I’ve been sifting through applicants lately, and I’ve noticed a few things about these seasoned teachers. None of them have learned much Mandarin in that much time, which leads me (under “head instructor” authority) to pose to the owners that someone who lives in a country for a decade, but fails to learn a local language, probably doesn’t know much about learning languages well, and thus must not have much to impart.
Fair? Unfair?
Hard call, I think you should stick with newbies myself, easier to control and manipulate.
Prolly not fair. I was the worsest English teacher ever but am now completely bilingual and work in translation. I can learn languages but just can’t teach them. Some people can teach them but just can’t learn them.
Babysitting coworkers is not in my job description.
[quote=“ehophi”]I’ve been sifting through applicants lately, and I’ve noticed a few things about these seasoned teachers. None of them have learned much Mandarin in that much time, which leads me (under “head instructor” authority) to pose to the owners that someone who lives in a country for a decade, but fails to learn a local language, probably doesn’t know much about learning languages well, and thus must not have much to impart.
Fair? Unfair?[/quote]
It could simply be that they’re spending so much time working - or even improving their professional credentals (well, let’s be optimistic here) - that they don’t have time to attend Mandarin classes. In fact, you might expect to see the ones most committed to being the best possible English teacher who have the least time for studying Mandarin.
I work pretty much 12 hours a day, and although I’d like to go back to school and learn to actually speak the language properly (as opposed to like a retarded six-year-old) I can’t make the time for it right now.
A seasoned English teacher in this country is more of a clown than anything else.
Babysitting coworkers is not in my job description.[/quote]
New people are more willing to do what they are told the way they were told how to do it. With an old hand, you not only get all their experience, but also their quirks. As for someone with 10 years on the island and no Chinese, I’d say an interview would sort them out. Use Skype if you don’t want to meet face to face.
You basically want to get the low-maintenance well-qualified people you can find and that means going through a lot of trash to find them.
Even I have to babysit my Taiwanese coworkers from time to time… 
[quote=“finley”][quote=“ehophi”]I’ve been sifting through applicants lately, and I’ve noticed a few things about these seasoned teachers. None of them have learned much Mandarin in that much time, which leads me (under “head instructor” authority) to pose to the owners that someone who lives in a country for a decade, but fails to learn a local language, probably doesn’t know much about learning languages well, and thus must not have much to impart.
Fair? Unfair?[/quote]
It could simply be that they’re spending so much time working - or even improving their professional credentals (well, let’s be optimistic here) - that they don’t have time to attend Mandarin classes. In fact, you might expect to see the ones most committed to being the best possible English teacher who have the least time for studying Mandarin.
I work pretty much 12 hours a day, and although I’d like to go back to school and learn to actually speak the language properly (as opposed to like a retarded six-year-old) I can’t make the time for it right now.[/quote]
Ditto. Sadly. I’ve tried to carve out time for study, but it’s not in the cards.
People often ask me how I came away from living in Taiwan for 7 years without learning much Chinese. I tell them I didn’t teach, often worked 50-60 hours a week, and had 28 days of holidays in 7 years. Not a lot of time to learn a language. Wish I could have (I admit it isn’t one of my natural talents) but it just wasn’t in the works.
Your using the wrong seasonings. A little salt and pepper works just fine.
You have to make time to learn Chinese, is not like other languages. I wouldn’t judge an English teacher on their Chinese ability because of that.
Chinese is precisely just like other languages, except that it is easier to speak since there are no verb conjugations to worry about, no gender agreement, no number/plurals to mess up.
Language is language, and spoken Chinese is easier than most (at least in terms of getting people to an acceptable level of competence in their field of endeavor…any language requires a long time if you want all the academic nuances and full literacy). The problem with people not “learning” Chinese in Taiwan is that most people cannot “learn” a language in the first place, not to get to a point where they can use the language unconsciously and automatically while speaking correctly and understanding accurately.
Everyone with normal brain function can acquire one, though, given the right guidance.
Language is a universal human ability, hard-wired into the normal brain. The wonder is that the pedagogy in Taiwan manages to block so many willing, enthusiastic students from getting competent in this language.
[quote=“ironlady”]Chinese is precisely just like other languages, except that it is easier to speak since there are no verb conjugations to worry about, no gender agreement, no number/plurals to mess up.
[/quote]
I’d have to disagree there. I spent six months in Italy and I was (somewhat) conversational after 4 months. My Chinese is about at the level (after 3.5 years in Taiwan) as my Italian was after 1 month. Granted, I was more passionate about Italian than I am about Chinese, but I think it also has to do with the similarities between Italian and my mother tongue.
Also, I’m a person who learns by reading. As a student, lecture time didn’t get me very far. I’ve always had to read something before I understood it. Of course I suppose I could speak English before I learned to read it, but I imagine it was an uphill battle 
I learned bopomofo but threw up my hands in despair when I found that many words are ‘spelled’ the same in bopo (with the same tones) but have different meanings, or different meanings in conjunction with other words.
Then, there are the tones- I can’t seem to hear them, or say them well. And so many words in Chinese sound exactly the same to me.
As far as lack of Chinese indicating that someone is a bad English teacher, I’d have to disagree again. They might be a lame person (I’m so ashamed of my lack of Chinese) but being a ‘good’ teacher probably has more to do with being able to give good comprehensive input, and, in a conversation class, being able to keep the conversation going and interesting, and, for children, making them excited about learning. It also probably depends on your school’s curriculum 
That’s bullshit.
If you have been here years and are a clown, it’s on you. Period. :aiyo:
That’s bullshit.
If you have been here years and are a clown, it’s on you. Period. :aiyo:[/quote]
Fair call. Yet, what would a seasoned teacher do otherwise, if they were into cold hard cash as opposed to fluctuating non-actual standards, what with the complete fuckaround that both kids and parents are given in the current stratum of education in this island.
If I were quite serious about actually teaching younglings, I would go back to a country that had enough common sense to place enough funds and qualified people on the ground and in the upper strata to ensure that what they did on a daily basis actually made a difference in a child’s intellectual progress.
As opposed to being a pawn in their game, a prop for the system. I’ve seen good folk numb themselves silly over education in the rote excuse for a trickle down.
That’s bullshit.
If you have been here years and are a clown, it’s on you. Period. :aiyo:[/quote]
Fair call. Yet, what would a seasoned teacher do otherwise, if they were into cold hard cash as opposed to fluctuating non-actual standards, what with the complete fuckaround that both kids and parents are given in the current stratum of education in this island.
If I were quite serious about actually teaching younglings, I would go back to a country that had enough common sense to place enough funds and qualified people on the ground and in the upper strata to ensure that what they did on a daily basis actually made a difference in a child’s intellectual progress.
As opposed to being a pawn in their game, a prop for the system. I’ve seen good folk numb themselves silly over education in the rote excuse for a trickle down.[/quote]
Bah. I’m no pawn in anyone’s game. They set the rules, they make the tests, my kids knock them down.
The problem with most long term English “teachers” in Taiwan who have nothing to show for themselves except lateral progress is that they refuse to discover that they are only English speakers. They mock the sticky ball, but without it they’d be complete bores. 
You have your own school, right?
That’s more “salt & vinegar” than regular “seasoned”, in my ledger.
[quote=“TheGingerMan”]You have your own school, right?
That’s more “salt & vinegar” than regular “seasoned”, in my ledger.[/quote]
Well, the Taoyuan “seasoning” may differ.
Something and vinegar for sure. 
I haven’t used a sticky-ball or a hammer since my first year here. Icons of extreme laziness. I can be a buffoon just fine without props, thank you.
[quote=“jdsmith”][quote=“TheGingerMan”]You have your own school, right?
That’s more “salt & vinegar” than regular “seasoned”, in my ledger.[/quote]
Well, the Taoyuan “seasoning” may differ.
Something and vinegar for sure. [/quote]
Taoyuan? Where’s that?
Some kind of run-down former peach orchard?
I haven’t been there for at least a month, nor lived there for many moons.
:no-no: