My New Blog About Teaching English Overseas

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xiongmao
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My New Blog About Teaching English Overseas

Post by xiongmao »

Guys - I've started a new blog: https://soibecameanenglishteacher.blogspot.com/. It's only a day old, so a lot more content is coming. Especially if I get some visitors and it gains some sort of momentum.

I've amassed a load of material about training to be an English teacher and then actually finding a job to do the whole HA thing. But so far I've been sitting on it all for over two years. I've also got a tonne of material about living in Spain and China.

Sadly as far as entertainment goes I have to report that life in Zhejiang has been a lot more boring than the catastrophe that was my attempt to live in Guangdong. I mean how entertaining is Man Goes To Carl's Jr And Is Denied Burger Combo Meal? This is due to dating being a lot harder here than it was in Guangzhou/Shenzhen, so I've got no weird dating stories. Of course I've been working here and when I've not been working I've been planning lessons. Also the weather is generally too cold to go out exploring much and the metro network is still largely under construction.

Anyway, take a look and leave me some comments if you feel like it.

Let me know what other topics you'd like to know about. At the moment I've braindumped some stuff about taking the CELTA, like do you need it and what it doesn't teach you. I can highly recommend this course if you want to come out and join me here (the whole province is awash with job vacancies). While OFFICIALLY you don't need anything as expensive and demanding as the CELTA, it did prepare me to parachute in here and teach from day 1, with absolutely no help and support whatsoever. Hell, my first lesson here had 47 students :lol: . But it went very well.
Last edited by xiongmao on September 15th, 2018, 6:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Bao3niang
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Re: My New Blog About Teaching English Overseas

Post by Bao3niang »

Though English teaching is likely the route I will start with once I return to Asia (I really have no job skill sets so to speak, and I'd honestly prefer not to work, the idea of earning money is revolting to me), I have to say this. The English language industry in Asia often feels pointless to me, why? The best way to learn a language is when you either A) Really want to learn the language out of a love for the language and its associated culture B) You have no choice but to use the language in your daily life. Many English learners in Asia don't fall into these categories. Some parents insist on sending their kids to English academies at the tender ages of four, five, and six. HOW long can your average kid at that age even sit still? They're only starting to grasp the fundamentals of their mother tongues for Christ's sake, yet their parents send them to learn English when they don't have the environment around them to foster true mastery of the English language. They still speak Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, whatever to their peers and at home. I've seen a few cases in China where Western wannabe parents actually speak to their children in English, but that, I think, creates lots of linguistic confusion, and fails to resolve the issue of not having an environment where English is used as the primary language for everything. Going to an English immersion kindergarten / school doesn't count, in my opinion.

Another problem with how English is taught in many Asian countries (if not all) is the excessive focus on 'academic' English, that heavily emphasizes rote learning of vocabulary and grammar, both of which are often obscure. I feel that it's an extremely detrimental approach because it doesn't lead to real fluency. There's even a term in China for this phenomenon called 'deaf English.' Many students can write at least somewhat decently, and are capable of memorizing vocabulary words and grammar rules that may put your average Anglo school kid to shame, but they can't hold half a bloody conversation in English, or that their spoken English has a 'scripted' quality. let's face it, for the vast majority of these pupils, they will never get to use much, if any English, once they leave school / college. Only a small minority of kids in China actually end up going abroad, when compared to the overall population.

What worries me, if I go for a CELTA, is precisely the grammar component. Your average native speaker just knows what is right (not always), but can't, and can't be bothered to explain why. We can say the same for native Chinese speakers. How many native Chinese speakers, or native speakers of any language, devote lots of time and energy into uncovering why things are said the way they are said? I think not many, and there's really no need to as long as we can get the basics right and make ourselves understood by whoever we're talking to. I'm a native speaker of English (and Chinese), and I do make a load of grammatical mistakes that are especially evident when I write / type. I could care less about it.

It's now a requirement in China for university students to reach the National Level 4 in English proficiency, whatever that means, and for graduate students, regardless of major, to reach the National Level Six. Again, whatever that means. I'd likely FAIL the English section on the 'gaokao' exam, and the Level 4 and Level 6 exams, but is that indicative of my lack of proficiency in English? Not at all. I don't think someone with a Masters or PhD in English from a Chinese / Japanese / Korean / Taiwanese university may necessarily be able to type out something like this.

As a British friend of mine who's in Chongqing (and opened his own language center) pointed out, many of these language centers don't even prioritize language education in a genuine sense, they're just subsidiaries of corporations that otherwise have no interest whatsoever in educating people. They just see language centers as a good way of earning extra profit. Then it becomes less of a surprise when the teachers they hire turn out to be far from the most qualified.
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Bao3niang
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Re: My New Blog About Teaching English Overseas

Post by Bao3niang »

I think China / Asia needs to tone down its obsession with English. The majority of people don't really have a use for it anyway. Sure this may sound hypocritical in a way , coming from someone who is likely to do a stint in the ESL industry, but this is how I truly feel. Unless one has INTRINSIC motivation for learning English, in my view, they shouldn't be bothered if they are anything but.
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xiongmao
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Re: My New Blog About Teaching English Overseas

Post by xiongmao »

Yeah there's a real obsession with learning English but I'm just happy to collect coin from teaching it.

None of my students are particularly good at it which is a mystery considering they've been learning it for 10 or more years and are majoring in it.

To be fair though, half my students are studying accountancy or IT, and it helps greatly to understand English if you're working in these fields.

As for the CELTA yeah the grammar is tough. But lesson planning practice was good as was teaching real students in a real classroom in a real school. I felt it really prepared me for parachuting into a school without any previous work experience as a teacher. So in that respect it's a really valuable qualification.
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yick
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Re: My New Blog About Teaching English Overseas

Post by yick »

Life in China - the day to day is mundane - welcome to China!

You want excitement and a life of colourful experiences daily - well, I don't know where that place is.

You don't need a CELTA to teach in China, if you want to teach in Russia - yep, it'll help, China? No help at all.

As for dating, I don't know what you look like, how tall you are or anything like that but that counts, being white isn't enough anymore.
Bao3niang
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Re: My New Blog About Teaching English Overseas

Post by Bao3niang »

As for me, I am around 5 foot 9 and a half, southern Chinese by descent. Hometown is Chongqing though I haven't spent much time there. Sort of chubby but nothing too extreme, introvert, lazy bum. Long hair. Wears glasses. A geek but not really competent in anything, I just like knowledge in general. Hates excessive socializing, large groups, and formalities / superficial niceties. Don't really give a darn about dress or any of the latest trends in whatever, has a hard time accepting anything new. I have been involved with two Chinese girls, who are, up to this point, the most important women from my past. Neither one of them turned out to be a truly good match for me, but I still appreciate how they never really criticized me for anything superficial like the way I dressed or how I made them look in front of the people they knew.
CYKA BLYAT!!!!!!
Bao3niang
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Re: My New Blog About Teaching English Overseas

Post by Bao3niang »

As for me, I am around 5 foot 9 and a half, southern Chinese by descent. Hometown is Chongqing though I haven't spent much time there. Sort of chubby but nothing too extreme, introvert, lazy bum. Long hair. Wears glasses. A geek but not really competent in anything, I just like knowledge in general. Hates excessive socializing, large groups, and formalities / superficial niceties. Don't really give a darn about dress or any of the latest trends in whatever, has a hard time accepting anything new. I have been involved with two Chinese girls, who are, up to this point, the most important women from my past. Neither one of them turned out to be a truly good match for me, but I still appreciate how they never really criticized me for anything superficial like the way I dressed or how I made them look in front of the people they knew.
CYKA BLYAT!!!!!!
chanta76
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Re: My New Blog About Teaching English Overseas

Post by chanta76 »

Bao3niang,

I think it's important to have some sort of skill set to depend on. It could be something like martial arts for example. There been expats who lived in Asia taught ESL on the side but study some sort of Martial arts got good at it and came back to the states teaching that martial arts. You see this common with Thai boxing .

So I think you have to look at gaining some useful skill to make it really.


xiongman ,

Can't remember but are you Asian?
Bao3niang
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Re: My New Blog About Teaching English Overseas

Post by Bao3niang »

Thanks. I will likely do some teaching, at least for a while, I'm just pointing out how so many people in Asia are ignorant about the industry and about language learning in general.
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xiongmao
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Re: My New Blog About Teaching English Overseas

Post by xiongmao »

I've blogged a bit more about my China TEFL experiences:
Let me know if you want me to cover anything else.
I was Happier Abroad for a while but Covid killed that off.
Fed up with being foreveralone.jpg? Check out my comprehensive directory of dating sites.
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