Job Discussion Forums

[KWhitehead]

i taught at a CE winter camp two years ago. basically, the students learn phrases and their chinese explanation and then they yell then in chorus. it's supposed to make them more confident. they all see Li Yang as the one Chinese who's learned English as a foreign language, so he's their national hero.

i had dinner with him once (no, not a date) with some VIPs. seriously. national hero.

oh, and if you're thinking of working for them, expect headaches and sub-standard pay.

[Roger]

Yes, Super M was rigfht - I actually hesitated a moment before I typed that bloody noun; temporary lapse (remember I type faster than most if not all of you).

Back to the CE approach: I am getting quite literally sick of reading/hearing our students suffer from an inferiority complex because of their fear of making mistakes. Is that really true?
If that really were true why don't they write and speak good English? Why is their English riddled with grammar mistakes? Do they understand good English?
I wouldn't call them "shjy"; shy is something else. They do lack autonomy, self-awareness even self-confidence. BUt it would be misleading to ascribe these psychological dysfunctions to their fear of ENGLISH or making mistakes in ENGLISH; they are made into conformists that have to perfectly imitate their Chinese teachers who, as most of usknow, often are far from being ideal role-models in the use of English. Thus, the fear of our students is warranted by the rigidity of their own teachers who themselves do not feel completely at home when using English; that their own lack of self-confidence colours off on their students is natural, but to encourage these students to go on reproducing their teachers' misshapen English is doing them a disservice!
These students have the same attitude to other subjects too.

[7969]

[william wallace]

nil

[petergunn]

[saint57]

[Brian Caulfield]

Having taught Chinese in Canada , Taiwan and Korea I think that the problem is not in their speaking . They are terrible listeners . I am often in situations where I am not in the classroom and I am the only foreigner and I feel I will sufficate from the noise of people talking . I look around the room and see everyone talking at once . I wonder now ," Who is listening?" Think about it when you look at your students and half the class has on eye glasses . How many times have you seen a Chinese student with a hearing aid ? They don't test their ears here in school .
I think we need more grammar hounds from Hell in this forum . Super Mario the Nazi or Lucifer's Bitsh is doing a good job .

[vikdk]

[vikdk]

[SheZook]

Okay...have read both good and bad things about Li Yang and Crazy English on this forum and others. While I am not saying that I endorse what he is teaching (preaching?) to the masses overall, I do believe that it is a good philosophy - whether he is in it for the fame and fortune or not.
A couple of weeks into this semester, Li Yang and the Crazy English team paid a visit to our school and held a lecture for the students. I went along to see what it was all about, so for those of you who were wondering:
5000 of our students attended the whole lecture with the rest of the school popping in and out between classes. This guy can talk and he knows his stuff. He talked with the kids for almost 3 hours. He had students come on stage for demonstrations and also asked me to come up to help him with a few points. He speaks English fluently, with barely a trace of a Chinese accent or "Chinglish" as he calls it. Yes, the students worship him and yes, they all want to learn to speak "quickly, like Li Yang!" I frequently have to remind them that it is better to speak slowly and clearly than it is to speak quickly BUT...
On the whole, Li Yang's lecture had a hugely positive effect on my students. For many students, it was the kick-in-the-behind that they needed to start actively participating in classes. Since that time, I have never been short of volunteers to read passages or give speeches or perform dialogues in front of the class. They have learned that it is okay to make a mistake and they have learned to laugh at their mistakes and not be ashamed. When I notice their enthusiasm ebbing, I start to throw in a few phrases gleaned from the Crazy English lecture and also some of Li Yang's advice. This brightens them up again and we can continue the lesson. Just mentioning "Chinglish" in class always gets their attention and usually results in fits of giggles.
Obviously, there are issues that Li Yang has failed to address and his program certainly has room for improvement. But cut the guy some slack - he has done far more towards promoting English in this country than any of us could ever do single-handedly and he is doing more good than harm. Let him be.

[dajiang]

I use a kind of 'Crazy Chinese' to learn Chinese myself.

Some aspects of this method work really well for me. And I would imagine that it works well for some Chinese students learning English.

It's definitely important for FT's to be aware of Crazy English though, because many of our students are involved with it, and might need some help in understanding how to use the method effectively.

I'd say we'd have to appreciate Crazy English for what it does, and what positive effects it can have. But we'd also have to point out it's drawbacks to the students that put blind faith in CE, and end up yelling huge mistakes out loud.

Dajiang

[Brian Caulfield]

I am very happy about this man also . Chinese students are the best I have ever taught . They want to learn and I notice small things that they
do like makingnotes in my class . I never saw this in Korea or Taiwan . The kids here are enthusiastic and a large part is because of Crazy English .