San Migs
- 2011-10-24
owever I think as well traveled teachers we can all agree on the fact that we need to find some place with less annoyances and where we get left alone and people mind their own business.
Cheers for the reply, Dragon. I will be a bit more forthcoming with where I worked. I basically did two stints in the Sultanate of Oman, good for some quick cash, but not much else...utter cultural desolation. As evidenced by most FT's either driving to Muscat (the capital) for the weekend, or flying to dubai, or saving to GTFO come summer hols.
As you say, we need to find a place where we get left alone...
Dragonized
- 2011-10-24
I worked in the capital Riyadh. I can understand where you're coming from but to me being called an Infidel and being called a Yang Gui Zi really doesn't make either worse as both groups can be bad. You will always get good students but the bad ones are bad everywhere I've worked as a teacher. I don't like the backstabbing and the going around behind people's backs in china. However I think as well traveled teachers we can all agree on the fact that we need to find some place with less annoyances and where we get left alone and people mind their own business.
Dragonized
- 2011-10-24
I'm sure we've all seen the small, nazi types with an unshaved mustache walking around the school somewhere pretending to look important.
San Migs
- 2011-10-24
I would say that comparing arab students with chinese students is more a pro/con weighing.
I'd agree. But add in the cultural desolation, and there is no respite.
Where did you work in the middle east?
San Migs
- 2011-10-24
It doesn't seem that the leaders in the schools have much respect for us either
I can agree on this point!
muff diver
- 2011-10-23
Tech Talk, or If Yer So Damn Smart, What The Hell You Doin' Teachin' English in China?
Its a pearl of wisdom....LOL! Guess where that came from? A certain Saloon. Well done!
Warren
- 2011-10-23
Interesting post Warren.I feel more comfortable teaching in china than in the gulf, for one main reason:
1) The confucian respect for elders/teachers.
Arab students think you are nothing more than an indentured servant or slave to do their bidding. When most of them have a filipino servant who brings them coffee and wipes their ass at home,it's harder to teach rich kid abdul who is the son of a sheik or leader...
Thoughts?
I can't comment on teaching in the gulf, because I've never really considered it as an option for myself. Generally speaking, though, I would agree that rich students can be more of a handful than others, and the Chinese general respect for teachers and elders makes them much easier to work with than kids in America. Somehow, it also seems we're not really seen as teachers and elders so much as "foreigners" even if we are teachers and older than whoever is addressing us.
I've noticed that if I'm walking across the street to my university, and I'm walking in a crosswalk, nobody will slow down (unless they want to look at the foreigner). In front of a uni, being a foreigner, it must be obvious I'm also a teacher working there, and yet there's no respect at all. And then walking down any street people will make loud comments, and sometimes swear or even lob insults about foreigners. In short, I'm not sure the reverence for elders and teachers applies to monkeys, even if those monkeys don't have much fur, happen to be older, wiser, more worldly, more educated, and even wealthier. It doesn't seem that the leaders in the schools have much respect for us either, and think we can't see through their constant humoring us.
PS, I'm kidding a bit, though there's a kernel of truth in all that.
Dragonized
- 2011-10-23
I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. Working in "schools" can bring you to kids who grew up in rich families who did not raise them to treat others like human beings. They can see the teacher as just another tool for them to use. In an earlier post about shanghai some other teachers already brought up the issue of how hard it is for expats to make real friends who are local chinese.
Middle eastern kids are ignorant and disrupt the class more. They are also slower to grow up. With that being said they also tend to "scheme" less and are less wicked with seeing others. Chinese students will ask you weird questions and make some inappropriate comments which try to break down your character, especially if you don't have the right "look". I would say that comparing arab students with chinese students is more a pro/con weighing.
San Migs
- 2011-10-23
Interesting post Warren.
I feel more comfortable teaching in china than in the gulf, for one main reason:
1) The confucian respect for elders/teachers.
Arab students think you are nothing more than an indentured servant or slave to do their bidding. When most of them have a filipino servant who brings them coffee and wipes their ass at home,it's harder to teach rich kid abdul who is the son of a sheik or leader...
Thoughts?
Warren
- 2011-10-23
In reply to Turnoi.
I would not criticize the people doing that but the system that allows virtually anyone even with a low educational profile (that is, without a degree in a language-related subject matter plus decent professional teacher training on top of that) to become "teachers" and not teachers.
This is a bit of a tangent from the original post, but, I disagree with the idea that only those who specifically majored in an English-related subject are qualified to teach English. Someone with a masters in history or philosophy, for example, will have had to write countless academic papers and with a good teaching program in addition should be well able to teach Oral English and culture classes. It's not uncommon for non-English majors to have superior English to those who studied English specifically. If you are talking about someone teaching a really academic subject like linguistics, than of course I agree that they should have the appropriate background. But any educated native speaker is already an expert at spoken English. The real question is can he or she teach it, and a degree in English may not be an advantage over something like theater or sociology…
In some extreme cases, this would have the effect that there are native speaker "teachers" in China who cant distinguish "its" and "it's" properly in their written English or 18-20 year old high-school graduates who teach things like "gonna" to their students.
I often make "its" and "it's" typos myself. I know you can't use "it's" as a possessive (even if that's a fairly logical mistake to make), but I still will type it that way, just as I'll even mix up there, their and they're when typing. I usually find these errors if I do an edit. My point is that such a small error is inconsequential. I'd hardly see that sort of thing as an "extreme case" of a bad or unqualified teacher. The extreme case would be the predatory teacher who doesn't plan lessons and doesn't give a $hit about the students.
As for the thing about someone teaching "gonna'", do you mean as "correct English" and not deliberately to familiarize students with the way English is actually spoken colloquially? It makes sense to teach students some of the most common colloquialisms if they are going to be in any situation where their listening to native speakers is important. Teaching "gonna" as correct written English is insane.
Finally, what makes a good English teacher, or any kind of teacher, isn't just the expertise in the relevant discipline, but also the ability to impart it to others, to engage others and make the subject interesting…