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mrwslee003
Joined: 14 Nov 2009
Posts: 190
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 Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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More patience, more listening skills, more sincerity, more humility, more modesty, more flexibility, more inclusiveness, and less arrogance, less egotistical attitude, less I know better attitude, less I must get my way, less my way or the hiway, less you don't know what you're talking about, less self righteousness, less I am the expert, less you poor peasant, less your poor country, less I pity you, less freedom is better, less your system sucks,.......
More common sense? More trying to walk in your brother's moccasins?
More we are in one global village? More aware that FTs are temporary, and they are there 24/7 until the sun sets.
Your hearts are in the right places, but sometimes that is still not good enough!
Think of how "frustrated" they are with you when you are so hard to please?
Look hard into the mirror and ask "Am I really that hard to get along?"
Yet, they wanted you to be there and you wanted to be there too, to begin with.
Happy New Year!
Last edited by mrwslee003 on Sun Jan 02, 2011 2:14 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:22 pm Post subject: |
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johntpartee touches on a good point early in the thread.
That is cheating is well nigh impossible in a direct conversation with the teacher.
After my first semester gig in PRC (2003) I only took oral English jobs. To hell with wading through written work - all looking the same. Leave that to our Chinese colleagues.
Query though if johntpartee means a one on one with the student - or a conversation between two or three students which the teacher listens to?
I have found the best results with the latter scenario. Even the laziest 'too cool for school' kid responds to the chance to act. Give extra marks for suiting actions to words and use of props. |
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johntpartee
Joined: 02 Mar 2010
Posts: 3258
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| Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:16 pm Post subject: |
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| I do a one on one with the student. Your idea sounds good on paper, but I'm not sure how you do it. You have a topic you throw at them on the spur of the moment or do you give it to them in advance or do you let them decide what to talk about? |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 1:39 am Post subject: |
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I give them 3 choices which are announced the week before.
For example for the end of semester in June the choices were:
'Help me buy a new winter coat'
'Let's play basketball this afternoon'
'What shall I wear to the job interview'
The last is topical for our vocational students who are interviewed for their one-year practicums around June July.
The classes are around 50 students, so getting them through 2 or 3 at a time means I can complete the assessments - say 25 pairs, in one class (1.5 hours).
For end of year I hear the dialogues away from the classroom.
Gives me a chance to give some individual attention and thank the well- performed for their contributions. |
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igorG
Joined: 10 Aug 2010
Posts: 1473
Location: asia
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| Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 7:48 am Post subject: |
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Just remember that the OP, and many others, have lost their dignity by doing their jobs here.
| Quote: |
| More patience, more listening skills, more sincerity, more humility, more modesty, more flexibility, more inclusiveness, and less arrogance, less egotistical attitude, less I know better attitude, less I must get my way, less my way or the hiway, less you don't know what you're talking about, less self righteousness, less I am the expert, less you poor peasant, less your poor country, less I pity you, less freedom is better, less your system sucks,....... |
Has anyone practiced this on mainland? If so, how long have you been here and what have you achieved by doing so? Please, be as patient, inclusive, flexible and sincere as the message and the local employers are around. Note that I know some that've bought homes and even cars in the country, which may prove they've listened, were flexible, or less arrogant. It seems the above message is like a humongous sandwich with just about everything in it. Who do you feed that with?
Then, this
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| More common sense? More trying to walk in your brother's moccasins? |
Common sense on mainland 
Finally,
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| More we are in one global village? |
One amazing jiao zi 
Happy New Year to all that won't sell themselves short in the country which gives little respect to foreign experts |
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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5782
Location: Coastal Guangdong
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| Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 8:03 am Post subject: |
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| igorG wrote: |
Just remember that the OP, and many others, have lost their dignity by doing their jobs here.
| Quote: |
| More patience, more listening skills, more sincerity, more humility, more modesty, more flexibility, more inclusiveness, and less arrogance, less egotistical attitude, less I know better attitude, less I must get my way, less my way or the hiway, less you don't know what you're talking about, less self righteousness, less I am the expert, less you poor peasant, less your poor country, less I pity you, less freedom is better, less your system sucks,....... |
Has anyone practiced this on mainland? If so, how long have you been here and what have you achieved by doing so? |
sure, those of us who keep our jobs from year to year routinely practice things like doing our job, not showing up drunk or hungover, showing up on time and not shooting our mouths off wildly about stuff that is sure to inflame relations between locals and foreigners. been doing that for about six years now. and what have i achieved? among other things, I've kept my job for five years running, and I've earned the respect of the students and local people. some other posters may want to try this sometime. |
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El Chupacabra
Joined: 22 Jul 2009
Posts: 378
Location: Kwangchow
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| Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 8:15 am Post subject: |
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| igorG wrote: |
| El Chupacabra wrote: |
| igorG wrote: |
| But keeping the nation fed, misinformed and ill educated is probably the best way to stay in power. |
Sure, that's exactly how it works in my native USA. Why should the PRC act differently? |
| igorG wrote: |
| I agree the US nation has been misinformed but ill educated? |
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Yes, ill educated. We have spent far too many resources teaching students about social justice than how to apply math and science to solve problems. Hence we now have a nation of whiners, enablers, and welfare bums.
We keep ourselves fed the same way the PRC does, by redistributing earnings and pumping enough back into the economy so that inflation doesn't get too wacky. Every quarter, each country pads the official statistics so that the economy doesn't look the spiralling abyss it really is. This triggers a folk perception of stability during harsh times, which buys the totalitarian Democratic and Communist parties the power they need to rule their subjects.
In both countries, the mass media and government work in cahoots to maintain this same totalitarian rule. Hence both citizenries are also ill-informed.
| igorG wrote: |
| However, the American education is open and flexible unlike the Chinese one. |
If you are at all out of step with U.S. academe's dominant progressive philosophy, the doors of scholarship are indeed closed to education. Best a conservative scholar can hope for is an adjunct teaching post, or to move offshore.
| igorG wrote: |
| Mainland high school kids, for example, don't get their chances to research topics of their subjects taught, and so they only get one view on the limited amount of information and that from their "carefully written textbooks" and "well textbooks prepared local teachers'. |
That's because PRC high-school is only about success in one thing: the Gao Kao. There is no time for research. This problem, IMHO, is not direct political indoctrination, but the test tail wagging the academic dog. On close analysis, I would agree that this is a form of indoctrination, but through omission of alternative answers and possibilities rather than direct brainwashing.
All of my freshman uni students write dialogue journals continuously. There is more diversity of political thought than you might think. Not all of them are in lock-step with the Party. Nor do they get very excited memorizing the Youth League Constitution or getting up early to raise the flag. But one thing in common is exhaustion, a recognition that they are caught up in a system that sucks their time and energy while insisting on Party loyalty and high exam scores.
| igorG wrote: |
| The American higher education equips its graduates with much of the practical knowledge they need for their future jobs unlike the mainland one, and then it opens the door wide to all the research students need which allowes them to greatly widen their views on subjects studied. |
While I agree that the USA educational system is superior in many ways, your points are incorrect. The USA model, until very recently, has not been about vocational preparation. By contrast, PRC employers give more weight to exam scores than practical knowledge. Back to the test tail wagging the academic dog.
USA public university systems include one or two research campuses per state, where research is funded and encouraged. In the PRC post-doctoral students will be steered toward research for state-controlled companies.
| igorG wrote: |
| This also allowes many students having studied one subject to be "ununiformly smart", meaning each of them may be quite different with what he/she has learnt. On the other hand, look at the mainland uni grads that have "uniformed views ", and "uniformly limited knowledge" from their higher education. They sure are obedient and can follow whatever they have to, don't they? |
Back to the high-stakes exams that wag the dog. Chinese students may actually be trained to be "uniformly complacent", and whether that's a uniform smartness or a uniform stupidity I'll let others be the judge. This uniform complacency, however, is not much different than that of the average weasel office worker in a USA corporation.
| igorG wrote: |
| How can this country ever blend in with the rest of the developed world? |
A valid question that begs other questions, which, I might suggest, would be good prompts in an English class for Chinese students. By UN standards, China is a developing nation, not quite up to snuff. Hasn't China been a part of the world for centuries now? And what does it really mean to be developed?
I certainly agree with you about your basic points, but don't see such stark differences in the abuse of power in either the USA unofficial totalitarian context or the PRC official totalitarian context. Nor do I see such stark cultural differences. Power and education are intertwined in any political system.
I think one way we can work to solve some of these problems is to encourage critical and analytical thinking. As students use language to articulate their thoughts, they not only develop the surface-level language skills they need to pass state-mandated exams but they also develop a deeper understanding of themselves and their societies. Keep in mind that even the Communist party encourages periodic reflection and self-criticism. Odds are that a handful of our students will become leaders, so if we enable them to be more critical with their language arts than we will make a positive difference.
But that's up to them. For critical pedagogy to work, we have to let our students transform their own worlds. We are merely visitors here. |
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mrwslee003
Joined: 14 Nov 2009
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you Dave, for providing this forum for the free flow of ideas. And none of us need to worry about the midnite police visits. Am I right, Dave, Dave? 
The answer of course, must come from within yourself, I am afraid. Remember you were all smiles when you first got here and they were all smiles when they first met you. What happened between then and now? Only you know.
And not just you are frustrated with them but they are just as frustrated with you! Do you think they hired you just so they can make you mad?
I am sure they don't use their money that way. But your opinion is different, right? |
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igorG
Joined: 10 Aug 2010
Posts: 1473
Location: asia
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| Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:46 am Post subject: |
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I've got to join and say thanks for the free flow of ideas here as this is a truly valuable and, I must say, quite intelligent debate on. I hope FTs, and us, will use the points here to live and work with them not only on mainland China but in any foreign country.
With regards to FTs and their dignity on mainland China, it seems that some here are suggesting to digest whatever we are being fed with in the region. In return we get to keep our jobs, and earn the respect of students and local people. So, at work and off work, what are we to digest exactly?
Professionally, it all begins with the ambiguous dealings and agreements that are supposedly legally binding. Then, it goes through some compromising experiences, where we have to cope with poor or absolutely no employer planning as well as scarce support and unreasonalbe requests. Finally, it ends at a rather informal and manipulative evaluation which is often to suit employers' needs. Does this sound like an acceptable meal at the table and have we seen such tables as much in the "more developed nations"? Should we just say; "Let's stop complaining and agree to more of such tables around?"
In our free time when we want to enjoy the culture and whatever we have earned during working hours in the country, it usually starts with excitement, which then more often fades into further frustration and complaining that most often leads nowhere. Have a look on the local leaders, business people and their managers that so resist taking responsibilties for their shortcomings that affect so many people, FTs inclusive. Sure locals are much more tolerant than many of us are and that's probably why this so dull environment has not and most likely will not change. Again, should we all just eat what's prepared for us without providing any feedback?
So, where does this obedience and complicity lead us all to? From what I have seen, it leads us to the employment offered, where we either agree to be abused or else, and then it takes us to the places where we spend our hard earned money on low quality of products and services that we have to also agree to 'cause they are "uniformed" around. Questioning where our taxes have gone to in this country may then earn us a lot of frowing, loss of jobs, rights to the visas or even deportation. Do the more developed countries look like this really? Is this how the world should look like?
On the end, tomorrow is yet another day, and we get back to work as well as our exciting lives outside and around the country. We'll keep on losing our dignity either at or off work. We'll agree to pass our students unconditionally, because that's what the foreign experts are to do in the country. We'll allow our employers and their "dogs" to shove their little testiiicleess up our rear end, because we get paid and especially because we need to keep the market going. Just imagine what would happen, if FTs gigs in some countries like this one shut down suddenly? What would that mean to our own countries too? Honestly, don't we really want to try? Or have we already given up? |
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