Job Discussion Forums

[ChinaMovieMagic]

At English Corner recently, when a student gave the standard "modernize" robo-talk, I asked him if he knew what "post-modernism" is. He said no, and I started to explain. He answered quickly "Yes, I understand." Then I gave him a playful orangatan harangue: "Only words that you say! You students don't know! You haven't suffered the loss of hope!..."

Yes, I know they've experienced their own form of loss...and cynicism...but it wasn't a post-modern one...

As a newcomer on this Forum, I'm struck by the sense of...what may be called...cynicism...or is it "post-modernism"?

The responses to the recent "What do you like about your school?" still revealed much frustration. Here for 5 years, I personally wouldn't accept such long-term gnawing bitterness. Either I have changed my environment/school, or I have changed my consciousness...until I could change my school. Folks who do anaerobic boozing/smoking/clubbing...without some good-vibe aerobic exercise (Tai Chi keeps me sane) can become all-too-easily polluted/cynical.

With luck, we'll be creating an aerobic non-school English (and Chinese)learning environment at a very-large high-QC Children's Palace here in Sichuan, one which can meet Bertand Russell's 1930 QC:
"The cure (for cynicism)will only come when intellectuals can find a career that embodies their creative impulses."

http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Russell/on_youthful_cynicism.html

On Youthful Cynicism
Bertrand Russell
c. 1930
Any person who visits the Universities of the Western world is liable to be struck by the fact that the intelligent young of the present day are cynical to a far greater extent than was the case formerly. This is not true of Russia, India, China or Japan; I believe it is not the case in Czechoslovakia, Jugoslavia, and Poland, nor by any means universally in Germany, but it certainly is a notable characteristic of intelligent youth in England, France and the United States. To understand why youth is cynical in the West, we must also understand why it is not cynical in the East.

In China hatred of England has also played its part, but a much smaller part than in India because the English have never conquered the country. The Chinese youth combine patriotism with genuine enthusiasm for Occidentalism, in the way that was common in Japan fifty years ago. They want the Chinese people to be enlightened, free and prosperous, and they have their work cut out to produce this result. Their ideals are, on the whole, those of the nineteenth century, which in China has not yet begun to seem antiquated. Cynicism in China was associated with the officials of the Imperial regime and survived among the warring militarists who have distracted the country since 1911, but it has no place in the mentality of the modern intellectuals. ..


...If this diagnosis is right, modern cynicism cannot be cured merely by preaching, or by putting better ideals before the young than those that their pastors and masters fish out from the rusty armory of outworn superstitions. The cure will only come when intellectuals can find a career that embodies their creative impulses. I do not see any prescription except the old one advocated by Disraeli: `Educate our masters.' But it will have to be a more real education than is commonly given at the present day to either proletarians or plutocrats, and it will have to be an education taking some account of real cultural values and not only of the utilitarian desire to produce so many goods that nobody have time to enjoy them...
...The rulers of the world have always been stupid, but they have not in the past been so powerful as they are now. It is therefore more important than it used to be to find some way of securing that they shall be intelligent. Is this problem insoluble? I do not think so, but I should be the last to maintain that it is easy.

[ChinaMovieMagic]

More from Russell:
>>To the sophisticated youth of the West all this ardour seems a trifle crude. He is firmly persuaded that having studied everything impartially, he has seen through everything and found that there is `nothing left remarkable beneath the visiting moon.'
There are, of course, plenty of reasons for this in the teachings of the old. I do not think these go to the root of the matter, for in other circumstances the young react against the teaching of the old and achieve a gospel of their own.
If the Occidental youth of the present day react only by cynicism, there must be some special reason for this circumstance. Not only are the young unable to believe what they are told, but they seem also unable to believe anything else. This is a peculiar state of affairs, which deserves investigation.
Let us first take some of the old ideals one by one and see why they no longer inspire the old loyalties. We may enumerate among such ideals religion, country, progress, beauty, truth. what is wrong with these in the eyes of the young?<<

[Old Dog]

CMM, re the "aerobic non-school English (and Chinese)learning environment at a very-large high-QC Children's Palace here in Sichuan", will you be recruiting staff to help get the venture off the ground?

Will it be a "for profit" venture? What qualifications are required and can you give an estimate of what the salary and workload are likely to be?

Do you require that recruits be like-minded people, i.e. in tune with your vision? Or can anyone with a holistic outlook and at peace with his inner being apply?

[laodeng]

CMM, do I understand correctly that you have been teaching in China for five years?

[ChinaMovieMagic]

Yes, I've been here for 5 years...started in BJ at U. of Int. Relations and BJ Broadcasting Institute, then Zhuhai's Gateway&TPR/Shanghai/Suzhou/WenLing (Zhj)/Wuhan/Shenyang.
Now is the time to develop a base, roots, family...stake out a territory w/stong English teacher Market...and leverage profit-sharing.

Yes, a key element is to have folks w/spirit and healthy vibes...especially for the kids at the Cultural Palace. Elsewhere, at the Institutes/Universities/Secondary schools...that's up to the school folks, of course.

Another key element is to have ethical standards...rather than being cynical Machiavellianists---"screw or be screwed." Many of us have been ripped off by schools--both local and foreign.

BELOW are some principles/practices of Movie Magic. Of course, only some elements are practical in the classroom. What I aim for is an Intensive Language Learning Environment, with many activities going on at the same time. Here at Sichuan U's ILTC (www.iltcscu.org) it's NOT INTENSIVE...just a classroom environment. With luck, we may be able to do some sort of mini-branch experimental project w/them. Mayber not. But certainly the market is there for INTENSIVE. I've asked the folks to look for a place for Summer (and perhaps long-term)Camp at famed JiuZaiGou in N Sichuan.

==============================================

Key Principles

*Second language acquisition occurs when
comprehensible input is delivered in a low-anxiety
situation, when real messages of real interest are
transmitted and understood.
(Krashen)

*A very interesting hypothesis is that we learn best
only when the pressure is completely off, when anxiety
is zero, when the acquirer's focus is entirely on
communication; in short, when the interchange or input
is so interesting that the acquirer 'forgets" that it
is in a second language.
(Krashen)

*It has become evident to many teachers of ESL
students that most of the available texts and
materials are based on artificial sequencing of
grammatical structures and stilted, often irrelevant,
dialogues and topics.
(Rodriguez and White)


Key Elements

*high ratio of native/advanced English speakers to
English learners

*a bilingual Mandarin-English environment--bringing
together Chinese interested in improving their
English, as well as foreigners

*a variety of activities available for the
participants
(1)free conversation
(2)viewing/discussion of movie/movie segment
(3)discussion of movie reviews
(4)movie-based role plays
(5)a wide range of other activities--Theatre Games,
discussion topics, public speaking training, Karaoke
singing


One difficulty with English conversation
centers/corners is that the unstructured dynamic
frequently loses focus. The members and conversation
partners often experience the awkward feeling of a
first date--trying to think of things to say, having
uncomfortable periods of silence, wishing they were
somewhere else.

DVD movies will be an essential element for this project.
All members will share the experience of viewing the film, so conversation will have a common focus. In addition, we can offer:
*a wide range of movie reviews for each movie--promoting vocabulary development/critical thinking/active discussions
(available at www.imdb.com)
*movie scripts (available at www.script-o-rama.com)

Over the years, L2 teachers have developed a wide range of communicative techniques based upon the creative use of movie segments, such as:

VIEWING COMPREHENSION (with sound off)
DIALOGUE BUILDING (with sound off)
AURAL ONLY PREDICTION (with sound only)
PREDICTIVE VIEWING--What will happen?
REVERSE PREDICTION--What happened before the sequence seen?
JIGSAW VIEWING (Only half the viewers see the sequence, and they relate it to those who haven't. Replay it to compare.)

Such approaches can create an enhanced learning environment, in harmony with Krashen's principles:
*A RICH VARIETY OF COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT
*A LOW-ANXIETY SITUATION
*REAL MESSAGES OF REAL INTEREST

A short (1 to 3 minutes) close-captioned movie segment offers the learner a synergistic schemata of opportunities for comprehensible INPUT. The visual images themselves are comprehensible and are stored
in the students' memories as EXPERIENCES, rather than as a language lesson that must be "studied/learned" because the teacher will test the students for their ability to "remember" the lesson.
A schematic tapestry of English words becomes associated with the movie's images and emotions. Plot, character, emotion--these are the 'hooks' by which the language becomes comprehensible input and stored intake. This dynamic is quite different from the artificial approaches typically used--vocabulary lists, linear progressions in grammar complexity etc.)
To use another metaphor, the memories of the movie segment can be seen as gravitational schemata which can attract and retain words associated with the images. As the learner thinks of a scene, an
ever-expanding constellation of words and sentences can become linked in the memory with a pleasant (LOW-ANXIETY) experience, rich with REAL MESSAGES OF REAL INTEREST. As the learner thinks of one character,
a tremendous variety of adjectives and actions can become part of the schemata.
This is in harmony with the episode hypothesis, which states that "text (i.e. discourse in any form) will be easier to produce, understand, and recall to the extent that it is motivated and structured episodically...these ideas lead to the supposition that perhaps second language teaching would be more successful if it incorporated principles of good story
writing along with the benefits of sound linguistic analysis." (Oller)
In addition to discussion of the movies, Members and Dialogue Partners will also be active in role play based upon the movie segments. In Why Drama Works: A Psycholinguistic, Susan Stern at UCLA brings together
a wide range of research relating to the power of role play for creating an enjoyable and effective second language environment:

*MOTIVATION "The purposefulness of dramatic activity
can provide a strong instrumental motivation for
language learning...Moulding emphasized that drama
provides the context for a meaningful exchange in
which participants see a reason to communicate, and
focuses on 'how to do things' with the language rather
than on merely 'how to describe things.' Malley and
Duff explained that language teaching has tended to
kill motivation by divorcing the intellectual aspects
of language (vocabulary + structures) from its body
and emotions, limiting instruction to the former.
Dramatic techniques restore the body and emotions to
language learning, thereby restoring emotion."

*SELF-ESTEEM "An analogy between acting and martial
arts suggested by Via explains one way in which drama
helps self-confidence. Just as a yell accompanies the
strike in order to build the confidence and increase
the energy of the attacker, so a strong and clear
voice (necessary when performing) gives the language
learner confidence. Drama also raises self-esteem by
demonstrating to L2 learners that they are indeed
capable of expressing themselves in realistic
communicative settings."

*SENSITIVITY TO REJECTION "L2 learnwers who are afraid
of what others may think of their less-than-perfect
comand of the language will be inhibited in using it.
This is especially true of adults. Several educators
have found that drama creates a
non-threateningsituation which can reduce and even
eliminate sensitivity to rejection."

*EMPATHY 'Guiora explains that emphathic capacity is
dependent upon the ability to partially and
temporarily suspend the functions that maintain one's
separateness from others (usually called ego
boundaries)...Guiora et al. hypothesize that ability
to approximate native-like pronunciation in a second
language is related to the flexibility or permeability
of one;s ego boundaries.

*SPONTANEITY "Mann explains that persons in the
spontaneous state completely forget the existence of
the audience or cease to be completely about its
reactions,,,'In varying degrees the person in such a
state acts as though inspired. He draws on resources
which neith he nor his friends may have thought he had
at his disposal.' If this state can be induced in L2
learners via drama, the usual gap between thought and
statement which ceases to exist in the native
language might cease to exist in the second language
as well."

[ChinaMovieMagic]

The Children's Palace has all its classes on weekends. Folks can teach up to 8 hours a day on Sat&Sunday...and also in the Kindergarten according to negotiation. The hourly pay is over 100RMB/hour.

The university pays 111RMB/hour. They provide individual offices for FTs. They need 1 FT next semester, and 4 in the Fall. If we FTs can present a "united front" and supply the FT needs to this city/surrounding area, we can make more favorable deals. I certainly welcome folks savvy to nitty-gritty real-world dynamics. I was friends w/the MA-PA team at Hangzhou's WWW.CHINATEFL.COM, and saw the (raw) power they can exercise. We can create a "kinder-gentler" approach, including offering unofficial small-scale crash-pad hostels for backpackers...who barter their English skills in exchange for accomodation/meals/trips. This keep expenses down, and allows classroom teachers to have actual CONVERSATIONS, rather than monologues, with new folks always passing thru. These are all VALUE--ADDED components.

There are several bi-lingual schools

[ChinaMovieMagic]

MOVIE MAGIC SEE&SAY

BELOW is a transcript of a (SHANE--Suzhou)Saturday morning class of
12 learners viewing/verbalizing the British classic movie �How Green Was My Valley.� (At a certain stage of development, learners may come to see this sequence as a metaphor for the coming cultural transformation�the
flooding of patriarchy.)
With this class of young teen-agers, the focus is
upon describing what we are seeing, particularly upon
using action verbs linked with actions in the movie
scene. Once the sequence is stored in the students�
memories�in a visual and episodic format, rather than
as words�then the learners engage in oral training
while sitting in pairs facing each other�either in 2
lines, or in clusters of 6 learners. Various oral
training exercises can be selected by the students:
(1)Say and Do�one learner relates the story, while the
partner performs the action
(2)Do and Say�process is reversed
(3)Chinese�English and English�Chinese One learners
relates part of the scene in Mandarin (or English) and
then the partner translates into English (or
Mandarin).This approach is in the tradition of
Community Language Learning, but the
movie-segment/story narration element is my own
adaptation.
(4)Sequence Narration�partners take turns relating the
story, either as a whole, or piece-by-piece
Community Language Learning uses a tape recording of
the students oral production.
At the Movie Magic program in Hangzhou�s Innocent Age
Book Bar, tape recordings of the various learners� oral
activities will be made and copied for the learners,
enabling the learners to deepen their memory
impressions by listening to the lively exchanges
between themselves and their fellow group members
The role of the teacher is to move around the
room�listening�encouraging�serving as a catalyst rather
than a judge, and to keep the learners�and the
process�moving. After a few minutes, when the
partnership oral process has reached its climax (or
just before), then the teacher has the partners
circulate�either in a clock-wise or a counterclock-wise
fashion�to a new set of partners.
TEACHER: And then everybody was..
A STUDENT: Scrub
T:Scrubbing�everybody was scrubbing�they all were
scrubbing themselves. And then�.
S: His wife..
T: His wife�OK�His wife�what?
S: His wife was going
T: Not going.
S: �was pouring
T: What did she do before that? She�
S: �came.
T: She came�?
S: beside�behind
T: �Behind��very important! She came behind her..
S: Her husband.
T: And she had
S: bucket.
T: A bucket of water in ..
S: In the hand.
:T: And then she ..not yet. What is this? She..
S: Pour
T: No, this is pour�.li.(showing actions)
S: Lift
T: Lifted�.Lifted up the bucket, and.. then she
S: Pour
T: Poured the water on �
S: �on her husband�s head.
T: And then she�
S: �Enter into her house.
T: And then..all the
S: All the sons laugh
T: �were laughing .And then he �he ..
S: He is surprised.
T: He was surprised.
T: And then he �
S: He was angry.
T: And then he..
S: Looked around.
T: And then, they �
S: They turned back..
T: They turned back, because�they did not..
S: They did not want ..
T: �want their father to see them laughing at him. They
turned around because they did not want their father to
see them looking at him.