As a Fulbright（富布莱特法案基金）scholar at Yale, I wanted very much to get some individual help from some famous professors, but their office-hours were only once a week and there were always students waiting outside. At first, I was too polite to get their help. Then I realized that Chinese politeness does not work in this society. I needed to be aggressive to get what I wanted. I also noticed that Chinese students or Asian students were very polite in class while American students often interrupted the professor, asking questions and dominating the discussion. The Chinese students were not as aggressive as American students.

I was impressed by the role of the professor in the class. The professor didn’t act as an authority, giving final conclusions, but as a researcher looking for answers to questions together with the students. One linguistic feature of his interacting with his students was that he used many modal verbs-far more than I did in Beiwai. When answering questions, he usually said: “this is my personal opinion and it could be wrong. It would be a good idea if you could read the book I mentioned the other day.” Or,“ You may find the book I recommended helpful.” Or,“You could be right, but you might find this point of view also interesting.” When making comments on students’ performances, the professor usually said:” It might have been much clearer if you had taken in some of the ideas we discussed earlier this semester.”

In China, authorities are always supposed to give wise decisions and correct directions. Therefore students always expect the professor to give an answer to the question. I still remember how annoyed they were when foreign teachers did not provide such an answer. Their expectations from authorities are much higher than those of American students. Once the Chinese students got the answer, they were sure about it. That is why they make far more certain statement than American students. That is why Chinese students find it difficult to use modal verbs because the function of modal verbs is to provide room for negotiation and different ideas.

Today the Mirror launches a “Help a Child to Learn” campaign to help lockdown pupils with an enormous donation of £1 million from Britain's biggest teaching union. It aims to help every child get the education they deserve during the Covid crisis.

We are aiming to raise much needed cash for kids left working from home without the most basic items such as colouring pens, books and notepads. All the money raised will go towards essential equipment for younger children still too young for online learning. To donate to the appeal please click here.

An exclusive survey of more than 2,500 NEU (Northeastern University) members found 95% were teaching students with limited or no access to learning resources at home. Four out of five members (81%) are seeing families ask for extra support from then school or college for resources such as pens, paper and books. More than a quarter of teachers (27%) said half or more of their pupils were in this situation.

Some pupils are ashamed to admit they don’t have the right equipment, damaging their confidence and sometimes leading to disruptive(破坏的) behaviour. Schools are trying to help pupils but the need to keep schools Covid-secure is stressing more pressure on tight budgets, the union said.

The situation is believed to have worsened during the pandemic(流行病). 55% of NEU members reported an increase in child poverty at their school or college since the start of the first lockdown in March last year.

Qur campaign is calling on ministers to make sure no child loses out on an education because of coronavirus and all pupils should have the materials they need to learn. We are also calling on the Government to tackle underlying causes of child poverty that hold back kids’ education.