The shame of stealing jobs is what I’m referring to. And the shame of the sham that is teaching English to the tiny tots. There are plenty of good local teachers who could do a better job than us foreigners. Okay, so you just want to make a few easy bucks, fair enough, but I find it hypocritical that lefties - cough Jimi for example cough - don’t mind being “scab” labour. I hear a lot from these kindy teachers about the evils of raw capitalism and globalisation, the lack of worker rights and so on, but they seem not to mind that they are part of a scam and depriving locals of work.
Just curious, not really having a dig. Some of the teaching gigs that I have done did not exactly cover me in honour - working for shady outfits and the like, teaching IELTS to students who had no hope in hell of passing etc. I felt really bad but living from month to month (bottle to bottle) as I do, I did not have the luxury of being principled. Guy in Taiwan wrote a nice post recently that talked about how having a stash of money gives you the freedom not to have to sell out.
Is it wrong to say that I cannot see how Taiwanese that that Taiwanese “Kindergarten teachers” claim to be Kindergarten teachers and don’t live with the shame of that lie? At least in most kindies I have seen.
Actually, Almas John’s question was pretty accurate in what I was thinking in many cases.
I’m only basing this off what I’ve seen in most situations, which is of course very limited, but I see:
–A lack of hands on materials in the classroom
–A big focus on worksheets and workbook stuff
–Withholding the bathroom
–A lot of sitting work and teacher-directed activities
–Lack of mediation skills
Maybe I’ve just run into teachers that don’t have credentials of teaching early childhood education. I do live in a small city compared to much of the rest of the country.
[quote=“Puppet”]I’m only basing this off what I’ve seen in most situations, which is of course very limited, but I see:
–A lack of hands on materials in the classroom
–A big focus on worksheets and workbook stuff
–Withholding the bathroom
–A lot of sitting work and teacher-directed activities
–Lack of mediation skills
Maybe I’ve just run into teachers that don’t have credentials of teaching early childhood education. I do live in a small city compared to much of the rest of the country.
[/quote]No that’s pretty much the norm except for an astonishingly few well run kindies. My Sister in law sees her son going to Hess as great playtime rather than a learning experience.
[quote=“Okami”]
No that’s pretty much the norm except for an astonishingly few well run kindies. My Sister in law sees her son going to Hess as great playtime rather than a learning experience.[/quote]
As a side note, I’d like to point out I did say, “I’m only basing this off what I’ve seen in most situations.” (Notice the “most” situations).
I have seen some great kindergarten programs. I’ve just seen some crappy ones as well and more crappy ones than good ones. It’s like English schools. From experience, there are a few good ones, but most of them are a waste of money. Lucky are those that have found a good one.
Electricity out at home again, Mr Almas? Nothing more crap than a warm Taiwan beer. Apart from a cold Taiwan beer.
My dear detractor, I feel your pain. In my 8 years of erstwhile scab work I have witnessed the rancid, depraved underbelly of the kindy ESL factory. I have seen the Canadian, South African, American and (alarmingly, a Macedonian) pretenders.
You correctly point out that I’m a “leftie”. I am hired as an “English teacher”, but I don’t give two fucks about how much English the kids learn. What I care about is that they don’t have to go everyday to a drab, authoritarian day-care center that pretends to be a “school” and encounter bullying, beatings, etc. from the so-called “trained” teachers.
I just try to give them a little love. Sorry for being a “scab”.
Electricity out at home again, Mr Almas? Nothing more crap than a warm Taiwan beer. Apart from a cold Taiwan beer.
My dear detractor, I feel your pain. In my 8 years of erstwhile scab work I have witnessed the rancid, depraved underbelly of the kindy ESL factory. I have seen the Canadian, South African, American and (alarmingly, a Macedonian) pretenders.
You correctly point out that I’m a “leftie”. I am hired as an “English teacher”, but I don’t give two fucks about how much English the kids learn. What I care about is that they don’t have to go everyday to a drab, authoritarian day-care center that pretends to be a “school” and encounter bullying, beatings, etc. from the so-called “trained” teachers.
I just try to give them a little love. Sorry for being a “scab”.[/quote]
Wow. Pretty strong response there. Beer is cool and flowing nicely. Actually, the bottle store owner gave me a free bottle tonight. Anyway, so you figure you’re doing a better job than most so you don’t feel bad about it. Thankfully I’m out of the darkness, but I really felt guilty at some of my jobs. Being a cog in a nasty machine and all that.
So, you don’t feel bad about doing a job that a Taiwanese teacher could do?
Electricity out at home again, Mr Almas? Nothing more crap than a warm Taiwan beer. Apart from a cold Taiwan beer.
My dear detractor, I feel your pain. In my 8 years of erstwhile scab work I have witnessed the rancid, depraved underbelly of the kindy ESL factory. I have seen the Canadian, South African, American and (alarmingly, a Macedonian) pretenders.
You correctly point out that I’m a “leftie”. I am hired as an “English teacher”, but I don’t give two fucks about how much English the kids learn. What I care about is that they don’t have to go everyday to a drab, authoritarian day-care center that pretends to be a “school” and encounter bullying, beatings, etc. from the so-called “trained” teachers.
I just try to give them a little love. Sorry for being a “scab”.[/quote]
Wow. Pretty strong response there. Beer is cool and flowing nicely. Actually, the bottle store owner gave me a free bottle tonight. Anyway, so you figure you’re doing a better job than most so you don’t feel bad about it. Thankfully I’m out of the darkness, but I really felt guilty at some of my jobs. Being a cog in a nasty machine and all that.
So, you don’t feel bad about doing a job that a Taiwanese teacher could do?[/quote]
AJ, Taiwanese teachers with the skills and the English level to teach kindie, usually don’t as they can make more money in high school. Especially now when kindie jobs are fewer and there are a million 20-somethings with enough English to teach at the level most schools expect. I’d say no one is stealing a job from anyone qualified.
So, you don’t feel bad about doing a job that a Taiwanese teacher could do?[/quote]
Sad facts, Mr Almas: A Taiwanese teacher wouldn’t be hired for the job. It’s not about education, it’s about prestige. They want a “foreigner”. I’m not taking anyone’s job. Rather I do it than some FOB backpacker on a one-year sight-seeing tour around Asia. Pity the Taiwanese teachers. They can go practice their mutilation, torture and psychological abuse in Croatia for all I care.
Mucha Man and Jimi,
I’ll reply to your posts tomorrow. Have to go and check that the wife hasn’t been practicing mutilation, torture and psychological abuse on the neighbourhood kids.
[quote=“almas john”]Muzha Man and Jimi,
I’ll reply to your posts tomorrow. Have to go and check that the wife hasn’t been practicing mutilation, torture and psychological abuse on the neighbourhood kids.[/quote]
I’m busy tomorrow. Tonight was for mindless banter. Damn you.
And that’s what kindergarten should be quite frankly. Five year olds don’t really know how to speak their native language yet. The focus should be on learning how to be a human being and language instruction is just one component of that.
As for the shame, there’s no shame when you understand why you were hired. Do not make the mistake of thinking that kindy is about English language instruction or that parents are being scammed. They know exactly what they’re paying for. That’s why I reject the notion that a local could have done my job better than I did. I was hired because I’m a native speaker of English and no local can do that job. If I or some other foreigner wasn’t there collecting that pay THERE IS NO WAY it was going to a Taiwanese person. Also the point that many Taiwanese “teachers” are just as unqualified as foreigners is valid. However I was lucky to teach at a great kindy so I haven’t really experienced the soul sucking job kindy can be. I’m under no illusions that my experience was in any way typical.
[quote=“almas john”]Muzha Man and Jimi,
I’ll reply to your posts tomorrow. Have to go and check that the wife hasn’t been practicing mutilation, torture and psychological abuse on the neighbourhood kids.[/quote]
Please don’t get me wrong, but you really struck a nerve. Much has been said on this board about “foreigners” teaching ESL kindy and how “counterproductive” it is. I go with the rationale. It’s entirely correct.
That being said, however, in my 8 years of teaching kindy I have encountered about thirty Taiwanese teachers who all have qualifications in early childhood education. They were all vile, fascist bullies, bar one, who was fired because she let the kids "get out of order’.
It’s a generalisation, I know. I’m sure there are some fine local teachers out there. I just ain’t seen none.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]
AJ, Taiwanese teachers with the skills and the English level to teach kindie, usually don’t as they can make more money in high school. Especially now when kindie jobs are fewer and there are a million 20-somethings with enough English to teach at the level most schools expect. I’d say no one is stealing a job from anyone qualified.[/quote]
Really? What does a high school teacher make? My s.o. teaches kindie because they pay her $600-650 per hour but she wants to quit and get a different job. Could she really make more in high school?
So, you don’t feel bad about doing a job that a Taiwanese teacher could do?[/quote]
If I may jump in…
…Nope.
I think few of them can actually do the job I do with kindergarten (assuming I don’t have to follow their exact curriculum). If all I am doing is pushing kids through a group of books, anyone can do that job. If they want, they can even train a monkey even to sit there and swat at the kids if they take their eyes off the books.
Here’s a tip. Next time you’re discussing teaching English with a Taiwanese Kindergarten English teacher, ask them a few questions:
How do you move from concrete concepts to abstract concepts in language?
What theories of language development are there and what ways you implement those ideas into your ESL classroom setting?
Can you describe Erikson’s stages of development, what the struggle this age faces involves, what goal is to be achieved in that struggle, and how you make your English content meaningful to that struggle so it has more meaning for the child?
How do you move children into the direction of loving English? (Not “loving English games”…watch out for that response).
If you can’t answer the Erikson question (I picked that one because it’s the easiest to really apply to this situation) what developmental ideas do you follow and how do you use them in the classroom?
How are you meeting the social needs of your students?
How independent are the students in their learning? How much do they have to rely on you to learn rather than themselves to make discoveries?
In fact, ask most elementary or high school teachers similar questions and I bet you’d get blank stares and not a lot past “drill and repeat” methods from over 90% of the local teachers at ANY level. It’s those 10% that really make up the difference. I’d bet a beer on that perfcentage.
As a side note, there are many assumptions about early language learners that are not fully supported by research. One thing research is fairly conclusive on is that an early language learner, in the preschool and kindergarten age, are almost always better in the long run at pronunciation. Given that fact, I’m guessing it is more beneficial to have a native speaker in that position than a Taiwanese teacher in most cases. (I do not have research in front of me on this, but will try to look it up to prove if I’m right or wrong if someone is really dying to know).
Like I said, I’ve seen some great kindergarten teachers. I’ve seen kindergarten teachers that I look at and think, “I will never be that good. They make it look way too easy.” If someone came to me and said they were going to get rid of that teacher and hire me because I’m a white face, I’d tell them to screw themselves. If someone came to me and said, “This teacher is crap. She yells at the kids. She talks down to them in front of everyone else. Most of her curriculum is based on writing through a book and has no real applications for English learning. You really know your stuff. You’ve put a lot of work into designing these ideas. Come work for us and we’ll get rid of them,” I’m all for that. Only hard (and, quite frankly, stupid part) of that is the legality issue.
Since having a sprog o’ mine very own, I’ve been looking into this and I find that indeed there are many – MANY – preschool establishments available that are indeed staffed exclusively by early childhood experts (well, at least qualified as such. Whether they’re actually any good or not…) and guess what? Not a white face to be seen among them. Its apples and oranges. Whitey doing the clown thing, or real early childhood teachers.
Them schools that were lucky enough to get yer Buttercups and Imanious and such are very very few and far between. But if you can live without an Englishee persona supposedly edumacating yer kid, then yeah, there are a lot of options.
