Job Discussion Forums

ecocks · Joined: 06 Nov 2007 Posts: 899 Location: Gdansk, Poland

has its own thread as of yesterday. I'll post over there, it needs to begin building some history.

saral · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Posts: 32 Location: New Zealand

Ok Sadebugo, I'm really happy you've found a position that suits you and your lifestyle. Pay no attention to the sanctimonious, small-minded judgers. These are people who have obviously not "had it hard" and can afford to be what they consider moral and high-minded. How nice for them. As John Slat has said, may their good fortune hold. Sadebugo has found what all seek...security. This is a human right and he/she has it at DLI. (I also spent yrs. in Monterrey during high school (the 60s) and we called DLI the spy school) Not only security, but his/her other loves, travel and teaching. I'm envious of that package and who wouldn't be?

We're not thick and are perfectly aware that the US govt. has removed people's human rights in our country (under our very noses-shame on us) and in other countries. Yes, yes, we all know many of the atrocities perpetrated by our illustrious govt, but that is not to say there are not good and decent federal employees working away quietly to do what they can to build bridges between other, often oppositional, people. What better way to reach out and mend breaches than teaching?

Right now there are federally paid socio-anthropologists, in uniform though unarmed, walking the streets of the most violent towns in Iraq with ground troops. They are meeting, drinking endless cups of tea in local homes and talking with the embattled, trying to strike some human balance between booth sides. And guess what ? It's working... slowly. Teachers are respected in some cultures and, though not so valued in ours, they are often met with more open-mindedness and worth in other cultures.

Sadebugo, good on you, mate. I saw your first post and hurried to jump through all the application hoops to add my name to their waiting list. Texas? OK, I can handle that. Working with "The Man"? I can handle that. Enduring madcap Christian fundamentalist attitudes and comments? Bring it on. I've gone through enough hard times without 'security' and I know of what I speak...it ain't for sissies. I and my children only sleep well when we know we are safe and have food in our stomaches. Security is many things to many people but to me it is the right not to be hungry, and to have a roof over our heads and not to live in fear... If I get a job someday with DLI I will consider myself one of the lucky ones who have been able to make a choice, because that's what human rights is about...having choices. At this point, so what if I give up some of my naive and privileged views about what people should and shouldn't do or who they should work for. It's all about survival, mate....economics plays a huge part and don't you forget it.

Ernie Cuba · Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 24 Location: Amsterdam

I'm sorry, maybe I'm missing something. Doesn't the fact the job is in the US automatically exclude it from the 'best job in EFL' title?

And Texas? Great place for Islamo/xenophobic narrow-minds. Am I wrong?

johnslat · Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:02 pm Post subject: Do you speak Texan?

Dear Ernie Cuba,
Well, I've got to admit you have a point. The job's being in the USA would mean it's ESL rather than EFL (though some might contend that "Texan" is a "foreign language.")
As for your second comment, well, if one were fond of generalizations, then one might be tempted to agree. However, having known too many xenophilic, open-minded individuals from the Lone Star state (Molly Ivins is a good example see links below, please), I'd be wary of making so all-inclusive a statement.

http://www.creators.com/opinion/molly-ivins.html?columnsName=miv

http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/54096/

Regards,
John

ecocks · Joined: 06 Nov 2007 Posts: 899 Location: Gdansk, Poland

gaijinalways · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 2279

Could it even be EAL (English as another language or additional language) or ESOL (English for speakers of other languages)?

rusmeister · Joined: 15 Jun 2006 Posts: 867 Location: Russia

One interesting thing in the opposition above of 'xenophobic'/'xenophilic', especially terms with the word 'phobia' thrown around lightly - it assumes an either hate-it-or-love-it dichotomy, with the assumption of the former being hate based on fear (ie, irrational opposition).

It ignores the possibility that people might love their own country (labeled 'xenophobic') or hate something (like homosexuality, and thus labeled 'homophobic') and have rational reasons for doing so. Of course, there is irrational opposition to these things, but most people miss, deliberately or otherwise) the existence of an opposition that has thought things through.

I just hate seeing terms like 'phobia' thrown around - the purpose is most often rhetoric aimed at casting opposition as irrational.

That said, I may live abroad, but I'm not so xenophilic as to give up my US citizenship! Oh yeah, and I have one of the best jobs in EFL! Smile

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:25 pm Post subject:

Sadebugo · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 524

How in the world did it come to this? Someone critiquing my use of 'EFL' vice 'ESL?' Someone trashing all of Texas and its inhabitants?

Please people! All I really wanted to do was to make everyone aware of a good job opportunity. The subject line was not meant to be taken so literally. Who can say what is absolutely the best job. Take it or leave it. I've put it out; it's up to youuuuu if you want to pursue it. Let's move on, please!!

wildchild · Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 519 Location: Puebla 2009 - 2010

move on then, mate!

and Saral, if you think that the teachers, the anthropologists or any individual can somehow change the military into some kind of philanthropic institution then your sadly mistaken.

Once "stability" has been brought to Iraq and the population has been "pacified", it will be back to business as usual if the neo-cons have their way: massive layoffs, privatization, deregulation, high poverty, and rule with an iron fist.

If you want to jump on the bandwagon of war profiteering, then you're right, that's your choice.

Ernie Cuba · Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 24 Location: Amsterdam

My point was, that surely, the best job in EFL/ESL is not in a country which is steadly snowballing into facism? Surely, it is not in a country where the majority of the population recieve their news on the outside world from Fox? Surely, it is not the country that I and others awaken from, screaming?
You did look on the other sections on the furom before you declared Texas as having the 'best job in EFL', right? You did see that there are also jobs in South East Asia, the Caribbean and the South Pacific?
Texas!? Thanks for the heads up, Sadebugo!

johnslat · Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:06 pm Post subject: The Fox and the Grapes of Wrath

Dear Ernie Cuba,

"Surely, it is not in a country where the majority of the population recieve their news on the outside world from Fox."

"Fox vs. everyone else

Fox News Channel, then, is so far neither the choice of most people who watch cable news, nor the more successful business model. But the perception that Fox is "trouncing" CNN --based largely on the fact that the number Nielsen releases to the public emphasizes heavy viewers--is of great use to Fox , which trumpets these ratings as a vindication of its partisan, "fair & balanced" approach to the news. Reacting to a guest's charge that Fox had a right-wing bias, Brian Kilmeade, co-host of the successful Fox & Friends morning show (2/25/03), boasted: "Then what does that say about the country when they made us No. 1?"

But even in the limited sense of average hourly watchers, Fox is only No. 1 among 24-hour cable news channels. Fox , like CNN , now reaches about 4 of every 5 television households, so comparisons with broadcast news shows are increasingly valid. And among all television news sources, Fox 's performance is nothing to brag about.

The O'Reilly Factor is the best-rated show on Fox , with about 2 million viewers a night (Daily Variety , 12/5/03). CBS Evening News , the least-watched broadcast network evening news show, routinely gets four or five times as big an audience, and that's seen as a ratings disaster. Fox 's flagship news show, Special Report with Brit Hume , gets a million viewers on a good night-a few thousand more than the local newscast of New York City's WNBC (Hollywood Reporter , 10/1/03; Nielsen).

Fox likes to position itself as the alternative to all the other news that's on TV. As Fox News president Roger Ailes likes to claim (New York Times , 6/24/01), "If we look conservative, it's because the other guys are so far to the left." If it's true that news can be put into two categories--Fox and everything else--then when Special Report airs, everything else beats Fox by at least 30 to one. "

I can't comment on "a country which is steadly snowballing into facism (sic)" or "the country that I and others awaken from, screaming?"
since those are opinions.
However, I would compliment you on what I see as a gift for hyperbole.

Regards,
John