Teaching Boys Mandarin Chinese

In the school year of 2012-2013, most of my Chinese students were young boys, ranging from 7 to 14 years old.  I wasn’t teaching at an all-boy school or specifically favoring boys.  I have taught many girls in the past and enjoyed them very much.  However this year it happened to be this way.  I don’t want to promote any gender stereotypes, but do find it very interesting to teach these boys with their smart and active minds. 

In one class I had three second-graders, all active and fun-loving boys.  They also loved to learn Chinese.  One’s favorite activity was writing Chinese characters, another’s was to read and speak phrases in story books, and the third boy was happy to do whatever the other two liked to do.  They also liked to sing; they were very young and picked up the tunes very easily, so sounded just like Chinese children.  One day they were saying in my class, “Studying Chinese is not a race.  By studying Chinese, we learn to focus then we can unlock our potentials.”  Hearing these words come out of their mouths, I knew they had learned more than just Chinese from my teaching. 

In the other class, I had two sixth-graders who were very intelligent and passionate about learning Chinese.  One boy was very particular about learning to write each character in correct stroke order and to say each word in perfect tones; another took a more naturally easy approach and especially liked reciting Chinese poems and songs.  We talked about Chinese history and how it relates to the rest of the world.  At the end of the year, I introduced Chinese chess to them which they enjoyed immensely.

Two other boys studied Chinese with me this year.  One is a 9-year-old who has been studying with me for four years now.  He is so dedicated to Chinese study, does everything I ask him, from learning the Pinyin, speaking phrases, and writing characters.  He especially enjoyed his Chinese calligraphy lessons.  The other student was an eighth-grader who had studied Chinese for two years in Hong Kong.  He has been my most advanced student so far.  I admired his study habits which I believed he had adopted in Hong Kong.  I also appreciated his understanding of Chinese culture and the sense of global citizenship.  We had many interesting conversations on Eastern and Western culture.

It’s been a busy and rewarding year.  I am so happy to share my knowledge and heritage with people in our community.  I know that more and more young people will study Chinese in this changing world and I will be glad to help.