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2020-03-20

Since World War 2, COVID-19, aka Coronavirus is the one thing that has successfully caught the world unawares, forced itself onto the Breaking News section of every media outlet, challenged leadership across the globe, threatened health systems, slapped the world economy in the face and sent the man on the street as well as the most powerful persons on earth panicking. COVID-19 has rubbished the race for military supremacy that has been the focus of countries at the global stage. It has shown that, nuclear weapons alone do not keep a country above others and in safe havens. The world is now facing the bitter truth that, in spite of all the development in infrastructure and technological breakthrough, humans are essentially still a very weak species, vulnerable not only to bombs and natural disasters but also to viruses like COVID-19. Human nature in itself is still very weak and fragile. What makes a person point a finger at another person when it comes to the spread of a virus? It is that weak, insecure and primitive side of us humans even though we boast of how civilized we are, all the time. Thanks to COVID-19 we have seen the virus-carrier stigma move from one person to another, from one nationality to another and from one race to another. When an infant breaks a glass and blames it on another, that's basically who we humans are. That's why even in our 70s we can still do it even as the leader of a country. That's why a disease affecting pigs, with no health effects on humans can be branded XXXX Swine Fever, to jeopardize the dignity of an entire continent and its 1.2billion inhabitants. Since what goes around comes around, today's Coronavirus is a new brand floating and soon to be pinned on some other continent, country or region. Whether there is discriminatory disease branding or not, prejudice is already an inseparable evil from human nature. For every epidemic and pandemic that the world has lived through, names of certain countries come to mind either because it broke out there or because the area suffered the most from the disease. As revealed by COVID-19, humans fall terribly short when it comes to respecting the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" As humans we seem to care only when it hurts us and not when it hurts others. That's why today some people can put up a hashtag #iamnotavirus , make it go viral then turn around and start avoiding people they think carry the virus. We human beings are victims of our own self-centered personalities. That's why with a prejudiced mindset, we avoid sitting next to someone on the bus or train because of what we think about the person but cry foul when it happens to us. Thank you COVID-19 for showing this ugly side of so-called civilized humans. Greed is at its peak with the spread of COVID-19. I want it all, is the feeling as people fight over supplies in supermarkets across the world. Panic buying is the norm and it gives us a microscopic view of what capitalism is really about. It's a kind of fear that inhibits human beings. The fear of not having enough. Our scarcity mindset is a weakness and the root cause of some of the deadliest conflicts in the world today. Hoarding is one of the primitive instincts of Man that has transformed into various forms but still essentially forms the bottom line of individual plans, family goals, foreign policies of governments and even regional organizations. What we see buyers doing as they scramble for supplies in stores is no different from what countries are doing with natural resources around the world. I have ten rolls of toilet tissue at home but I must get ten more rolls even if that means my neighbor won't have any. My country has a huge forest reserve but I must use that other country's forest for timber exploitation even if that means that country loses its forest entirely. That's where the human race is, yet, it's civilization! What is great media? That which manipulates public opinion or that which tells nothing but the truth? May be it is that which exposes the wrongs of one person or country while covering up those of another. Perhaps COVID-19 has clearly understood that the modern world is ruled by media warfare. Therefore the virus is moving from one country to another making sure the media of each country has the opportunity to show what kind of media it is. So I can show graphic images of dead bodies in your country and beautiful flowers in mine even though I have dead bodies too. That also is how civilized humans are! "No nation has friends, only interests." You have probably heard of this saying but sometimes been tempted to say it is not true. Well, COVID-19 is here to help you understand that better. We can party together, sit at round tables together, hug and shake hands on TV, sign documents, call each other allies, members of a union and so on. At the end of the day what really matters is what I want to get from you and what you want to get from me. Everything else is just a show. So some countries during the pandemic woke up to the news that neighbors and "friends" had shut down their borders to them. Well that was reality check and a true test of the friendship. When next time a country's leader gets on TV brandishing some friendship agreement with another country, give him a boo and change the channel to some other entertainment. My worry is that this hypocrisy does not hold only in the case of nations. It is becoming more and more apparent that "No human has friends, only interests." Criticizing is one of the easiest things to do and human beings are excellent at it. We humans love pointing out mistakes others make but become very aggressive when criticized. COVI-19 has managed this aspect so well, moving from one country to another gradually giving everyone the opportunity to criticize the others and be at the receiving end just weeks later. It is a good lesson and a hard one too, to all countries to respect other countries, their cultural values and systems of government. The pandemic is a true test of the capabilities of each country to save and protect lives. Because of our shortsightedness we often rank the strength and weakness of a country only from the military perspective and GDP numbers. COVID-19 has shown that having military strength and high GDP numbers don't automatically guarantee the safety of a people. There is something else, the love and will to serve, share and help when a situation is dire. That's what has made some countries stand tall against the deadly virus while others sink so low. A better world will not be one ruled by a small number of countries because of their military might and GDPs at the detriment of a larger majority of countries. A better world will be one ruled by better human nature and the responsibility is shared. We don't need deadly viruses in order to learn these lessons the hard way.Written by DeeShanghai, March 20th 2020.

The Native English Speaker Phenomenon in China

2017-01-06

In my previous blog entitled ["Native Teachers Wanted..." What do you mean?], I was trying to explain how unclear it is when school administrators, educators, recruiters and so called teachers' agents use the phrase on thousands of job ads online, ignorantly or knowingly blurring the actual meaning of what they intend to say. This shortsightedness sprang from the original popular trend of "native English speaking ESL teachers" being needed to teach in local schools in China just like in all other countries where English is not spoken as a first language. It is the most popular requirement would-be English teachers in China have to meet, overshadowing other requirements concerning working experience, training, education, age, etc. The popularity of this phenomenon has also made it the most controversial in the ESL industry. In this blog I will try to expose some of those controversies as objectively as I can, using the question and answer technique so that persons commenting on this blog can easily refer to specific questions. 1. So who is a Native English Speaker? Common sense tells us that this is a person whose mother tongue is English. 2. So what's mother tongue? One's native language. (According to the dictionary Merriam-Webster). 3. Can a person have two or more mother tongues or native languages? Yes. (My personal opinion). 4. Do you get your mother tongue from your parents or from the environment in which you grow up? From both. (My personal opinion). 5. So if one's parents are from a country where English is not a first language but the person is born and educated in a country where English is a first language, is that child a native English speaker? It will depend on some other factors... (My personal opinion). 6. if just one of my parents is a native English speaker living in a country where English is not a first language, then I am born and educated in that country, am I a native English speaker? It will depend on some other factors... (My personal opinion). 7. Do immigrants in countries where English is used as a first language qualify as native English speakers? No, in most cases. (My personal opinion). 8. Can native English speakers be identified racially? No. (A simple survey a colleague and I carried out in Shanghai in 2012 proved this answer very wrong. Here is what we did in case somebody wants to repeat the survey. We wrote a CV for a dummy teacher. We made sure most of the requirements usually asked were met. Then we got two head shot pictures online, one, a black American and the other a white American. We added the two pictures to 20 copies of the same CV each. Then we got online and applied for as many ESL job ads as we could using the CV we had made. My friend had the CV with the head shot of the black American while I had the other. With the white guy's head shot on the CV I got 18 positive replies, 3 promises to get back and 1 sorry the position is taken. With the other CV with the black guy's head shot my friend got 2positive replies calling for interview, 7 replies saying only native English speakers were needed and 13emails got no replies. Our little survey was just to find out whether recruiters really do read through CVs or they just take a look at applicants' pictures usually at the top of the CV. We got served. So, some people in China attribute native English speaking to a physical looks and worse still, race, an addition to the controversy we are exploring. Now back to the series of questions. 9. You are from Italy but did your university studies in England majoring in English and finally got a certificate to teach English. Are you a native English speaker? No. You are a near-native English speaker. (My personal opinion). 10. You are a British citizen, born and raised in China in the Chinese education system. Are you a native English speaker? It's hard to say. (My personal opinion). These 10questions above including the short story expose the controversies around the following phrase commonly found on ESL job ads in China: "Our school is looking for native English speakers..." Dear recruiters, usually you get 1 or 2 applicants because 30 to 50 others are wondering whether they qualify as native English speakers or not. Among those 30 to 50 hesitant applicants you might have the best teacher that fits the position you have. Globalization will only get better with more and more people interacting and physical racial traces getting almost eliminated. The number of speakers of English as a second language has already outnumbered that of speakers of English as a first language. It will get more and more difficult to find the native English speaker that used to be decades ago. Pay more attention to other requirements that qualify a person to teach English as a second language. Remember, being a native English speaker doesn't qualify a person automatically to teach English especially to learners of English as a second language. Like mentioned in the previous blog, if you are looking for ESL teachers to teach in your school, the right way to phrase it is: "We are looking for native English speaking ESL teachers for..." NOT "We are looking for English speakers" or worse "We are looking for native speakers" or worse still "We are looking for natives."Regards and happy New Year 2017Denis.

“Native Teachers Wanted…” What do you mean?

2016-09-05

This is a nonsensical phrase used by advertisers in China looking for persons who speak English as a native language to fill up various job vacancies across the country. The phrase is commonly used in English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teaching job ads, but even more nonsensically, it sometimes extends to non-English related job ads. On social media as well as on official job portals, this phrase has been used over and over so much that it now seems to make sense. Here is the dictionary definition of the word native: (adjective) “born in a particular place – used to refer to the place where a person was born and raised. Belonging to a person since birth or childhood”. Going by the above simple definition, you can see everybody is a native because everybody was born somewhere. Everybody is a native of some place. A native teacher would therefore mean a teacher born somewhere. Applying the last part of the definition would mean that the person is a teacher from birth. That is how absurd the phrase is. Other extensions of the phrase also commonly used are: “Native speakers wanted…” “Native writers wanted…” Native singers wanted…” “Native science teachers wanted…” etc. In fact the weirdest I saw recently was native swimmer wanted. The phrase “native teachers” originated from the two phrases “native English speaking teachers” and “native English speakers.” The former is supposed to refer to an English teacher who speaks English as a native language and the latter to a person who speaks English as a native language and not necessarily an English teacher. So originally it was: ð “Native English speaking teachers wanted” (Lacks complete meaning: What subjects will the teachers teach?) ð Then it became “native English speakers wanted” (More lacking in meaning: Do you mind if the person is not a teacher?) ð Then it became “native teachers wanted” (Completely absurd). ð In fact the shortest version of it is in the making “natives wanted” The evolution of this misleading phrase has been reinforced mostly by unscrupulous job placement agents who focus more on getting placement fees from employers as well as from job seekers sometimes than on taking time to convey a meaningful message to the job seekers. Put yourselves in the shoes of job seekers and feel the confusion when they get the answer “sorry we are only looking for native teachers.” The person you are most probably looking for is a native English speaking English-as-a-second-language teacher. Take some time to understand the meaning of each word in the phrase. If you want to shorten the phrase, you can simply say Native English speaking ESL teachers wanted. Note: You won’t use exactly the same phrase if you want to hire a Math teacher for example. You will have to say Native English speaking Math teacher wanted. The controversy surrounding who is a native English speaker and who isn’t, is another topic I will write on in the days ahead.Denis.

Facing the stigma of your origin

2016-08-13

One of the biggest social problems of modern society is dealing with the stigma of one's origin. More often than not, we are judged in one way or the other basing on random facts about where we come from. These random facts are usually found in media - almost unavoidable nowadays - as we struggle between being who we are and faking a different look, appearance and behavior for the sake of the society we live in, dominated by prejudiced persons. One of my favorite novelist on this topic Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls it "The Danger of a Single Story." She has a great video about it on TED Talks.The pride of one's origin is one of the most powerful motivational drive when we do whatever we do. Hurting, belittling, talking negatively about that source of pride, consciously or unconsciously therefore is one of the most destructive things that can be done to any human being. Unfortunately, the almighty media that rules the world we live in today, takes the lead in the stigmatization of human beings and their origins through negative news headlines that dominate almost everything we read, listen to and watch in contemporary society. Stigmatization is not limited to one's ethnicity. It embodies other aspects like the physical, mental and psychological disabilities of certain persons, their religions, their social status, marital status, gender, etc. It spans across all aspects of society. As you read this blog you are probably a victim of stigmatization or guilty. Judging someone as a terrorist because he or she comes from the same country as a terrorist recently shown on TV is a manifestation of ignorance and prejudice. We have established stereotypes every where around us that hurt the very society that we live in and want to make better. In anger, many victims often react by stigmatizing the offender. Two wrongs do not make a right. As a victim of stigmatization, one other thing you should not do is to run away. In the eyes of your offender, that is a sign that he or she is right. Always educate and enlighten your offender on how wrong they are. When facing the stigma of your origin, take it as an opportunity to prove the offender wrong by doing what he or she thought you couldn't do. Every human being is unique with a good and a bad side. Every country is unique with a good and a bad side. We should learn to balance our thoughts before we judge people we meet in our daily lives.