Helping Students Avoid Culture Shock
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
With the increased number of students going to China to learn Chinese and of people going to China to work, Chinese language instructions have some new and interesting issues to deal with. One such issue is culture shock. So for teachers a major issue is how to prepare our students before they go to China, to deal with cultural difficulties.
Culture shock usually refers to the psychological status of those studying or working in an unfamiliar culture to which they feel poorly adapted. This is usually caused by cultural estrangement, and this is a heavy psychological burden for students. People who have experienced culture shock often show the worry and nervousness caused by cultural differences when interacting with people; such people also feel quite vulnerable.
This presentation concentrates on 1) analyze a few specific features of forms of address in social activities, such as, a) social address forms that are often misunderstood by American students; b) kin or other address forms that often mystify our students because they really cannot figure out the identity of the people involved from the forms of address. c) forms of address that involve status and interpersonal relations. 2) will illustrate that forms of address are not only habits and customs, but also a synthesis of culture and people’s mode of thinking, the physiological status of participants, and historical culture. Finally 3) will introduce class activities adopted in the language classroom as well as the students’ feedback about such activities.