Due date for responses: Monday, Jan. 26th, by class time.
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Chinese students have a much harder time than I had ever imagined. This article states the difficulties they face in learning the English language and writing styles. The article gives four student's profiles and tells their problems. They are all shy in speaking English because they can't do it correctly and hardly ever practice it. They usually communicate with people from their culture and speak the native language, which doesn't give them much practice with English. While in school the students feel an overwhelming amount of pressure to do well and not to let their families down. It cost their families a lot to send them to an American school and they want to focus on their studies, but in America they have to get a general education and most have problems with English classes or Economics. They also have different tones, sounds, and written characterstics to learn going from Chinese to English. Not to mention reading a foreign language is difficult.
If any of you have taken a foreign language i'm sure you can relate to the difficulty in not only speaking it but writing it. I have taken Spanish, so I feel for the Chinese students.
The Chinese read from right to left and top to bottom, where as in English we go left to right. So we can see why reading is such a challenge. Not only are they learning a new language they are learning a new direction to read. Chinese students tend to leave out verbs or misuse them. V's sometimes turn to B's, S's turn to Z's, they write what they hear. In English we have silent letters, possessive nouns, conjunctions, prepositions, articles, word forms, etc... The rules of English are extensive and hard to master. I am an English major and can't remember them all. So I can only imagine what being a foreigner trying to learn English later on in life is like.
As a teacher try to get the Chinese student to keep a positive attitude about learning English, encourage reading words in groups and not stopping after every word, and be sure to take time to work with them on their speech. As the student learns better English he/she will want to be apart of oral lessons, raise his/her hand to answer questions, and have a better shot at making friends and gaining self confidence.
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17 comments:
I never realized what Chinese English learners went through either. It seems very difficult for the Chinese learners to have to learn how to read in a completely different direction. I have heard the Chinese language spoken before and I can agree that they do speak in different tones and hold their mouths differently when they speak. I am also taking Spanish and even after 4 years of studying it in high school and now at college I still have a hard time. I would hate to have to move to a Spanish speaking country at this point in my life because I would have almost no way of communicating with others. I can't imagine what it would be like to have such pressures put on a person to speak, learn, and write a new language.
I never realized how difficult it is for some Asians to assimilate into our American culture. Putting aside the fact that they might be having a difficult time learning English, some stay isolated with other Asians here in America. This puts them even further behind in the learning experience because they hardly interact with English speakers.
It was interesting to see their specific learning problems like the r/w and v/f. I never thought how similar those pairs of letters are to each other. There are so many punctuation marks that would come across as confusing to first time learners.
I took French for four years in high school and always found it easier to read rather than speak. It is truly a very isolated feeling when you hear others speak a different language that you can't keep up with yourself.
I never realized how hard Chinese students learning the English language have it. The fact that they are not only in a new country and culture, but going to a school where they have to learn a brand new language. That alone could make any student struggle in school. The fact that English reading is opposite that of Chinese reading poses a huge problem. Also the English language has many different rules, that can confuse a student. I have studied Spanish for the past five years and I can still be overwhelmed. The fact that these students can live in a brand new country and go to school is something I respect.
A lot of American's believe that there's no use in learning a second language because English is the most spoken language in the world. I try to imagine not being able to speak English, coming to the US from another country and trying to learn it and I honestly think I'd give up. I was raised speaking English and I still have yet to master the language and sincerely believe that I never will. I was raised listening to Spanish speakers so I can, for the most part, understand Spanish, but speaking it is another story. Spanish, however, is much more similar to English than Chinese is. Chinese is read in symbols and in a completely different way than English is. I respect anyone who can master our language especially if it's not their first lasnguage.
Another issue facing Chinese students learning to speak the English language is the dialect and slang most Americans use. Although we speak English, the phrasing and slang we use is very confusing for people who speak English as a second language. My son's father is Russian, and often things I say or cultural examples I relate to, is not only confusing, but impossible for him to gain any meaning from. I only wish our country stressed the importance of learning a second language as much as the rest of the world.
Chinese English learners is a very amazing topic. Finding out how hard the experience of learning to speak English for the Chinese really is challenges me. I was saddened a little bit when I read of the pressures that some of the families put on the students of their families. They don't know of the difficulties there are. I couldn't imagine trying to pronounce something when there isn't even an equivalent sound or symbol in my own language with which to compare it. I give a better level of respect to the learning process now than I had before reading the passage.
I had always heard that English was one of the most difficult languages to learn, but I had no idea it was particularly difficult for Chinese students. The pressure that they feel from their families to succeed is hard as it is, but there is added weight from being so far from home. When cliques are formed with fellow Chinese students and they don’t interact with english speaking groups, they are losing out on great opportunities to improve their English. I remember how hard it was for Daniel-son to begin learning Japanese in Karate Kid Part II, and when a karate champion has difficulty learning a foreign language, it shows how hard it can really be.
It is only natural for ESL students to struggle when trying to learn the English language. English is one of the most complex languages when you take into account all the silent letters, slang words, etc. It would be very difficult to move from your native country to a new country with a totally different culture and have to adjust to everything while having trouble communicating with others. Learning English is very difficult for ESL students and educators should take that into account when there is an ESL student in the classroom.
I have not yet finished reading this article, the ethnocentricity of the text has already struck me. Surely, some of the analyses and "translations" could help a teacher struggling to understand the source of his or her student's own difficulties; however, creating specific scenarios in an attempt to explain the differences between another culture and ours is perilous business. To say that "everything a father says must be right. If the children do not listen to him, he will say that they are not ""good children"". He will start to tell them how hard he has worked to give them all the advantages in life," makes a gross and potentially harmful generalization (in the author's defense, she does steel us by using the ENGFISH term "generally"). While many Chinese ESL learners may grapple with the conflicts between their more native filial piety and our individualistic society, pity, patronage, scorn, and ambivalence will always fail to aid in their studies. Furthermore, what does it mean to "assimilate into our American culture"? Where did/does American culture come from? In my view, its endless facets mutate constantly with the influx of new members and societies, and their continually evolving (and increasingly globalized) experiences. From this descends only richness.
I can understand that many Chinese ESL pupils could have trouble speaking and writing in English, since in their native tongue, language derives from the expression and connection of distinct, whole ideas or essences, rather than from a system of interdependent words. For example, the use of pictoral characters associates ideas efficiently and must allow for succinct writing and an agile brain. I ran across this difference when learning Japanese, and, in my understanding, Chinese uses a lower volume of connecting words. The sounds, and the methods of controlling the voice, also seem to differ between the English and Chinese. For one to create a noise that has never existed for him, to move his mouth - quickly - in a way it has never moved before, could prevent him from even attempting to create sentences stemming from one menacing prefix.
Packing up all your belongings and moving to American sounds like quite an adventure. I bet most Chinese students felt this way as they were preparing for their stay. Being thrown into a new culture, with a new language, and trying to adapt all at once could be overwhelming. Yet these students are still coming to class everyday, unlike some who would just pack everything up and head home. Which the article points out they don't want to let their families down. Perhaps one way you could help incorporate them into the classroom is to allow them to give a little bit of their own history. Once they grasp the basics and could communicate their points to other students. Allow them to describe how their language works, for example, the fact they read from right to left. This could serve as an ice breaker while making them feel more accepted and appreciated.
I am interested in reading about the difficulties the Chinese faced in learning English, since I plan on teaching English in Thailand after I graduate. Though my Thai cousins speak English fluently and have said that the English language is easy to learn, I was unaware of the difficulties that the Chinese had learning English.
I know that Asian cultures really push their children to do above and beyond even their own personal best, and emphasize respect and reputation far more than other cultures. I've experienced this myself with my crazy Filipina mother. For a family less Americanized than mine, the blow of doing poorly in school is an even more devastating blow. An easy remedy to the problem would be to expose children to the English language all their life. Even if they aren't focusing on what they're learning, they will still soak in some of the basics of the English language. I can understand Tagalog relatively fluently without reading or writing it, based solely on the fact that I have listened to my mother speak it all my life.
I've noticed that Chinese students are becoming more prevalent in the SIU student body. However, most of them still use their native language in casual conversation to one another. This is fine, except the fact that it is not a conducive habit to have if trying to learn another language. These students should embrace the english language and make an effort to use and practice it in every day speech. Like my mother always said: Practice makes perfect!
I had never realized how difficult it was for Asians to learn in our society. I know that this usually causes them too stay isolated with other Asian people in their society instead of joining English speaking members. I know that it must be scary for them having to learning a new language and having to go to a school where most if not all people speak English.
I can see why Chinese students learning English would have a difficult time understanding and learning the English language. Chinese is a language that is very different from English and I would expect them to take longer or more effort to learn English. I took Spanish for only three years in high school and can only speak it very little. Learning a new language is intimidating and takes more time to learn than maybe math or science would. Especially with the language the Chinese speak and how many words in the English language come from so many other languages, I highly respect the Chinese that know how to speak English as a second language.
I definitely have a broader understanding of the struggles that Chinese students face trying to learn the English language.My Spanish teacher always told me that the English language is much harder to learn, but it wasn't until reading this that I had a full understanding of the hardships that Chinese ESL students face. I hope that after students read this, they are more empathetic to the needs of other students and will be more considerate.Learning a language isn't just a walk in the park, especially when it is extremely different from what a person is used to speaking.
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