Job Discussion Forums

[eslstudies]

I'm sure you'll find some in the Foreign Languages department of any major university or secondary school that offers Chinese languages. We've certainly got a number here in Australia. In fact, most foreign languages are taught by local teachers who've trained in LOTE. As you want names, start with Mike Willis, Principal of Adelaide Secondary School of Languages, and chief lecturer in Mandarin. He'd be on about AUD 100,000 a year.
Not that any of this will make sense to you. And what are you rabbiting on about with 250 quid a month? I earned more than that teaching in the UK 30 years ago.
Keep your mind on the job.

Meanwhile, in the Vandross v DistantRelative debate, I know which one appeals to me as the more rational and literate.

[A'Moo]

So, now you are comparing Australia (20 million people, with very few having any interest in learning Chinese) with China (1.3 billion,where studying English is mandatory for all school-aged children), and, according to your logic, the same standards should apply in China for teachers of a foreign language....
At least I admitted to not having a degree. So you know, studying tan lines in Byron Bay isn't considered higher education....

[eslstudies]

Nine years of learning a foreign language is mandatory here. Some of the teachers are native speakers, most are Australian. All are qualified teachers. Unqualified "language assistants" , native speakers who work with teacher supervision to give students oral practice, usually get an airfare and accommodation, but no salary.

Stick to what you're good at, which isn't talking about education. The gratuitous insult you included shows me that.

[A'Moo]

[eslstudies]

[A'Moo]

We'll try this again. We are talking of qualifications of people teaching ENGLISH in CHINA. And what those qualifications should be. You have remarked that people teaching English in China should be qualified, native speaking Chinese nationals. Education is no indication of intelligence...I need not talk of "exhibit A"...

[eslstudies]

I should take my own advice.

[sheeba]

[kev7161]

I took a Chinese course at my local university before coming to China - - the "beginner" level. We were taught by a man who looked to be maybe 65 or 70, native Chinese. He could speak English although sometimes it was a little stilted and sometimes his accent got in the way of understanding exactly what he was trying to say. The textbook he chose to teach from was a small, compact thing filled with dialogues and then a vocabulary list at the end of each chapter. No pictures, no written exercises and, in my opinion, far from a "beginners" text. In the first class, we had an even dozen students that eventually trickled down to eight once the semester ended. In our first class, we did go through the Chinese alphabet and learned how the letters sounded within Chinese words. After that it was a muddled mess with no direction or clearly-defined goals. Each session (2X a week) students would shout out things they wanted to learn: "How do you say this? How do you say that?" and he'd try to oblige them. He was a perfectly nice man but I felt exasperated by him in the fact that there was little repitition/review from one lesson to the next, little dialogue practice time, a joke of a testing system ("use your book if you want to!"), and the fact that what he was teaching was, again in my opinion, far beyond what a beginning course should be.

Now, by no means am I saying EVERYONE who teaches Chinese in western countries is like this BUT . . . once I arrived in China, the school where I was offered free Chinese lessons, just like most of you have been offered. Here was a handful of foreign teachers in someone's apartment with a whiteboard set up on the dining room table. No texts, no pictures, no dictionaries - - just a "teacher" who sort of knew the English language trying to teach people the language - - and most of the FTs were again shouting out "how do you say this? how do you say that?"

I am not the perfect English teacher, but my lessons (currently I'm teaching primary 2nd graders, but I've taught the teens and adults as well), tend to have a beginning, middle, and end. There is continuity from one lesson to the next and plenty of opportunity for the students to speak/practice English. I'm sure there are places in China that offer these kind of Chinese lessons - - anyone care to enlighten? In the regards to the current debate from a couple of our posters: My feeling is that there are obviously Chinese nationalists out there who have a good grasp of both languages and can teach Chinese well. Personally, I'd never be against that teacher earning his/her salary that equals their ability, regardless if their salary was higher than mine. The problem in China is not that the FTs make so much more, it's that the Chinese make so much less. At least in most Western countries, even the lowest of salaries are so much more than what your average Chinese teacher makes here. However, I would also be dismayed if I were a CT and saw some worthless FT making so much more and doing very little real teaching.

[DistantRelative]

Vandros (er I mean nathan? nathan claimed to be a shrink too!)

[Vandros]

Shawn, if thats your real name, which is really imposible to know, and who cares anyway, why is getting your way so important to you? Control of course.

It is quite obvious that I am not going to give you your way. If you had asked politely, and been nice, I would have posted all about myself. However it is just as clear to anyone and everyone that your looking for more ammunition to discredit people, nothing more. You need enemies to vent your anger on Shawn, and this is how you find them.

Accusing me of being someone else who was unpopular, is simply a desperate and obvious PR tactic to discredit me, in my short time here I have already seen others do this, when it was clear they were not the same person. I have lurked here a while and seen others accused of being this Nathan person. Perhaps if you accuse enough people you'll be right eventually.

I really do not know what your problem is, however if you pay me I'll certainly listen. Until then I am just a regular person, and I dont have all that much compassion for people like you, so I will call you a loser, which is what you are.

I dont see anyone chiming in to aid, assist, agree with you in your weird vendettas against new members, I have went through many of your posts, you have a very obvious habit of this type of behaviour. You lookd through your own posts, and disagree, oh good, yes, your in a position to be objective. What else are you going to do, agree with me tat you are indeed a loser and have objectionable behaviour?

Why cant you just leave people alone and let them post, why must you attack any and everyone who does not give you what you want? You know, often it is not what you say, but how you say it. Oh, and you said you had gotten under my skin? Clearly, I have gotten under yours. Everyone knows that a person only says that when they are talking about themselves. Your just angry that I have, so your doing a little transference. It's simply wishful thinking, nothing more. Actually I find you laughable and pitiable. That your so easily manipulated by your own out of control emotions, trust me, everyone else sees it to, your not popular you know, not in a good way anyhow.

I realise this is not about anything except your own tiny ego, getting attention, and you being a loser. I must ignore you from now on, your just looking to get a rise out of others, like an immature school boy. I will never answer another of your posts, ever, your not deserving of an answer. You should have been kind and polite.

I find it amusing you take the one time I call you anything, sad and pathetic, then point it out, when quite honestly you seem to be the lord of insults for this sight. Hypocrisy is not a good thing, nor is self ignorance. You need some heavy self analysis my young pimply faced friend. How old are you? I am done responding to you and making you feel mportant for so short a period o time. No more ego bost for you. Bye bye.

[fitzgud]

Yet once more. The bairns are fratching!

[DistantRelative]

Woot! Nothing sweeter than prying a hate-filled, venomous diatribe out of one who claims to be a "mental health professional".

Wow, in addition to refering to me as Sad, and Pathetic, you've now added Loser, Laughable, and Pitiable to the list. Your proving to be a real qualified professional. Checks in the mail, when can we start?

[eslstudies]

And I thought A Moo and I were catfighting!

[kev7161]