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khmerhit
Joined: 31 May 2003
Posts: 1874
Location: Reverse Culture Shock Unit
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 Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2003 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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speaking of K & B---I forgot that thes lyrics used to be a major part of my everyday life::::   
Aqua
Aquarium (1997)
Barbie Girl
- Hi Barbie!
- Hi Ken!
- You wanna go for a ride?
- Sure, Ken!
- Jump in!
- Ha ha ha ha!
I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation
Come on, Barbie, let's go party
I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation
I'm a blonde single girl in the fantasy world
Dress me up, take your time, I'm your dollie
You're my doll, rock and roll, feel the glamour and pain
Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky-panky
You can touch, you can play
You can say I'm always yours, oooh whoa
I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, ha ha ha, yeah
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, oooh, oooh
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, ha ha ha, yeah
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, oooh, oooh
Make me walk, make me talk, do whatever you please
I can act like a star, I can beg on my knees
Come jump in, be my friend, let us do it again
Hit the town, fool around, let's go party
You can touch, you can play
You can say I'm always yours
You can touch, you can play
You can say I'm always yours
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, ha ha ha, yeah
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, oooh, oooh
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, ha ha ha, yeah
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, oooh, oooh
I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation
I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, ha ha ha, yeah
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, oooh, oooh
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, ha ha ha, yeah
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, oooh, oooh
- Oh, I'm having so much fun!
- Well, Barbie, we're just getting started!
- Oh, I love you Ken!
More from artist :
Aqua
More from album :
Aquarium |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2003 12:36 am Post subject: |
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YES! The Barbie song lives!
One of my friends insisted that I sing karaoke to that song. Had trouble hitting the high Barbie voice. YIKES! |
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Wolf
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 1245
Location: Middle Earth
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| Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2003 2:01 am Post subject: |
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| leeroy wrote: |
But seriously, I can understand that employers want to see what the potential teachers look like before they hire them - particularly when the students (customers) demand Barbie and Kens. |
In some cases, yes.
Well, that's why they do it - in many cases. The parents want "foreigners." Their only image of "foreigners" is Hollywood, Calvin Klein ads, internet porn (dads) . . . .
Here it's discrimination by parents, and the school has to comply or lose business. I think that this is a very sticky problem, and a very hard one to solve, as it involves changing the understanding of Second Language Education and the status of foreigners in the hearts and minds of the general populace. That might take a while. 
In the meantime, just because it's common practice doesn't mean it's a good common practice.
As Capegirl pointed out - teachers tend to be average people who age. While these factors make it unlikely for us to win Mr./Ms Universe competitions, it doesn't affect how well me can teach.
I saw this add at TEFL.com:
| Quote: |
| Applicants will be between 24 to 30 years old, and either from the United Kingdom or the USA only please,(we will be unable to answer enquiries outside of these two countries). We require lively, well spoken, and dynamic teachers to apply for these positions. Tefl/Tesol qualifications are prefered, but University degrees are essential. Please submit a JPEG photo of yourself taken in the last 3 months, together with your application. This is essential for a prompt response. |
Source: http://www.tefl.com/jobs/job.html?jo_id=11699 although it'll disappear after a while.
So Irish and Canadians all suck, eh? 23 year olds and 31 year olds as well. Oh, and don't get that writer started in on Oceana. India? Where's that? And of course every last US and UK national make great teachers.
And then we get to the photo. I don't think this school is trying to find you at the airport. Context.  |
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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| Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2003 2:49 am Post subject: |
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| Is it discrimination when places in the KSA advertise for only single men? |
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lajzar
Joined: 09 Feb 2003
Posts: 647
Location: Saitama-ken, Japan
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| Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2003 2:55 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Applicants will be between 24 to 30 years old, and either from the United Kingdom or the USA only please,(we will be unable to answer enquiries outside of these two countries). We require lively, well spoken, and dynamic teachers to apply for these positions. Tefl/Tesol qualifications are prefered, but University degrees are essential. Please submit a JPEG photo of yourself taken in the last 3 months, together with your application. This is essential for a prompt response. |
Let's analyse this,
Kensington (the advertiser) is a language school in Japan. They recruit mainly for ALT positions iirc.
USA/UK only - It may be that they only have teh resources to interview in these two countries. Setting up an interview in a country where you have no regular office isnt cheap.
Photo - Attaching a photo to a CV is standard practice in Japan, even for Japanese people. Since they are (presumably) recruiting for a board of education, that board might want to see the photo. Remember, all the board is getting to make their decision is the photo and a written report of the interview, along with a list of qualifications and experience. They'd prefer a face to face interview.
Thats the charitable viewpoint on this anyway. |
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Wolf
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 1245
Location: Middle Earth
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| Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2003 3:38 am Post subject: |
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| naturegirl321 wrote: |
| Is it discrimination when places in the KSA advertise for only single men? |
I hearbly re-qualify my statements to refer to Europe, east Asia, and North Amercia.
We both know that is even more sticky than a society that technically embraces all sorts of "liberal practices" but in actual day to day living can't be bothered with them.
My opinion on religious pracitces is irrelevant. I mean secular societies whose constitutions and laws allow for equality. In Japan it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race etc in your hiring practices.
PS I'm being cranky on purpose. The point you bring up is a very valid one, but I don't feel I can discuss it constructively.
The KSA I don't know.
Ask johnslat. |
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chinasyndrome
Joined: 17 Mar 2003
Posts: 673
Location: In the clutches of the Red Dragon. Erm...China
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| Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2003 7:14 am Post subject: |
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Discrimination? Yers. It's alive and well and living in the hearts and minds of every person. It's just a matter of degree. On the photo thing, it's not that big a deal. It's only a head shot. It's not like they're requesting any strange positions or partners.
I know that in China the local teachers provide a photo when applying for a job. It's custom and practice, so why shouldn't it extend to us, especially when it's so innocuous?
I'm not defending it because I don't care about it, but to give a few examples of why it can be okay:
A quite severely cross-eyed teacher who just scared the hell out of the kids. He wasn't a bad guy and I'm sorry that he had that afflication because he was very aware of it, but you can't have classrooms full of crying kids every day.
A really disgusting guy who wore very heavy makeup including mascara. He also stunk, which a photo doesn't reveal, and had disgusting habits but as a teacher the students were revolted by him, failed to take him seriously, and complained non-stop about his strangeness. Yes, he was wearing makeup in his photo, which he put down to 'it was professionally taken and they made me wear it'. Right.
Extreme examples to be sure. The problem with discrimination is that it changes depending on where you stand and what you want to achieve. A highly fluent and well-educated Chinese misses out on a job because you are there. Discrimination? Yep. But you benefitted by it.
A big topic with no real answer. |
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khmerhit
Joined: 31 May 2003
Posts: 1874
Location: Reverse Culture Shock Unit
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| Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2003 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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I heard about a guy in Cambodia who was ex-Army and taught the kids the aplphabet using army lingo Alfa Fox Trot Bravo etc etc... Apparently he would drink in the classroom too. Excelent. Sadly, cambodia aint what it used to be, and you cant get away with that any more.  |
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Dr.J
Joined: 09 May 2003
Posts: 304
Location: usually Japan
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| Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 2:50 am Post subject: |
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I guess like most topics, it starts out as a black and white question but devolves into various shades of gre(a)y...
No one can deny that being suitable for a job requires a certain kind of personality that fits the position as well as the right pieces of paper.
If it can be proved that you can do the job well, then you should have the job. But the fact is that some jobs will be impossible for you to do well, simply because of unchangeable factors, and especially how students react to those factors, whether it's race, religion, sex, whatever.
EFL is a business, so employers are basically pursuing a policy of 'risk management' when selecting teachers. |
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Corey
Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 112
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 6:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Dr.J wrote: |
EFL is a business, so employers are basically pursuing a policy of 'risk management' when selecting teachers. |
Excellent post Doc.
Think about this situation:
You are a manager and need to hire a teacher for a general level course.
There are two candidates. One is highly qualified and experienced woman. The problem is she is grossly overweight (140Kg) is unkept and dirty and, to be frank, scary to look at. (Think about the witch from bugs bunny haloween special if you can remember).
The second candidate can barely tell a noun from a verb, but has a good personality.
The course starts in two days - a small training course is possible.
Who do you choose????
BTW - you are also responsible for ensuring students like and recommend the course and your job depends upon students re-enrolling.  |
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shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
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| Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 12:24 am Post subject: |
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Personality is key for me...
Been stung by "qualified and experienced" candidates who have the personality of a cress sandwich (no D  ).
You may also have the problem that "qualified and experienced" candidates will be harder to train due to prior beliefs in what "good" teaching is/n't. They can also be more demanding in terms of what support they feel they should be getting because "Where I worked before...." "shadduuuuuupppppppp"
For me Corey (good post yourself), I'd go with the second candidate at the drop of a hat and give them a lot of professional support. They come with less baggage. |
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