I agree with you that foreign teachers are not one of China's most critical needs when it comes to foreign experts.

I have conversations every year with Chinese teachers that tell me foreign English teachers are not needed. Fair enough if the aim to teach the language is just for testing. English then becomes just like Latin. If Chinese people want to actually use the language as a global language, I would not entrust this to the local Chinese teachers. They think they know more than me, even after I've studied English for 17 years since kindergarten and have worked in E.S.L. for eight years, but even they have their limitations.

If English is for business and actually using it, in order to attract us "lowly" foreign teachers you have to offer a little more than you would pay for domestic talent. I am here all by myself with no support in a foreign land, and that has to be worth something. Actually, my girlfriend throws me a kiss sometimes so I do get a little support.

I used to work in a high school E.S.L. department in the United States. When our E.S.L. students learned English from non-native teachers they were trained to understand Indian-English and Russian-English, for example. When they learned from native teachers then these students could undertsand more accents. The native English teachers used clear and correct language. When I assisted some Russian and Indian teachers, I understood everything they said because I learned my language from native speakers. However, the E.S.L students either took some time or did not undertsand the non-native teachers at all.

Maybe it is not such a bad idea to have some native speakers teach here. And for that you need an incentive- a little money than it would be fair to give.