William
- 2008-11-06
If accents were important to a career, how far would Henry Kissinger have gone? Just the first to come to mind. If you know your stuff, you know your stuff. Most lose some, a few, all their accent after a few years in a new environment. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it.
Your comparison of English spoken by Russian students to that spoken by Japanese, Korean and Chinese is leading to where?
Based upon what you have written here; I'd say Sarah is a very confused girl.
Turino
- 2008-11-06
Cobra, your written English implies your oral English is far from perfect too!
In fact I didn't ask why ALL non-native speakers of English should not be paid at least 6000 Yuan for teaching English in North China, I only asked why YOU,Cobra,should be paid so.
But of course you cannot expect to jump on the bandwagon of those academics whose second language is English, and who can write and speak English like well-educated native speakers of English.
By the way, don't think that ALL Chinese cannot speak perfect English.Not all of them think first in Chinese and then translate into English - that's a sure recipe for disaster,ie writing and speaking Chinglish!
As for accents, that's another story,one that cannot be generalised either!
Anyway, the best of luck to you. I hope you can find a teaching position paying at least 6000 Yuan in North-East China,which you clearly prefer to other parts of the country.
cobra
- 2008-11-06
Turino posted:So,why should Chinese employers pay Cobra 6000 Yuan/month or more in North China when they can employ most Chinese teachers of English to teach Chinglish for at most 3000 a month there?
I'll tell you why: because very few chinese english teachers can speak perfect English. It also refers to Koreans and Japanese. I don't mean that all of them are bad in English,No! It's just my experience I have many friends majored in English from China, Japan, Korea. They have a big accent, and they are confused in using grammar, so how can they teach perfect English to their students??? May be it's because of the different linguistic groups the languages belong to.Most schools require oral English teachers.
see this article written in Chinese
外教教学差异比较:中国,俄罗斯,日本-中国ESL教学改革与发展建议
关键词：外教教学差异,俄罗斯英语教学,日本英语教学,ESL教学
来源：英国外教Sarah | 发布日期：2008-06-22 22:33
Sarah是一名来自英国的女外教，有着多年而丰富的第二外语英语教学经验，具有英国颁发的Tesl证书，过去曾与上海 外教网长期合作。她在中国任教2年，曾先后在山东、南京和上海担任英语外教，2006年前往莫斯科教英语，2008到日本Fujisawa担任某大学英语外教。Sarah根据她这几年来展转三地的外教经历，向我们展示了中国、俄罗斯、日本三国的英语教学差异，并比较了欧洲ESL教学和亚洲ESL教学的区别，同时向我们的中国ESL教学提出了宝贵的建议。
1、俄罗斯英语教学十分注重语法规则，但学生听说能力提高很快；亚洲学生不够自觉。
俄罗斯的英语教学有个超乎想像的特点：非常注重英语的语法规则。学生只想在语法和词汇上多花时间学习，他们对英文游戏并不感兴趣。俄罗斯学生非常喜欢说英语，因此他们的英语应用能力提高得很快，并且在那里没有特别的要求，因此他们讨论的话题十分广泛，他们也十分愿意同外教用英语讨论一些问题。
中国和日本（亚洲）的学生相对来讲比较懒一些，他们更多地依靠老师来给他们一些Topic，属于一种等待学习的状态，这需要老师更多地引导和鼓励。
2、中国和日本对外教教学涉及的内容有很多限制(Restrictions)，俄罗斯没有。
Sarah在中国任教的时候，被告知涉及以下内容的话题不可以在课堂上讨论：性、毒品、政治、信仰、宗教等。在日本教学时也有类似相关的话题禁忌，但在俄罗斯则没有，比较而言，俄罗斯的学生更加大胆，敢于开口讲英语，不怕错误。
注意:
我们认为这与各国国情和文化差异有关，不能一概而论，就中国目前状况来讲，对一些敏感话题做一些限制也是合理的。
3、日本的英语教学比中国更加糟糕。
当我们谈起中日ESL教学差异时，Sarah夸张地说：the Japanese are worse than the Chinese!!Sarah坦言她有时觉得自己在日本的教学很失败，日本的学生太害羞了，根本很少开口说英语，这与日本的英语教学体制有关。日本的学生太懒了，就想等着外教给他们喂食，他们自己很少去思考一些问题。
4、俄罗斯4-8人小班教学，而中国则是25人以上大班甚至超大班，日本的教材只能用awful来形容。
俄罗斯英语采取小班化教学，平均4-8人一个班，教材以语法为主；中国一般是大班教学，教学内容被分为听、说、读等几个部分。日本的英语教材对Sarah来讲可以说是太可怕了，因为她根本没有采用那些可怕的教材。
这个教材名字叫作《Person to Person》，内容上属于Sarah童年时期学习的英文，而这样的教材被用在日本的大学教学中，Sarah大叫：The level is too low.Sarah说，对这样的大学生使用那样的英语教材，他们不会有任何的提高，只能浪费时间。
5、中国ESL教学建议和展望
简短的交流，Sarah让我们看到了中国英语教学同其他国家的主要区别，最后她同样也给了我们一些非常不错的建议：
①中国的教材还是可以的，但是中国需要更多更好的英语母语外教(Native English Speakers)；
②考试并不重要，但是英语教学绝对不能同英语的听说分离了；
③要教会学生学以致用，比如新的语法知识点要马上应用到实际听说中去，这样能够加强印象；
④一般英语教学大班小班其实差不多效果，但听说课堂很显然：人越少，学生获得的说的机会就越多，效果越好。日本的学生上课都十分的安静，中国应该要让学生活跃起来，让他们开口说。
Sarah说日本合同结束后，她很可能考虑返回中国并到上海任教。
P.S. Nevertheless most chinese schools prefer native speakers (very often without any degree, teaching experience,willingness to teach ( most of them just travel from one city to another earning money, or just businessmen, or even workers for Pizza land) to qualified non-native spaekers who are doing their best to teach perfect, sometimes with two degrees, certified, holding TESOL, DELTA certificates etc.
It's real life!!! Regardless, you say, why to pay so high salary to non native speakers, there are so many of us here in China earning good money, and I'll do my best to join this team)))))))))))
Turino
- 2008-11-05
Cobra posted: I am totaly agree with you. I also prefer Northeast of China to the south. Are you a non-native speaker?
Turino's reply: Obviously Cobra is a non-native speaker,just like his Chinese colleagues.
By contrast, William is the opposite ,as can be inferred by NATIVE SPEAKERS from his literate posts!
So,why should Chinese employers pay Cobra 6000 Yuan/month or more in North China when they can employ most Chinese teachers of English to teach Chinglish for at most 3000 a month there?
And that's before we start comparing accents!
Maybe someone is trying to take the mickey, or else is just plain unworldy-wise!
cobra
- 2008-11-05
Hi William! thank you for your comment! I am totaly agree with you. I also prefer Northeast of China to the south. Are you a non-native speaker? what schools did you work for?
Turino
- 2008-11-03
William said:What you fail to understand is that some individuals like, want, enjoy "backwater area"(s).
I'm one of those individuals.One can experience the real China by teaching in county seats or in smaller towns.The world would be a terribly boring place if all of us liked doing the same things,wouldn't it?
And let's not forget there are Americans who love hick town life while there are Ausralians who wouldn't live anywhere else but in the outback, not to mention the happy residents of one-horse towns in all countries of the world.
William
- 2008-11-02
What you fail to understand is that some individuals like, want, enjoy "backwater area"(s). The choice is theirs, not yours. Besides, some of the most rewarding experiences in life are provided by these "backwater" areas.