True Story 7.14
American teacher loosens up a Chinese college classroom
The setting for this story
American Mark Salzman studied Chinese literature at Hunan Medical College in Changsha. At the same time, he taught English as a foreign language there, which yielded this amusing story.
A story of misaligned minds22
When I was introduced to my English class at its instructor, the students appeared to be a silent mass of trembling paralysis.
Some of them loosened up after a few weeks. Once they got over the fear of being called on individually, personalities began to emerge. Some students even dared to experiment with imagination and humor. Classes became interesting.
Teacher Wu was my supervisor. One day, she brought the Yale-China field staff director to observe my class. The students became nervous right away, so I called on the most confident one, Lenny. I asked Lenny what he would like to do today. He stood up and responded, “Today I would like to eat your heart and drink your blood.” The class became quite animated after that.
Teacher Wu called me into her office. Horrified, she asked, “What did that boy say?” “You mean Lenny?” I replied. “Isn’t he something!” Her face turned dark. “He must be severely punished! You can’t speak like that to a teacher. And the other students laughed! They must be severely criticized!”
I tried to convince Teacher Wu that the students’ actions didn’t reflect disrespect but demonstrated how perceptive they were. “How do you figure that?” she asked. “Because in a short time they have noticed that American teachers have different expectations from Chinese teachers. We like some humor and laughter in our classes and enjoy it if the students can joke with us. I never felt that my students insulted me.”
Mark’s question
What else can I explain to Teacher Wu to help her grasp the fundamental differences in acceptable behavior between Chinese and American classrooms?
Critique of story 7.14
In Mark Salzman and Teacher Wu, we have embodiments of the two contrasting perspectives on proper, expected classroom interaction. I’m referring, of course, to the learner-focused (Mark) and knowledge-focused (Teacher Wu) perspectives. I will say, though, that Mark’s approach to his class seems a slightly over-the-top example of learner-focused teaching. That his Chinese students followed his lead after a few weeks is, perhaps, testimony to Mark’s personal warmth and charm.
Mark’s reported explanation to Teacher Wu – that “we American teachers like some humor and laughter in our classes” – is not an erroneous generalization. It’s likely, though, that Teacher Wu knows of some contrary examples: Some American teachers in China “go native,” meaning that they teach and behave toward their students wholly according to Chinese expectations. So my guess is that Teacher Wu’s takeaway from Mark’s explanation was that “classroom humor and laughter” was more his personal quirk, less a broad generalization about American teaching.
Teacher Wu’s reaction to Lenny’s joking and his classmates’ laughing isn’t surprising. What is surprising is that Wu reserved all her irritation for the students and did not insist that Mark cease injecting humor into his classes. (See here, Mark, such levity simply is not the done thing in a reputable Chinese educational institution!) Possible reasons why Wu didn’t get tough with Mark are that (a) Mark had charmed her as well as his students; (b) Mark’s students were making good progress in learning English; and (c) during the early 1980s in Chinese universities, visiting foreign teachers were sorely needed and usually were treated leniently. (No longer true!)
The classmates’ laughing might not be what it seems. In China and in many other societies as well, laughter is a way of dealing with awkwardness, uncertainty, or embarrassment. Lenny’s antics had momentarily created an awkward and uncertain situation for his classmates. Teacher Wu was in the classroom, too, but she was appalled and did not laugh.
But to answer Mark’s question: After a couple of weeks have passed, he could consider offering an explanation to Teacher Wu that references this classroom incident and her response to it as providing working examples of the learner-focused and knowledge-focused perspectives.
For thought
After years of learning in knowledge-focused schools, some older students like the idea of transitioning to learner-focused instruction (for example, in the U.S.). They believe it will free them to make choices about their academic work, provide relief from the solemnity of knowledge-focused instruction, and open the door for more egalitarian teacher–student relationships. To the extent that their expectations are valid, it could help explain why Mark’s students needed only a few weeks to loosen up.
But after years of learning in knowledge-focused classrooms, some students who suddenly find themselves in learner-focused classrooms (due to emigration or to a new teacher from the West) are aghast. They soon criticize learner-focused methods as “not serious” and their teachers as unprofessional and lazy, sometimes to the point of openly protesting to school administrators.
I suspect that the idea of transitioning in the opposite direction is less appealing. That is, after years of learning in learner-focused classrooms such as ours in the U.S., few students would find attractive the possibility of transitioning to knowledge-focused instruction. Could this help explain why some American high school students find their early months in college upsetting and difficult?
Related stories
Stories 7.06, 7.15, and 7.17 also are accounts of knowledge-focused students who find themselves in learner-focused classrooms. Story 1.04 also mentions that laughter isn’t always about humor.
Go to Chapter 1 Quick-Links | Go to Chapter 4 Quick-Links | Return to Chapter 7 Quick-Links | Go to Chapter 10 Quick-Links
Endnotes:
22 Salzman, 166–67.
Full citations are available at misalignedminds.info/References.