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LEARN TO SWIM

LEARN TO SWIM

Throw a baby in the water. Watch them struggle to get to the surface. Watch them struggle to stay on the surface. Watch them figure out how to stay on the surface without struggling. No baby drowns.  That is how we teach a baby to swim in the west.

You [...]

TEACH WITH MOVIES

Teach With Movies

China uses movies to teach English. Well, almost. Universities throughout China use movie clips shown in the classroom during class time. The short clips are repeated over and over again, ad nauseum, until the students have memorized certain chunks of language. Yes, movie clips are used for language learning cum memorization. Students [...]

RETIRE

Maybe it is time to seriously think about retiring.

For the past 9 years I have tried my best to not only assist my students in improving their English, I have attempted to lead university administrators toward creating an English speaking environment.

No matter what I do, they just refuse to get it. No matter [...]

MYSTERY

ENGLISH TODAY, DECEMBER 2010, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS pg. 53 China’s English mystery – the views of a China ‘foreign expert’

MARTIN WOLFF

A hard-hitting opinion piece from an English teacher in China

Introduction

The mysteries of exotic China arise not only from its voluntary isolation from the modern world during some of the most formative [...]

White Monkeys

QUALIFIED TEACHERS, BACKPACKERS, WHITE MONKEYS THE DISINTEGRATION PROCESS

In 1978, when China first opened its door to the outside world, China recruited high quality foreign teachers like Mark Salzman, a Yale University graduate, to teach English as a foreign language (EFL) at the university level.

As China expanded the English curriculum to middle schools, the [...]

4 GREAT TRUTHS

4 Great Truths

IN THE BEGINNING

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

You can learn a language for a lifetime and never be able to use it for its communicative purpose. You can communicate in a language without ever learning it. Foreign students who come to China to learn Mandarin are often fluent within [...]

China Movies

Eat a Bowl of Tea Farewell My Concubine Great Wall Iron and Silk Joy Luck Club Sand Pebbles Shanghai Express Shanghai Lady Shanghai Noon Tai Pan The Last Emperor White Countess

Law Movies

LAW

Inherit The Wind

12 Angry Men

Erin Brockovitch

Enron

Disclosure

Life and Debt

McLibel

The Corporation

North Country

The Firm

The Insider

Paper Chase

Working Girl

Marketing Movies

MARKETING

Rainmaker

Thank You For Not Smoking

The Constant Gardner

Wal Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

McLibel

Jerry Maguire (sports marketing)

Ted Koppel documentary on China-US trade

Thank You For Smoking

Motivational Movies

MOTIVATIONAL Blackboard Jungle Coach Carter Great Debaters Gridiron Gang Lean on Me To Sir With Love