What makes a good foreign teacher?
#1: A Sense of Humour!!! (note: English Spelling! The Queens!).......we won't go into this right now..........m'kay?
One needs to 'engage' the students - let them know that it's ok to 'think' for themselves - there's NOTHING to remember - they don't have to write down every 'sacred' word that comes out of your unholy mouth!
Hired Monkeys No More!
What I teach, I teach with passion and feeling - if they don't "get it" - then it's their loss.........or Mummy and Daddy's.........if I can't make them sit up and beg for more, then I've failed. 90% of the time, I can. We're here to inspire, to inflame, to invoke - not to pander to the wannabe-big-black-car-drivers............that's not why we're here!!
It's because we see a Nation that's crying out for help - because they've been swept up in the global tide of Capitalism - and, yes, to them - money = face!
It's the same in India - lowest caste, burn the dead.........higher caste, work for big global giant like IBM, make much money, buy good wife.
Trying to differentiate between 'American' (ahem...clears throat......NO! It's not pig flu!!)......and 'real' English.........what they 'hear' on the TV and what is 'real'.
The primary difficulty for me is in discerning 'what' they want to learn?
ie. a bunch of freshmen.......sitting at the furthest recesses of the classroom, avidly texting into their cellphones........Hello!!........Are you with us???..........you want to talk about what!!!! Food? Culture? You've not BEEN anywhere! Next..........Relationships?........oh, come on, you're 20 going on 13..............next...........One Night Stands.......Okay - then you need to be in the class where PedoMan is the teacher!!
Seriously........China needs to shape up re its Education system.......more and more kids are failing their TOEFL, IELTS, SATS, PETS etc.........whatever acronym you feel like putting on it - and it's down to US - NOT the backpackers we've inherited this mess from!
China is #2 in the list of most powerful nations - 1st is India..........(ok, you need a real, legit, 200 hr TESOL/CELTA to teach there, and good luck!)............and what do we have to do??
Wipe out the past 40 years, that's what!
Imagine we're at the inception of the destruction of the Cultural Revolution - because - that's REALLY where we are! Educationally, anyway! We're teaching robots, who have never been allowed to 'think', to 'reason' - FFS, they've never even heard of the Kublai Khan, let alone Socrates!! They don't even know their own history!
We have to undo the damage, and reinstate 'real' teaching methodologies - don't even dare mention annual teacher ed. classes to them!
God Forbid!
Their Chinese teachers are doing great! (which is why 99% of our students FAIL on writing and listening..and why they end up in Daddy's business, or managing Pink Shops downtown, or operating fly-by-night Pyramid health scams!)............it's not rocket science.
It is encumbent upon us to re-educate the system...........
How?
I haven't a clue.
Except one student at a time.
But, Oh, what a mess we've made, so far - no wonder 'laowai' is fallen to such a derogatory term!