My post was due to the fact other than the white south africans(and it is due to their county’s political system) I have met I have never met anyone in Taiwan would have a problem getting work at home. I have nothing at all against South Africans.
Maybe I’ve been lucky with the people I’ve met in Taiwan and Truant has been misfortunate.
I remeber one of my colleagues musing what he should be writing on the midterm reparts to the parents about what the children were being taught. He felt in all honesty he should write under g rammar structures:
Jimmy sit down: Jimmy be quiet: Jimmy stop playing with that: Jimmy leave hime alone: etc.
Sometimes I feel the same.
I also remember a friends daughter who went to an all English kindy (back when they weren’t quite so illegal) and the only thing she ever said to me was, “Speak English!”
That’s a general stigma a lot of people tend to tag onto foreigners teaching English here and back home. I’m not saying that’s what your doing, I’ve just heard it way too many times from others! Oddly enough, I teach part-time, have taught full time and still made more money at my old job back home. It’s not always about the money(Though for most it is a major reason for coming to teach) I know plenty of people who left professions that paid high and threw it away and setteled here.
I think that some of these “freaks” could qualify as not being able to find work back home. I am also pretty sure some have migrated south. 
Maybe MM will get to meet some living proof yet! 
[quote=“Matchstick_man”]My post was due to the fact other than the white south africans(and it is due to their county’s political system) I have met I have never met anyone in Taiwan would have a problem getting work at home. I have nothing at all against South Africans.
Maybe I’ve been lucky with the people I’ve met in Taiwan and Truant has been misfortunate.[/quote]
MM, if you read my post I said:
I know people can generalize a bit on here if they’re not careful, but on the whole I was supporting teachers, even tho I’m a non-teacher myself. I was just a bit concerned you somehow brought in South African’s to this discussion, which is a point I consider to be irrelevant.
Peace.
In Latin America, people ask me on the street, if I want to buy cigar, rum or sleep with their sister. Here, they ask me, if I want to teach English.
Disgusting! No sisters?
I “have never” had an English teaching job in the 7 years I have been in Taiwan. I’m sure English students are far better off without me. I would suck. If such an opportunity exists, I would love to lead adult conversation classes but I can’t imagine ever getting paid for the privilege.
Is this why?
[quote=“Dangermouse”]
Although I respect thier respective professions, you won’t catch me being an engineer or running a bar; and you certainly won’t catch me looking down on them.[/quote]
Just taking the piss there DM. I love irony in all it’s incarnations.
Consider yourself “gumped”. 
Is this why?
[quote=“Dangermouse”]
Although I respect thier respective professions, you won’t catch me being an engineer or running a bar; and you certainly won’t catch me looking down on them.[/quote]
Just taking the piss there DM. I love irony in all it’s incarnations.
Consider yourself “gumped”. [/quote]
I also happen to love irony. Consider yourself Imanied.
[quote=“The Gumper”]I love irony in all it’s incarnations.
Consider yourself “gumped”. [/quote]
I am unfamiliar with this “irony” concept, but I am quite fond of Gumper and ImaniOU. So I guess irony gets some points, in my book, by association…
I haven’t worked as a teacher, although I find it a bit strange that everybody assumes that I’m always available for it for their kids. Like, if I were back stateside, I’m not sure I’d go to some semi-random Chinese person and just try to get them to spend afternoons with my kids. Then again, I guess it depends on the kids.
There’s a sensitivity to the whole English-teacher status. There are people who are quite serious about the teaching part who deserve a lot more respect than they currently get from Taiwanese or the foreign community. I’ve been taught Chinese by people who have strong teaching backgrounds and who care about what they’re doing, and I think it makes a huge difference in the result.
Sometimes I sense a bit of condescension from people in the period leading up and through the asking of whether or not I’m an English teacher. Perhaps it’s like the common complaint from the Japanese whose daughters date English teachers that we’re somehow no good for doing anything but speaking the language with which we grew up. There seems to be a mistaken assumption that no effort or teaching skill is going into it.
For some people here, that’s completely true. While I don’t get people walking up to me, asking me to teach their children (but that could be because it’s common knowledge that black people don’t speak English), there is a feeling among some people here that all it takes to teach English is to be a native speaker. Don’t know where they got that idea from…