243 Student

Are you a good student? Were you a good student? James Trapp is an expert in Chinese Education and has been teaching students about Chinese culture and language for over 40 years. He and ShaoLan discuss the merits of studying Chinese and how the interest in Chinese language and culture has been growing rapidly worldwide over the past ten years. In particular, he sees a trend that parents in the UK want their children to learn Chinese not just for the language ability, but also for the new way of thinking that the language introduces. As a final bonus, they discuss some of the different approaches to teaching in the UK and China and how to try and strike a balance to use the strengths of both styles!

The Chinese for “student” is 學生/学生. The first character means “to learn” and shows a boy under a roof, being lectured. 生 is “to grow” or “to give birth,” so for someone who’s learning is growing, they are a “student.”