English teaching in Christian middle school in 1921―1927

Abstract： Secondary education is the most important period of one's life， for the experiences in high school has an important impact on teenagers in affirming moral attitudes. Based on a brief introduction of Christian middle school in China， this article attempts to take lessons from the successful English learning in Christian schools.

Key words： Christian middle school; religious education; English language teaching.

As a communicative tool for knowing western civilization， English was brought to China in the nineteenthcenturies. In the late Qing dynasty， the missionary schools emerged in southern China. At first， the establishers are always missioners who devoted their life into Christian. Some of them adopted the poor or baggers from the streets provided foods and shelters. To give their thanks to the helpers， those children learn to read Bible followed their teachers， thus the original church school came into being.

In the early 20th century， a growing number of church schools were being built. From then on， the missionary middle school played an important role in Chinese education systems. After the establishment of the republic of China， missionary schools reached the climax. According to the incompletely statistics， there are more than 300 church schools built up from 1921-1937. In the end， officials admit missionary schools’ legal position.

During the long history of China， there is no “middle school” system at all. Those early introducers made a great contribution to initiating the proceeding of Chineseeducation reformation. Christian middle schools did good job on producing high-quality elites in China. Many famous men in all fields， such as physics， language， came out from Christian schools.

1.A brief introduction of Christian middle schools from 1921-1927

Students in Christian schools live in native learning environment. They are learning， saying and writing in English everywhere. Some basis courses are taught by English， which included English literature history， English rhetoric and English classical literature etc. All their textbooks are original editions. The students are forced to say English even in leisure time. For example， slogan like “No Chinese” was put up in the wall of all dormitories. If someone break the rule， he or she fine in 5cents or 1 dollar. Chen Guangyu， one of students in early church school， points “All classes are taught by English except that courses can’t use English to teach， such as Chinese and Confucian classics. In addition， the instructions by assistants or the slogans by cheerleaders are English. ”

Social activities are also related with English， such as English musical plays or poetry competitions. Under the circumstances of national English， therefore， a lot of elites swarmed out of the society. Some of them are Qin Zhongshu， Xu Guozhang and so on.

The main purpose to set up church school is preaching. Missionaries believed that human have obliged to educate in order to purify their soul. Missionaries gathered students together to pray in church each Sunday， and most of the students are believed in Christ. All the religion courses have the same object to finish： to cultivate students as Christians.

1.1.Teaching methods

Grammar-Translation Approach is the earliest way of English teaching approach in China. It refers to an extension of the approach used to teach classical languages to the teaching of modern languages. Westerners know Chinese civilization better via translating Chinese novels into English. During the prosperous of English language learning， some new teaching approach introduced by the missionaries from abroad， and direct approach is one of them. This approach was shown by using objects or association of ideas to students in order to have direct images in their brain. Anyway， missionary schools put the teaching method into practice， and make students to keep their coherence of learning English.

1.2.The constitution of teachers

At first， all the teachers in missionary schools are missionaries. With the rapid development of school， missionaries can’t fix the hard situation. Therefore， lots of Christians came to China under the influence of “teacher crisis”. Half of teachers in Christian middle school are from famous universities， such as Yale or Columbia.

2.Implication for modernEnglish teaching

Looking back to the history of foreign language learning in China， educators should admit that the Christian middle school propelled the education modernization of China.

2.1.Learning English Out of Class

Studies shows that people can easily learn non-native language in the relaxed environment and the inductive method influence them unconsciously. In order to get a better understanding of English， some useful ways should be highlighted in learning English.

It’s a fact that novels are magical mirrors reflected social life. English novels in original edition reflect the true aspect of English countries life. We should know what does western country like and what genres as well as writing style they use in their books. It’s a useful way to know their culture and language better. Moreover， news media is another way to know the updated information from western countries. More resources included CCTV news channel， VOA special English on radio or news on websites.

2.2.Improve the quality of teachers

As a Chinese proverb says，”A great teacher produces a brilliant student.”In the early time of the republic of China， foreign teachers take a great proportion in missionary schools. Most of the teachers have a good education on college and get a bachelor degree at least， thus guaranteed the best quality of English teaching in some degrees. Therefore， we’d better bring up more professional English teachers.

2.3.Adhere to Humane Educational Philosophy

Compared with non-humanity in Chinese education， Christian schools hold the principle of humane educational philosophy. Christians think the human are naturally evil， but education would refresh the nature of humanity. Therefore， we should adhere to humane educational philosophy to reshape our education system. Education makes people live in a happy life. Chen Zhimei， a famous Chinese educator， said” Men has a soul， so people want to be free of living. We believe that only people who live in freedom life who gains valuable life; only people who free to learn that the civilization passed down.”

References：

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[2] 吴洪成，“试论近代中国的教会中学教育”[J]，河北师范大学学报，2007年1月。

[3] 尹文娟，《基督教与中国近代中等教育》[M]，上海：人民出版社，2007年7月版。

[4] 张美平，“民国教会中学外语教学述略”[J]，浙江外国语学报，2012年3月。

[5] 朱红梅，“论民国学校英语教育的社会功能”[J]，江汉论坛，2010年5月。

作者简介：

樊静茹，女，陕西咸阳人，陕西师范大学外国语学院，2013级教育硕士，研究方向：英语教育。