(no subject)
X 老师：
您对您的工作明显地十分认真、兴奋，而且一直倾注很多时间和努力到我们的听和说课进去。这应该是令人自豪的！至于学生少上课的问题，不要把自己讲的课看做唯一的可能性--原因肯定是多方面的。在中国当外国人很费劲：留学生都很忙，很累。但是根据您给我们的任务，我思考了，想到了下面的意见。
我恐怕我们班的同学被您对“西方国家”的态度使疏远了。您对“西方”的兴趣（“西方”这个词反正很含糊）是完全可以了解的--我也有一点被“东方”迷住了！--但由于这个兴趣，上课时您无意地忽视我们班的“东方”同学，平时跟我们的“西方”同学交流。这样一来，东亚同学肯定会觉得自己不算是重要，就不用上课了。同时“欧美”同学对韩国和日本朋友感觉很不好意思。
有意思的是，很多欧美大城市的一个优点是所谓“多种文化”，就是说，人们尝试把各个国籍、文化背景和种族都看做平等的，个人的重要性无关于来源、种族等。这个目标当然很难达到，但是对“西方人”的大部分来说，将一个“民族”比其它人贯注得多还是不可以接受的。给留学生教汉语时，非注意这些不可。
关于具体的上课方式，我只有这一个意见：老师讲课的方法已经很好，最好的目的就是尝试给学生多造成说话的机会，包括我们中最害羞的同学。哪一个方法都好。这样学生会多练习口语，而且老师不感觉自己一个人在费劲儿。学生说话时，即使是为了帮他，也最好不要打断他，否则他会怕说。
学生当然都支持和同情您，祝您一切成功。最近我发现自己被您的紧张分心了，不能贯注汉语了--毛主席的“天天向上”说得对，但我还要加一个“慢慢来！”教汉语虽然难，但是效果渐渐地出现--前几个月我肯定不会表达这篇作文里面主意的大部分。
刘凯琴
Teacher X:
You are a hundred percent serious and enthusiastic about your work, and moreover always pour a lot of time and effort into our Listening and Speaking class. This should make you proud! As for the question of students coming less to class, don't view your teaching as the only possibility - the reason is certainly manifold. Being a foreigner in China takes a lot of energy: foreign students are all very busy and tired. But according to the task you gave us, I've thought about it, and come up with the following suggestions.
I'm afraid the students in our class have been alienated by your attitude towards "Western countries". Your interest in the "West" (this term "the West" is unclear anyway) is completely understandable - I'm a bit obsessed with the "East", too! - but because of this interest, in class you unintentionally neglect the "Eastern" students in our class, generally interacting with our "Western" classmates. In this way, East Asian students are sure to feel that they don't count as important, so there's no need for them to come to class. At the same time, "Euro/American" students feel apologetic and uncomfortable towards their Korean and Japanese friends.
The interesting thing is, one of the strengths of a lot of European and American cities is so-called "multiculturalism", that is, people try to view every nationality, cultural background and race as equal, with the importance of the individual bearing no relation to origin, race etc. This objective is obviously very hard to reach, but to most "Westerners", paying more attention to one "people" than to others is unacceptable. When teaching Chinese to foreign students, it is vital to take note of this.
With regard to specific teaching methods, I just have this one suggestion: Teacher's method is already good; the best aim is to try to create more speaking opportunities for the students, including the shyest classmates among us. Any method is fine. That way the students will practise spoken language more, and the teacher won't feel that he alone is making all the effort. When a student is speaking, even if it's to help him, it's best not to interrupt him, otherwise he will be afraid to speak.
Of course the students all support and sympathise with you, and wish you every success. Recently I've found myself distracted by your tension and can't concentrate on Chinese any more... What Chairman Mao said about "Study well and head upwards daily" ("Good good study, day day up") was well said, but I'd like to add a "Slowly does it!" ("Slow slow come"). Although teaching Chinese is hard, the results do appear gradually - a few months ago I certainly wouldn't have been able to express most of the ideas I've written here.
Liu Kaiqin
I wrote this thinking in Chinese and then translated it as faithfully as possible to see what it sounded like. I was a heartened to find that my two U.S. classmates had written extremely similar suggestions with the same key points. Hope it helps him.
您对您的工作明显地十分认真、兴奋，而且一直倾注很多时间和努力到我们的听和说课进去。这应该是令人自豪的！至于学生少上课的问题，不要把自己讲的课看做唯一的可能性--原因肯定是多方面的。在中国当外国人很费劲：留学生都很忙，很累。但是根据您给我们的任务，我思考了，想到了下面的意见。
我恐怕我们班的同学被您对“西方国家”的态度使疏远了。您对“西方”的兴趣（“西方”这个词反正很含糊）是完全可以了解的--我也有一点被“东方”迷住了！--但由于这个兴趣，上课时您无意地忽视我们班的“东方”同学，平时跟我们的“西方”同学交流。这样一来，东亚同学肯定会觉得自己不算是重要，就不用上课了。同时“欧美”同学对韩国和日本朋友感觉很不好意思。
有意思的是，很多欧美大城市的一个优点是所谓“多种文化”，就是说，人们尝试把各个国籍、文化背景和种族都看做平等的，个人的重要性无关于来源、种族等。这个目标当然很难达到，但是对“西方人”的大部分来说，将一个“民族”比其它人贯注得多还是不可以接受的。给留学生教汉语时，非注意这些不可。
关于具体的上课方式，我只有这一个意见：老师讲课的方法已经很好，最好的目的就是尝试给学生多造成说话的机会，包括我们中最害羞的同学。哪一个方法都好。这样学生会多练习口语，而且老师不感觉自己一个人在费劲儿。学生说话时，即使是为了帮他，也最好不要打断他，否则他会怕说。
学生当然都支持和同情您，祝您一切成功。最近我发现自己被您的紧张分心了，不能贯注汉语了--毛主席的“天天向上”说得对，但我还要加一个“慢慢来！”教汉语虽然难，但是效果渐渐地出现--前几个月我肯定不会表达这篇作文里面主意的大部分。
刘凯琴
Teacher X:
You are a hundred percent serious and enthusiastic about your work, and moreover always pour a lot of time and effort into our Listening and Speaking class. This should make you proud! As for the question of students coming less to class, don't view your teaching as the only possibility - the reason is certainly manifold. Being a foreigner in China takes a lot of energy: foreign students are all very busy and tired. But according to the task you gave us, I've thought about it, and come up with the following suggestions.
I'm afraid the students in our class have been alienated by your attitude towards "Western countries". Your interest in the "West" (this term "the West" is unclear anyway) is completely understandable - I'm a bit obsessed with the "East", too! - but because of this interest, in class you unintentionally neglect the "Eastern" students in our class, generally interacting with our "Western" classmates. In this way, East Asian students are sure to feel that they don't count as important, so there's no need for them to come to class. At the same time, "Euro/American" students feel apologetic and uncomfortable towards their Korean and Japanese friends.
The interesting thing is, one of the strengths of a lot of European and American cities is so-called "multiculturalism", that is, people try to view every nationality, cultural background and race as equal, with the importance of the individual bearing no relation to origin, race etc. This objective is obviously very hard to reach, but to most "Westerners", paying more attention to one "people" than to others is unacceptable. When teaching Chinese to foreign students, it is vital to take note of this.
With regard to specific teaching methods, I just have this one suggestion: Teacher's method is already good; the best aim is to try to create more speaking opportunities for the students, including the shyest classmates among us. Any method is fine. That way the students will practise spoken language more, and the teacher won't feel that he alone is making all the effort. When a student is speaking, even if it's to help him, it's best not to interrupt him, otherwise he will be afraid to speak.
Of course the students all support and sympathise with you, and wish you every success. Recently I've found myself distracted by your tension and can't concentrate on Chinese any more... What Chairman Mao said about "Study well and head upwards daily" ("Good good study, day day up") was well said, but I'd like to add a "Slowly does it!" ("Slow slow come"). Although teaching Chinese is hard, the results do appear gradually - a few months ago I certainly wouldn't have been able to express most of the ideas I've written here.
Liu Kaiqin
I wrote this thinking in Chinese and then translated it as faithfully as possible to see what it sounded like. I was a heartened to find that my two U.S. classmates had written extremely similar suggestions with the same key points. Hope it helps him.