English, with a science emphasis

On Tuesday, June 24, I visited two classes that defy classification. I thought I would be observing two science classes at the middle school* associated with Shaan'xi Normal University (Shida middle school). To my surprise, the classes, 7^th and 10^th grade, were taught in English. To my great surprise, they were not nearly as rigorous as the other courses I have observed. To my greater surprise, the teachers asked students to discuss some concepts in small groups.

My greatest surprise was yet to come. Here are excerpts from my notes for the two classes.

• "I wonder if the extensive use of English affects the learning of the concepts."
  
• "The vast majority of teacher comments [about student responses] were about students' use of English."
  
• "There was a lot of time spent asking students to recite the standard description of how clouds form."
  

After class, I talked to the two teachers I just observed and two English teachers who were observing the classes with me. It turns out that these were applied English classes, not science classes. The students have a traditional science course taught in Chinese and a traditional English course to teach grammar and sentence structure. In the classes I observed, students were getting contextualized conversation skills. That is why the students spent time discussing ideas in small groups. In fact, all of the comments I made above make perfect sense for an English class. According to the teachers, students don't get much of a chance to speak in their traditional English class. The English immersion course I observed gives students the opportunity to form original questions, answers and ideas in English. Shida middle school has been offering this course since the 2004-2005 school year. The teachers have noticed an improvement in students' speaking and listening skills since then.

 

* Schools are divided up a little differently in China than in the United States. In China, grades 1-6 are considered Primary School and grades 7-12 are considered middle school with 7-9 being low middle school (or just middle school) and 10-12 being high middle school. Kindergarten is in a separate school and is for ages 3-5.