Chinese Education from the Perspectives of American Educators
Chinese Education from the Perspectives of American Educators

Author: Chuang Wang

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2015-06-01

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1681231840

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This book is written by a diverse cohort of American educators, including professors, teachers, and school administrators from pre-K to college levels. They come from disciplinary areas of child development, special education, English as a second language, counseling, technology, school administration, educational psychology, educational measurement and testing, as well as mathematics education. The chapters explore various topics, ranging from standardized testing, roles of central office, teacher evaluation, teacher professional development, gender differences, diversity, student engagement and parental involvement, student services provided at school, use of technology with teacher and students’ perspectives of technology use, self-efficacy beliefs, to teacher’s perspectives of play in early childhood settings. While the chapters reflect diverse conceptual and theoretical orientation, disciplinary focus, methodological emphasis, writing styles, and educational implications, they add together to present a more holistic picture of Chinese education across disciplinary areas. Taken together, these chapters reveal salient similarities and differences in theoretical underpinnings, pedagogical principles and classroom practices in China and in the United States. They also shed light on some of the larger conceptual/theoretical orientations between learning and learners in the two countries. They debunk some common misconceptions of education in the two countries as well. Since many chapters are written by American authors that reflect directly on their study abroad experiences in China, this allows fresh insight that helps to transform the view that these countries learning from one another would be a challenge into the realization that learning from one another is not only invaluable but also essential.

Little Soldiers
Little Soldiers

Author: Lenora Chu

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2017-09-19

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 0062367870

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New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice; Real Simple Best of the Month; Library Journal Editors’ Pick In the spirit of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Bringing up Bébé, and The Smartest Kids in the World, a hard-hitting exploration of China’s widely acclaimed yet insular education system that raises important questions for the future of American parenting and education When students in Shanghai rose to the top of international rankings in 2009, Americans feared that they were being "out-educated" by the rising super power. An American journalist of Chinese descent raising a young family in Shanghai, Lenora Chu noticed how well-behaved Chinese children were compared to her boisterous toddler. How did the Chinese create their academic super-achievers? Would their little boy benefit from Chinese school? Chu and her husband decided to enroll three-year-old Rainer in China’s state-run public school system. The results were positive—her son quickly settled down, became fluent in Mandarin, and enjoyed his friends—but she also began to notice troubling new behaviors. Wondering what was happening behind closed classroom doors, she embarked on an exploratory journey, interviewing Chinese parents, teachers, and education professors, and following students at all stages of their education. What she discovered is a military-like education system driven by high-stakes testing, with teachers posting rankings in public, using bribes to reward students who comply, and shaming to isolate those who do not. At the same time, she uncovered a years-long desire by government to alleviate its students’ crushing academic burden and make education friendlier for all. The more she learns, the more she wonders: Are Chinese children—and her son—paying too high a price for their obedience and the promise of future academic prowess? Is there a way to appropriate the excellence of the system but dispense with the bad? What, if anything, could Westerners learn from China’s education journey? Chu’s eye-opening investigation challenges our assumptions and asks us to consider the true value and purpose of education.

Teaching and Learning Chinese
Teaching and Learning Chinese

Author: Jianguo Chen

Publisher: Information Age Pub Incorporated

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 9781617350641

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A volume in the Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association Book Series Series Editor Jinfa Cai, University of Delaware The book is linked to the annual theme of the 2008 CAERDA International Conference with contributing authors serving as keynote speakers, invited panelists, paper presenters, as well as specialists and educators in the field. The book provides a most comprehensive description of and a theoretically wellinformed and a scholarly cogent account of teaching and learning Chinese in general and in the United States in particular. It examines a wide range of important issues in Chinese teaching and learning: current state in teaching Chinese as a Second Language (TCSL) in the United States, US national standards for learning foreign languages K-12, policy making about how to meet the growing demand for Chinese language and cultural education with regard to a national coordination of efforts, professional teacher training in terms of the quantity and quality of Chinese language teachers at all levels, promotion of early language learning, characteristics of Chinese pedagogy, aspects of Chinese linguistics, methods and methodology in teaching TCSL, techniques and technology in Chinese language education, curriculum and instruction in TCSL, cultural aspects of teaching Chinese as a Second Language, issues in Chinese pedagogy, development of Chinese as a Heritage Language (HL) and the issue of cultural identity for bilingual/multilingual learners (particularly bilingual/multilingual children), testing and evaluation in TCSL, Chinese literacy and reading, approaches to instruction and program design, etc.

Quality and Change in Teacher Education
Quality and Change in Teacher Education

Author: John Chi-kin Lee

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-02-25

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 3319241397

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How teachers may be better educated for a changing global world is a challenge that faces many systems of education worldwide. This book addresses key issues of quality and change in teacher education in the context of the new public management achievement agendas which are permeating teacher education structures, cultures and programmes and the work of teacher educators internationally. Graduate schools of education in the United States and the UK, for example, are making fundamental changes in the structures, courses, programs and faculties that prepare beginning teachers each year. Drawing upon examples from the United States, United Kingdom, China, Hong Kong, Australia and elsewhere, its authors provide a unique critical overview of emerging themes and challenges of raising the quality of teaching and the quality of student learning outcomes. They suggest possible ways forward for teachers, teacher educators, researchers and policy-makers as they seek to raise the quality of teaching and student outcomes whilst sustaining their moral purposes and values of equity, inclusion and social justice. Taken together, the chapters contain informed, critical discussions of “normal education” and “teacher education” of “professional standards”, “4+2/+1” post-degree training, “PGDE versus BEd”, integration of subject specializations and professional education. Each one provides new visions of the teacher as a professional and to cultivate high quality teachers in the West and the Greater China region. For all those interested in issues of quality, change and forward movement in teacher education in contexts of policy led reform, this is a must read.

The Demoralization of Teachers
The Demoralization of Teachers

Author: Dan Wang

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2013-05-16

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 0739169432

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The educational system in China is marked by its dramatic inequality between rural and urban schools. The challenges facing rural schools are usually understood as disadvantages in funding, facilities, and staffing, which consequently result in undesirable student performance in general. This book, however, penetrates these phenomena on the surface and brings forth a much deeper moral crisis in rural education, a crisis that is entrenched in the complicated interlocking of formal and informal institutions within and beyond the school. The Demoralization of Teachers describes the work and workplace in a rural school from the perspective of teachers who were working there. It faithfully depicts the lamentable state of teachers’ work morale in the school and, little by little as if a detective story, reveals the reasons for the teachers’ demoralization by vivid narratives. The book demonstrates the profound impact on the meanings of teaching exerted by the state curriculum reform, the formal and informal norms and regulations in the school, and the erosion of moral integrity in the state bureaucracy and the society at large. The crisis in the rural school stops to be a “rural” or educational problem in nature, but mirrors the societal-wide transformation in political economy as well as in ideology in the current reform China. The sheer complexity of the moral crisis in this ethnography calls for renewed efforts to identify and investigate the educational problems in rural China from fresh theoretical perspectives that situate rural education in broader historical and social contexts and processes.

Educational Practices in China, Korea, and the United States
Educational Practices in China, Korea, and the United States

Author: Chuang Wang

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2020-03-01

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1641138785

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This book is written by a diverse cohort of both of American educators, including professors, teachers, school counselors, and school administrators from pre-K to college levels. Most of the contributors come from disciplinary areas of English as a second language and school administration. With the pressure of Common Core State Standards Initiative, American educators are now shifting their focus to standards-based instruction. Meanwhile, Chinese educators are moving away from national standards and developing state level curriculum and instruction to meet specific needs of the students in local provinces. There is also a debate about whether or not to use the National College Entrance Examination as the only test for college admission. Some provinces (e.g., Zhejiang and Hubei) are administering their own college entrance examinations. The book outlines the sociocultural roots of education in the three countries, linking the tradition and philosophical orientations to each country's own history of education. Furthermore, the book compares and contrasts the curriculum, especially the teaching of English as a second/foreign language, in three countries. This book examines the stress of students, physical education, various pedagogical styles in foreign language education as well as instructional texts and cross-cultural dialogue between teachers. Additionally, the book explores factors that influence parent's involvement and women's educational and career aspirations. Lastly, the book presents modern technologies such as smart learning technologies and online learning platforms not only to facilitate future educational systems but also to promote international exchanges. The chapters of the book are thematically diverse, but they help to provide inspirations for educators both in American and Asian countries. The findings offer alternative practical lenses for educational community to seek for some "middle ground" between Chinese, South Korea and American education. The intended audience for this book is graduate students, teachers, administrators, and professionals in education.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon?
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon?

Author: Yong Zhao

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-09-15

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1118487133

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The secrets behind China's extraordinary educational system – good, bad, and ugly Chinese students' consistently stunning performance on the international PISA exams— where they outscore students of all other nations in math, reading, and science—have positioned China as a world education leader. American educators and pundits have declared this a "Sputnik Moment," saying that we must learn from China's education system in order to maintain our status as an education leader and global superpower. Indeed, many of the reforms taking hold in United States schools, such as a greater emphasis on standardized testing and the increasing importance of core subjects like reading and math, echo the Chinese system. We're following in China's footsteps—but is this the direction we should take? Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon? by award-winning writer Yong Zhao offers an entertaining, provocative insider's account of the Chinese school system, revealing the secrets that make it both "the best and worst" in the world. Born and raised in China's Sichuan province and a teacher in China for many years, Zhao has a unique perspective on Chinese culture and education. He explains in vivid detail how China turns out the world's highest-achieving students in reading, math, and science—yet by all accounts Chinese educators, parents, and political leaders hate the system and long to send their kids to western schools. Filled with fascinating stories and compelling data, Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon? offers a nuanced and sobering tour of education in China. Learn how China is able to turn out the world's highest achieving students in math, science, and reading Discover why, despite these amazing test scores, Chinese parents, teachers, and political leaders are desperate to leave behind their educational system Discover how current reforms in the U.S. parallel the classic Chinese system, and how this could help (or hurt) our students' prospects

Critical Issues in Early Childhood Teacher Education
Critical Issues in Early Childhood Teacher Education

Author: Miranda Lin

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2020-06-01

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 164113724X

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In recent years there have been significant changes in education across the globe, largely as a result of changing demographics, technological developments, and increased globalization. Relatedly, the changing needs of societies and families, along with new research findings, provide new directions in early childhood education. Consequently, early childhood teachers today are faced with higher and more complex expectations to help ensure that their students achieve their full potential. Such expectations suggest that early childhood teachers should be professionals who are able to draw on a robust knowledge base in making educational decisions. It follows that teacher education programs should develop and implement innovative programs that can potentially enhance the quality of our future teachers. An awareness of pressing issues in the field of early childhood teacher education led the editors to develop this volume. The chapters in these two volumes bring together scholars from across the US and the globe who are interested in improving the quality of early childhood teacher education. The chapters present their experiences, perspectives, and lessons learned as they addressed some of the challenging issues concerning the education and preparation of future early childhood teachers. The various issues and perspectives from different states in the US or countries across the globe provide insights into current issues and dilemmas facing the field. The contributions of these scholars should inform the discourse on early childhood teacher education and help those who work with preservice teachers improve the quality of their work.

Frontiers of L2 Chinese Language Education
Frontiers of L2 Chinese Language Education

Author: Yanyin Zhang

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-09-30

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1000459438

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Over the past four decades, learning Chinese as a second language has transformed from individual small-scale endeavors to organized mass studies worldwide. In a fast-changing world, the field of L2 Chinese language education is confronted by unprecedented challenges and opportunities. This book presents recent pedagogical practices, innovations and research in L2 Chinese language education across five continents. Bringing together a diverse range of leading researchers and educators, it showcases the latest knowledge, teaching-led research, innovative curriculum design and pedagogical practice in a variety of instructional contexts. Through a mix of overview chapters, empirical studies and critical discussions, the book addresses four key themes – formal instruction; language education technology; curriculum development; and critical overviews– and reflects the latest challenges and coping strategies for teaching and learning Chinese in an increasingly digital world. It will be essential reading for researchers, teachers and students of Chinese as a second language, as well as curriculum developers and textbook writers.

Teaching the Chinese Learner
Teaching the Chinese Learner

Author: David Watkins

Publisher: Acer Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780864313812

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This book is a sequel to The Chinese Learner and extends the earlier book by focusing on the work of teachers. It analyses the ways in which teachers in Hong Kong and China think about their teaching, and the ways in which they conduct their teaching. Differences between Chinese and Western approaches to teaching are identified, and lessons are drawn for educational reform.