual language master (you know the one from school).  I would choose that person from school who is the hardest worker, they don’t necessarily aim to understand everything perfectly, but you can bet they memorise it and can write or repeat it to you perfectly. 

 

Personally, I began woefully underprepared.  I did not know what to expect, I did not do my research.  Having signed up for a two hour a day class, I expected that to be all the learning I would require for a day (bar maybe a bit speaking practice with people and maybe some homework).  I am unsure how to quantify just how wrong I was, but I was horrifically wrong to an extreme degree.  I remember two things very clearly from my first week or so of studying.  First, I’d written down all the new characters we had just learned, about twenty five, and I was fairly pleased with myself, I’d been to a lecture and I’d practiced my characters.  Unfortunately for me, I had only written each character once and my new teacher informed me I had a poor work ethic and needed to fill a page for each character.  This was quickly followed by being informed that in order to learn Chinese effectively I would have to study nine to ten hours a day out of class.  I know university students have a bad reputation for being lazy, but this was a new level of expectation that I had not encountered before.  I’ve studied for four years at two different universities and now have a Masters degree, but I do not get close to this number and I work much harder to learn Chinese than I ever did at university.  There is no concept of time management it is full on all the time with no let up.  At university you have time to let you information settle, think, contemplate and, if necessary, relax and take step back.  In Chinese, if you have a day (or two) without studying you fall behind the required learning rate and as a consequence do not have the basic understanding of key concepts.  At University you are able catch up, in Chinese there is no let-up; if you miss something you are doomed.

 

At this point in my ramble, I’m feel it’s time to mention my first thoughts on teaching English.  In arriving in Taiwan, I had never taught anything in my life (I’d like to say doubling my learning, but it doesn’t bare comparison).  What I am learning is the importance of listening and seeking advice from more experienced teachers/people (it sounds obvious, but who of us ever listens; we know best and we know it!), but to take your own path, within your current working limitations.  I was handed two pieces of key advice very early; A) ‘I’ve seen many teachers come through here thinking they’re going to get rich, but they never do, and B) you don’t want to work more than six classes a week and learn Chinese.  The first piece of advice, I was (as I assume you are) thinking ‘well duh’, but it rings true.  I never expected to become rich, but it is hard to save, especially if you’re trying study too.  I believed I was going have a good amount of hours at a good hourly rate; this is unlikely to happen, just hope you have enough hours to get by.  The second piece of advice is also wise and also means I am slightly grateful to have fewer hours than expected and have time to study; I am working less than six lessons and it is hard to keep up.  It is important to trust your ability and instincts to teach and motivate students your way; you can’t teach like anyone but you.  Just remember not to get smug when things go well and believe your way is better and you have become the master (it will bite you where it hurts!).  If there is a student/class who other teachers have warned you about, heed their warning.  You may get lucky once twice and have great lesson, but if I have learnt one thing; kids are unpredictable and each lesson is its own unique challenge (at least for the inexperienced of us).  One swallow does not a summer make; if you have one good lesson count your blessings and run, it may never happen again!

 

To sum up this blog post, Chinese is hard to learn, be prepared to work harder than you have in a long time, if not ever.  Remember to consider your workload outside class and that you are unlikely to simultaneously learn Chinese and get rich.  And, don’t get cocky kid.

 

Hopefully, see you next time, when my rambles will become more cultural and maybe even philosophical.

 

Hot Tea