When many people start learning Mandarin for the first time, some of them may have heard the rumor that Chinese language is the most difficult languages to learn. As the Chinese teacher, you have to say some encouraging words to the zero beginners who are learning Chinese in China.
To increase their confidence in learning Mandarin, you should always tell them, “Chinese language has kinship with English in some degree.” Academically, the origin of Chinese language has no relations with the one of English at all, for they belong to the same language family. But it is not necessary to tell students this kind of words. On the contrary, you should try your best to find the relevant points of the two languages for students who are learning Mandarin.
Some teacher will ask, “Is there any relevant point?” Of course, it is. Both Chinese and English use alphabets to represent pronunciations. The only difference is that they call the alphabet as alphabet in English, while we call it as pinyin in Chinese. So think about how the students of learning Chinese in China will feel, when they open their textbooks and find their familiar abc? They may probably have the feeling that they meet the old friends in an alien place.
The teacher should give students the feeling that Chinese character is magical and fantastic. As for most foreigners who are learning Mandarin, Chinese character is a thing which is full of mystery. The popularity of Chinese character can be seen from the favor of some foreign superstars. For example, the Chinese old saying “生死有命，富贵在天” tattooed on his body has cost lots of films of the medium.
If you can let students who are learning Mandarin have the feeling that they are learning a cool language, you have captured the hearts of the students. There is a small tip which is quite useful. When you first meet you student, you can help him or her to choose a Chinese name and write down the name on the card or name card. You can think about that suddenly a cool Chinese name is given to him or her and how exciting the student who just starts learning Mandarin will be.
After saying the encouraging words, you need have a professional investigation among the students who are learning Mandarin. The questions you must ask are:
The purpose and target for learning Mandarin: different students will have different study purposes. For example, some people learn Chinese only for interests or fun; some aims to meet the requirements of credits; some learn Chinese as the preparation of travelling in China. The different purposes and targets of learning Mandarin will influence their study motivation greatly.
Ask the students the times and time for tutoring: certain the time and times of the Chinese tutoring lessons. How many times the lessons should have in one week? How long should the lessons last? The experienced teacher suggests that you can meet each other for two or three times every week at the beginning and increase or decrease the time according to the situation of your students.
Ask the students about the place for having lessons: the teacher reminds you that you must choose a proper place which is suitable for having lessons. No matter the student is male or female, you’d better not go to his or her dorm or place where seldom people will go. It is not safe! The best place is the university campus, such as library, self-study room or café.
Ask the students about the tutoring contents: you must ask the student that whether he or she wants to just chat arbitrarily or to learn a certain textbook. If he or she wants to learn textbook, you should also ask that whether he or she has the appointed book. If the student ask you to choose textbook for him or her, your assignment will be more difficult.