Chinese learning style

Recently, on a trip to Oregon I found evidences that Chinese people can really make the difference. It is not only because they are too many, but also due to their way of focusing in the pursuit for success! I stayed for 8 weeks in Eugene, this picturesque and marvelous Oregonian city in which I attended the University of  Oregon in a Teachers Development program sponsored by CAPES, FULBRIGHT and the American Embassy.

What I found most interesting was that at the University I came to talk to people from at least 10 nationalities – Brazilians, Iraqis, Saudis, Canadians, a guy from Senegal, Indians, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Americans and others I can’t remember now. There were small groups of people from the same ethnic group or nationality and they usually used their own language to communicate. However, when mingling we had all these languages on the spot and I could notice there are many Englishes! Yeah, there were English variation and English styles I had never thought about. It was amazing to hear my Iraqi friends having a discussion in English and out of the blue there would come a word in their mother language! Amazing! But the ones that really amazed me were the Chinese students!

I had a nice interaction with the Chinese people and there was something remarkable about them! Andy is Chinese and I am not able to say his Chinese name. He told me when they come to the U of O, the Americans help them choose an American name. It was only the first obstacle he had to learn English, people would not even be able to say his name! So, in my oral skills class there were Andy,Phoenix, Ian, William and many more Chinese-named-after-Americans people. On the first week I could barely understand Andy saying his American name, but at the end of the term he was amazing with his English improvement!

Also I noticed Chinese students make the same mistakes Brazilian students do! How can it be possible?

The ones I found having more problems were the students from Asia and from the Middle-East as their alphabet and phonological system is pretty different from the one used in English language. However these students were so into the learning process they were the ones that showed more improvement at the end.

Foreign students have problems with pronunciation and English grammar: FACT! But what made my eyes pop out of my face was the fact that the ones with more difficulty were the ones that were eager to learn and the ones that were to speak more! For me as a teacher it shows motivation changing perspectives! The Chinese were so interested on learning that they would do ANYTHING to improve their abilities. Andy told me he used to study English 6 hours a day! He also would randomly go around campus to interview Americans and record them and listen to those recordings late at night at least three times a week!

When the term finished I saw improvements I have rarely seen in my life as a teacher! Andy was great and so were most of his Chinese mates! The Chinese I met say they think all effort is worth it when you want to learn. And so they did!