Learning Curves

My Chinese teacher used to complain about the book we used on a regular basis. She slagged it on pretty much everything - grammar, vocabulary, the order of the lessons. Having worked with textbooks in Chinese schools, I'm becoming less and less sympathetic to her complaints. The content is truly surreal, particularly in regards to the difficulty curves.

The easiest way to explain what I mean is to give examples. The following are sequential chapters in a book intended for Grade 1 senior high school students (roughly the equivalent of high school juniors):

1.) Festivals

A chapter on holidays around the world. A decent introduction for students at this level.

2.) Healthy foods

A chapter about food and diet. Pretty straightforward, practical stuff.

3.) Mark Twain

...say again?

I was utterly stumped by this. The third chapter in the book is dedicated to a Mark Twain stage play. Really, guys? Most of these kids have just learned how to string sentences together. You want them reading Twain?

Oh wait, it gets better:

4.) Astronomy

Astronomy! As in the movement of planets and asteroids, the formation of stars, black holes, etc. Here's a thought experiment: imagine a basic level science course you took in high school or college. Now, imagine that the instructor is teaching in Spanish. Fun times, huh?

Some of the other books are equally surreal. A slightly more advanced book has, as its second chapter, a section on robotics. Robotics!