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Hello, everybody. Welcome to Takeaway Chinese.
Today we're doing a special episode where I have a new friend. joining today's show i have our special guest wu hang and he is currently teaching chinese on top of some other projects and other subjects in the United Kingdom.
Welcome to the show, Hang. Hello, everyone.
So can you give us a bit of introduction of yourself?
Where are you, to be more precise, what you do regarding Chinese teaching and regarding your career.
And more importantly, What inspired you to become a Chinese teacher in the United Kingdom?
I had been teaching English to the Chinese students for a couple of years.
And after that, I felt like I want to improve my English a little bit further.
So I applied for a master's year 2015 to 2016.
While I was doing my master's here, I found that Peter had a lot of misunderstanding of China. all the jokes I make, to be honest, some of them can be polite.
Some of them can make me feel a little bit uncomfortable.
So I started basically telling them this is not true.
All the things you hear about China is wrong.
So I started actually telling them more and more about Chinese culture.
After graduating from my master's, I flew back to China because I really miss my home.
And after three years of working there teaching English, in Chinese institutes that help students to study abroad.
I felt like I had been doing that for too long and I wanted a career exchange.
So I applied for the PGCE training here in UCL and got my position and started my training.
After years of teacher training, I got a job in my current town, Reading, and I started teaching Mandarin in Reading school.
That is a cool experience, comparing teaching English to Chinese students and teaching Chinese to English students. any difference in similarities?
A lot of difference. It's way more different than I thought it would be to be honest.
Because when I first started teaching English, I was always teaching relatively advanced English. because I taught in Chinese Language Institute.
So most of the students there, they were studying basically they wanted to study abroad already, so they had a really strong foundation of English.
However, when I started teaching Mandarin here, it is so difficult for me to start because I don't know where to start.
Should I start with pinyin? Should I start with the characters?
Should I start teaching this sentence or that sentence?
What do they know? What do they not know?
So you have to build up a whole structure for them.
When I first started teaching here, I struggled a little bit.
So besides that, is there any funny story you've encountered in your teaching experience?
Because for me, we teach Chinese and My online friends call me Chinese teacher, but I didn't have the experience of having a real online or offline course one-on-one course with any student so I do have a lot of quote unquote students or friends online who learn or pick up a little bit Chinese from me and My way of so-called teaching is more like giving them very specific language points.
So it can be certain expressions we share.
It can be language structures. It can be even a grammar point.
We would do that, but it's not easy to be systematic with one student or a group of students or a class of students the way that you teach.
So any experience that relates to one student that you feel very worth mentioning or very impressionable?
Any fun stories you have? I think the thing is right now with the widespread of different Chinese social media, such as because some of my students actually use WeChat more than their own communication software.
Yeah, it's very interesting because social media is always something that gives them a place to hide from their parents, let's say.
So that is why so many people migrated from Facebook to Instagram because of Facebook, they have so many family members. following them, so they can't really say anything safely.
Now they have WeChat. So they're actually really free to say whatever they like there and they feel safe. the fact that they're actually using all sorts of resources is really helping them to understand Chinese culture.
Because of course, when they're on WeChat, they're going to go through those short videos of Chinese people talking about life.
They're always coming to me and ask me what's going on there in this video because of course they wouldn't understand entirely, but they would like to give a guess.
I've got students using ShotHole at least once or twice a week, just going through, scrolling down all the posts, Because of this enthusiasm, they are eager to learn a little bit more without me having to push them.
Just to give a little bit of background, what are age group of your students in majority?
How old are you? I teach students in the UK from 7 to 11.
So technically, starting from 11 years old to 15, 16.
Young teenagers, in the meantime, since we're teaching really young kids, my feeling is that learning a language in your teenage years would be totally different where you're learning as an adult.
Because as an adult, definitely you understand the logic of the language, you understand the mentality of the people speaking the language a bit better because of your life experience and Probably, like you said, you've already learned one language, one foreign language, already had experience.
But learning as a teenager, you have better memory.
And you would use it or you would be more open to the possibility of a different way of thinking.
So. In your experience, teaching teenagers, what are the biggest challenges as well as the most rewarding moments of teaching teenagers Chinese?
I'm going to use a very, very interesting word that I think in Mandarin we do have the word.
However, in English, we don't have the word.
So that really, really, I think that is the word that makes me think it's not just language.
It is having that language that's changing people's way of thinking.
In China, I think it is quite easy for the teachers telling the students and the student knew exactly what the teacher is asking for.
For example, the teacher made a language loophole.
Let's say, stop messing around in your seat or do not stand up.
Some students may be still misbehaving in the seat, however, they're not standing up.
So when the teacher tells them off, they say, but Miss, I'm not standing up, so I'm not standing up.
I'm still in my seat. The Chinese teacher will simply say, because you know what you're saying.
You know what I mean. You know what you're doing.
You know what you're doing is wrong. You just best translation I can find in English that can explain what Taigao means.
I think In my teaching, especially probably I think in year eight, I started teaching this word already. because I think it is quite important for them to learn in the English speaking environment.
A lot of students actually tend to type on quite a lot.
I think It is also highly, let's say, immersed into their life.
So not only do I teach those students about the word like in younger year groups, but also I'm a sixth form tutor.
So I have year 12 and year 13. 13 students.
I teach them that word as well to show them how Chinese way of thinking is very different from the Western way.
The Western way of thinking is always if I can win in the words, I win.
However, the Chinese way of thinking is always we need to be more practical.
Whatever you win in this debate does not mean that you're actually winning in reality.
We care about what's in real life. They care about us.
I won this debate. I am successful here.
This particular win is sometimes a milestone of my Following the debate is not something they care too much about anymore.
So I kept telling the students, this is not going to help you in the future.
Because winning in words is not going to help you win in reality.
It's not going to change. So when I'm teaching, sometimes when students do that, I simply just say 别太高.
And the students will just quiet down. Yeah, and this mentality goes way back even in traditional Chinese learnings and traditional Chinese School of thoughts.
People say if this person is really good at debating, it's not necessarily a good thing, according to.
Ancient Chinese philosophy you are not supposed to be that good with words because being that good with words can sometimes mean that you are or allocating your wisdom, your computing power into talking instead of thinking about what to do.
So yes. Like you said, it is a different type of mentality and it's very important to share the mentality while you're also sharing the language.
Besides that, I'm curious because some of my foreign friends, as well as Many friends online say that when they started learning Chinese they still learn the old Chinese the out-of-date Chinese like as cod, but it's no longer that comment.
So what are some phrases or some expressions you use usually taught your students in the beginning stage, besides 别太高?
What are some things you want them to learn as a, you know, fun little language point.
So they get the fun. They can use it in daily life, even with their Chinese friends online.
And also you find interesting and, you know, also catchy in today's day and age?
To be honest, I teach them exclusively whenever we're teaching something new.
There's a word that I can remember When I taught them about the word watermelon, I don't usually teach them one word.
I separate the characters and then I started to extend the characters.
In Chinese, we say so when I taught them 西瓜 I also taught them the other word 吃瓜 they loved it because in English they have a different There's a different way of saying that.
They say, I open a bag of popcorn. So basically I'm enjoying the show while I'm eating the popcorn.
I connect these two, and then I say, oh, Chinese people start to , it's like he opening a bag of popcorn.
You can't wait for the show to start and you know that's irrelevant to you.
It's just exciting to see. So... Yeah, I think there are a lot of words like that in reality.
And some of my students, if they can remember, because those are not the type of keywords I would repeat and invite them. back into our teaching is more of a fun thing to learn.
However, if my students have a really good memory, Sometimes when they see that, oh, sir, have you started Shuguan about this yet?
They would ask questions like this. That is so funny and I love it because when you share a language with others, teach a language with others, you want them to use it.
You want them to be able to get engaged in the conversation of people who are actually using the language So I don't find it like meaningless or not important.
I find it very quiet. quite interesting and maybe those are the words that will keep them in your classroom.
Well, maybe mandatory to keep them in your classroom, but these words are the entertaining part.
And, uh, I'd like to share a little bit of those in some of our content on Learn Chinese Facebook page as well.
No problem. So how about some Chinese stories?
Do you teach your students Chinese stories?
Because we also have a podcast called Chinese Folk Tales.
It's entirely in English. And it's a good way to learn about the history and culture and even mentality of Chinese speaking people.
So do you talk about stories or share stories? ancient stories or fairy tales or folk tales in your classroom as well.
I do shoot a lot of those. However, usually not for the sake of learning language anymore, simply because when we're doing those, Our language is usually not strong enough to understand every bit of that phrase.
For example, we learn about, we'll just say 瓜. So I also teach them the Chinese proverb 瓜田理下.
So you don't bend down and tie your shoes when you're in the mountain field and when you're below a plum tree. you do not actually fix your hair.
Simply, you do not do something suspicious simply to get detention and then deny that this is what I'm doing.
Because a lot of students really like to do that.
So as I said, it's always part of the experience that inspire me to do that.
For example, our school strictly forbids students to use their phones without permission in lessons.
So some of my students, what they really like to do is to take out a calculator and pretend that they're using their phone in the way of, you know, claim like that.
And when you approach them, this is a calculator, it's not a phone.
They just want your attention. And then they want to prove you that you're wrong.
Well, you can buy some calculators and give them to them as their, I don't know, Christmas gift and teach them the Chinese yin.
For those who do not really understand what means, you can leave a comment in the comment area and let's get started.
Yes, whether or not you guessed the idiom right.
But continue with your story. I think I get what you mean.
Yeah, I think that is also something what I explained before about Kaigang.
I think that is exactly what they like to do they like to win in the words so i teach them the phrase So I said, in China, we don't even need anything else to further explain why this is not okay.
After learning this word, don't know that you have done something wrong.
Also, sometimes I teach them something with similar meanings like Those were exactly the type of things we learned in primary school.
I think we didn't realize how much it affects our mentality, our philosophy of understanding the world. um so i would like my students actually to be able to understand that part of chinese this is not just language it is also our philosophy let's say Do not do something extra to make things irrelevant.
Do not pretend that you're not doing something wrong by covering your ears.
So I think these are exactly the type of stories I would like to tell my students.
I usually will need to teach it by myself and we also have have training teachers here.
I sometimes encourage them to teach stories like that.
However, It would be even easier, I don't know if you have this type of material on your website, if it would be easier if I can just tell them, oh, this is a good resource.
You can go and watch this story and you know exactly what... Definitely.
Definitely. We have a lot of those things.
I think we've even... shared expressions about certain type of trendy words that I personally didn't understand before teaching because it's just so a the younger generation and I no longer talk like that but it's important for younger kids to be able to talk to each other in each other's living so yes I will send you the And let's go back a little bit to the language itself, because when teaching Chinese, when talking about learning Chinese,
Many people would say, oh, my biggest struggle would be the four or five tones of the Chinese language.
Some others say, oh, my biggest struggle is that the Chinese characters are just so hard.
It's totally a different type of system.
The pictographic system language just feels like every little character is a tiny little picture.
I have to remember all of them. It's those ones.
So my first question is, secret weapon to overcome those challenges to solve these two major problems that I encounter because My way is always saying, oh, you just have to remember them.
You just have to learn the first step. 300 to 500 characters and then you put them together like local pieces and it's...
It's getting here. And also for the tone thing, if you can remember the tone, great.
If you cannot remember the tone, try to use longer and longer sentences because Chinese is a high context language and we'll be able to understand you if you used two syllable words and four syllable words or four capture words instead of just one word.
And that will be very confusing. I can only say these things, but do you have any other secret weapon?
Yeah, about terms. First of all, I think a lot of artists misunderstood the third term.
Because when they do this turn, what they like to do is always to do this.
They say they like to say that. So they go down and then go up.
However, the third tone is usually not a very wavy tone that you have to wall.
No one says that in Mandarin. So I told them the first tone is the high pitch tone.
And then the third toe is low peach toe. a low tone.
Yeah, a lower pitch. And a shell is you raise your tone and then you drop it. if you realize this difference rather than, you know, doing this wavy thing.
Because... I'm not saying that on my clothes.
Yeah, I actually came across with some video and that actually was the one teaching us about the tones.
This is the most useful thing for us to know.
The third tone is not usually wavy, it's just a lower tone.
I think that's my key thing that I correct my students.
However, even if they cannot remember the tones, what I tell them is to, I think you said like...
Speaking longer sentences. I tell them this is also from a friend of mine who learned Mandarin in China.
He said, whenever I feel like I cannot be understood by Chinese. instead of slowing down you say it 1.5 times faster actually people will start to ignore your terms no Oh, I like your tips.
How about to explain sometimes. When I first started teaching, what I always do is to show them exactly why we put it that way.
I'm going to give you an example of the character Shou, skinny.
I basically, when I taught them, I literally chewed their ribs. and then drew a part of the skeleton and then the labs.
So it does look like the character show, right?
Because... there here with two strings there.
So it does look like the other person is sharing the strings and their ribs.
So basically it is suggesting that this person is so skinny people can see their ribs already so using this type of technique it will help the students they will start to remember at least the basic shape of the character.
What I always encourage them is to not be afraid of making those mistakes.
If you miss a stroke, it's not the end of the world.
People will be able to understand you. So I think this is the biggest difficulty of the students who are learning Mandarin because they tend to get scared away by those drawings.
However, we encourage them to use more and more drawings.
They sometimes can come up with very creative ways themselves.
I do have a lot of colleagues who say they start teaching Chinese characters by teaching the stroke order, teaching the name of the strokes.
I was like, that's totally unnecessary for me.
If a student writes 横 or 竖 the other way around, from right to left, from bottom to top, doesn't bother me.
If a student writes the hand radical and the animal radical in similar ways, that does not bother me.
Because that is exactly what's in the GCC mark scheme as well.
Their marking scheme is basically based on representation. need to be that accurate because that will simply scare people away.
So my suggestion is to use your best imagination.
Well, it has something to do with the stage you're in where you're learning.
The very initial stage, of course, you can draw all the characters instead of writing them.
One of my friends just said that the Chinese character Jin from Beijing looks like an octopus.
It does. Yeah. Right. But again, that is the initial stage.
You can create your own way to remember the characters.
But moving on, I also have friends who are really good at Chinese already, and their calligraphy is even better than their speaking.
If you're really serious about this, about Chinese learning and you're in your, I don't know, fifth year or even ninth year, Do not go easy on yourself.
Right? No. Horizontal line from left to right.
Don't go the other way. Totally agree with you.
It's a matter of... of allowing people to fall in love with Chinese first, then go deeper into the learning process.
I do encourage them also. Eventually, we'll need to learn the correct way because writing the stroke orders in the right way will allow you to be able to write Chinese characters on the phone.
If you write it in the wrong way, the phone will recognize it.
And also very up-to-date kind of research.
Yes, definitely. So for those... who are, you know, being still a little bit intimidated Chinese language, you're still on the fence of whether or not I will jump into the yard of Chinese learning. who are constantly watching our videos and watching our live streams, but do not have enough courage to start learning Chinese.
Any suggestions? I would say you have to force yourself into actually dive into that area of course What I usually encourage my students is Chinese language is going to be the most important second language in the world for English native speakers.
Because Chinese economy, it is something we can't really avoid talking about.
Chinese infrastructure, Chinese food. the cultural influences, you can see the increase in it.
So, Especially for my students in these years, when they're still 11 years old to 15 years old, when they start to look for jobs, The ability to speak Mandarin is going to be really really useful for them. which China is advancing right now, you're just Let's say seeking a job in hospitality, it will help you largely in your career because there will be more and more Chinese travelers in the world. and I believe more and more people will want to fly to China and see everything.
If you want to talk to the local people, you don't necessarily have to speak in fluent Mandarin. you will want to speak a little bit of that.
And Chinese people always very, I think that is one thing I hear the most about foreigners when they try to speak Mandarin.
They always say, if I'm able to speak is so good even by saying just two characters yeah so I think the Chinese people are very friendly and welcoming for you to try the language So there's no excuse not to do it.
You need it first, and then you will... definitely in the future want to experience it with the local people.
I highly doubt that there's any foreigner probably follow your channel, that's not ever encountered a Chinese in their entire life.
There must be an experience there already.
So I would suggest saying, I need to learn this character.
I have to learn how to write this character at the beginning.
No, you are not going to be able to. Like, even the simplest of characters Do not let them scare you away because what's important is you're trying, you're doing a little bit more bit by bit.
I think that's my suggestion, just ask more.
Yeah. If that is not enough to encourage you to start Chinese, I don't know what could.
Well, maybe just one more thing. Come to China. because we have the free policy.
You can just stay here for around 10 days without any kind of document and just come here, enjoy the atmosphere, talk to local people.
Maybe you'll be so fascinated by just one cultural point that is good enough, that is just enough for you to start learning the language.
And that brings us to the end of today's Takeaway Chinese.
I'm Yuhong Li, and thank you so much, Wu Hong, for joining today's show.
I think we've shared a lot of very fun experiences. teacher to teacher, fake teacher to real teacher, and Chinese learning and talking about how the Chinese language is much more than the Chinese language.
And learning the Chinese language can actually open a door to a whole new world to all of you who are interested in this amazing culture, society and country.
Thank you so much. show and read the script there wherever you listen to your podcast just search for it take away chinese and don't forget to leave your questions comments and ratings Bye-bye, guys.
Bye. Thank you.
