> These posts need some humor - please everyone, can't we just get
> along?

> The words of Rodney King , a black American(although not exactly
> Martin Luther King, Jr.)
> ------

> You're Right. We need a humor break. It worths mentioning that Rodney
> King and MLK found a way to get l_id at home. without unnecessarily
> travel abroad. Laugh..............

After finishing reading all your posts, I am wandering who is discriminating whom.

I was born in China. After having taught English for more than 10 years in Taiwan, I emigrated to Canada, qualified and got the certificates, and taught Math, Computer Science and Adult Tesl for 25 years. Now I am retired and thought to repatriate what I got from, and then found I am discriminated against for being too old, not a "native born speaker", face is not PALE enough...

I would say there is an reverse-discrimination.

There used to have quite a few famous diplomats, scientists, inventors in Chinese contemporary history, but in Athletics, Music, etc, people thought that Chinese have to go to learn from the West. Before the Bamboo Curtain raised, most of the musicians and artists learnt from the West. China had never won a gold in the Olympic Games. But now, most of the winners, in Olympics and on the stages, were trained by Chinese. Why the Chinese are deprived of their ways of learning languages and have to be taught by a "native born speaker"?

I was born in China and brought up in a remote town. I still remember my teachers' atypical English pronunciation, but that didn't hinder my learning. I had never been taught by a "native born speaker". I didn't have any of the luxuries for learning a language before, but I managed to have the language learnt and passed all sorts of Exams and the intensive interviews for professionals.

I have been thinkng that there has been kinds of culture invasion scheme there. I was approached for problem solving by those so called "native" foreign teachers. I do appreciate, from the bottom of my heart, the thousands of those experts who have helped my motherland developing, but uncertified and unqualified illiterated "natives" were here to help solving the unemployment problems in their own countries in the name of cultural exchanging diplomacy. China spend billions on that, and the results? All the experts know. The proof is in Hong Kong where since 1998, the over all hiring of "native born speaker" made the students' marks dropped considerably on all the courses. Who is to blame? The colonialists! Now, the Chinese bureaucrates are learning from HK: Bribry, Language Education, etc. At the same time, foreign drifters are paid to bring in disrepectable attitude to local social orders, unwedded sexual relationships, HIV, abnormal and irresponsible behaviors, etc.

In the last 5 years after my retirement, I taught in 5 universities and had travelled quite extensively. I am very happy that I had don't some help to the students. They keep sending email to me, greetings and problem solving. Students likes me, the administrators hated me. I asked the school to stock the libraries with English/English dictionaries, but they only let the students in when I was present. They hired me as a foreign teacher, yet some try to treat me differently. Some even re-imbursed partially my flight ticket. I am still happy to have done my part.

Alex