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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 [...]

Unreachable/Unteachable

UNREACHABLE AND UNTEACHABLE STUDENTS

Every Chinese college and university has them, from top tier down to the bottom 4th tier.Usually every class has at least one and the unlucky teacher may be saddled with several. Occasionally, an entire class may be beyond reach.

No matter what the pedagogy, the methodology, the materials; there [...]

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 [...]

Professor Salary

In the last 10 years China has reduced or cut the salary for foreign teachers.

10 years ago foreign teachers with a doctorate were paid 5,500 rmb per month for 12 teaching periods each week. (114.58 rmb per teaching period)

Today the university pays the same person 5,200 rmb for 16 teaching periods each week. [...]

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

LEARN VS. ACQUIRE

LANGUAGE LEARNING

The concept of language learning is linked to the traditional approach to the study of languages and today is still generally practiced in high schools worldwide. Attention is focused on the language in its written form and the objective is for the student to understand the structure and rules of the language through [...]

’10 4 GREAT LIES

INTRODUCTION

At any given moment there are twice as many Chinese learning English as there are citizens of the U.S.A. English instruction begins in kindergarten and continues into postgraduate study, for both English majors and non-English majors. Everyone in China must study English. Local variants of English such as Chinglish and Chinese English [...]

’10 ENGLISH CORNER

English Corner

MY ENGLISH CORNER EXPERIENCE

Also: go to the download page and read the free article       China EFL: English Corner

Over the years I have attended enough English Corers to know that it is better to avoid them like you would avoid SARS, they make me sick. Many foreign teachers have no choice; it [...]

CHINESE ADMINS

CHINESE  ADMINS

I just published a study called “Dissatisfied Customers” of a Shanghai joint venture business institute. (It is available on my download page) The study reveals the complaints of the 1,600 students.  The Dean’s reaction can be found at the end of the article. She was a horrible administrator who repeatedly lied to her [...]

EAST VS WEST

THE PURPOSE OF THIS THREAD IS TO SHOW AGREEMENT BETWEEN ONE CHINESE AND TWO WESTERN TOP EDUCATORS AND IS NOT AN ATTACK ON CHINA.

EAST VS WEST

Several years ago there was an educational conference in Beijing where the three keynote speakers were the Chancellor of Oxford University, President of Yale University and the President [...]