Wo Ting Bu Dong: Mandarin Fever - American Style

Hi, I am a graduate from Mass Communication School of Louisiana State University. I have a homework to do this week -- to interview a political blogger. I have kept a close eye on your blog for some time and really appreciate it. Would you like to give me this chance? If yes, please email me: eusuee@hotmail.com. Thanks a lot!!

你是中国人,是巴?

这是你?

http://www1.tianyablog.com/blogger/view_blog.asp?BlogName=eusuee

对啊.以为你看不懂中文~~MSN交流?

我有中文. 可是我的英文更好

没有MSM

So are you willing to receive my interview? If so, I think we can figure out some way to do it. Telephone or email or something else, it depends on you. Thank you :)

I can personally attest to the problems of Chinese teaching in the US, currently suffering under an old school rote memorization regime.

The craze has certainly hit Seattle, where I was recently invited to speak at a teacher conference about my experiences learning Chinese. The message of the whole session was to take advantage of the "heritage" learners (those who grow up speaking Chinese in the home) as a national resource for Chinese, which kind of made me feel like I'd wasted my 6 years of effort if our only national resource for Chinese language is the Chinese-American community.

I am also in agreement with the last statement above, questioning whether American students can "rise to the linguistic challenge." Have you read any of the recent stories about how the problem with American students is that they're just too lazy?

American public schools don't provide an environment for properly teaching foreign languge, at least not to a useful level of fluency, with most only requiring 2 years. It's too alarmist to assume that thousands of new Mandarin speakers will come out of this new foreign language craze.

I hear you.

"American public schools don't provide an environment for properly teaching foreign languge"

In my experience, Ameircan public schools don't provide the right environment to learn any subject in depth, and neither do colleges.

Students in the US spend fewer hours in the classroom than their Asian or European counterparts (Asians often have a 6 day school week, and Europeans only have a 1/12 month sumner vacation and a miniscule spring break), and they are encouraged to be 'creative' which means that they jump to more advanced areas so that they can have input, but without properly learning the basics.

They also have too many subjects for the time that they are in school and minimal homework.

This spreads right through the US system from highschool to college.

To much broad knowledge, to much time spent on extrapilation and not engough time spent learning the basics.

"how the problem with American students is that they're just too lazy?"

I have to agree with this, Ameircan teens have no attention span.

"our only national resource for Chinese language is the Chinese-American community"

It's worse than yoy think, half of this 'resource' speak cantonnese, not mandarin, and most second or third generation Chinese Ameircans can spek Mandarin but only have only a basic knowledge of written Chinese.

I'm a retired teacher, and I can tell you from personal experience that you are absolutely correct when you say the American educational system is not geared to teach any subject in depth, Kindergarten through 12th grade. Teaching is not a valued occupation and the school system is geared to produce compliant consumers, not educated citizens who can think for themselves.

楼主同志，I am still waiting for your reply~~~ 很着急～～～Please contact me or leave me a message!!

eusuee:

Sorry, but I don't give out my email address to write-ins.

FYI: on the Mainland 同志 is slang for homosexual.

So you mean you don't want to accept my interview?

Sorry, no time, too many privacy concern, and a strong dislike for interviews.

Actually, it's not just Americans, it's all Western nations.

North Korea issuing a statement in support of "One China"? I'm shocked. Shocked I tell ya!

You should give me clear reply earlier. You are wasting my time. In my opinion, that is an attitude without basic respect for others, whoever you are.

THM:

"Actually, it's not just Americans, it's all Western nations."

I've found that America is the worst offender for this, sorry, but it has the shortest school years and the most liberal systems.

Teachers in the US commonly have to skip over the basics in order to reach more advaanced areas where the children can branch out.

Less roate learning also mean less of the basics.

eusuee:

You didn't tell me who you were, where you are from, or link me to your blog so that I could find out for myself.

At least other people tell me that they have a blog so that I know they might post what I say on it.

What do you expect me to do but fish for information?

eusuee:

You didn't tell me who you were, where you are from, or link me to your blog so that I could find out for myself.

At least other people tell me that they have a blog so that I know they might post what I say on it.

What do you expect me to do but fish for information?

One consequence of the political aspect of immigration is that there is a disproportionate amount of Taiwanese-Americans teaching Chinese in the states. I've had three different Chinese teachers so far in America, and all 3 had connections to Taiwan rather than to China.

Brian:

It's not the same as having a mainland teacher, is it.

Some days it seems like was easier to get out of Communist Russia than into post 9/11 America.

It's gotten so bad that it's harder for a Chinese student to get a visa to attend college in the US than it is for them to get the college place iteself, and a lot of Ameircan businesses are finding it almost imposible to get visas for their Chinese business partners.

I also know people who were American citizens from birth who've been fighting for ages just to get their Chinese spouse a visa. Which used to be almost automatic.

In China much language education is done by collectively shouting repetitions of what the teacher says.

I don't think I would want to switch one minute of teaching in a school in the US to one in China. But maybe that's wasn't the issue here.

I think the problems in the developed world, and particularly in the US, is motivation. I see that many ABCs are doing very well, using a 'relatively' good education system, and a drive brought on them by their parents, no?

"I think the problems in the developed world, and particularly in the US, is motivation."

I've seen this a lot in my travels in the west.

People who do not value education enough.

They either believe that they will do OK whatever or that they will end up the same no matter how hard they try so why bother.

Governments also do not value diversity enough and they set stupid standards that are impossible for slow learners to meet without extra help, and which hold back advanced students by not lettig them skip to a higher level. The US and UK are by far the two worst offenders that I have seen.

They rate 'average' as being acceptable and refuse to critisize anybody who doesn't reach an acceptable standard. Sadly, this average is set to what they believe is an 'achievable level', but which is actually pretty close to the basic level that an average student can reach without really trying.

It's basicly having the literacy of an average 12 year old and numerate enough to use a calculator for simple sums.

Additionally, neither country has a state backed system for allowing advanced students to advance beyond their peirs. Or for slower students to catch up at their own pace.

For example, in the US, just about the only way of getting into an advanced stream is to go private which a lot of people can't afford, and in the UK they actually BANNED schools from specializing in advanced pupils on the grounds that it went against the countries socialist principles.

In China and Japan, you have entrance paper that allow schools to be streamed based on ability.

Children who are advanced have to compete to get into advanced schools. They have a goal to work towards and a clear set of standard that they must work hard to reach.

If they sit still they won't make it.

The children who can't make it go to schools that are used to dealing with students who are not as advanced and can give them programs that are aimed at their level rather than at some fictitious average that they will struggle to meet without extra help, or they can be put into technical streams that teach them a physical trade where skills are ore important than pure knowledge (Ok, this isn't so good in China, but it works in Japan).

Under the US and UK systems, only the studnets who are in the middle get an education at the right level, otherwise you either are pushed beyond your level, or are held back by a system that refuses to let you advance.

This sends quite the wrong message. It says that even if you try, you will never make much more of yourself unless you have money for a private school, and that when you are average, you are good enough.

Where, pray tell, do you imagine that all of these American Chinese speakers will find a market for their linguistic and cultural skills? The State Dept. and intelligence agencies remain buyers of these skills, as they have always been. But the demand for China skills in the business world, where application is immediate, valuable and necessary, remains very low for American business. American business is more likely to hire native Chinese who, they figure, grew up with the necessary skills, and, besides, are usually less expensive all around. And then, what is the American business to do with an American-raised regional specialist when they want to move him out of his region of expertise -- will he be willing to move and where do they place him? Etc. It's a far knottier issue than you portray it to be.

Sincerely,

Rich Kuslan, Editor Asia Business Intelligence www.asiabizblog.com

Rich Kuslan:

Much of this demand appears to be comming from parents, who believe that their children should have this skill, rather than from businesses looking to use it.

As for companies who opperate in China, my experience has clearely shown me that most companies tend to hir native speakers of the foreign language who have learnt their (the company's) language, rather than hiring a native speaker of their (the company's) language who learnt the foreign language.

There are two reasons for this

1) cost. Unless that language is English, it's usually cheaper to higher a foreigner.

2) Fluency. It's easier to translate into your native langage than from it. Less mistakes.

Additionally, having Chinese as a second language is impressive, even if you don't use it.

An Ivy league school or college is going to look more favorably on a Chinese speaker than a Spanish speaker.