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funky_dunc · Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 9 Location: Nanjing, China

I've bben on the mainland for almost a year and am thinking of going to Taiwan. Something that has really pissed me off here is the way that foreign ESL teachers are treated by the Chinese staff.

All of them that I have encountered seem to think they speak English better than a native and seem to wish we would sod off out of their country. Whenever the teachers at my school correct something the students are doing, Chinese staff simply tell them to ignore us.

The following example is what made me decide I'd had enough of teaching in China: I told a class that the phrease "In a word..." must be followed by 1 word. When they quizzed a Chinese teacher on this, he told them to ignore me and that I weas merely giving them my opinion.

I've heard similar stories about many other places in the mainland. How are attitudes in Taiwan on this subject?

Like a Rolling Stone · Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Posts: 872

"May I have a word" is often followed by more than one word. As is "In a word". I am a native speaker.

jonks · Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1240

funky_dunc · Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 9 Location: Nanjing, China

I'm a native speaker too. Correct that "in a word" may be followed by more than one word but the phrase must still draw attention to one word, i.e. "In a word, this is awful."

In China it's typical to get sentences like: "In a word, I think you will like it" which Chinese teachers say is fine even though they are wrong.

Also, may I have a word is a completely different kind of phrase to In a word. That's a bad comparison.

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

well, i'm in china as well, and i get occasional questions from chinese teachers about phrases and words that they need clarification on, but they never give me any context with which to work. they just rattle off a word or short phrase and want to know its uses and/or meanings, but have no idea how they want to use it.... so not much i can do with that..... and i tell them. if i were you. i'd just ignore the chinese teachers anyway. they arent all shining examples of what a teacher should be. some are better than others but few of them that i've seen have impressed me.

Dr_Zoidberg · Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 3:14 am Post subject:

I have found that in Taiwan attitudes vary. Is this we know better attitude prevalent at other schools, or just yours?

Often, I have encountered Taiwanese (teachers, students, and men-on-the-street) who will argue a grammatical point with me to the point of being ridiculous. Some of it is due to not wanting to lose face by having to admit they weren't using the language properly, but other times it is simply a case of "sod off".

For example, there is no point in me correcting my students' when they say orang-eeee instead of orange or eight-cheee when they mean h (I do correct them, there just isn't any point to it). That is what they are taught in public school and at home, and for them to tell grandma or their Chinese English teacher different is simply to invite a beating.

At my current school, many of the Chinese teachers are quite fluent in English. They will sometimes ask me to clarify a grammatical point, and will accept what I tell them, only questioning my answer with regards to different situations.

Recently, however, the school was interviewing Chinese teachers to fill a position and they had one applicant who wasn't behind the door telling them to get rid of me.

"Why is he here?" she asked. "You don't need a foreigner." And other such terms of endearment.

funky_dunc · Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 9 Location: Nanjing, China

Cheers.

To answer your question Dr, I think I am at a particularly bad school in this respect. Frankly the attitude of many of the teachers stinks. In other ways it's not so bad though. I am in the middle of nowhere and get pretty bad tempered myslef as a result so perhaps some of it is a result of circumstances as well as prejudice.

stillnosheep · Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 2068 Location: eslcafe

"In a word' can be viewed as an expression like 'in a minute' or 'in just a second' that does not have to literally mean 'in one[/b] word. If you wish to restrict it's usage to phrases "that still draw attention to one word" the word 'like' in 'In a word I think (that) you will like it' can be seen as the equivalent of the word 'awful' in "In a word, this is awful."

Either way Rolling Stone's usage seems to be correct, as does that of your Chinese colleages. I am also a native speaker.