Other differences were in the teaching methods and other foreign student's behaviour in class.The majority of students studying Chinese in classes at Beishida were Japanese and Korean, and they were used to what seems to Western students to be a more rigid approach to learning. They were generally silent in class unless picked upon to answer a question. This actually made me more tense too. The teaching involved sticking closely to textbook exercises - even in the speaking classes. Speaking out usually involved what was for me a slightly nerve-wracking trip to the front of the class. This seemed a little pointless, as 90% of students would simply have prepared their speech, slipped it inside their textbook, and then would read it out rote to the class. Western students are more used to a discussion-based method of teaching, especially in speaking classes. This seems to me to allow students to participate when they feel they can without the pressure of being singled out. ......