In the Middle of September I wrote an article entitled: SNAFU - A Foreigner's Life in China http://www.kingscalendar.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?action=viewnews&id=162

A week or two ago, I noticed that an ESL (English as Second Language) site had picked up the story, so I went to their site to read what they had written. I have to admit that I was shocked.

The site commenced with something about 'stuff copyright law', and then proceeded to post the text from this article, as it appeared at Magic City. My first impression was not so good.

The site was dedicated to its promotion of ESL teachers as opposed to "Oral" (Conversational) English teachers. I am the first to admit, that I have no ESL or TESOL certificate, although, to be frank, in Australia, such certificates (at least 3 years ago) have no government recognition, and can be achieved in one month of part time classes. Nevertheless, they do provide the lay person with some knowledge and expertise needed in an "English Teaching Program."

While I was not surprised that these "professionals" were not impressed with non-ESL certified Oral English Teachers, their remarks in relation to what I had written about my summer camp were surprising.

I had related how I had been asked to talk to the students about Australia, because their parents did not consider my method of getting students to stand and talk, worthwhile.

While I grant that the way I wrote what I did was tongue in cheek, I found the language used to describe me, as totally unprofessional. Given the Christian base of this newspaper I won't repeat it. And I can't refer you to the site because I didn't make any record of its location.

I was nevertheless described as being "irresponsible."  The comments to which they objected were these:

I was so incensed at this, that in my very first class that day (average age about 16 years), I announced that their parents were unhappy with my teaching, and had insisted that I teach about Australia. This then is what I told them.

• "Australians LOVE the Chinese, especially the Falun Gong."
• "Australia believes in the 'One China Policy' - Taiwan belongs to China; and if China attacks Taiwan, WE WILL ATTACK YOU!"
• "Every year, Australia welcomes thousands of Chinese students into our universities; and every year we throw hundreds out and send them back home, because they love to CHEAT!"
• "Now today, when you go home, be sure to tell your parents what I taught you about Australia."

From one perspective I can understand the negative reaction to my comments, but  I did feel that their remarks were unprofessional. Nevertheless, they did make me think about how some people are so serious, that they seem unable to tell the difference between taking comments literally and using humour to express the literal truth.

If my comments offended anyone, then I do apologise, and would like to point out to the totally serious minded and to those who have no sense of humor, that my description of my discussions about Taiwan, Falun Gong and "Go tell your parents what I taught" was a condensed version of the lesson, and was presented as it was in order to inject some humour into the story.

The actual teaching session was in fact a teaching session about "the two sides of a coin," and about how by presenting one side of truth, a lie is created, because it does not give the whole picture.

These students had to do daily diary entry comments on my teaching, and a particular teacher showed me some, where I saw for myself, that the "moral" of the session was appreciated and understood.

I would like to point out that I admire ESL teachers who teach the little kids great English. My brother does this and says "While they don't know a great deal, they can use it extremely well."

The thing that I really objected to in the ESL article was what I perceived to be "professional arrogance." The article was very derisive of Oral English teachers, whilst raising to the heights of heaven the wonderful abilities of the ESL teachers.

However, it bears pointing out that in China 80% of the wealth is in the hands of only 20% of the people, and that it is only in the RICH schools with RICH KIDS that one is likely to find an ESL teacher.

The majority of schools that hire foreigners to "teach" their students have no proper facilities for teaching, no aids, computers, bright and clean classrooms, nor any specific program to teach. They just DUMP the foreign teachers into overloaded classrooms full of kids, most of whom are not interested in speaking English.

I take my teaching position seriously, and my focus is always to get students to "use" the English they have. By way of example, my 2nd and 3rd year University students have, for the last two weeks, been discussing this topic:

• Should the Japanese people be forgiven for what the Japanese soldiers did in China 60 -70 years ago? Is Japan still a threat? How long does a nation stay angry?

This one minute topic test (presented by students in front of the class) saw most of the students being stopped by me after 3 minutes. In one class, I gave them two options, and all but one student chose to talk about the Japanese.

When one has a class of 70 university students, it takes ingenuity to keep them occupied, whilst at the same time, fulfilling the requirements of my job description.

Currently, for those classes who had me last semester, during which time I taught them about the mechanics of conversation, in every lesson I call up 15 students to read for me, and an equal number who must stand and present their views on a specific topic.

I introduce topics from China People's Daily Newspaper English Edition, to get the students to think and articulate in English their thoughts on current topics in the Chinese press.

Additionally, I send 2-4 groups of 4-6 students away from the classroom to discuss, in English, a specific topic. They are required to write a group paper and to be familiar with what each person in the group thinks about the points raised. When they come back to the class they stand before the class and are grilled by me.

Meanwhile, while the groups are away discussing, and students are reading and giving their topic presentations, the balance are given a piece of paper which lists a specific topic, with information provided from People's Daily, and they must write a four sentence composition that contains at least 10 pieces of information. These are later used by me to correct sentence construction and grammar. 

While I am quite aware that many foreigners just "teach" and collect their pay and keep travelling, and that many won't fight against the system to actually benefit the students, many of us "Oral" teachers do a fine job of actually enabling the students to be at ease with speaking English.

The proportion of well educated students who, despite their degrees, cannot even speak English is far too high in China. This is basically the fault of the Educational System's total focus on Grammar. 

I currently have 12 classes which I teach twice a week. One of these contains 23 first year students. These kids can't talk, can't speak, can't comprehend my spoken words, and have tremendous difficulty reading. Nevertheless, I gave them a written assignment last week on the topic of forgiving the Japanese. 

Their reports show that inside their heads they are able to string words, phrases and sentences together, to form coherent opinions. So why can't they talk? The Answer is that they have firstly not had that much opportunity, and secondly, their Culture gets in the way.

Some of these big burly footballer types literally shake in their boots when they have to stand and speak.

I tip my hat off to the ESL teachers, and will continue on my very unprofessional way, helping my students to articulate the words that they already know. I mean that seriously!

I am a serious person, and I take my teaching seriously.

A quick learner and a public ham.

Pork bellies and crossing dressing?

You can read the background story to these photos at http://magic-city-news.com/article_4722.shtml

Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com

Photographic Stories from China at Magic City