Job Discussion Forums

[vikdk]

if you take his posts as entertainment they're pure masterpieces - about 25 years ago in the UK there was writer who sent the most bizzare letters to the famous and well to do, and some of these ppl actualy used to reply - in almost as equally a bizzare manner. This guy called himself Henry Root - and published a book called the Henry Root letters - it was an instant best seller - best kind of letters were ones with blatant fascist content he'd send to right wingers like Maggie Thatcher - and some of those idiots would half agree with his ideas. I sometimes get a feeling his rogerness is playing the same trick - lounging away in the sauna sipping his bordaux anf laughing at the way he winds us up. Good on ya Rog - maybe you have got it worked out - or are you realy for real?

[friedrich nietzsche]

Hi Roger,
I want more of the same if you can muster it. I have met similar types of students so I can identify with much of what you are saying. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of teaching in China is the way in which we, through our students, can gain a kind of insight into the way Chinese people think and behave.
At the risk of being accused of ripping off a good idea, allow me to add:
(1) Sarah- the mistress of a rich Taiwanese businessman who used her stunning good looks to gain financial independence. She then admirably used her financial independence to fill the many gaps in her education- although I can see why one would think she was quite lucky to have been spared the Chinese university experience. She engaged me to prepare her for her IELTS examination, and was so committed to the process that she paid me Western rates for about 18 months. She ended up getting the required grade and that was that. The nice part of it was that she was completely frank about every aspect of her life, especially regarding her motivation for learning English. As she so poetically put it, she really wanted to get away from those "fu$king Communists" because they were no better than that German guy "Alf Hitler". She justified her position as the mistress of some Taiwanese guy by pointing out that he has lots of money and she was not going back to her previous job in some factory office that paid 900 rmb per month. As much as I wished to moralize, which would have given me the twin pleasures of pontification and listening to the sound of my own voice, her brutal honesty won me over. What really had me chuckling was her assertion that it was stupid to talk about honesty in the context of an adulterous relationship. Honesty from a student is no small thing, especially in China.
So, do we have any more stories?

[friedrich nietzsche]

Hi Millie. Sorry about my earlier exhortation to niceness- it appears that you have already reached that state.

[millie]

[woza17]

No I have met Roger he has stayed in my house, he is really lovely he walked my dog down the mountain I am sure you guys would love each other. One of the reasons I speak so highly of Roger because I saw an interachange with a student, he never let up, he demanded and he got it/
Respect

[millie]

[vikdk]

I can remember an ex pupil of mine whose very name still sends me into an uncontrollable shiver. Oh my dear Eva Fu Kin - the way those pro-nouns danced off her oriental tongue would have pleasured even the strictest of FT�s. But times were hard in those days � her father � Fu Kin *beep* the baron of the local snake oil emporium begrudged me those 5 fen an hour I so ambitiously asked for, saying ��evil imperialist pig we know of your saunas and Bordeaux�. So that was the end of Fu Kin for me � things have never been the same.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

I respect the ol' chap as well.

Correct me if I'm wrong....

My image of Roger is a 50-something (possibly balding) tallish British guy who loves nature and the Chinese way of life, but also loves the English language and arguments (which keep his mind sharp in his advancing years). I surmise that we'd get along famously, and that maybe (and this is a BIG maybe), I'd become smarter by being around him...or at least more patient.

Then again, if I'm wrong, I don't want to know.

[woza17]

Roger walks the talk. I think hae has some German in him, he must have, he is quite pedantic but in a congenial way.

I have seen him go out of his way to help other FTs new to China who really didn't appreciate what he did for them, he is not balding he has a luxurious growth of hair, how shall I say, a rich auburn to a suggestion of fire.
He is not tall all but neither is he short he has a comfortable height for people who either want to look up or down on him.
As you can tell I am a big fan

[Roger]

Should I shut up or should I reply to the more snotty remarks? Thanks to all who cared to read my thread, and thanks in particular to my devoted friends! You know who I mean!

We are, I believe, talking too much about our personal gripes, and many an FT is not abvoe tinkering with facts and embellishing his or her own part while pouring black paint over the Chinese.
That's why I thought it would be a nice thing to hear about those who, literally, put us in our station, our learners.

To me, each learner is an individual; my Chinese employers usually expect me to view them as a monolithical body, identical beings. Chinese certainly don't discover the huge potential each of their huge nation has: all these nationals have to be streamlined, homogenised, rendered indistinguishable and patriotically Chinese.

One of the less enthused posters remarked my post was mainly about China's rich and spoilt; I didn't see it that way upon completing it, but alas, he has got a point there! Indeed: most of these folks are or were well-to-do, and that's why they could afford to hire me.
But to err is human, and not to err is inhuman... as a teacher I feel we should never cease to learn; I certainly have learnt many things on the job.
For example: as educationalists do you affirm the need for affirmative action in classrooms? Do you feel the materially-disadvantaged should be afforded a head start over the privileged? Do you think that would bring them justice, level the playing field?
I have indeed some very fond memories of entire classes from relatively modest economic backgrounds that were my most devoted students. I taught in a normal school in some relatively rural part of Guangdong; my students accepted with alacrity my invitation to visit my home in a gated community; they all piled into a public bus and travelled over a distance of 20-odd kms to come to my home, eat snacks, drink tea and shoot pictures, then return. Those girls (only 3 boys in a class of 40) were lovely, just lovely!
But I hold teaching is 50 percent personal chemistry and 50 percent professionalism; I try to increase the latter, which you cann't do without some harm to the former.
A parallel class in that normal school wasn't keen at all in visiting me at my home; while we had much the same classroom activities and subject contents, the vibes just weren't as good as with the others.
But the crux is: it doesn't matter whether your students hail from wealthy or poor backgrounds. JMost of us wouldn't have private students if people weren't in the position to remunerate a FT adequately. And this is the lesson I picked up here: there are extremely friendly, dependable, sophisticated urbanites in China. They can be your best friends and excellent students! It is not necessary for the State to over-protect the disadvantaged. The good students hail from both the very rich and the poorest social strata. But it's only the rich that you can get to know individually. The poor end up in those dreadful public cram schools.

[Brian Caulfield]

How can you spend so much time on this forum and teach English in China Roger? I am up to my ears with work and you make posting after posting . R U working for the China government in their foreign edification department ?
The rich kids are the most abused in China . The father is busy making money and the mother is busy spending it. The children have everything except the parents love and time . They pay everyone to spend time with their children to teach them everything from English to playing the piano. The kids are angry and don't know why they are angry . They strike out at their friends and teachers . They get the same love their parents received ( conditional love) , I will love you if you do well in school ; I will love you if you go to the best university; I will love you if you marry the right person ; I will love you if you get the good job: I will love you if you have the boy child . So any failure means the end of the world for these kids .
China is full of schools for the rich . Holden Caulfield is alive and well in China.
Thanks for your tear jerker but I just need to walk the streets here to make my heart bleed . Actually I can walk the streets any where in the world today to see mall treatment . We can thank Free TRade , George Bush and the almighty dollar. God Bless AMerica and Roger.

[hesterprynne]

I thought the posting was interesting. But I am a woman and we tend to like human interest stories- character development is more important than action in our choices of books and movies. Now, the shallower part of me wishes to have more rich students who want to bring me gifts.