The Teacher According to Students

Chinese Classroom Heirarchy

According to over 1,000 middle school and high school students in five provinces in China, a teacher, whether Chinese or foreign, should be kind above all else. I conducted a survey in all the schools where I taught and asked the students to express his or her idea of what a best teacher should be. According to the students, the best teacher has the following uncomplicated characteristics:

• Kind
• Beautiful
• Funny
• Pleasant
• Strong
• Wonderful

One of my students wrote, “My best teacher is Long Tang. He’s very friendly and he very likes to forget. Some things we can’t forget but he says forget. If we are a little or a lot sad he says forget. I like him very much. He likes words. I like how the words feel. It’s very nice. He told us a lot of things. He made me happy. He made me don’t cry. He is unique. ~ Yang Yang, Grade 2 Senior Middle School.

Tip No. 1: Learn from your students the characteristics they believe reveal a good teacher.