And I believe this is a cop-out when it comes to teaching. Teaching should not be something you fall back on to make a crust, it should be something you want to do, As for making compromise, if you are happy to do that, fine. I would never be happy to make a compromise like that in my life, life's too short to do things that don't make you happy. If you aren't happy being a dustman, train to do something else. If you aren't happy being a teacher, train to do something else. There are plenty of ex-pats in China that don't teach, and have found jobs here that they enjoy doing. One friend of mine here in Dalian works as a translator for an import wine company, and also hosts Wine tasting nights for ex-pat bar owners. I will never believe that settling for a job like teaching is the best course of action for the teacher or their students. I do not expect you to agree, nor do I expect you to change your mind, but I will not either. It's OK to have different points of view!
I did also tell you about the grouchy professor I worked with who hated his job and his students and still managed to get approval from his students. I notice you didn't try and appraise that one.
I don't disagree that that you can learn something from somebody who is grouchy and doesn't like his job, especially if you consider what most Chinese students/parents consider education to be; strict drilling of a subject, standing up to answer a question and more homework than you can shake a stick at. An FT way of teaching is usually very, very different to an LT's method. The reason I didn't respond to this point was because for every one instance you can give me about somebody you know hating their job yet doing it well, I have 3 that are the other side; hating their job and doing it very badly. There is a student at my school that chose to remain in my class, even though it was a lower level to what he should be doing, rather than go to another teacher covering a higher level because (in his words) "I want to learn something". It's good that you hate teaching but seem to do it well and that your students think so too. I have no problem with that, I just believe (personal opinion here, and you won't change it) that unless you at the very least enjoy what you are doing, you will never be able to deliver 100% to your students. If you are not passionate about something you are never going to go that extra mile. One of my classes was very weak at reading; I spent countless hours sourcing and then printing and binding a set of progressive reading books for them to incorporate in to their classes to help them. I spend my free time making graduation movies for my classes; I take snippets of film throughout their course and at the end, when they complete a level, there is a video memory of what they did during the course. The younger classes especially love it! In my spare time I develop grammar catch-up courses, in line with how/when students are taught these points in public school, so we can offer struggling students of varying ages a fun way to review and learn. They are complete courses with interactive material, worksheets, extension activities and full lesson plans, and the kids enjoy doing them instead of the normal, boring review classes. I do this because I love teaching, whereas I can't see somebody who doesn't love teaching spending their time doing that.

Well, if they're proper teachers they will stay in England to teach. Teaching in China is and always will be the domain of those that will never qualify to teach in an English school. [edited], the rest of us teach oral English only,in state schools or merely follow lesson plans in Training Centres-often involving business English which they will never need.
Speak for yourself! Whilst I realise it's true for most, personally I am fully qualified to teach A-level English in the UK, I have a BA in Language and my PGCE. I chose not to teach in the UK because I don't like the hours, I don't like the limitations placed on teachers in the UK and I think that ESL teaching is more rewarding. The students get more from learning ESL than native speakers do dissecting Hamlet. I also don't just teach oral English to my students, nobody at my school does. This is one of the reasons I laugh when people dismiss EF schools as language mills; the focus of all of the EF course books is a balanced education in reading, writing, listening and speaking. My students can tell you the rules for using different tense aspects, what various different grammar points (depending on ability) and can write creatively. I chose EF because of that, because it means I can provide a rounded education for my students in the middle of the money-spinning. They may have their faults, but a good teacher in an EF school can do a helluva lot of good there for as long as they can take the soul-crushing insanity that is Chinese private education. I made it 3 years before imploding, and I know I've helped a lot of kids in that time, which is the important thing to me.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Okay, well you have forced me into it,;silly billy, my last response wasn't meant for you. I do wish your posts came in easily to handle portions though. Don't try and win everything at once, it's boring.

You seem to love this 'cop-out' and see it as an all powerful dismissal. I take it you mean, a failure to fulfil a commitment or responsibility? I put it to you, since you inform me that you are one of the very few teachers in China qualified to teach English in the West, that you as the exception proves the rule. Why are there not many fully qualified teachers(Western) teachers in China? I will tell you why-it is because unlike you, your fellow graduates in the UK(what's PT for cop-out?) have not failed to fulfil their commitments. The commitment of which I refer to was the one the British education system and the tax payer who paid for you to qualify as a proper teacher would prefer to hold you to, to pay something back, instead of swanning around China as a pretend teacher, merely following lesson plans, most probably Chinglish ones. You my dear are using yourself, your highly educated self, as a sledge hammer to crack a nut. The nut being, Chinese students, who only need to learn oral English, and not dissect Hamlet for which you were trained. I agree with (can't say ,can I?) who maintains that teaching in China is perfectly well undertaken by older people-maybe ex-postmen and their like. That's enough for me for now. You can drone on and on-it must be all that Shakespeare which you should be dissecting if you had not have copped-out. Just one thing, this over-stressing of loving students and loving teaching. Are you trying to claim ownership of teaching in China?