“We Learn … 10% of what we read 20% of what we hear 30% of what we see 50% of what we see and hear 70% of what we discuss 80% of what we experience 95% of what we teach others.” -William glasser

One of the main themes of James Zull’s The Art Of Changing The Brain is greater interaction with subject material leads to better learning of it. Naturally, Chinese learners benefit most from a native teacher, but that doesn’t mean we learners can’t stick our two cents in when the opportunity arises. You can have an intuitive sense of how Chinese works and do fine. To teach it, however, you need to be able to explain it. Explain it in detail. This requires deep understanding. In language learning there is the concept of passive and active vocabulary. Passive vocabulary is what you understand but can’t produce in a conversation-for example. Active vocabulary is vocabulary you can produce.  When you set out to teach some of your passive vocabulary, or grammatical structures, or idioms you’re interacting more with them which will move them to active use. To teach anything you need to go through a process. Using David Kolb’s Learning Cycle as a starting point, we can extrapolate a relevant framework that enables you to learn as you teach. You have the concrete experience when you first learn something, there is some overlap with the next part as you go over the material again. Organise content - Here all your notes and references are pulled together and put into some sort of structure.  Present content - Now you have to explain all that information so it is coherent to the intended audience. Answer questions and receive feedback - Questions are good, they let you see where people aren’t getting it. And it gives you another chance to teach. This can be done very quickly or over a period of time. It depends on your knowledge of the subject.  If you see room for improvement you can always revise the lesson based on the feedback you received. This, again, benefits you more.

Who? Me? Teach?

Yes, you! Think about your level of Chinese. Now give yourself a grade between zero and ten. If you haven’t started learning yet, you’re zero. Tens are fluent or native speakers. If you didn’t choose zero, then you have something to offer the numbers below you. Unless they are experienced teachers, advanced learners often forget what it was like at the beginning. One benefit of receiving help from someone at a similar level is they may give the details that really help you. An advanced learner, however, may consider them trivial and gloss them over.  This creates a negative experience for the learner. They may think twice about asking questions if they don’t understand the answers and are conscientious about looking dumb.

This Doesn’t Require A Career Change

You don’t need to turn this in to a vocation. You can make it a part of your learning process. I started my blog Chinese Reader to teach people how to read Chinese starting from nothing. It’s been challenging and really beneficial for my enthusiasm in my own studies. Writing a blog is not for everyone, but there are many ways you can help learners with what you have. You may have a friend who is learning Chinese who could use your help. Participating on forums and in the comments section of blogs is another good option. If you are taking lessons in a class, you can also help your classmates. Even if you only have an idea of the answer, if you know how to find out more then you’re going through the teaching process described above. Now you’re an expert on the matter, and you will probably remember better than the person you just helped!  People will notice you being generous with your knowledge and be more likely to help you when you need it.

Graham posts simple lessons at Chinese Reader

(Source: twitter.com)