Job Discussion Forums

[Lobster]

Thanks for the advice! I'll never go to Wuhan and just race through Pudong to the airport. Actually, now that I've learned about the many public dangers in China, I'm afraid to leave campus. Maybe I can hire the security guard to accompany me to the local supermarket. I thought that Nanjing was safe day or night, and now I find out that it's a hotbed of criminality. The job ad didn't mention that. It just said that "Nanjing has a history of over 2000 years." My university certainly has buildings with a history of over 2000 years.

RED

[Laoshi1950]

Wuhan dangerous? Not in my experience anyway!

I have lived and worked in Wuhan for two years and I have always felt safe in the city.

I am returning to Wuhan after the Summer holidays to work for a third year.

[klaus]

[danielb]

And, why would you need a B.Ed. or Dip.Ed. to teach at a university?

[prof]

[Shan-Shan]

Even without a BEd or Diploma in Education, I certainly feel that one who possesses an educational background which required close examination of language, a substantial TESL qualification i.e., where theories of language acquisition, teaching, courses in Applied Linguistics and a practicum were all involved, a person would be qualified for language teaching. Maybe not teaching for Mathematics or Social Studies, but certainly able to teach English. My worst language teachers all had BEds (in high school and elementary school); the best actually happened to have backgrounds in language/literature with training in language teaching.

Another factor which seems to go unnoticed in many, though not all, discussions here is the element of imagination. A teacher needs to be creative, to get students engaged in the language as users, and not mere spectators of English squirming on a series of pins attached to the blackboard. Also, teachers need to constantly be assessing themselves, their methods, and learning an array of approaches to help students through the language acquisition process at every stage. This is where humbleness is a great asset; that is, learning from those who are doing something right where you might be doing something not quite right. By talking with other teachers, and reading articles written by those in the field of TESL has been of greater benefit to my teaching than any of the courses I took on language teaching itself. The element of experience, trial and error in the classroom, has always been a part of those discussions I've had with other FTs. A frequent realization in those talks has been that what looks good on paper doesn't always translate well in the classroom.

If students are becoming able communicators in one's class, and enjoying the process while constantly improving their ability to communicate, a teacher is doing something right, regardless of the acronym after his/her name.

[vikdk]

when it comes to teaching small children then a lot of specialised pedagogical knowledge is required if a teacher actually wants to understand and reflect upon what their doing - or trying to do - in the chinese classroom. But this type of teaching is usually asighned to those who have the least experience and qualification. The result being - a kind of educational hit and miss affair - where just holding out on these jobs for the length of the contract - you know, before moving on to the next tourist destination - soon becomes far more important than any serious or professional notions of teaching standards. Which, of course, leaves this side of teaching very vunerable to McCrap species of schools who set themselves up as stepping stones of employment for those short term traveling FT minstrels who are looking for that convenience of work with very few responsibilities

[7969]

[TEAM_PAPUA]

Great post - there is nothing wrong with telling it like it is. China is a toilet and the people behave like animals, but if you like this it's fine. Just don't expect the romantic imagery you see in the movies, or the BS you watch on the Chinese tv.

China is horrible but it is one hell of an experience, one that you'll never forget

I miss the frozen black spit on the pavements in the winter, and the stinking fat half naked guys shouting in the restaurants in the summer...the 5000 years of history (surely the age of Neanderthal was more than 5000 years ago?). I miss the yellow teeth, the hairy armpits, the nylon socks, the constant repetition of moronic questions, the brown suits, the smell of the sewers, the insane month long firework bonanza, the pushing and shoving, the constant renovating of neighbors apartments, the staring and the laughing, and most of all CCTV9!

However, I must say that I always felt safe in China (apart from when I needed to see a doctor). I used to go out late at night to some very weird and wonderful places & never felt threatened.

[ColinA]

[klaus]

hilarious. two people who know next to nothing about the pedagogical apects of language teaching and next to nothing about china save for the shallow culturally retarded opinions they formed as a result of a brief and obviously fairly sedentary fling here they did once agree to agree on the veracity of each others ridiculous opinions. useful stuff.

if anything china is a great test of certain facets of a persons character. whether you like it or not and whether you stay or not is entirely a personal matter and not a valid indicator of success in the examination one undergoes here, but certainly the kind of incessant self indulgent whining and juvenile malevolance masquerading as advice one often finds on display here and elsewhere marks those responsible for the aforesaid as at best struggling on the wrong side of a passing grade in this regard.

[Lobster]

Great Cod, klaus! You certainly can be eloquent when you set your mind to it. That was a wonderful post!

RED

[Henry_Cowell]

[ColinA]

[Henry_Cowell]