Differences of Running Classroom Between China and America

楊金

Knowing the differences of classroom management techniques between China and America is helpful for a foreign language teacher. In the article the author briefly compares the differences of classroom management techniques between China and America for teachers to learn and draw from each other in classroom teaching.

Running Classroom in China

In China， for most schools， a big class with 50 to 70 students is very common and popular. Teachers usually have two big classes with over 50 students in each class. In order to make the students involved in their lesson， teachers usually have the students divided into 8 groups， 6 students for each group and with one group leader. After greeting， teachers usually let the students know what they are going to learn and practice before they are given different tasks. Before the students are asked to practice using learned language， teachers often offer different kinds of inputting activities， including warming up， lead-in， videos and flashes as well as pictures shows. After making sure that the students got enough stimuli， teachers often have the students practice in groups. Finally each group will have a chance to show what they learn and doubt. After carefully listening to the students， teachers directly make some comments on their performances and give timely encouragements and little gifts.

Group leaders usually change week by week so that all the students are positively involved in learning process. Teachers would like to have a meeting for subject representatives so that they could be teachers best helper and help communicate with their classmates. As to their homework， teachers often select some of their good works to show in class， which greatly helps set good examples to the students to learn from.

To achieve their teaching goals， teachers always interest the students in the target language in varieties of ways， such as video shows， picture shows. And to keep the students engaged in all kinds of activities， many classroom humors become so important to a successful class which makes a relaxing air to learn the target language.

Running Classroom in America

There are many differences in classroom management between the US and China.

American students are individual and fond of being free. They are not like Chinese students， always behaving well as the teacher wish them to be. And they need more interactions in class. So American classroom is more open to the participants in class than that in China. This is a big challenge to teachers. In order to adapt themselves to American classroom， American teachers have made great efforts to make their classroom more flexible and open. What American teachers have to do in class is make sure every action and every activity serves their teaching goals. And American teachers often design as many activities and games as possible. For example， of all the activities， jeopardy games are more popular. The students are encouraged to ask questions more often than ever before.

Learning and Drawing Lessons From Each Others.

As a teacher teaching the students foreign language， teachers could anticipate more patience and encouragement are needed in classroom. They also have to learn and understand humors of different cultures first so that they can help in classroom management in the U.S. school. Then teachers really have to learn more about students of their different characteristics. A foreign language is really difficult for them to learn and some of them are unwilling to learn it. In front of such a challenge， teachers need to let them know that learning to speak foreign language well can really make a big difference and have more activities to keep them involved in learning foreign language. This no doubt makes teachers think more for the students in their daily teaching activities here in China. In addition， teachers have to adapt themselves to totally new teaching environments and targeted students. Most importantly， they have to teach in the way that students accept and are willing to follow by using reasonable and flexible teaching methods.

All in all， teachers have to change in many ways so that they can make their classroom more open and flexible， filled with interactions.