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| Just what CAN you say in a Chinese Classroom? | ||
| In general, I wouldn't hesitate to give my views on anything when asked. That's very different to "teaching" something sensitive. Religion: isn't really sensitive, and Chinese students are often interested in it. Understanding Western religion is essential for understanding Western culture, which is something an EFL teacher ought to be getting across. Many foreign teachers in China are actually missionaries, and they do have great success in converting their students without interference from the authorities. Presenting Falun Gong as a religion would, however, be controversial. Human rights: Chinese students know that China has lots of problems with human rights, but if you start criticising China because of this they will likely object to you being a smug, arrogant foreigner. Taiwan: if you are asked about this, it is likely to be by adolescent boys trying to provoke an argument. Many Chinese have had strong feelings about Taiwan instilled in them, making it impossible to have a rational discussion. Others are just sick to death of the subject. Tibet: most Chinese students are not aware of this being a political topic. Han Chinese generally have a feeling of racial superiority over Tibetans and won't care very much. 1989: really the only topic to be very careful about. When we started discussing this in a Chinese class, the teacher closed the door. When one student in my oral class for executives started talking about this, he was warned to stop by another student, but carried on anyway. The younger generation know very little about this. They ought to, but I don't know if I want to be responsible for introducing it. In one culture class I showed the tank-man picture and asked if anyone had seen it. Only one student had (on a visit to Hong Kong)--he stood up and gave quite an emotional speech (in Chinese!) about what happened. I wouldn't do it again, but that's more because of the emotional effort than the potential consequences. |