Job Discussion Forums

[Stevenusmc]

New to this site it is my first post so please bare with me. Just wondering if anyone has heard about CoachingEnglish.com in Venezuela. It looks like it would be guarnteed work with decent pay. If anyone has any helpful insight please feel free to comment.

Thankx for taking the time to read this,
Steven
Boston, MA

[moonraven]

Are you aware that you asked us to take our clothes off with you?

Not a good start for your first post.

It's "bear" with me, if you want us to listen to you and give some advice.

There was a person trying to use Dave's a few months ago to recruit for that place in Caracas. Check some back threads.

[ls650]

[Justin Trullinger]

With regards to coaching English- somebody was trying to tout for it here a while ago. I checked their web site, and it looks like a chance to spend a lot of time one on one with "esqualidos" and multinational employees...not my idea of fun, but their website and organisation looked legit.

With regards to baring oneself, let's get those web cams going!

Justin

[moonraven]

esCualidos.

And it has an accent over the a, but my keyboard does not make them.

[Justin Trullinger]

Si, tiene razon, gracias.

y mi teclado si hace tildes, pero nunca recuerdo donde estan...

This keyboard is so old that the letters have worn off the keys, which may excuse the accent mark...the "q" I'll just have to own up to. (Nadie ac� dice mucho -escu�lidos- y no creo haberlo escrito antes...)

Regards,

Justin

[Aramas]

[JonnytheMann]

[moonraven]

The presence of caricature gringo attitudes on this forum is what makes it very hard to resist calling attention to same--even for the most PC among us.

When those attitudes are reigned in, some of us will be more motivated to restrain ourselves.

I am not, however, holding my breath....

[Justin Trullinger]

While I think "yank" has fallen out of fashion, in my experience, except within the UK and to some extent in Australia, I am a yank. Or as the cockney neighborhood I spent several years in had it, a "septic." (Cockney rhyming slang, you figure it out.)

But does that mean I am somehow less enlightened? I don't think so...

And Aramas, I agree with your assesment of their mission statement. And even with your assesment of MBA programs. But while I don't know where you're from, can you honestly tell me that wherever it is, business school graduates there are less obnoxious? I have rarely met one who wasn't, in any country...

I guess when one is from what is perhaps the most insular culture, not only in the world, but in the history of the world, the temptation for others to stereotype must be extreme. Especially in a country that contains locations as sordid, squalid, and uncouth as Tennesee. (This is an example of sarcasm, put here for the benefit of Johnnytheman. I actually have nothing against the south, and am from an area at least as rural. Long live Dixie, as long as they quit burning crosses... )


Anyway,
It's Friday, I'm tired, and I'm rambling.

Apologies to all.

Justin

[Justin Trullinger]

This last post isn't one I'm really proud of, but I'll leave it stand as an example of what sleep deprivation can do. I do want to explain the beeps, though.

I lived for a while in east London, where the people, since long ago, and for reasons that I have never heard convincingly explained, are called by a name, beginning with "C" and ending in "Y." They are famous throughout England for using a system of nearly incomprehensible (to outsiders) slang, often involving rhyming words. For example, an American could be called a "septic," because the most usual collocation of this word is "septic tank," and "tank" rhymes with "yank." Hence, "lies" are called "porkies," Greek people "bubbles," and a lot more confusing ones.

It had never occured to me, until I saw it get beeped out, that the name of this cultural subdivision of Londoner, contains in its name an impolite term for the male member. Who knew?

Peace and love,

Justin

PS, Johnny. Sorry for the South bashing. Meant to be funny, probably wasn't...

[JonnytheMann]

I just find it absolutely pathetic that Moonraven can write about how she's helping Middle Eastern students debunk negative stereotypes about themselves and learn that stereotyping is "sick", but at the same time, she sees no hypocrisy is continually stereotyping almost 300 million Americans in the most negative terms imaginable. Then she proceeds to blame Americans for the negative American stereotypes that abound. "It's your fault that no one likes you, Gringo."

I find this to be the absolute equivalent of telling a black/Jewish/Asian/Indian/handicapped person that it's completely his fault that negative stereotypes exist about him.

Aramas can repeatedly insult "Yanks" in almost every single one of his posts, and you don't bat an eye, Moonraven. And you claim to oppose stereotypes, prejudice & racism.

But -- let me guess -- the Middle Eastern students you teach are completely innocent victims of cruel Western stereotyping and not even remotely culpable for the Muslim stereotypes that abound, right? And if a Westerner doesn't like a Middle Easterner, he's a complete racist jerk, but if the Middle Easterner hates the American, he's just being reasonable.

In my opinion, you cannot expect tolerance unless you're first willing to give it. Tolerance means tolerating the people you DON'T like, not the people you get along with.

[Justin Trullinger]

It probably isn't exactly PC, but I think this is a factor in what you're seeing as inconsistent-

Most people feel freer from suspicion of prejudice or racism when talking about a group they belong to. In the US, and elsewhere, I have often heard people use words to describe themselves that I would never use to describe them. It can be a way of reclaiming the language, but it often seems strange. (Gay people who call each other "f#g" or "queen," people who use innapropriate ethnic terms about their own ethnic group.)

I am American, as are Moonraven and many other people on various sides of PC debates on this board. We probably do feel more able to make statements about "Americans" than we would about anybody else. As a "redneck American," I guess I do feel more free to stereotype the rural US than I would many other regions. It isn't hatred, just familiarity. (I also insult my brothers in ways I would NEVER speak to a stranger. Don't tell me I'm the only one!)


Regards,
Justin

[JonnytheMann]

You have some very valid points, Justin. You can call your brother an idiot, but if someone else does, you want to beat him up. It's very normal.

I just get sick of the double standard employed by people like Moonraven. She'll champion "disadvantaged minorities", but rail against groups she doesn't like without a second thought -- all the while claiming to stamp out "stereotyping".

Laud Muslims, slander Christians.
Laud Hispanohablantes, slander Anglophones.
Laud Easterners, slander Westerners.
Laud the poor, slander the rich.
Laud Latinos, slander gringos.
Laud left-wingers, slander right-wingers.
Laud non-whites, slander whites.

Etc., etc.

I myself belong to a "disadvantaged minority" (gay). Personally I don't refer to myself as a disadvantaged minority because I find that term to be so politically charged and reeking of "victimization". I don't want or need a "crutch" in life. I get just as sick of gays who whine about stereotypes and lack of acceptance, but turn around and do the exact same thing to straight people.

I feel that PC culture has gotten so sick these days that anyone who isn't a minority of some sort is automatically labelled "the have" or the "oppressor". Heaven help you if your white, Protestant, American, heterosexual, non-handicapped, wealthy, from a "red" state, etc. You embody evil for so many people ... most of whom claim to opposse all forms of prejudice and stereotyping.

I'm pretty lower middle class, but people don't necessarily notice that cuz most 23 year olds are lower middle class apartment dwellers with roommates. LOL. So I fit all the other evils: "non-handicapped, white, Protestant, from a "red" state (though I vote "blue")". I swear, if I don't let people know I'm a card-carrying member of the f@ggot club, I get treated like an oppressor. As soon as the liberal whiners know I am gay, they're accept me into the fold of "The Victimized".

[matttheboy]