Chinese


 * Chinese

Qianna Aleena Erica Kendra Kristen

= = = Communication Styles =
 * In writing, Chinese people do not state a point of view directly. They are generally indirect and state their point of view at the end of their writing.
 * They have difficulty participating in and initiating class discussions.
 * They use intonation to convey meaning and not for expression, as do English speakers. Tone and pitch show meaning because Chinese is a tonal language. This difference may cause them to seem abrupt.
 * It is difficult for Chinese people to say "no" as it is seen as disrespectful.
 * Chinese people tend to adopt an avoiding, collaborating, accomodating style of communication, not competing.
 * Younger Chinese students may be partial to a problem-solving communication style based off western ideals.
 * Common body language gestures of women include hand-shielding mouth gestures when smiling and clapping when full of joy and excitment.
 * Common body language gestures of men include finger pointing and chin-up pointing to direct another's attention to a person or object of interest.
 * There are different forms of gestures, which have changed throughout the years. Also, these gestures may become more or less reserved depending on where they are from.
 * Chinese speakers have different hand symbols for numbers. If you hold up a certain amount of fingers for a number, they may understand this as being a different number. This could confuse the students, especially in math class.
 * Chinese speakers are characterized as being silent, shy, taciturn, introverted and subservient.
 * Chinese speakers tend to de-emphasize humor; it is expressed mostly in art and literature.


 * Asian Communication || Western Communication ||
 * Indirect || Direct ||
 * Implicit/Nonverbal || Explicit/Verbal ||
 * Formal || Informal ||
 * Goal Oriented || Spontaneous ||
 * Emotionally Controlled || Emotionally Expressive ||
 * Self Effacing/Modest || Self Promoting/Egocentric ||

= Writing System and Examples =
 * There is no alphabet. Chinese people use a logographic system where symbols represent words.
 * Names are written begining with the last name and do not include a comma like we do in English.
 * There are 26 Chinese alphabet symbols in the Chinese writing system.

= =

= Challenges in Learning English =
 * Final consonants are challenging- ELLs may omit the final sound or add an extra vowel.
 * Chinese verbs do not have the concept of time (I went, I am going, I will go - foreign verb forms).
 * There is no "-ing" forms of words in Chinese.
 * Some English phonemes do not exist in Chinese.
 * Articles are not used in Chinese.
 * Chinese speakers may seem abrupt because they do not use modal verbs.

Modal Verbs in English include //can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will,// and //would.// Unlike other auxiliary verbs, these can only exist in their helping form, and cannot be the main verb in a sentence.

English expression intended: turn on the TV English expression used: open the TV  Corresponding Chinese expression: //dakai dianshi// Literal translation in English: open TV


 * Phrasal verbs do not exist (give in, look up to, etc).
 * There is no distinguishing between singular and plural (1 child, 2 child). Specifically, there are no plural nouns or plural words follwing numbers.
 * There are no prefixes or suffixes.
 * There are no cognates.
 * There is no V or TH in Chinese.
 * There are no consonant clusters.
 * Adjectives go before nouns. It can be seen in the example below how word order can cause transfer errors:

English expression intended: I don’t think he is smart. English expression used: I think he is not smart. Corresponding Chinese expression: //wo juede ta bu congming.// Literal translation in English: I think he not smart.


 * The verb "to be" is omitted before an adjective (she pretty) or misused.
 * Personal pronouns are misused because male and female personal pronouns are pronounced the same in Chinese.
 * Translations are very literal (turn on the light is translated as "open the light" from Chinese to English).
 * The subject (especially pronouns) can be omitted from sentences.

English expression intended: Mr. Li or Professor Li English expression used: Teacher Li Corresponding Chinese expression: //Li laoshi// Literal translation in English: Li teacher


 * The pronunciations of some vowels are confusing to English learners in China. /I/, /e/, and /ae/ do not distinguishably make any difference to most Chinese students. Words like “bit”, “bet” and “bat” will be pronounced with the same vowel sound.
 * English Learners of Chinese may say “lat” instead of “rat” due to the lack of /r/ in their language. Therefore, without context, “right” and “light” will sound the same
 * Diphthongs **may not** be difficult for Chinese students to learn because they are similar to Mandarin ones. However, students may make an /el/ sound when trying to make an /al/ sound due to their mouth position.

= Fun Facts =
 * Toilet paper was invented in China in the late 1300s. It was for emperors only.
 * Despite its size, all of China is in one time zone.
 * The number hobby in China is stamp collecting.
 * White, not black, is the Chinese color for mourning and funerals.
 * China is the 4th larges country in the world.
 * About 5000 islands lie off the Chinese coast.
 * 1 in every 5 people in the world in Chinese.
 * On September 27, 2008 Zhai Zhigang made the first spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut.
 * The Chinese consider tea to be a necessity of life.
 * Chinese is spoken by 92% of China's population.
 * Red symbolizes happiness and is commonly used for festivals and celebrations.
 * The oldest piece of paper in the world was found in China in the first or second century BC.
 * The bat is a symbol of good luck in China.
 * The longest river in China is the Yangtze (3,494 miles long).

= Culture and Schooling =


 * School is required and free for students in China from 6-15 years old. Parents must pay a small fee for books and uniforms. All students receive a primary and middle school public education. Parents must pay for public high school and therefore, some students are forced to stop their education because their families can not afford the fees.
 * The average class size is 35 students.
 * In high school, students begin preparing for the gaokao, which is the exam to qualify to attend University. The exam is taken in the summer to determine students for the fall.
 * Students attend school for 5-6 days each week and many schools also require Saturday morning classes in science and math. Students also attend buxiban, which is school held in the evenings and on weekends and is similar to tutoring. There are Chinese, English, Science, and Math classes along with one-on-one tutoring.
 * In schools there is a focus on rote memorization which can be much different from Western teaching styles. There is a strong focus on Science, Math, Chinese studies and tested tensile test prep.
 * Sports and extracurricular actives in schools in China do not promote a highly competitive style. They are more similar to intramural teams.
 * A good education has always been highly valued in China, as the people believe that education ensures not only the future and development of the individual, but also the family and the country as a whole.
 * Passed down from ancient times, the maxim from the Three-Character Scripture that says 'if no proper education is given to children, their nature will go bad' has proved to be true.
 * As far back as the Shang Dynasty (16th century BC - 11th century BC), inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells were the simple records of teaching and learning. In the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC - 771 BC), nobles built schools to teach their children, as their offspring would be the officials of the future, while those who were gifted but from poor families could but dream of approaching state affairs.
 * Chinese civilization is ancient and for over 2,000 years was an inflexible, hierarchical, feudal society. Even today, the culture is strongly influenced by Confucian philosophy, which exalts the scholar and emphasizes human malleability, the value of self-improvement, and the unity of the family.
 * Children from China are concerned about their parents' expectations and evaluations and work diligently to receive good grades in order to avoid disgracing their family.
 * A teacher a day, a parent forever.
 * Teachers may create a distance on purpose to make students fear them.
 * School is focused on memorization skills, information-packed lecturing, students, attentive listening and assidious note taking (little class interaction).
 * Due to new ruling and law, the exchange program through Chinese schools is more popular. They have had students travel to 100 different countries in order to complete a study-abroad program. They now place importance on learning about different cultures.
 * New laws have also helped create standards for allowing the children to complete school if they have disabilities or do not have a lot of money. They create scholarships, loans, and tuition reductions in order to have more students be able to complete schooling. They also allow students who have disabilities to complete a program that will adapt to their needs.
 * This is an example of how their education system now works with their new laws:

Education System (kindergarten) || without specific regulations || 3-5 years old || Private individuals || (primary school) || 6 years || 6-11 years old || local government || (junior middle school, senior middle school, vocational school, technical secondary school || 6 years (3 years for junior middle school, and then 3 years for senior middle school vocational school or technical secondary school || 12-17 years old || local government || (junior college ,college, university) || 3 years for junior college 4 years for a bachelor's degree, and then 2-3 years for a master's degree in a college or university || 18-26 years old or even older || provincial and central government || (technical training schools and centers) || without ||
 * Education Phase || Length of Schooling || Age Range || Investors ||
 * Pre-school Education
 * Elementary Education
 * Secondary Education
 * Tertiary Education
 * Continuing Education

= Teacher Resources = ESOL Associates of Rochester, NY [|http://www.livingonweekends.com] Mary's Place Outreach [|http://www.marysplaceoutreach.org] Rochester Refugee Assistance Program [|http://www.rochesterrefugeenetwork.org] Chinese Choral Society of Rochester [|http://www.ccsrmusic.com] Chinese School of Rochester [|http://www.csrochester.org] Rochester Chinese Christian Church [|http://www.rochesterccc.org] [] [] [] [] (This link talks about the difference in Chinese and Western communication styles.) [] (This link provides a good list of differences between the English and Chinese languages.) [] [] [] (This link shows the modal verbs and how they are used in English in a chart, which could be a helpful resource as you help Chinese speakers learn the significance of these verbs in English.) []( This link brings you to a website for teachers teaching English to students in China, but it is a great summary of difficulties faced by the students in terms of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary/word usage, along with discussing life in China which can be helpful to gain more insight into our students from China.) [] (This link provides a chart with 27 common pronunciation problems for Chinese speakers as they learn English. It is very useful and shows the intended English sound and what they might say instead, along with recommended words to help them see the difference in the sounds.) [] (This link brings you to a page that discusses new and old hand gestures from the Chinese culture. It also gives pictures on what the gestures look like. At the bottom of this page, there are the hand symbols for each of the numbers, from 1-9.) [] (This link connects you with an article written by Xiaofei Lu at The Ohio State University. The article describes many of the transfer errors that we have mentioned in our wiki, and provides examples of them.) [] (This link provides some fun facts about China.)

= Dialects =


 * Chinese belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family of languages.
 * The Chinese language is divided into seven dialects namely Mandarin, Wu Dialect, Xiang Dialect, Gan Dialect, Min Dialect, Cantonese and Hakka.
 * In different regions, the standard of Chinese varies. Mandarin is the standard designated language on the Chinese mainland and Taiwan; while Cantonese is the prime dialect of Hong Kong.
 * In Eastern China there is not any sound like /r/ in their dialect.

Depending on where your students are originally from in China, they could speak any variety of dialects or completely different languages in China.



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