Job Discussion Forums

[7969]

for the past month, i've been asked if i will teach at this institute for the next term starting in september. the students like me, and even the dean just last week praised me as the best foreign teacher they had this past term. even last week she asked if i would return here to work in the fall.

however, i received this in an email from the administration just yesterday:

[nolefan]

[kev7161]

If you want to stay, I would suggest that you (and a Chinese interpreter) contact this Education Department and make some inquiries. If the school truly wants to retain you, then they will cooperate with you and help you out with this. If this is just their excuse to saying "bye-bye", then they will drag their heels on this.

My school is holding off on renewing anymore contracts until July 15th (when several of my fellow FTs contracts expire). I think they want to see what kind of applicants they can get and if there are any "better" teachers they can choose from. (I'm not saying the current teachers are not good, but I've posted before that some come from non-traditional foreign countries and their accents are quite heavy and makes understanding their English difficult even for me)

[prawn]

kev, i'm curious. what's a non-traditional foriegn country?

[kev7161]

The countries that MOST people associate with traditional English speakers such as Canada, England, United States, or Australia (perhaps there are a couple of others that should be included in this group?). One of our teachers comes from Nigeria, for example, and his accent is quite thick that even I have to struggle with understanding him.

[Ludwig]

'7969', for some months now I have been attempting to communicate to FTs on the Mainland that things are changing and will change even more radically very soon! All changes have been placed in writing (though most have not and will not be translated) and are available to anyone who cares to look. Unless you have the experience and qualifications laid down by the central authorities, you can not be employed as a 'teacher' (the old 'Foreign Expert' label has been dropped from all germane paperwork). You are simply one of the first to actually come across the new regulations and to comment thereon. Although at the moment it is only predominately in Beijing, the new policies are being spread throughout the entire Mainland.

What was happening was that private concerns - and government schools - were simply not following the regulations as to who could be employed as an English teacher. Now, to counter this, it has simply been taken out of their hands.

There is a reason why many Mainland concerns are advertising in India and Pakistan for English teachers (I suggest you take a look at some of their press). It is simply that it is not all that simple to find all that many from the west with a PGCE, a BA, and some form of TEFL certification who will work for (a maximum of) 3,500 RMB a month in Beijing!

[prawn]

thanks Kev. still i think if a person has clear diction, is sensitive to the needs of the students with regard to their articulation of english sounds and has the ability to impart the functions and structures of english to the students in a clear and sytematic manner, i don't think it really matters where they're from or what particular variety of english they speak (excluding creoles of course). god knows i've met many speakers from all of your "traditional" countries who whether through intent or ignorance make no attempt all to their clarify their diction when dealing with non-native speakers, and i've met many speakers from African countries who speak English beautifully. in fact i think that most Africans i've met attend much more to their diction when speaking than your average mumbling aussie pommie or yank. maybe the problem is more with your ears than with the articulation of the person in question.

love prawn.

[waxwing]

[kev7161]

Sometimes I tell my students to "listen with their ears and not with their mouths" (meaning, stop talking [Chinese] while I or another student is speaking). The same could probably be said of you Prawn. My hearing is a-ok, thank you very much. The teacher I mentioned is a nice fellow and we hang out quite a bit. I'll be sorry if the school does not rehire him. Saying that, I DO have problems understanding him sometimes (and Prawn, even though you wouldn't admit it as you come off in your postings as oh-so superior, you would have problems as well).

I really don't care who the school hires, I'm all for equal opportunity employment. I'm just saying that MAYBE my school will hire based on the applicants who are from typical countries associated with the English language (that I listed before) and, oh yeah, maybe their skin color as well - - - hey, don't shoot the messenger, it's not my fault that China is a racist country. And I know too that people from the US or England or wherever can also have pretty mumbled accents. Luckily, my speaking voice is clear as a bell and I'm white as a ghost so I'm on for next year!

[TEAM_PAPUA]

Does a BA & CELTA qualify for 'expert' status or do you now need a PGCE? I have the BA & CELTA and I'm on a green card year visa - no idea what my status is?

I'm certainly no expert! Proven by my need to ask the above questions

[prawn]

Don't be so precious kev. I'm utterly opposed to anybody shooting anybody, and given that you have absolutely no idea about me or my abilities with respect to understanding the speech of the members of that most recently described subclass of English speakers (ie the "non-traditionalists"), i would suggest you should perhaps collect a little more evidence before formulating any hypothesis in that regard. Anyway whether i would or would not have trouble understanding the person in question is hardly the point. It's the difference he makes in class that is at stake here.

Furthermore, to continually castigate students for talking chinese in class is to deny them the freedom to discuss amongst themselves the structural peculiarities of English. Yeah sure, I occasionally try to dissuade my kids from rabbitting on about what they did on the weekend or who loves who etc (unless they're doing it in English), but i find that because an acceptable (to me) proportion of what they are rabbiting on about in Chinese in class has direct relevance to the lesson in progress - students helping other students, students discussing linguistic points amongst themselves and so on - i am prepared to forego a certain amount of inane chatter.

you can have your neat rows, straight backs, bull whips and fishnet stockings. i prefer informality, chatter, irony and linguistic twists. it's amazing how much hard work they'll do when you don't ram it down their throats, stop patronising them, and stop making baseless judgements as to their lack of ability and intelligence.

love prawn

[prawn]

Don't be so precious kev. I'm utterly opposed to anybody shooting anybody, and given that you have absolutely no idea about me or my abilities with respect to understanding the speech of the members of that most recently described subclass of English speakers (ie the "non-traditionalists"), i would suggest you should perhaps collect a little more evidence before formulating any hypothesis in that regard. Anyway whether i would or would not have trouble understanding the person in question is hardly the point. It's the difference he makes in class that is at stake here.

Furthermore, to continually castigate students for talking Chinese in class is to deny them the freedom to discuss amongst themselves the structural peculiarities of English. Yeah sure, I occasionally try to dissuade my kids from rabbitting on about what they did on the weekend or who loves who etc (unless they're doing it in English), but i find that because an acceptable (to me) proportion of what they are rabbiting on about in Chinese in class has direct relevance to the lesson in progress - students helping other students, students discussing linguistic points amongst themselves and so on - i am prepared to forego a certain amount of inane chatter.

you can have your neat rows, straight backs, bullwhips and fishnet stockings. i prefer informality, chatter, irony and linguistic twists. it's amazing how much hard work they'll do when you don't ram it down their throats, stop patronising them, and stop making baseless judgements as to their lack of ability and intelligence.

sorry if the tenor of my posts makes you feel inferior kev, just stating my case.

love prawn

[TEAM_PAPUA]

That's all well & good, but am I an expert or not?

[7969]

interesting replies. regarding my case, last week i was the best foreign teacher in the college. this week i'm persona non grata. good thing actually, because it made my decision on whether or not to stay that much easier.

now i can travel to tibet for a couple of weeks, go home for one month, and start all over again somewhere else.

[Magoo]

Prawn, would you teach me to walk on water? Please? PLEASE?