LondonGirl
- 2014-09-07
To Turnoi
Yes, I work for schools that specialise in teaching English as a foreign language. They exist solely to teach non-English speakers how to speak English. Just because it is a private school, does not make it any less of a school. Obviously, you know little about ESL teaching in Europe, so let me clarify a few things for you. In Europe, there are very few public or state schools that hire native English speaking teachers. They mainly hire teachers from their own country who hold a B2+ English certification. Those teachers come to private schools (like where I work) not only to improve their own English but to learn how to teach it also, so in that respect part of my job is teacher training. Whilst I don't necessarily agree with European state schools not hiring native English speakers, but there's not much I can do about that. There are a few schools, such as the International school in the Hague, that do and I am more than qualified to teach at them. However, I chose to teach in Spain because I love the country and would like to settle here permanently.That means you are most likely working for private businesses.
You seem to suggest that all private schools and academies exist solely to make money and that is simply not the case, but oops, I forgot! Turnoi the all-wise knows best about every single school in the whole wide world!
A rule you discovered all by yourself? Oh please do share; I could do with the laugh!Once I had written a small paper on teaching the use of indefinite and definite articles in English to Chinese students and introduced a rule that I had discovered myself.
Also, I thought you were teaching at an advanced level, Turnoi? Articles are taught at KET (A2) level here in Europe and are expected to be assumed knowledge by PET (A3/B1) level... So why are you teaching it in your super-duper uber advanced classes?!
As for pulling me up on what is obviously a typo, the phrase "people in glass houses" springs to mind, seeing as you got basic vocabulary such as comfortable and confident confused with convenient and conscious! If that stunning display of your grasp of the English language is all it takes to impress your university, I really don't think I'd have a problem wowing them myself.
I highly doubt you even know what an unreal conditional is without having to google it... But... I never said I was teaching them to young learners, that particular class was adults studying for their CAE exam. I suggest you look up a CAE exam as with your grasp of the English language I doubt you could get through one yourself. There are practice copies available on the Cambridge website, give one a go if you think you can handle it! http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/advanced/how-to-prepare/in your small world of teaching conditionals (or unconditionals....hahahaha) to young learners at a private ESL business
You appear to be fixated on YL teaching to mean teaching kindergarten age? So let's add inability to read to your list of design flaws, as I've already stated YL teaching is from 7-16 and encompasses the CEFR levels of A1-C2. Specialising in YL teaching doesn't mean all I do is hold up a puppet or a flashcard, it means that I structure my lessons so they are age appropriate.
*sigh* Again, not all private schools are equatable to EF (which if you remember I left because I hated their business model) and until you take your head out of the sand on that fact, you will continue to be wilfully ignorant on the subject.With that business-oriented mindset in all you do, you will never drop out of that ESL private industry, which you should were you a professional teacher.
Ummm, no... I teach students in a school and I have plenty of free time. I work Monday to Friday, 12pm-8pm and I get 3 months off in the summer. I very much enjoy my free time, in fact that is the reason for the lateness of this response as I have been out with friends up until now.and so you are still teaching kids at home after class instead of enjoying your free time.
I'm sorry, you think I got in to ESL teaching for the money?! HAHAHAHA! Way back when I first decided I wanted to teach ESL, I was earning a lot more money teaching IT in the UK. I gave up that salary to do something I discovered I loved much more (something I really believe in, you could say). The only career advancement I've had is that I'm now responsible for all the other YL teachers in the school and I have to make sure all students are on course to pass their Cambridge exams.The greatest thing you can achieve in life for yourself is not to climb up a fictitious ladder of career and to gather an enormous amount of wealth but to have the freedom to do something you really believe in and to see how it works.
Cambridge ESOL and IELTS exams are internationally recognised bench marks for English language ability/level and I teach within that framework. I am free to prepare my lessons as I see fit, using material I select and resources of my own design in order to firstly give my students the ability to use English and secondly to pass their English exams if they choose to take them. I specialise in teaching 7-16 year old student up to PET/FCE level and I also teach adult classes up to CAE and Proficiency. Please explain how this differs from the Universities you extol the virtues of so much, Universities that mainly only hire FTs as a marketing tool and where the students attend the classes not as their main focus but as an addition to why they are really there.
The fact of the matter is you know very little on the subject and yet speak as though you are the authority on the matter. You are not.
To Silverboy
Quite apart from the fact I've never said that, it still is not a radical feminist view, is it? Still nothing to back up that little lie, I see?Yes, I do think that if you insist that teachers and students should NEVER have any sort of love/romantic/sexual relationship that is a radical view
No, no you haven't. You have NEVER said that. Anywhere. Any time.I have stated many times on here that I think that foreign teachers should not have sexual relationships with their own students. Not because of any "moral" concerns or reasons, just because is it unprofessional and a conflict of interest.
In fact, that is exactly what I have been saying, over and over and over again.
I see where this might be my fault... You see, as you claim to be a teacher, I assumed that when I wrote "Teachers should not have sexual relationships with their students" you would understand the possessive use of "their".... Ahhh, Silverboy. All this time thinking you were a pervert when in reality you just don't understand basic grammar! How silly of me for assuming you would! Well, isn't it nice that we can draw a line under that little episode, now, hmm? And when I say draw a line, I'm being metaphorical, put your crayons down and step away from your computer screen.If the woman is not the teachers own student and she is from a different department in the same university or from another university
LondonGirl
- 2014-09-07
The London "girl" poster now is one who has worked for EF before, then left because "she" (rightly) found this cowboy operation to be at he bottom at the barrel but has moved on to another operation "she" thinks is better but forms still a part of the same rotten system. The ideology of ESL business culture that "she" spreads is exactly why horrible places like these infamous EF franchises exist.To get rid of the rotten tree (ESL system), it's not enough to cut its branches (move on to another ESL operation within the same system) but you have to exterminate the roots (drop out of that system and fundamentally question it) altogether. If not, EF may have gone down the river and other crap pretend "schools" have taken its place. That's the only reason why I donate my time in having this dispute with "her"; otherwise I might just ignore it and not find "her" input worth even a single reply.
Ahh, back to the safe ground of disputing my gender again, eh? Not able to best me any other way, he safely retreats to implying I'm not a female. Again. Yawn.
The problem is, Turnoi, is that you believe all private (and by private I mean not run by the state) schools to be out for nothing but profit. This is simply not the case and by continuing to insist that is is, you only continue to make yourself look stupid.
You clearly have knowledge of China... How can you believe that state schools there don't have money as their main goal? When I worked for Shusheung middle school in Taizhou, I was there purely as a tool for the school to say "Look, we have real western teachers!" They didn't give a hoot what was actually taught in the classes, all they cared about was securing enrolment fees from the parents. The same is true for state schools all over China. And state schools in Europe are a different kettle of fish completely, as addressed in my previous post.
You must know this to be true and yet still cling to the belief that state schools are on a higher moral plane to language mills in China. They're not. Neither put education before money and it is for precisely that reason I returned to Europe as here the students education is paramount.
BeenThere
- 2014-09-07
She is working in Spain, for a reputable school... nothing to do with ESL in China...