I have taught Chinese for almost 3 years. Some people often asked me: “Is teaching foreigners learn Chinese hard?” It is such a simple question, but not easy to answer. Chinese is my mother tongue. I am learning Chinese for so many years, and it should be no problem for me to teaching foreigners Chinese. In fact, during my teaching career, I often encountered some of the problems which will never occur when the Chinese people learning Chinese.
Chinese people use this language since they were born. We do not need to know the grammar, but express our meanings with the correct sentences. In fact, a Chinese language learner often does not know this, and simply ask the teacher to teach them the words to enrich their vocabulary.
Here is one example I met. One of my student learns “赶忙” (hastily). It is very easy for him to understand what it means. Then he had to learn how to use it in real situation. He may said: “要下雨了，我们赶忙回去吧.” Which should be used here “赶紧” or “赶忙”? As his teacher you have to teach him new words “赶紧” and “赶快” and the differences among these words. Try to make some in-depth and meticulous research before every lesson. Teaching foreigners without giving the explanation or putting the words into real situation will cause students’ confusion, where dictionary has no ready answers,
Teaching foreigners Chinese is by no means to teach with careful and patient. As a Chinese teacher, you can not simply explain or translate the words, but must be concentrated their study in all aspects of ontology and language, such as developing their own sense of the native language, finding Chinese sentences generated by law; learner’s cultural background investigation, psychological characteristics; understanding the basic process of learning a second language and so on.