Culture Shock: Indirect Communication—a Foreign Teacher's Teaching Experience in a Chinese University Located in a Hakka Region *

Having the opportunity to have worked with diverse students has opened my eyes to the importance of learning about different cultures, their beliefs and practices. Being aware and learning about the different cultures my students came from helped me from misinterpreting certain behavior displayed by the students. In order to do this the first thing a teacher should learn is that everyone has different ways of culturally adapting to a new country, while some are able to fully assimilate, others undergo the process of selective acculturation or embrace enculturation (Coleman, 2013).

There was a time she didn’t know how to describe a “white board marker” in Chinese, so she asked her class how to say it. “One girl, who went by the name of Tracy, eagerly told [Stephanie the word], and had a huge smile on her face” (Lam). Even though the language barrier was difficult, she and her students overcame it together with pointing and various other universal gestures and facial expressions. This way, the students were encouraged to understand English better to communicate with their teacher, and my cousin refined her own oral Chinese skills. The students “were kind and willing to help despite [her] poor Chinese, and didn’t judge [her] either” (Lam). The students were happy enough that she came all the way to Taiwan to teach them English. They respected this, and were eager to help her discover a new culture and improve on her Chinese abilities. The barrier was still tough for Stephanie, but thanks to the kindness of her students, it was much easier to bear through and succeed. It was a new and unknown world for my cousin, but she still made the most of her experience and discovered so much more about East Asian culture.

The process of embedding culturally relevant teaching skills in faculty development should be an ongoing process (Haviland and Rodriguez-Kiino, 2009). The excitement about learning new material and the importance of cultural awareness can lose its momentum if it is not reinforced throughout the school year (Boyle et al., 2005). One dose of training is not a cure-all for instilling a new method of teaching.

For Asian Americans who do decide to pursue teaching K-12 as a career, however, these feelings of personal inadequacy still persist. In Nguyen’s (2008) article focusing on five Vietnamese-American preservice teachers, who did some or all of their K-12 education in Vietnam, Nguyen (2008) found that her participants saw that “their distinct cultural and physical characteristics did not fir those of a traditionally defined American teacher,” which caused parents, but not students, to look down on these teachers (p. 127). Like Gordon (2000), Nguyen (2008) found many of her participants were trying to live up to the Confucian model of a teacher they were used to having in Vietnam but were struggling to apply their perception of teaching within a United States context. Asian Americans who would become teachers, then, seem to struggle with wanting to try to assert themselves as experts in the classroom while also feeling alienated from the teaching profession because of the typical notions of teaching in the United

Immigration has been a controversial issue in America throughout history. Immigrants were seen as people who took jobs from Americans,and to top it off didn’t appreciate American culture. Foreigners through the decades have had difficult times fitting in with American society and are often met with hostility around the country. Going into the interview with my Chinese teacher, I believed I would hear a story along the lines of this, shedding the light on the ignorance in America, but I received the complete opposite. This interview opened my eyes to a different perspectives of the immigrant experience, and that all aren’t necessarily negative.

Most cultural values in Haitian and Chinese communities are observed as a sense of pride, identity, and respect to their cultures vital. In some instances however it is key to take a step back and evaluate how the respective cultures influence their general well-being. As it is important for the people to have peace of mind, and mundane that they be of great health. Some cultural practices observed in the Chinese culture such as

Considering the specific characteristics of Asian culture, the explanations can be drawn from two perspectives: what decreases the risk and what hides the risk. From general perspective to specific perspective, the following sections will compose the whole

One can infer from the two given sources that there are two main figures: Confucius, a Zhou philosopher and Sima Qian, a Han Historian. Both of them had various depictions of the non-Chinese peoples in their respective eras. So, what are the points of comparison in which we can uncover the similarities and differences of these depictions? The essay will seek to answer the question by first discussing the different depictions of the non-Chinese peoples by both Confucius and Sima Qian based on the definition of the term “non-Chinese” and the extent of threats, the attitude towards the non-Chinese peoples, their strengths, and the idea of assimilation. The similarities will later be explored through the concept of archery and the concept of profit and individualism. Lastly, the degree of difference will be discussed in the concluding paragraph.

We have covered the general accounts of human nature found in Confucianism and Taoism in light of the historical backdrop of the Period of Warring States. Use your responses to the following general questions below as an opportunity to refer either to the Smith text and accompanying assigned scriptures(s), Smith video(s) on China, Confucianism, and Taoism, or any additional material covered in class. Look ahead to the next question on the chun tzu in order to plan on avoiding repetition of answers verbatim within each essay if there are areas of potential overlap.

Confucianism is regarded as one of the primary religions that have profoundly influenced Chinese beliefs and ideologies. While Kongzi, or Confucius, is the founder of Confucianism, he is not the only philosopher who has contributed to such a significant impact on China. Similarly, the Analects of Confucius is not the single text that represents Confucianism. In fact, during different time periods throughout the history, there are a number of eminent representatives of Confucian thoughts, such as Mengzi and Xunzi. Because Confucianism aims at eliminating chaos and maintaining order in a harmonious society , they all agree that the guidance and education of virtuous Confucian pioneers are of extreme importance to achieve this

The text by Lu Xun, The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China, is a collection of short stories which Lu Xun uses to explain not only his view of China but also the stereotypes and class division that is a precedent in these stories. These themes of cultural identity often come up in the collection and are a key way that Lu Xun uses to characterize the people in the collection. This aspect of characterization and theme of Cultural Identity helps to develop the thesis; the short story collection, The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Xun, develops and shapes characterization through the use and development of the theme of cultural identity. By understanding the theme to a greater extent, one can deepen their understanding

China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn.

“As a international students, I care a lot about the difference of education system between the U.S. and China.”(culture shock) I realized that the educational ideas

When I was on middle school, I spent my holiday vacation with my family to go to China. I went to some part of China such as Beijing, Luoyang, Shanghai and the others, but I only remembered the one in the Beijing mostly. I was really surprised that China got many cultures that I had not known before. These cultures include food, history and some local tradition. In this essay, I will tell my experience in China and some China’s culture that I have gotten in my trip.

This cultural resume was constructed to help a reader learn more about the different aspects that combine to form a very unique culture; Chinese culture. The significant aspects include customs and courtesies, lifestyle, nation 's history and some present scenarios and last but not the least, this report will also shed light on the styles of communication in the selected culture. China is one of the four “ancient civilizations” in the world (China Highlights).