I’ve asked some of my students to post messages on forumosa. My idea was to get them to practice English reading and writing in a “real-world” environment. So, if you start to see a lot of new names around, that’s probably why.
:bravo: 
The heads up for us is good thing. I hope you also gave them a heads up on the different characters around here, lest we happen to jump on them accidentally 
Well, one of them did seem upset by an exchange in the “Taiwan politics” forum… I reminded her that was normal for political discussions!
Of course, you first familiarized them with the rules, right? :s
Tell them to post on topic, in the correct forums. We’re happy to have visitors, but this isn’t a language daycare centre. 
Most of your students’ posts are getting floundered…
I’m not sure it’s wise to let your students loose amongst forumosans, you know how unforgiving people here are, this place often makes me cry 
Maybe some sort of chatroom is better ?
This should get interesting. :bravo:
Oh great! Now we’re here to help people practise their English.
I have 40 writing students that would also benefit from sharpening their skills here. The adult conversation guys would no doubt be delighted if I introduced this great place to meet foreigners too. There must be 50-60 of them. And then there’s the IELTS crowd.
Does anyone object to me introducing a hundred or so newbies intent on using our leisure time - the time spent NOT teaching - for their benefit? All the other teachers here will naturally want to do the same. How many thousand new members will we get in the next week? Personally I think that if a Taiwanese finds this site under their own power then they are as entitled to be here as anyone else, but this site is not supposed to be a free resource for learners of English.
Maybe we should introduce a reading/writing test, with a strong cultural awareness component, that you have to pass before you are allowed to post here?
Question 1: Are you a bloody idiot?
[quote=“stragbasher”]
Maybe we should introduce a reading/writing test, with a strong cultural awareness component, that you have to pass before you are allowed to post here?
Question 1: Are you a bloody idiot?[/quote]Hmm. That should cut total membership a bit.
To about ten
[quote=“stragbasher”]
Maybe we should introduce a reading/writing test, with a strong cultural awareness component, that you have to pass before you are allowed to post here?[/quote]
Splendid idea! Then you can open a class to help students cram for the test. Job creation, Bush style: declare war then reap the rewards with your friends.
Maybe the Arts+Entertainment and Fun+Games forums are best. And avoid the politics forums. “Living in Taiwan” is a good forum too
How about a ‘Shopping, computer Games, Sleeping and Eating’ forum? Screaming Jesus can moderate it.
Wasn’t there a thread a while back about being ambushed by students with lists of questions prepared by their ‘teachers’?
Let’s ask the important questions before forming any opinions: SJ, how many of your students are of legal age, suitably flexible morals, and an acceptable degree of nubility?
And there are all sorts of other interesting spin-offs: Students, this week your homework is to persuade Fred Smith to vote Democrat. 
Nubility? Stragbasher, I had no idea you wanted to get married! 
I think it’s good to have some local color here though I don’t know if it’ll go well. The forum won’t necessarily turn out as an “English classroom” as I think it’s not easy to get locals compatible with all the topics talked here. I guess it’s due to the fact locals don’t have much in common in life with most of expats here if they’re only interested in language improvement process. One more thing, locals always can learn from reading some of your articles here and give questions or get your assistance? If that won’t make them bloody idiots then…
Either way,it’s always an option to set up a forum called" Helpful English resource" , where some native speakers and locals discuss on how to use English"( as long as native speakers would like to help, there will be brilliant resource) besides language exchange if more than a few of you are keen and willing to have it. But I wonder if this could get responsive…
This isn’t a place for your students to post their homework or practice their English.
What you’re doing is about as annoying as teachers telling sudents to go up to foreigners they see in the streets and try talking to them.
Brian
[quote=“Bu Lai En”]This isn’t a place for your students to post their homework or practice their English.
What you’re doing is about as annoying as teachers telling sudents to go up to foreigners they see in the streets and try talking to them.
Brian[/quote]
Let’s send ‘em packin’ eh 
I think this place needs more input from “the locals”.
As long as they are mature adults and able to hold an intelligent conversation in passable English we should certainly welcome them aboard.
I see no harm in it.
Let anyone who so wishes post in these forums for whatever reason may prompt them to do so. It’s easy enough to skip over the chaff, the mods will weed out what doesn’t belong, and there might even be something of interest among the rest.
Bring 'em on!
[quote=“stragbasher”]
Question 1: Are you a bloody idiot?[/quote]
Question 2: Any cute ones?
A few comments. I’m not sure where to begin, so my apologies if this seems a little meandering.
My idea was to give them “real-world” reading and writing practice, by throwing them into an English-speaking environment. This, it seems, is radically different than anything their teachers have asked them to do before. Due to language and cultural gaps, many of them have misunderstood, and tried to post homework exercises or something. Um, sorry about that. I would be grateful for whatever patience and charity you could muster (for me and them).
I have gone over some basic principles of netiquette re flaming and being off-topic and so on. I’ve tried to impress on them that this is like a big party–with some people in the corner talking about movies or politics, and others having a job interview, and so on. So they should be sure to understand what each forum’s topic is, and read other people’s posts and not just “blunder into a conversation.”
For those who are worried about being swamped with language questions, I don’t see how that could happen. Think how many posts you make in a week, over how many forums, versus how many they are likely to make. (As few as they can get by with, is my impression.) The worst that can happen is, maybe some of them will get addicted like me, and start arguing with our resident crank theorists about politics or whatever.
Oh, and I told them not to worry about mistakes, just practice. I don’t see why they would need to ask you grammar questions or anything like that. (Anyway, they have my e-mail for that!)
If I’m wrong (as I often am), and this becomes a pain for you guys, then I will of course end this experiment and find some other way.
Yes, there are many nubile young ladies among them. Of course I would have to serve as chaparone!
The point is not that your students may or may not contribute. A few new faces around the place are always welcome, and I’m not advocating excluding people because they’re Taiwanese or anything.
The point is that if everyone does what you’re doing then the place will be full of students looking for a chance to practise their English. That is the objective of inviting them here, isn’t it? To use English in a real environment regardless of how the person you are using it on feels about suddenly becoming a teaching resource in his free time. It’s like the Pizza Hut employee who once came up to me while I was eating, with a list of questions he had been told to ask of a foreigner by his teacher. My answer was “Tell your so-called teacher to fuck off and respect other people’s privacy.”
I’m not the only one that could send a hundred students here tomorrow, but what would be the impact of a thousand (or more) people coming here to exercise their skills because all the teachers here want to give them a better experience?
Why don’t we just put an ad in Studio Classroom and invite everyone in Taiwan to come and meet some foreigners and discuss what we think about our country? The answer is that no-one is using forumosa to provide free ‘real-life’ situations for students. Most of us get paid for English practise and don’t work, or expect anyone else to work, for free. Conversing with someone here who has limited English is not a big chore occasionally, but it will quickly become work if it becomes the normal state of affairs.
What is it that gives SJ the right to invite all his students to a party that was never organised for their benefit? There might not be enough of them to make a big difference now, but that’s because you’re the only one doing it. But if you do it so will everyone.
So fuck it, I’ll invite my students to the happy hour tonight, shall I? I could even put a poster up in the school, and I know a couple of Forumosans who are lecturing to big classes this evening. Maybe they could bring their students? Everyone else can do the same, and the place will be seething with anxious newbies clutching survey forms or interesting articles they have read and have a few questions about. Or they’ll ‘just’ want to practise their conversation skills and it’ll be like a classroom only with Pizza. We’ll be waving desperately at our friends across a room full of people we don’t really want to talk to. Of course, there’ll be plenty of nubiles, but there is more to life than that. A conversation with someone who speaks my language fluently, for instance.
I don’t want to spend my time at forumosa arguing with people who have accused me of racism and sexism because they lack the language skills to understand what I actually said. (This happened recently at this site.) I can go to tealit and find any number of people who want to practise their English. I come here because almost everyone speaks English already, and generally shares a similar cultural background with me. Send your students to tealit and let them find people who WANT to talk to them.
Next thing you know someone will be offering a course on how to make foreign friends on the web, netiquette, and chat-room English. It’ll come with a free lifetime subscription to forumosa. SJ, if you’re interested in running this I know just the guy for you to talk to. There’s even a form you can download to send him your proposal. You might as well, as it’s no different from what you’re doing now.