Teaching English in Many Places
2019-03-28
I've lived in a few countries, and teaching English in many places shows there are regional patterns in language learning difficulties.
"Can we have more for less?" was the difficulty in Taiwan, but it was easy to ignore since there are plenty of happy, delightful, interested students. Taiwan structures work into 12 hours on, 12 hours off in privacy, each of the 5 workdays per week. The students learn verb conjugation logic patterns and talk about methods to achieve peace. I love these people because they are caring, gentle, considerate, and have the ethic that we all should care. Prices are low and clever happiness abounds, and the food is good Chinese food.
"Please teach us to debate," was the initial request in Beijing, the government town of swift change. "Help us say our own opinion," this second request is a much easier task. A great context for teaching fallacy rejection at western standards is GRE preparation, and a good context for teaching students to say their own opinion is TOEFL preparation.
Beijing and Taipei don't compare. Who can put a price on truth? "Anyone can have any opinion," was the seldom met difficulty in Beijing, rarely making a difference in daily life since there was plenty of work, activities to do, and friends in many neighbourhoods. The rivers were especially interesting places to walk, filled with the sounds of people singing in the early morning. I adopted baby sparrows who had fallen from their nests and who needed a safe place to learn how to fly.
"We don't need you to teach English in Canada, but we need to ask what some words mean." What is awesome? A sequence, a series, a limit, a bound? We should be richer since we work at level. "Yeah, I've been asking government since the 1990s, where did the money go?" On what domains are self-references valid? You have a great platform, you should run. Which party is yours? The police.
So I started teaching English in Korea and Japan. Japanese students need to be reminded to be specific instead of vague. South Korean students need to be reminded to make sense. The Japanese students accept corrections. The South Korean students object, and need. "The future is in English," say my South Korean students, who don't know the CECM to UILO is in Russian and Chinese, too.
I wonder what the error pattern and resistance to English issues would be in Vietnam, Singapore. I'm glad I lived in China as it gives me good cultural insight for the region. Some of my favourite gifts from China are the standard of healthy living, friendly communication, wood bookmarks, porcelain, and my lion guards.
When I started teaching English in Penghu, it was fun. Students participated in singing songs, computer classes, we laughed our way through fun English reviews, enjoyed activities, dressed up to play silly games and we enjoyed the spectacular fireworks every second night. Where did all the laughter go? Why are we so serious for some individuals who deserve to feel embarrassed, losing the happiness we could have enjoyed?
You have lived some countries and collected some amazing experiences while teaching English.
Its a kind of great property to lead a happy life.
I suggest you to write a book about students' feelings while learning English which can depict a learning style of some countries too and that includes your teaching methods too.
good write up dear sister! Cheers!!
"The different regions in East Asia have different cultures."
I wonder how each may interpret the Batman movie line, "Have you ever danced, in the pale moonlight?"I never let the moonlight into my home, it is forbidden. Our police say the crime rate fluctuates with the lunar cycle.
"Will you have dinner with me and my friends?"
What if one of them likes salmon?
"It's a riddle, isn't it?"
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