I've been very quiet for the first two weeks trying to absorb all the different blog comments and insights and ways of looking at teaching online. So far, it seems that I'm the only participant who does not have the luxury of teaching online with ease because of the Great Firewall of China.
Apologies if I didn't see your post and you are in a similar position as me. Please let me know if you are. (Hi to all the colleagues from my organisation who are also here - I know who you are :)
So, here in China, you have to look at online teaching in a totally different way. The obvious question is: "Why bother if it is a problem?" For me, the answer is simple: How else would you reach all those students whose lives are immensely enriched by being able to speak good English? In China this means better jobs (or simply just a job to start off with), better salary, better quality of life.
So, what are the technological problems we experience?
1. Internet access is not guaranteed. That means no easy access to Facebook, YouTube, Diigo, Google, many blogs, an infinite array of websites that educators in North America and elsewhere take for granted.
2. So, what decisions do you need to make with regard to technology. Yes, I can access (sometimes, if all the satellites are in the right position and the Great Firewall of China has not found that specific one yet to block) most sites through my excellent VPN, but my Chinese students cannot.
3. Hmmmmm... another can of worms - do I allow my Chinese-speaking English language learners to work collaborative on their equivalent of Facebook and other social media sites? Because if I do, they will most certainly not do it in English, unless they are advanced or upper advanced students. Dilemma..
4. I could, of course, use unsafe, unstable and 3rd rate sites that mushroom all over the Internet on a daily basis, but do I want the rest of the world to see my lessons, track my students, copy my hard work, steal my students, etc. etc. Or do I simply just work with the few good sites I can access, like Edublogs (sometimes), Vimeo (most of the time), Moodle, and others and stay out the mainstream of new and interesting developments?
We also have cultural problems - many!
1. Losing face: how to train your Chinese students that they can only learn through their mistakes?
2. You don't learn a language by listening to a person speak it and learning the rules by rote.
3. You cannot progress without participating in group work - a no-no to a large degree still in China as parents only want their children to listen to the native speakers "otherwise they pick up mistakes from their classmates if they speak in groups."
4. How do you get your Chinese students to participate in a class where no-one will answer the teacher when a question is asked - and you cannot walk up to them and cajole them along with humor, etc. like you can do in brick-and-mortar classroom.
5. How do you help young learners whose parents believe the old Confusian method of learning?
Right, this post is getting far too long! Looking forward to some interesting conversation about the above as we move towards planning our first lessons!
