Post #89 17 January 2016

Gentlefolk,

What do young Chinese students think of their lives, and what are their aspirations?

This post looks at Freshmen attitudes to College Life and their hopes for the future; also feedback on my Oral English course by Non Major students.

Freshmen opinions

This past semester I had two Freshman English Major classes - EM1502 and EM1503 - both for Oral English (the '15' shows that they started college at the beginning of the 2015-16 academic year).

I enjoyed those classes. They were relatively small in number (16 & 11 students respectively); the students were young (most were 18 or 19, but some were still 17); they were all girls; they were Freshmen so new to college life; for most of them it was the first time they had travelled away from home, and the first time they had direct contact with a foreigner; there were so many and varied changes to their lives.

EM1502, from left: Kelly; Ivana (partly obscured); Carol; Sylvia; me; Aurora; Penny; Leighton; Alyssa; Sabrina; Iris; Chany; Alice; Violet; Jasmine; Sally.

EM1503, from left: Sunny; Inky; Evelyn; Me; Lucy; Vincy (partly obscured); Claire; Julie (obscured); Heidi; Lena; Becky.

The students were lovely, fresh and innocent and keen to learn. I kept lessons very informal and simple. I wanted to draw them out, and make them realise that they can communicate in spoken English.

Several of them were nervous and shy at the beginning, but they quickly adjusted to this 'foreign devil' with his big nose and blue eyes, and we had a fun time.  Within a short time we were all chatting like old friends.

What do you think of College life?

Back in October 2015, just after our classes started, I asked students in EM1502 and EM1503 what they thought of their lives at UPC? 

See Post #73 of 28 October 2015 for comments on College Life by ten students.

It was clear from their comments at that time that they were in a state of shock.  Their lives had changed completely. They were now far from home, sharing a small dormitory with 5 strangers; the food was different, as was the climate.  Their first three weeks on campus were dominated by the mandatory ‘military training’ all Freshmen, boys and girls, must do.  Then, finally, their study courses began, and again were very different from High School.

I was curious to see how their attitudes had changed, so in December 2015 (after 10 weeks of study) I asked them for their opinions again.

Table 1 shows the responses of selected students. It was obvious that they were much more settled and confident now. 

Table 1: What are your opinions of College life now (December 2015)? Selected students in EM1502 and EM1503. They started College in September 2015, but actual study started in October 2015.

Alice	Study is busy, but not much homework; I have to make a lot more decisions every day (in High School everything was arranged); although I don’t really like being squeezed into a small dormitory I really like my dorm-mates, they are like sisters to me.
Chany	This is my first experience of being a class monitor. It seemed daunting at first, having to keep my classmates informed (and in line) every day, but now life has settled down and it is manageable. I am now a much more organised person.
Sabrina	I still seem to be rushing from one thing to another – I must improve my time management skills.  You are the first foreigner I have ever met, I was scared at the beginning, but now feel more comfortable with you.
Leighton	I love my dorm-mates; I am meeting lots of interesting new people and making new friends from all over China; I play the guitar and some of us are thinking of forming a rock band; I met a nice boy recently, but he was too serious and wanted a “forever relationship"  - I’m not ready for that yet.
Jasmine	I have really enjoyed my optional class, which is ‘Multi-media’ and involves learning things like Photoshop and video editing; I get up late every morning and rush to the first class – must  change that habit; I was surprised to get so many presents on my birthday recently and realise that I have made great new friends and dorm-mates.
Alyssa	I love the university library – so many great books; I’m teaching myself German; the main negative is that our dorm is cold.
Ivana	Life is not easy, but it is fulfilling; I’m doing a Double Major: English and Accounting, so lots of classes; I joined the Student Union, but don’t find it very interesting.
Carol	I feel that we are in a completely new society, totally different from our lives in High School; communication is important and knowing how to get on with others; I joined the student association which works on college media – they asked me to write long article for the newspaper about a recent event – it was difficult but I’m glad I did it.
Penny	Yesterday I dropped my phone into some water – feel lost without my smartphone; for a while I was pretty sick with a cold; our dorm is on the 5th floor and it’s a pain climbing up and down several times a day; but I have made many new friends in my dorm and on the whole floor; I like doing jazz dance for PE. I play the drums and some of us hope to form a rock band.
Kelly	I joined the student's Singing Club and am enjoying that activity; if we form a band I will be the singer; campus food lacks variety and is too salty; I like being able to sleep in on weekends.
Sylvia	My college life has settled into a routine and is now a little dull and predictable; I rode a bike to Golden Beach to see the sunrise; I love my dorm-mates; we try to speak English in our dorm, to practice our spoken English; I will go to Oxford for two weeks during the winter holidays.
Sally	Although I still don’t like college much, I’ve decided that I had better make the most of my time here. I don’t dislike English as much as before, thanks at least in part to your classes.
Lena	Life has settled down - it all seemed terribly busy and confusing before but now OK; I have  time to do many things I'm interested in, which is very different from my life in High School where every minute was occupied and planned.
Evelyn	Our text book for English Reading is “Stories from the Bible”; it’s so boring, and many of the words and names are really difficult; although I have a lot of spare time, I always seem busy. Next semester will be different - much busier - when we start our second major, Law.
Inky	The food in campus canteens is not good – so different from the food I’m used to in Hunan Province; I have made friends with some foreign students to practise English; I broke up with my boyfriend from High School – he is at a college in Shanghai and I’m here, so it seemed silly to stay together; my dorm is good – we are lucky because we have our own bathroom; basically, I’m satisfied with my college life now.

Aspirations?

I asked them what their job aspirations (dreams) were for the future, when they graduate in 4 years? Table 2 shows responses of selected students in EM1502 and EM1503.

 Table 2: What are your aspirations for the future? Selected students in EM1502 & 1503.

Name	Aspiration
Iris	I am interested in both English and Korean, so would like to get a job which involves those two languages.
Sylvia	I love photography, so would like to be a travel writer. My second choice would be to work as a tour guide for foreigners.
Kelly	I am studying accountancy as well as English.  My dream is to do post-graduate study (Masters) overseas, and then get a job in a foreign company in China.
Aurora	My parents want me to become a teacher after college. But at this stage I would prefer to be a tour guide – life would be more interesting and less predictable.
Penny	If my English is good enough, I’d like to be an English/Chinese interpreter.  But what I really want to do is form a rock band (I like playing drums) and to run a bar where the band would perform.
Carol	I will study law as well as English. Finally, I see myself as a legal adviser in a large company.
Ivana	I study accountancy and English. After graduating I would like to be an accountant in a foreign company. I enjoy writing, so in my spare time I might have a blog and do some other writing online.
Alyssa	Eventually, I’d like to run my own trading company, but first I will have to get a job in a company to learn about business.
Leighton	I will major in accounting and English. I’d like to do post-graduate study in the UK and then start a business of my own – not sure what field yet.
Jasmine	My dream is to become a journalist covering wars and other crises.  But it is more likely that I’ll just end up working for a legal company.
Evelyn	Many of us will start Law next semester – our study regime will be much busier then as we will be doing two majors (English and Law). At this stage I’m not sure what I’ll do after graduating -  lawyer, translator, interpreter? Several options.
Sunny	After graduating I’d like to be a primary school teacher in Jinan, close to my parents so I can look after them.
Heidi	My dream job would be to teach English in a college or university. Standards are rising all the time, so I’ll have to do post-graduate study, at least a Masters but probably also a PhD.
Julie	I am the only one in this class (EM1503) who will not study Law as well as English next semester. I would prefer to focus on English.  I see myself teaching English in a Middle School after graduating, probably in my home town.
Sabrina	I’m interested in marketing, and would love to work in the advertising industry after graduating. But I've noticed that my hearing is not too good - I'll have to get that checked out first.

The students told me that they will have nine exams at the end of this semester, as follows.

Table 3: Freshmen English Major end-of-semester exams, January 2016.

Listening English #1

Listening English #2

PE (dance, Tai chi; yoga; tennis; etc)

Reading (text book is Stories from the Bible)

Conversation (in pairs)

Communicative English

Chinese history & philosophy

Computing

Military history & theory

...

Feedback

In the last class, I always ask students for 'feedback' on the course so that I can see what worked, and what didn't.  Table 4 has feedback comments from two Non Major classes on my Oral English course.

Table 4: Feedback from Non Major Oral English Classes (NM284 & NM145)

Name	Feedback
Steve	Good class, very different in format and tone to classes run by Chinese teachers. Perhaps you could try working in small groups to give us more speaking time.
Francis	I enjoyed all the activities but especially commenting on current issues.  I would like you to give us advice on our pronunciation, so that we can improve.
Sunny	I liked the “Hot seat” activity and suggest you do that twice in a semester.  The debates were good too, but too structured; suggest you allow more time for free debate.
Henry	I think the activities were all very good.  My spoken English certainly improved. You made us stand in front of the class and express our opinions.  It was scary at first, but now I feel much more confident.
Mandy	I think we could work in small groups, to give us more time to speak, but you would need to split up friends or we will talk in Chinese. I liked that you made us speak spontaneously, without much time to prepare.  It was difficult, but I learned a lot.
Anna	I liked the Guessing game and Hot Seat.  You create a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. I still feel nervous speaking English, but it is not as scary as before. Maybe you could let the students choose “issues” to discuss?
Chen	I liked ‘News’ and ‘Comments’ best.  Definitely feel that my spoken English has improved. I would have liked you to give us more information on aspects of Western Culture.
Nan	Good range of activities - I looked forward to this class every week.  Personally, I would have liked more on ‘local language’ or slang.  Also, students could nominate topics for discussion.
Cristina	I liked ‘Comments’ best.  Also enjoyed the songs, but maybe you could choose more contemporary songs? What about watching bits of a movie and then students have to act out the scene using their own dialogue?
Daniel	I really enjoyed doing the little plays, but suggest that happens earlier in the semester. We are all from different majors and it is a good way to get to meet other students, and helps the class to bond.
Evan	I loved this course.  It is the first opportunity I have ever had to express my ideas on various social issues. I would prefer more warning about debate topics, so that we can be better prepared.
Heaven	I liked when we talked about 'News' and also the little play we had to perform. During the class, it might be better to call students randomly, rather than go down the class list; that way we stay alert and interested. We could also try dubbing scenes of a movie.
Bruce	As an ice-breaker, we could start the class by a student showing their favourite video (max 5 minutes) and then the class discussing it.
The Doctor	The “Guessing” activity became boring.  It would be more interesting to get students to talk about “personal experiences”.

Some good suggestions, which I will try to incorporate into my teaching next semester.

...

So ended another semester.

All the marking / grading has been finished and provided to my Liaison Teacher to input into the University system.  At some universities the foreign teachers have to do the inputting of results, but we are lucky at UPC and our Liaison Teacher does that task.

Actually, there was one little hiccup during grading.

I happened to compare notes with the foreign teacher who had the other Freshman English Major class for Oral English (EM1501).  I mentioned that for EM1502 and EM1503, about two-thirds of students scored 75% and one-third scored 80%.  He told me that the lowest score in EM1501 was 88% and most of the students got over 90%.

It turned out that we had very different approaches to assessing students' oral English skills.  During the exam his starting point was 100% and he subtracted marks for errors of grammar or pronunciation or fluency. In contrast, my assessment was based on 60% = reasonable oral skills; 70% = good; 80% = very good; 90% = excellent (native speaker level).

The problem is that students compete for scholarships and my students would be disadvantaged.

In the end I decided to increase the scores of my students by 5% each, bringing them up to between 80% and 85%. His students still had an advantage, but at least the difference was narrowed.

The obvious solution is to have one teacher assess all the classes in a whole grade, so the scores are comparable. Let's hope the university takes that into account when allocating teaching in future.

...

It's quite a while since I compiled an index of my blog posts.  I hope to do that tomorrow.  That should be my last post for the next few weeks, while we are travelling during the winter holidays.

...

Best wishes, keep well and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Sunday 17 January 2016