China's education system is organized as follows:
- Kindergarten and pre-school: age 3-6
- Primary school: age 7-12 (compulsory)
- Junior middle school: age 13-15 (compulsory)
- Senior middle school or Senior secondary or vocational school: age 16-18
- University: age 19-22
- Post-graduate: age 23 and over
In public schools in China teachers lecture students who passively copy down notes. Memorization is extremely important, as students often lack basic critical thinking skills. Students speak very little in the classroom, and challenging the teacher is almost unheard of.
Your task... get them talking!
Westerners often confuse Chinese students by trying to encourage a free-wheeling debate in the room. Expect your students to be very reluctant to contribute at first. It takes months to cultivate an atmosphere in which students feel comfortable speaking aloud without being singled out by the teacher.
Chinese education is also strongly based on results, so students are constantly studying for a never-ending series of exams. They are used to processing information and using it to pass exams, something they do in their other classes.
The student/teacher relationship is quite formal. Many students do not even learn their teacher’s full name. Western norms of casual conversation are simply not adhered to in Chinese.
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