Job Discussion Forums

[Roger]

Maybe vikdk is a rocket language scientist or something but even he ought to have the common sense to realise he is not being employed as a professional, no matter what he is spouting forth!

Degrees and specialised knowledge are only added decoration analogous to the medals a general puts on his uniform!

Our Chinese colleagues often have more of those, and most of them are hugely unable to do the job of teaching English.

If our qualifications mattered ten percent as much as vikdk wants everyone to believe, then some of us would be changing things here for good, with the help or toleration from our superiors.

We would be instructing our Chinese English teacher colleagues, not primary school kids.

Our skills are not normally recognised as such, and our degrees don't help us either except occasionally in securing a slightly higher salary.

But we are never given responsible jobs nor the right to change what obviously needs changing in this education system!

Besides, so long as we do not need to be proficient at MANDARIN we will not enjoy the same status and respect our local colleagues do.

That's why it often - not always! - doesn't matter what kind of professional one is!

Let's say it loudly enbough for vikdk to hear: if you haven't acquired a second or foreign language to the same degree your students do, you shouldn't lecture the rest of us here with your purely theoretical academic stuff!
PRove its validity by becoming bilingual yourself!

[vikdk]

[Roger]

Vikdk,
maybe we all get the wrong impression of you, but the grapevine tells (and not just to me) you have few if any friends; care to take stock of that issue?
Maybe a little characterial self-improvement would go a long way in making your life more meaningful, my young friend!
You have, it would seem to me, painted yourself into a very unfriendly corner, and it's not the corner where all the teaching aces are. I think you are a bit lonely in your corner...

This is because you have never posted anything substantial here; correct me if you see it differently, and perhaps I will even agree with you on some of your posts as being "substantial".
But most posts we are treated to are marked by a defiant haughtiness and conceit; they seem to be proclaiming to all and sundry that our Danish Viking is the only truly trained and educated foreign language acquisition expert, a genuine educationalist.
While I for one have no reason to even remotely doubt your QUALIFICIATIONS, I do doubt your suitability from several important angles.
Whatever your academic background, you seem to be a guy full of hot air that could easily7 be released by poking a toothpick at your inflated ego! Is there anything in terms of PRACTICE, ACTION, that goes along with your relatively high "education"?

Whatever your experience or experiences might be, you are in my opinion something of a liability as an employee!

What makes a teacher? Degrees and certs? Yes - to a not insignificant extent these do matter! But these alone certainly no teacher maketh!
It would be like studying anatomy and claim you are a "physician"! You know that it takes much more than just anatomy to make a doctor in medicine, and apart from all those abstract and scientific subjects it also takes a lot of on-the-job (while being a student) experience (gathered in labs and hospitals).

So, apart from your teaching in a Shenzhen kindy, what other experiences can you provide to show us how much better a teacher you are?

Now let me tell you one thing that's a little personal: I believe, a truly good teacher is one that not only knows what he or she is teaching, but that also has PERSONALITY!

I may - perhaps again! - be wrong, but you surely do not make it easy for us to believe you are a personable, charming AND knowledgeable "teacher". Proof? Just look at all your posts of late! Can you ever post without elevating yourself to the rank of Professor Dr. Einsteinius Moebius The Great Genius of English Teaching in Chinese Kindergartens?
No? Well - that's what I meant with "characterial" unsuitability! You have one hell of an ego!

But I hold that as a teacher, you must be sociable, and who can be sociable if they are as arrogant and condescending as you always are? How do you treat your fellow teachers? How your students if you demand that everyone show their reverence to you at all times?

As for myself, vikdk, you don't know ten percent about me; apart from having more than adequate qualifications I also have a good deal more experience, gained in and outside of China proper! This includes kindergartens, secondary schools and tertiary institutions - and schools run by British and in accordance with British requirements! I have very good references, man - from international and Chinese employers!

[vikdk]

whow Roger what a head scratcher

[vikdk]

If daves is an indication of trends in the TESOL environment of China - then it's a sorry day when a fellow FT writes a post condeming another FT who aspires to follow the standards of qualified teaching through an attack on abismal unethical unregulated standards found in so many of our workplaces throughout China. What kind of applogy is it for this sorry state of affairs to pardon it away with a - "Chinese education is the pits - so shut it, attitude". If I wanted to turn a blind-eye to what is going on here - which infact is tantamount to supporting the dubious educational efforts here performed by so many of our employers in the name of lining their pockets - I would have closed my mouth a long time ago.

So how do I make a stand against appaling standards - by using my qualifications - by being able to argue my point not through some kind of amatuer gibberish and circus monkey type classroom activity, but through proffesional practice and dialouge with employers. A bit of Mandarin would be useful, but as you know Roger I always work in a pair with my translator - so that little problem is taken care of.

Now the secret to this game isn't running in with a mighty educational broadsword and slashing away at everything Chinese and alien - playing the game at least at the beginning is the key - showing effect is the next step - making people sit up and listen to see you are your own man of course is so important - prooving quality not only through the ability of students but their attitude can be a revelation - (in the case of teaching children) getting employers to have the courage to let parents actually take part in this process, and not be afraid of maketing the white face as a "you can talk to and ask expert", rather than an ornament - the last and most powerfull process involves showing how quality, real educational quality is something that is very marketable, but whose real source lies with the educationaly qualified - rather than exploitation of the easiest cheapest to find white face. All this is possible - almost 3 years with the same employers makes a difference - and ya know they havn't asked me for any British rocket building secrets yet - just questions relating to how we can help each other through the common goal of providing ever better educational standards to the kids in our charge.

So why rant so much - well I kinda like to think the reason teaching ESL in China has something to do with education - but reading many posts here its exsistence seems to have mutated into giving young white people a job while a few chinese can load up with money. Of course there are many who are starting to care - so I have no problems in shouting to the Clarkies of this world - "what's you game mate" - why paint such a rosy picture of this market place - why entice the totaly unqualified into this market - isn't this just more support for the rampart explotation that goes on here? As for Roger - well why stay here for 10 years - have you turned into a kind of FT lighthouse, which warns of rocky times for those not well fitted to this profession?

As for me - well biggest gun I've got in this game is my qualification - so why not fire bullets from it now and again - otherwise taking it surely would have been a total waste of time