Good teaching finds a way to students despite medium.
This semester, teachers and students across the world are shifting to online courses due to the pandemic. Salvador Marinaro and Yamamoto Yukimasa from the College of Foreign Languages and Literatures are among the 39 international professors at Fudan University who are teaching their students thousands of miles away.
Salvador Marinaro, lecturer of Spanish literature
“The time I spend on preparing quadruples for online courses, but these courses are like my oasis in these days,” said Salvador Marinaro, lecturer from the Department of Spanish Language and Literature, who teaches four courses this semester. Seven time zones away from China, he aims to deliver quality classes that appeal to students. “I hope they enjoy the classes as much as I do”, he said, smiling.
The novel teaching environment, however, can be quite challenging for both teachers and students. “For my course Hispanic Cultural Studies, I started with basic concepts so that students were not scared off,” said Marinaro. In the first class, he dealt with the notion of “culture” and the reasons why different nations have their own traditions. “These were open-ended questions, so they got immediately engaged in the discussion.”
Marinaro believes that knowledge should be imparted through interactions and posing questions is an effective way to keep students concentrated. “Professor Marinaro’s teaching is thought-provoking,” said student Zheng Danni. “For example, when talking about our impression of Latino America, he would start a debate on the question ‘Is Latino America a geographical concept or an economic community?’ Then he would lead use into more in-depth questions like ‘How have Latin Americans achieved their cultural identities?’”
Thinking differently from their native culture has been one of the most difficult parts in learning foreign languages and literatures. Teaching by comparing and contrasting is a good way to reveal the similarities and differences between cultures. Professor of Japanese literature Yamamoto Yukimasa stresses the importance of comparative studies in all the courses he teaches this semester. His students are asked to compare Chinese folklore with Japanese folklore, and look into the differences between education systems of China and Japan. “I hope this helps my students know not only Japanese culture but their own one better,” said he.
Professor Yamamoto Yukimasa
“I could not help marvelling at Japanese culture every time I took Professor Yamamoto’s course,” student Wang Weijia said.
Yamamoto describes himself as a perfectionist. The teaching is usually conducted via pre-recordings, so he always listen to all his recordings to check if there are any mistakes or inaccurate expressions. “If I find myself have touched on anything too deep, I would try an easier approach and start the recording all over again.” Likewise, he sets the same high standards for his students.
“Homework is important under the current circumstance,” said Yamamoto. Each week, his students are required to write a 400-word essay that shall reflect their research and analysis of the topic. Unlike offline classes, online ones do not allow teachers to make swift adjustments according to students’ reaction, thus Yamamoto gives detailed feedback onstudents’ assignments to follow their progress.
Thanks to supportive faculty like Salvador Marinaro and Yamamoto Yukimasa, especially those staying overseas to teach despite time difference, Fudan University has been able to provide to its students a learning experience that’s either the same as, or better than, at normal times.
Editor: Deng Jianguo, Li Yijie
