As a retired Chinese-Canadian teacher, I have very good pension for a comfortable life, but while facing the numerous un-employed oriental immigrants in Canada, I thought I could do something by going helping them there and visit the places at the same time. Yet, I have never felt so humiliated like this. Though I have taught in China for 5 years in 5 different places, the process had been very discouraging. Some of the ads would directly advertize for "young","female","qualified or not", "Caucasian","experience not necessary",etc. Was that for education?

I can easily get a part-time teaching job here with more pay. I turned down several offers. I would take less if I could go to another country, to know the people and the places. I even tried learning Korean and Japanese in case. In one time I even taught in Zhangjiajie for free because they could afford. I found there is a grave problem in ESL education!

The students I taught still keep emailing me with greetings and problems, but most of the administrators never, because I always fought with them for the students benefits.

Alex Wu

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Once I was assigned teaching Writing in a pretty famous language center to two classes. Most of the students were sent by corporate businesses. Many students didn't attend classes, not often handed in reqired assignments. In class, they dept asking HOW to WRITE. Told them that they could write whatever they way they want. I showed them lots of examples from famous novels. At a mid-term exam, lots of them failed. Many of them figured that they couldn't pass and sent the class leader to me for leniency. I gave them not favors, but I allowed them extra hours for reviewing. Then they went to the school admin who came to me to see if I would raise their marks which I refused. In order to keep that source of students, the school didn't fire me but assigned another local teacher to take my classes. By giving them a model composition, the students memorized the model, and all passed the course.

In that same school, a Russian lady was hired to teach part-time English to a Saturday kid school. She was no good in English at all, but she took the job because she needed the money to support the family at home. She came to me every Friday evening, and then teach the kids the next day.

In another school, there was another younger foreign teacher. He was doing photophy before. No degrees. His classes were said by his students the most boring. They complained but to no avail. He knew it was difficult to satisfy the audience.He came to me for advices very often.His students came to me for problems, too. Yet, whenever came to the re-imbursement of medical expenses, the school had no problem with him, and picking on mine very often. My plane ticket bought at rush season was re-imbursed the same as his at a lower rate at end of February. Since it was at the end of the contract, I even didn't have time to argue.

P.S. In one of the Writing class I mentioned, they assigned an English man to take over. I happened to see one of a corrected paper on the class foor. Out of curiosity, I read it and found lots of mistakes, spelling and grammar, were not corrected.

Alex Wu

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I was invited to Zhongshan,Guangzhou,to a private school called Capital, where the students are still emailing me but the management was prejudiced to White and Native, and wanted me to be paid to Chinese standards and at the same time taking care of some administrative duties to which I turned down and left after a month without being paid as they had advertised.From there on, I took another private on in Yanliang, Xi'an, I was accepted pretty warmly, but after another two months, they paid more and hired a black with a mouthful of foul language and terminated my hiring.From all these, I realize that private schools are not for me!

In my last 5 years of teaching in universities, I helped not only in oral conversation, I also emphasized in translation, writing, listening. Even in calligraphy and social Do's and Don'ts. I met lot more people in English corners around those cities like Chengdu, Nanchang and Dalian prophesying the importance of this universal language. I don't really mind too much about the pay, yet, hate being treated inferior by being paid less in Yanliang.

Alex Wu

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From the very beginning of my being in Yanliang, I had been ready to leave, but I slso wanted to have a survey of that school. Besides the earlier reasons, there were more:

1.Before I went to Yanliang, I had told them the train and time when I'll be there. The first night I arrived at Xi'an train station in the evening. I found there were buses later.They took me to an expensive hotel and let me pay the bill, The next day, I have to search my way to the school about 50 km away. No re-imbursement. Then I found they did have an apartment already ready for my coming.

2.The very first night, I had a class of two students.

3.There were almost nothing ready for me. I have to go to a store with them in the next evening after class for a quilt and a sheet.A couple of days later, two bowls and two plates.

4.A week later was the Oct. 1st. national day vacation. No one arranged anything for me.

5.I have to ask for a water boiler that was over a month later for me to get it.

6.Classes were not schedules. Many times told me 20 or 30 minutes earlier. It took 30 minutes by walking. Tax fares were never mentioned or re-imbursed.

7.Public schools usually never miss my birthday in Nov. Not the private one.

8.Mid-Autumn festival was nothing mentioned or done for me.

9.Since I always corrected students' penmanship, one day I found some first-year students' homework in a public school we catered were signed by their teacher as "aood!" (The 'a' was in capital looked like G),I mentioned that to the head teacher in that level, Mr. Wang, who, instead of apologizing for the mistake, told me that was the only way they taught the students, The capital printed and the 'slanted'. He even demonstrated. Then I found he mistook the cursive capital 'a' as the printed G. From there on, I heard the head of our school, Seldon Wang, mentioned that they, the students and their parents, preferred 'foreign' 'native' teachers.

By then, the school had already had some new foreigners introduced to my classes, I knew the school was going to
kick me out. And for the two months, I hadn't had my luggage unpacked yet. Then I told them I'll leave in Dec.

Sheldon, the chief, did give me a good recommendation letter, but this and all the private schools gave me a very poor impression which will never be forgotten.

Alex Wu