Hello everyone
I am a Chinese teacher, my name is Lixing Zhu
My English name is Leo
So I'm Leo Zhu
Many students who meet me for the first time ask:
"Are you Zhu?"
There is a difference between saying "Are you Zhu" and "Are you Prof Zhu"
Because [in Chinese] "are you Zhu?" means " are you a pig?"
And I'm not a pig, I'm prof Zhu
I'm very pleased to meet you
I have been teaching Chinese for 7 years
I have 8000 hours of teaching experience and I have taught students from 25 countries
I have been teaching Chinese for two years in France
In the Dordogne region, at Perigueux City
To Junior highschool students, from 9th to 12th grade
In France, Chinese language is officially taught in simplified Chinese
But we can still teach certain characters in their non-simplied...
...in their traditional form
We have to use Pinyin
The Romanization system that was created in the 50's in China
The first difficulty is the pronunciation
People who studied Chinese all know that
Chinese grammar is rather simple
There are no verb changing or declensions
But the pronounciation is very similar between words
For example "xiangjiao" (banana) and "qingjiao" (green pepper)
These two words are often confused
Or "xiansheng" (sir/husband) and "xuesheng" (student)
Some students would say "my student..."
So I'd ask: "you have students? Are you a teacher?"
What they meant was "my husband"
Regarding the pronouciation, there is also the difficulty of recongnizing the tones...
French people might have more difficulties than other...
...other nationalities
To work on the tones, to pronounce them correctly
It is certainly due to the French prosody
And also maybe because the...
...teenagers in France practice less music
Music teaching is maybe less developed
than in other countries, I suppose
"Get angry"
"Mommy is telling you off"
"Yes? Who's speaking?"
Us teachers are asked to...
...well separate the teaching of oral and written Chinese
Indeed, there could be...
We could imagine that there would be two different teachers
to teach the oral and written language
The most difficult part is to make them progress at writing
While favouring the oral part
Because it is where pleasure is the most immediate
Also now, thanks to all the resources on the Internet
Even Chinese people do not write as much as before
One could say that some software sort of saved Chinese writing
Children in Taiwan
learn Chinese from the womb
So they can speak and understand the language from birth
And they start reading and writing when they start primary school
But when foreigners come to Taiwan
They can neither speak nor read
It is especially difficult for them to learn
So our method is to...
As I just said, children in Taiwan first know how to speak
Then they learn how to write and read
So we wouldn't ask the students to learn all of it at once
That would be too challenging and tiresome for the students
We generally make them train their listening and speaking first
They just need to grasp the pronounciation and the basics of grammar
To be able to communicate
It is better to for them to reach a certain level before starting to teach reading and writing
So they have three hours of class
Three hours per week
Different days of the week?
Yes on three different days of the week
So, three days per week with some homework
A minimum of 1 to 2.5 hours per week
They are more willing to persevere when they start...
...when they start in 12th grade
Because they are more mature and it is more a personal choice
In 9th grade, it is not always...
...It is often the parents' choice
As Chinese has become what German was 20 years ago
i.e. the language one must learn
But some students...
Especially when they've had the chance to visit China
Of course some students develop a real interest in Chinese
There are 1.3 billion people in China
Many people study Chinese in order to go to China
Of course, to communicate with these 1.3 bilion people, you need to learn their language and their customs
But China has many different dialects and accents depending on the region
Life in Taiwan is more similar to Japan or the US
So before China, it can be a good idea to come to Taiwan first
To experience the middle ground
Taiwan is a very humane and caring place
You should experience the traditional aspects of Chinese culture first
Before learning about the modern China
That's why it is a good idea to come study in Taiwan
Then, in the interest of learning Chinese even if you don't use it
It's an intellectual opening into a civilization totally different from ours
But it is also an excellent exercise for the mind and for learning
To learn at the same time Latin and Chinese
Allows a reflection on what language is
Which helps when learning more languages later on, in my opinion
What I like the most about being a Chinese teacher
Is that I can meet and know different people from all over the world
Who share their own stories about their countries and cultures
It is like being in a very far country with your best friend tellling you about his worries
Before I use to have some cliches about the US or England
That came from books, magazines, TV
I visited the places as a tourist and only saw the nice and the beautiful
But it was not the real culture of the places
Each place has its own problems and issues
When I am teaching my students, I also discuss with them, like friends
And they tell me in their own words some things
For example, I understand that people who like Taiwan, stay in Taiwan
Those who don't like Taiwan just leave Taiwan
It is the same for foreigners here
Some Japanese here
Come to Taiwan because they do not like Japan
They are also Australians who dislike Australia and Americans who dislike the US
I was so suprised because to me the US is such a nice place
But to hear their own authentic stories
And not the ones from the media
Finally made me understand that each place has its own problems
So I looked at my own country in a new light
It seems like there is nothing to complain about
Others just look at the good while we look at the bad
They look at their own bad and we see the good
So now I know that it is in fact all relative