San Migs
- 2012-03-04
and is therefore very much a disciple of the "white monkey" approach to teaching.
Magister, you sound like an old alcoholic chain smoker I once knew in the wilds of hunan from Australia.
Are you he? If not, I apologize profusely.
Magister
- 2012-03-02
Yes, i remember the scene from Godfather!
In fact my Grandfather was a Freemason, perhaps the very epitome of an 'old boys club'. He was always fond of the phrase "it's not what you know but who you know that counts".
I think perhaps it's the word "entertainment" itself that conjures up the wrong image in someone’s head when they describe the attributes of a good teacher. Perhaps motivation is a better word to use when talking about what a good teacher is able to do. A teacher who personalises lessons, connects with students on their level and demonstrates to them on a continuing basis that they are learning and improving will invariably be successful.
A teacher who jumps around in front of a class waving his/her arms and legs around like the proverbial "white monkey" might have some initial success in "entertaining" their students but from my own experience i've seen how difficult it is for these teachers to maintain their "performance". It's a bit like trying to spin plates, you have to run faster and faster until eventually they all fall down and smash on the floor.
I met a teacher not that long ago who was very much of the opinion that he had "cracked China". This teacher based their teaching style on that of Mr Bean (these are the teachers own words not my impression of them as a teacher) and is therefore very much a disciple of the "white monkey" approach to teaching.
This teacher probably had "cracked" working at institutions that don't expect high levels of teaching from their teachers but i think as several other posters have pointed out China is a vast place with a huge population and many different opportunities. Cracking a niche is one thing, a whole country or profession is quite another.
Furthermore, from my own point of view at least, one of the great parts about being a teacher is that you don't ever "crack it!" There's always some way to improve or something different to try. You work with people on a day to day basis and they are never the same from class to class, week to week, etc. Therefore, perhaps the biggest mistake you can make as a teacher is to feel that you've "cracked it".