Forms of address in Australian classrooms

Teacher to student:

How should a teacher address a student named Zhang Meihua, who has adopted the English name "Rose"?

• It is common in China for a person to address another person of the same or lower standing by the full name: "Zhang Meihua", in situations where Australians would use either the given name or title + surname.
• In formal situations or a large group, any of the following are acceptable: "Zhang Meihua"; "Rose" or, where the context warrants it, "Rose Zhang" or even "Miss (Ms) Zhang". (A senior woman might be addressed as "Mme Zhang".)
• One-to-one or in a small group: "Zhang Meihua"; "Rose", or, given sufficient familiarity (or if invited by the student), "Meihua".

Student to teacher:

How will a Chinese student want to address you?

• In China a student would standardly address his/her teacher (or any staff member, male or female) as " Wáng lǎoshī", or simply " lǎoshī". Other titles such as bóshì (doctor) or jiàoshòu (professor) may also be used in formal situations, but lǎoshī (lit. "old (and therefore, respected) master") is the generic title, translated as "teacher". Hence some of your Chinese students may want to call you "Teacher" or "Teacher Smith", not realising that this sounds somewhat quaint, even childish, in an Australian university classroom. They will need to be gently advised to do as Australian students do. However -
• In China a student would never address a teacher or other person of higher standing by given name alone (or by surname + given name as above), and some students will feel very uncomfortable about calling an Australian teacher by his/her given name. If so, title + surname should be an acceptable alternative.

Student to student:

How will Chinese students expect students to address each other in English?

• Pretty much as Australian students do, except that, as above, the full name option is also available. Friends will typically use each other's given name ("Meihua"), full name ("Zhang Meihua") or English given name ("Rose"). Other options, mainly involving using kinship terms as 'titles', are available in Chinese, but do not readily transfer to English.