Job Discussion Forums

[InTime]

FT Folks, I've been asked to help develop a non-profit FT Conference/Job Fair in Hangzhou, at Zhejiang U. for ChinaTEFL, on May 1 and 2. They'll also be inviting FAOs and Chinese teachers of English.

We'll be having Workshops/Demonstrations/Discussion Sessions,
as well as tours of West Lake, and social events in the evenings.

We'd welcome any constructive input from y'all, posted on this Thread

For further INFO, EMail me.

Thanks

[vikuk]

It could be fun if a few Davesters could meet up at events like this - discussing FT'ing face to face - proving actual human entities existed behind those anonymous keyboards!!!!!

[arioch36]

Do we wear nametags?

[arioch36]

Helen Tefl I presume

[ispeakgoodenglish]

I have a couple of ideas for them.... I believe they are reasonable.

1, Ask the FAOs to set minimum FT wages of at least 7000 plus housing and airfare in all the small towns and 12000 plus housing and airfare in the cities (negotiable of course).

2, Reimburse all applicants their travel expenses to-from Hangzhou for the job fair when they walk in the door to a reasonable amount (eg, 3000 kuai). Even with the shorter holiday it will still cost more than normal to get there and back.

[Shan-Shan]

[englishgibson]

OP, are we invited

FAOs should deffinitely be a focus and improving FTs working conditions should be on the agenda, however i bet they're gona be there on a fishing trip

[vikuk]

[vikuk]

[Shan-Shan]

If you're interested in attending a workshop without the China TEFL brand stamped on the stationary, have a look here:

[Lobster]

I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with FAOs using it as a recruiting opportunity. They could help pay the FTs hotel bills and travel expenses and set up booths.

The problem with every "conference" I've attended here is that it becomes nothing more than a series of talks or lectures by those wishing to promote their latest research/theory/idea/book/program. No workshops, no social activities outside of meals, no question periods, no displays and no interaction. It' was just a lot of pedantic blah blah blah. The last featured an American speaker talking about the role of Spanish in US schools. He'd never been to China before and had no idea about what was going on here. It was an interesting and well-presented lecture, but only superficially dealt with EFL in China. Another speaker, Chinese, actually did talk a lot about the Chinese education system, but the translation was so poor that I just couldn't follow him.

So, if you want to have a better conference, keep all that in mind. I see you've already got some of it covered. I'd love to attend and give a workshop to Chinese teachers about how to make a content-based PPT without cutesy animations and silly sound effects and transitions.

Make sure you know exactly what the purpose of the conference is; not just a general 'sharing of ideas'. Prepare a rubric and goals and analyse to determine how well those goals were met. Oh yea, make sure there's lots of free booze! Good luck!

RED

[arioch36]

Lobster

[vikuk]

[arioch36]

One in particular was in Shanghai # yeras ago ... maybe annual? If seriously interested I would only mention names via PM. Unfortunately I have found that the biggest talkers ofsharing ideas and exchanging are the most intolerant of anything said that is contradictory to them, or asks them to support what they have to say. This refers more directly to "presentations of theories" as opposed to actual teaching techniques, computer skils handy for the teacher to learn, and the such. Don't want to start any wars here.

[vikuk]