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kimo
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
Posts: 668
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 Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 1:25 pm Post subject: |
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| I graduated from teachers college in '96 majoring in elemetary teaching, hated the kids at the time. |
What makes you believe you'll like the kids this time? Teaching is worse than boring when you don't like your students. It's probably a lot like 'hell' |
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Norman Bethune
Joined: 19 Apr 2004
Posts: 731
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| Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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| tradinup wrote: |
Norman Bethune must be psychic, as he was able to derive such a large amount of information (B.S.) from a relatively simple post. I must have missed the part where he is not cut out for China, just because he works in a government job. Try asking him some questions before you come up with all the answers.
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One of the things my english teachers used to say when I was a kid was: "Learn to read between the lines."
I learned how to do that. I am not psychic. However, reread the original post. The OP stated quite clearly his thoughts, and it boils down to him being plain and simply bored with the routine he has in Canada. That's all. He is bored and frustrated and is asking if there is more to life than the drudgery.
Being bored isn't a good enough reason to come to China and teach.
I advised that the OP get career counselling, to examine why he wants to cahnge his life so drastically.
A person doesn't ask the kind of questions he did, if he doesn't have serious doubts about choosing the wrong course of action.
And I know Canadians and how they think. I used to be a Canadian until I was cured of that affliction. Most Canadians like to play it safe. The OP's introduction of himself showed quite clearly that he plays it safe. His education background, his current job, no mention of a wife and kids or messy divorce, his age, lead me to the judgement China is not for him in the short term.
I know Canadians well. I can read between the lines to what they don't say. I am very aware of their middle class expectations of what life should be....safe and quiet.
The OP needs to ask himself hard questions about what his real motivations for changing his life are. Canada is safe and boring and predicatble, some people like that. Many Canadians can't hack China for three weeks of Vacation...a year here teaching would take them to the breaking point. There are better places to work in the world as an ESL/EFL teacher than China.
Not everyone leaps before they look. Good. I hate blood stained sidewalks.
I'd rather have the poster asking himself seriously what he really wants out of life before he makes a choice he may regret.
And once again I have to state the timeless mantra: "Rhetoric, learn how to recognise it...it makes reading so much more enjoyable." |
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yaco
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Posts: 473
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| Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:42 am Post subject: Government job vs TEFL |
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I would be trying Thailand, Cambodia or Vietnam for several reasons.
1) Better climate
2) Better students in Cambodia
3) Easier Lifestyle
4) Centrally located so easier to travel.
5) Less of a language barrier
To work as an ESL teacher in a University or TAFE in Australia, you need to be a registered teacher with A CELTA certificate. |
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tradinup
Joined: 13 Nov 2004
Posts: 132
Location: Shenzhen, China
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| Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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Change your username so Mr. Bethune can stop rolling in his grave.
How about the expression: "Assuming makes an ASS out of U and ME."
Just as you infer and invent so much from his background, I can infer from your post that you have never stepped foot in College before. There's this little thing called "evidence" you are supposed to have before you make claims, let alone wild ones.
As well, try not to group every single Canadian into being the same person. This will put you on about the same level as those Mississippi rednecks that like to shoot stop signs. |
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goman72
Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 61
Location: Gosford, NSW, Australia.
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| Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2005 11:59 am Post subject: |
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Thanks everyone (Roger, Millie, etc.,) for your comments.
I am still confused about the JET role (I thought I could then teach ESL in ESL colleges after i leave japan - with that experience - but from the sounds of it, it counts for nothing for a prospective ESL career, so I'd be better off teaching at s.i.c.l. at Shanghao Uni for a year).
Thanks again,
CG |
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johnosigo
Joined: 07 Dec 2004
Posts: 10
Location: Canada, on the shores of Lake Superior
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:54 am Post subject: |
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Hi Norman, tell me what you really think!
Thanks for being brutally honest! Well, I just wanted to know if there were others who left a comfortable job to travel around the world to teach and learn something about themselves. Saying that all Canadians are the the SAME is incorrect. No, I dont drink Blue and I wouldnt be travelling the world just so that I could sit around a bar telling pickup and how many foreing girls I was with. Actually, I prefer Stella. Frankly, it doesnt matter what country you come from, everybody likes comfort and I'm sure they get tired of after a while. I dont think I am running away from anything. Maybe I am subconsiously. But I am single, no wife, kids, illegitamite kids, debt, etc., etc. Maybe YOU should be a shrink! But I do appreciate your total and unadulteraed honesty. Maybe I should just take a vacation or maybe I should just jump off the deepend and see what happens. You just shouldnt generalize about Canadians and their outlook on life, work, etc. , and thanks for taking the time to post.
John |
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Norman Bethune
Joined: 19 Apr 2004
Posts: 731
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 8:56 am Post subject: |
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| johnosigo wrote: |
. Saying that all Canadians are the the SAME is incorrect. No, I dont drink Blue and I wouldnt be travelling the world just so that I could sit around a bar telling pickup and how many foreing girls I was with. Actually, I prefer Stella. Frankly, it doesnt matter what country you come from, everybody likes comfort and I'm sure they get tired of after a while. I dont think I am running away from anything. Maybe I am subconsiously. But I am single, no wife, kids, illegitamite kids, debt, etc., etc. Maybe YOU should be a shrink! But I do appreciate your total and unadulteraed honesty. Maybe I should just take a vacation or maybe I should just jump off the deepend and see what happens. You just shouldnt generalize about Canadians and their outlook on life, work, etc. , and thanks for taking the time to post.
John |
When will people on these forums learn how to read like an educated person should be able to?
Generalizations are made in all types of written materials everyday. If a reader disagrees with the writers opinion, the first thing he does is trot out the old: "You just shouldn't generalize about that" line.
They are called generalizarions because generally they hold true.
I have lived amongst Canadians. I know what they are like from experience. I generally went against the current as I marched to my own drummer in Canada. And generally, the general attitude of the average Joe was that it was not generally accepted how I chose to live my life.
They had the jobs with the overinflated titles to go with them (Hi, I'm Stan, I am the Executive Manager of the 7/11 down at the mall). They had the cars, mortgages, wife, kids, golf clubs, and skates they used maybe five times a year. Even the lowest of the low White trash Canadian has grandiose plans which they will never really fulfill. All Canadians in the mainstrean possess a self-satisfied smugness and self-righteousness, no matter the condition of their life ("I am Canadian. The United Nations named Canada the best place in the world to live for five consecutive years").
Critical thinking is not high on the list of what Canadians do well. Risk taking is not one of the national attributes. Canadians can't even define what the Culture of the country is (tune into the CBC on any given night and a debate that has raged for the past 50 years is still ongoing). The majority are ignorant of their own nations' history. Patriotism extends only as far as having a passport with the maple leaf on it, so that the Canuck can travel to the U.S or Mexico for a "vacation in the third world".
How does a Canadian define himself? While in Canada, he will say "I'm not American." When he travels abroad he defines himself by wearing a maple leaf on every piece of clothing and slapping a flag decal on his luggage and telling the locals where he goes: "I'm not American. I'm a bourgeoise Canadian who is better educated, far more morally superior, and culturally aware than anyone else on the planet."
I was Canadian until I left for several years and gained a perspective on my nation which those who remain in Canada will never have. To use a literary device called an analogy: Sitting in a Chinese W.C. is like sitting in a Canadian W.C. Both smell of fecal matter and Urine. Anyone who has lived outside Canada for any period of time knows toilets the world over smell bad. In Canada, however, Canadians who never look beyond their own navel, think their toilets actually smell pretty darn good and want to tell the rest of the world about it.
Maybe you don't think so, but your original post revealed just how Canadian you are. It was important for you, in that Canadian way, to tell all of us here, about your "government Job" and "Education". Your career and lifestyle choices revealed more than you think. Very safe.
Reading is about analysing and interpreting what the writer is communicating. Maybe some people just read words...others can read below the surface. It's a shame so few people actually do.
Rhetoric....it's not just a word. It makes reading so much better if it is understood by the reader.
Oh, and the Canadian way is to ask for "honest opinion or advice," but when what is given is not what the Canadian wants to hear to react angrily, defensivley, and negatively. |
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Talkdoc
Joined: 03 Mar 2004
Posts: 696
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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I just happened upon this thread and have to share with you Norman, that I found your first post on this thread to be harrowingly insightful and impressively astute.
To the OP: Norman was attempting to spare you from making a major mistake in your life as a fellow countryman. I am sorry you and others missed that. All in all, I agree with his conclusions and his rationale for how he attained them.
Doc |
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beck's
Joined: 06 Apr 2003
Posts: 426
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| Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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Firstly, with a six month contract job with the government, I don't think you have all that much job security. But, maybe you do, I don't really know for sure. Do you think that they would be willing to give you a leave-of-absence for one year? If they would be willing to do this for you, as a contract employee, I would take the leave and come to China for a year and then return to my secure government job.
I am also a Canadian and I would never resign from a permanent government job. Government jobs in Canada are sinecures. My advice is to wait until they give you permanent status, with all of the bells and whistles, and then take the leave-of-absence and come to China.
Don't let others on this board scare you. Teaching in China, at least in university, is not a tough gig. I've been a teacher in Canadian public schools for a long time (I'm now on sabbatical) and compared to that work, this is a walk in the park. Chinese people are, for the most part, friendly and cooperative. You will see some craziness here but that's the same all over the world.
Ben Franklin said, "Look after the shop and the shop will look after you." That's good advice for you at this time in your life. Look after that government job and see about taking a leave. |
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