Unit1 Ways of Learning

Part II Reading Task

Comprehension Content Question Pair Work

1. They were studying arts education in Chinese kindergartens and elementary

schools in Nanjing.

2. Their 18-month-old son Benjamin was fond of trying to place the key into

the slot of the key box during their stay at the Jinling Hotel.

3. They would come over to watch Benjamin and then try to teach him how to

do it properly.

4. Because he realized that this anecdote was directly relevant to their assigned

tasks in China: to investigate early childhood education and to throw light on Chinese attitudes toward creativity.

5. Most of them displayed the same attitude as the staff at the Jinling Hotel. 6. He emphasized that the most important thing is to teach the child that on

can solve a problem effectively by oneself.

7. He means that this incident pointed to important differences in educational

and artistic practices between China and the USA.

8. The manner in which the Chinese staff saw the need to teach the child by

guiding his hand in the characteristic of a broader attitude to education, one that stands in contrast to the Western preference for leaving the child to explore and learn unaided.

9. One example is of children at the age of 5 or 6 painting flowers, fish and

animals skillfully and confidently; in a second example, calligraphers 9 and 10 years old were producing works; and in a third, young artists work on perfecting their craft for several hours a day.

10. Americans think that unless creativity has been acquired early, it may never

emerge, and skills can be picked up later. Chinese think that if skills are not acquired early, they may never be acquired, and there is no hurry to promote creativity.

11. This is mainly due to the difference in their way of thinking.

12. The author makes the suggestion that we should strike a better balance

between the poles of creativity and basic skills.

Text Organization Working On Your Own

1.