The Asian Paradox

[Bandito]

In my language classes, we always had to practice speaking to eachother, and when I had a French tutor I had to speak to her in French for an hour. So I assume in these English classes in Asia, students would be encouraged to practice speaking to eachother too.

You would think tat but they probably don't . I learned how to speak English by going to America and having to learn English in order to survive. In most places because you don't hear it or talk to anybody that is at least competent you don't learn to speak the language. So the only way to speak it is to for example live in a place where they speak it regularly.

[GatorKid117]

Fellow Gator over here. Are you teaching English over there as a full-time gig or just a side thing? How do you get one and what are the requirements?

I teach full time (8-5). I'm in more of a unique position though compared to the majority of English teachers in China. Most have around 15-20 45 minute classes a week and maybe 10 or so mandated office hours. The rest of the time during the week is theirs to do whatever.

I did that last year and it was OK. You can get some really nice gigs if you're lucky, 15 or so classes a week and thats it. I really only wanted to teach kindergarten (which I'm doing now) or History/Biology/Geography (which I did last year) so that kind of limited my options.

If you directly compare salaries from China to the US its not that great. However I don't have to pay taxes, get free food Monday to Friday and the cost of living is much lower here, even in a very expensive city like Shenzhen. I'm able to save a decent amount each month.

There is a big difference between working legally and illegally. China is cracking down pretty hard on illegal workers now but its still pretty easy to find work (albeit maybe crappy work) if you want it.

Typically, all you need is a college degree. A certificate like a TESOL or CELTA is a nice plus as well. Oh yea, being a good looking white guy/gal is also a bonus.

I think its a pretty cool way to get to experience another culture. Traveling is great, but you don't really get to know the people.

Mandarin though....

[The_Yearning]

I teach full time (8-5). I'm in more of a unique position though compared to the majority of English teachers in China. Most have around 15-20 45 minute classes a week and maybe 10 or so mandated office hours. The rest of the time during the week is theirs to do whatever.

I did that last year and it was OK. You can get some really nice gigs if you're lucky, 15 or so classes a week and thats it. I really only wanted to teach kindergarten (which I'm doing now) or History/Biology/Geography (which I did last year) so that kind of limited my options.

If you directly compare salaries from China to the US its not that great. However I don't have to pay taxes, get free food Monday to Friday and the cost of living is much lower here, even in a very expensive city like Shenzhen. I'm able to save a decent amount each month.

There is a big difference between working legally and illegally. China is cracking down pretty hard on illegal workers now but its still pretty easy to find work (albeit maybe crappy work) if you want it.

Typically, all you need is a college degree. A certificate like a TESOL or CELTA is a nice plus as well. Oh yea, being a good looking white guy/gal is also a bonus.

I think its a pretty cool way to get to experience another culture. Traveling is great, but you don't really get to know the people.

Mandarin though....

Long ass post and you didn't even answer my question. How did you get one? How did you apply? Are you legal? Did you pay for your own travels? etc.

[GatorKid117]

Long ass post and you didn't even answer my question. How did you get one? How did you apply? Are you legal? Did you pay for your own travels? etc.

God forbid I include any pertinent information someone asking questions might be interested in knowing.

You're right, only answered 2/3. Whoops.

I'll keep it simple for you then.

Google it.

[Nick Young]

Do you know anything about teaching English in Japan? Is it a pain in the ass to get a job doing it over there compared to China?

[niko]

Do you know anything about teaching English in Japan? Is it a pain in the ass to get a job doing it over there compared to China?

The rules are different. And there are less illegal, under the book type jobs. If you really want to do that, there are a lot of sites that will walk you through what you need to do in detail, specifically for Japan.

[wang4three]

I lived in Taiwan, China, and Japan for extended periods of time for work. I've found that just because the population started learning from an early age, it does not mean that they were learning proper English. In most cases they have terrible foundation and at minimum can only really read English, but not speak or listen.

The problem is the teachers who are teaching English. Asian countries have a huge deficiency of quality English teachers. A lot of these so-called "teachers" are fresh out of college American students who couldn't find a real job in America because they just spend 4 years of their life dedicated to bullshit majors like communications, sociology, or whatever other liberal arts major out there. Not to say that everyone who studies these are idiots, but there is a strong majority of them who pick it because it's easy and they wander aimlessly to get their degree. I know cause I was one of them. I almost went to teach English after college until a close friend of mine told me to get a real job with a real future. It sounds so appealing: you get to travel and live in a foreign country and it pays relatively well, especially considering you don't get taxed on your income.

I have tons of friends who did JET Programme, Teachaway, and other such programs. They're native English speakers but do not know the basic grammar principles. Instead they rely on their knowledge of conversational English which instead gets hairy because as we all know, colloquial English is very different than formal English. So the Asian students are not learning about basic stuff like subject and predicate, past participles, etc. Concurrent with that, teachers are not disciplined enough to correct them as much as they should. Instead they're more concerned with spending their free time traveling the country side or dating the locals.

I have a friend who has been teaching in Japan for almost a decade now. We've been in contact sparsely over the last ten years since he graduated college. In his most recent email to me, it was rifled with run-on sentences, comma splices, and subject noun agreement issues. I'll give him some credit because he's been living in the country side with little access to other English speakers, but it was AWFUL. Not to mention, he's teaching elementary to middle schoolers which definitely means they'll grow up with terrible mechanics of the language.

I'm not going to say all the teachers who do this are terrible. I have another friend who was a linguistics major and I know she probably did a great job with her students abroad, but quite frankly it's just a complete mess. She quit after two-three years and informed me of this whole problem. She says most of the better teachers quit early and return back to the states because they're not incentivized to do a good job and there's a lot of nasty politics involved. In addition, she's pretty smart so she found a better job back in the states. She also had her life together for the most part. Meanwhile, the ones that don't have their lives together stay there for long periods of time doing a poor job teaching.

[The_Yearning]

God forbid I include any pertinent information someone asking questions might be interested in knowing.

You're right, only answered 2/3. Whoops.

I'll keep it simple for you then.

Google it.

Take it easy man. I'm just wondering what you majored in to go to China to teach English after 4 years.

[AS85]

This is a paradox, found mainly amongst Asian university students. No I am not talking about Asian Americans, I'm talking about FOB Asians accepted into American and European universities.

I am speaking mainly of Asians originating from the countries Japan, China and South Korea.

Many students from these countries grow up pushed by their parents to study insanely hard in school, and to take extra classes and get the very top grades.

HERE IS THE PARADOX:
Many Asian students learn English in class starting from a very young age. So how come when they come to Europe or America, they often times suck hard at English? Surely English is a class that their parents would force them to work extra hard at and dominate-and yet, I know many an Asian student who has been in America or Europe for years and still sucks at English.


I bring to you-the Asian paradox.

Paradoxically, you write a lengthy post on why FOB Asians aren't good at English and yourself use the word 'paradox' incorrectly.

[Nick Young]

Paradoxically, you write a lengthy post on why FOB Asians aren't good at English and yourself use the word 'paradox' incorrectly.

One might even say that it is ironic and hypocritical on my part

For the record, this doesn't just apply for FOB AZNs. I also know a huge amount of Greek and French people from my course who have been in England for 3+ years and are still as incomprehensible in English as the first day they came here. Polish, Germans and Eastern euros tend to be good at english. Dutch and Scandanavians, well it goes without saying, most are better at English then English people and Americans.

French, Italians, Greeks, Spanish and Portugese though, for the majority, are pretty bad at English. My accent in French is pretty bad but atleast I can speak in proper grammer and say more then just "hello" "yes" and "no."

[MavsSuperFan]

why asians from asia got to be so bad at english
-Nick Young

For the record asian kids are better at english than american kids are at Mandarin/Korean or Japanese.

[Bandito]

why asians from asia got to be so bad at english
-Nick Young

For the record asian kids are better at english than american kids are at Mandarin/Korean or Japanese.

Remember that Americans think they are the best at everything. You should see them try to speak Spanish

[magic chiongson]

op giving swaggy p a bad name

[MadeFromDust]

Paradoxically, you write a lengthy post on why FOB Asians aren't good at English and yourself use the word 'paradox' incorrectly.

Duhhhh It falls under "common usage". Frikkin forrners

[gigantes]

God forbid I include any pertinent information someone asking questions might be interested in knowing.

You're right, only answered 2/3. Whoops.

I'll keep it simple for you then.

Google it.

bwahahaha