"Is Chinese difficult to learn?" "Do the Chinese read from right to left?" "Is the Chinese language the same as Cantonese?" "Do the Chinese eat dogs?" "What is fengshui?"

Quite often I am submerged by a series of innocent questions from the pupils at Arden School and Language College in Solihull in the West Midlands in England.

They are curious and interested in China, but for most of them China is a country of mystery.

To be the first Chinese volunteer of GAP Activity Project at Arden School means initiatives and challenges.

Mandarin Chinese has for the first time been introduced into the daytime curriculum and become part of the general study for all Year 10 pupils. Some additional voluntary pupils and Solihull Six Form College also learn Chinese after school.

Since Chinese is a language totally different from the Latin derivative languages, the first obstacle to learning is the pronunciation.

To tackle the problem, I helped the pupils to adopt the strategies of linking pinyin (phonetic system) with the English sounds.

For example, the Chinese sound of "tang" (sugar) is similar to that of "tongue" in English. With the picture of "tasting sugar with the tongue," the word will not be hard to learn.

Another example is that the Chinese pronunciation of "zhu" (pig) is like that of "zoo" in English.

Imagining "a pig in the zoo," the pupils will always remember the word.

I have worked out a table linking all the Chinese consonants and vowels with English sounds. For instance, the Chinese sounds of "q" and "iu" are similar to "ch" and "you" in English.

Different ways

There is also a big difference between teaching Chinese in Britain and teaching English in China. I need to learn and adapt to new teaching techniques to "do in Rome as the Romans do."

In China, pupils seem to be more serious with their study; here (in England) to maintain pupil's attention, I have to develop more "entertaining" ways of teaching.

In the Chinese classes, I teach the pupils how to order in a Chinese restaurant, how to ask for directions, how to check in at a hotel, and how to make telephone calls.

In addition, I have learned to help the pupils develop language skills through a range of activities including games, competition and performance.

Take the "food" class as an example. First, the new words of food are introduced. Then I present a Chinese menu with some typical Chinese food, especially those available at the Chinese takeaway.

Then follows the dialogue of ordering in a Chinese restaurant. After that I ask the pupils to play the roles of the waiter and customers in a Chinese restaurant. Then some groups are invited to make their role-play performances. Through the games the pupils learn and enjoy learning.

The writing of the Chinese characters is probably the most interesting and difficult part to the language learning.

A brief introduction of the basic strokes is necessary to help the pupils to write stroke by stroke instead of "drawing" the characters.

I show them why the Chinese characters are known as "pictographs" because the pictures help them to remember the writing.

The pupils did a display of Chinese characters to celebrate Christmas. They made Chinese Valentine's Day cards.

Once, I was given a cake as a present and to my joyful surprise, I found the characters for "good luck" supported by a Chinese dragon. It was made by an 11th-year pupil for her business study.

The pupils who do Chinese lessons after school even write in characters to their pen friends at their link school in Shanghai.

Chinese culture

In class I also try to explain the cultural differences in England and China. For instance, after introducing the basic Chinese greetings I tell the pupils that besides "ni hao" (hello), on the street people greet each other by saying "qu nar?" (Where are you going?) and around meal times people say "chi le ma?" (Have you eaten?)

The reply to "Your English is very good" would be "No, my English is very poor," because responding to a compliment by saying "thank you" is considered immodest and arrogant.

When offered something, the Chinese people always refuse before accepting. The first several "no's" are for protocol's sake. The good host will ignore this polite refusal and continues to offer you a cup of tea or keeps piling food on your plate.

Displays of interesting places in China, Chinese culture, and Chinese characters are also good ways of promoting the pupils' understanding of China.

At the assemblies of my students, I made presentations of the Chinese New Year. The pupils who learn Chinese after school entered the "Meet China" contest sponsored by the Chinese Embassy.

One of my pupils won the prize and was invited by the Chinese Embassy to attend the prize awarding ceremony in the British Museum.

Now, some pupils have shown an interest not only in Chinese food but also in Chinese language and culture. Often pupils greet me in Chinese and I was told that the Arden School has just run a school trip to China this April.

While in Solihull, I've discovered that I, too, have benefited from my teaching at the school.

My experience there is of great value to my English teaching career in China.

(China Daily 08/11/2006 page14)