Disunited Kingdom; Independence

The build up to the Scottish referendum on independence is gathering pace and although devolution has been bandied about for some time the definite referendum in Scotland has hammered home the reality, the union could be over.

According to RPS group Wales could have up to 12.8 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas which if recovered would have a significant impact on the Welsh economy.

The Guardian newspaper today ran an article on Welsh independence which could follow Scotland’s especially if the Scots vote yes in 2014.

Welsh independence has up to now never really had much enthusiasm (which was generally true of Scotland as well) however with the Labour party losing the general election in 2010 making way for a conservative/liberal democrat coalition things have changed.

Constant attacks on the vulnerable in society, the elderly, the disabled and those on low incomes by the coalition has led to a sense that the people of Scotland and Wales (who didn’t vote for either the liberal democrats or the conservatives) have a very different future in mind from that of the English electorate.

An opinion poll for the first time suggests that a majority (51%) back Scottish independence, it seems the more David Cameron tries to tell Scotland when they must have their referendum and how it must be worded the less the Scots want to do with a conservative England.

Once one goes the rest will follow… It’s possible but it doesn’t always happen and at the moment Wales needs England financially but if the gas reserved are explored then that will no longer be the case. Then there is the reality that the issue of independence is not only economically driven, national and cultural identities and the right to self-determination are key factors.

There are advantages and disadvantages to the potential break up of the union but there is a chance that a new union could be formed. A union of like minded nations heading in the same direction on a foundation of similar principals and ethics.

This could theoretically involve Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, a union of Celtic nations leaving England to continue on its own desired path of privatisation and centre-right politics and economics.

Further down the line could see Cornwall, the last bastion of Celtic culture break away from England and join this union of Celtic nations. The political party Mebyon Kernow which stands and campaigns only in Cornwall has been running since the early 50′s, has councillors and is pressing for independence.

What makes a good teacher?

During my time as a teacher there have been many highs and lows and from that experience comes some clarity about what makes a good teacher.

Most of the attributes and skills are self-explanatory so I wont add unnecessary detail.

Primary:

Confidence

Sense of humour

Empathy

Patience

Enthusiasm (positivity)

Planning; a good teacher plans for each class to make effective learning.

Secondary:

Knowledge of subject

Understanding the needs of the students (may relate more to ESL teaching) personalising the lessons.

Additional:

Some things that I haven’t mentioned in the list but that are still worth expressing:

A teachers integrity both in and outside of the classroom and their obedience to the ethics of teaching; such as the boundary of the teacher/student relationship. It may sound obvious but we see time and again this trust and respect break down both in the media relating to state schools and what seems to happen everyday in the ESL teaching world.

Having attained a PhD, masters degree or bachelors degree does not automatically mean you will be a good teacher, knowledge of your subject is of course very important but without interpersonal skills you’re going nowhere.

Much of this could simple be summed up in one word; professionalism.

Finally…

I wont say how many of these attributes I have but I will say I have worked with teachers who have none of these attributes yet continue to this day to teach.

How many do you have?

Why does ESL attract so many weirdos?

Through the public and private sectors it seems teaching English as a second language (ESL) attracts three main types of people, the dedicated, the travellers and the weirdos.

While it is possible that I have been unfortunate to have encountered so many of the latter I feel it is representative of the industry through my experience sharing sessions with other ESL teachers.

Without naming names, countries or schools here is a sample of some of the teachers I have met or worked alongside:

S*****: This woman claimed to have a masters degree in politics (a personal interest of mine) after a casual chat she couldn’t understand and/or define first year bachelors vocabulary. On another occasion she asked how you hail a cab and seemed genuinely baffled that you held your arm out and simple waved one down. Worth a mention, didn’t understand any British-American English equivalents such as biscuits and cookies, pants and trousers etc. Also, she claimed to have worked in Germany for several years but didn’t know what a currywurst was!

J*****: I was lucky to have only met this man and not work with him, in one of our brief meetings he couldn’t retain concentration on a very short conversation that he initiated. He also seemed fascinated with a bag he noticed on the floor in the language school, it’s difficult to explain but it was similar to how a someone with the IQ of a child might behave.

P****: A man in his sixties trying to marry a girl in her early twenties, not sure that constitutes being a weirdo but it’s in.

H****: Less of a weirdo and more of just a rather unpleasant woman, exhibiting all the classic signs of burnout, everybody is to blame except her.

O****: Not a native English speaker and not really a weirdo either but a malicious person who seems to take it upon himself to find out what other students think of their teacher in front of that teacher but using the local language to do so. Making out that students don’t understand their teacher then goes round telling their colleagues this one-by-one (presumably to discredit that teacher). Despite this, he is your ‘best-friend’ to your face.

You may think I am being overly harsh on these people but I must remind you that this in no way really shows you with clarity how border-line retarded some of these people are and how their response time to questions puts them on a par with goldfish!

This so far hasn’t answered the question about why teaching ESL attracts so many weirdos.

There could be many factors for this but in my opinion the following are the main contributors:

Low (or non-existent) prerequisites to becoming an ESL teacher.

Demand for teachers is greater than the supply.

Sex, poorer countries, easier to find a play-mate.

European Court of Justice: Gender Ruling

A consumer group complaint to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) recently has led to a ruling that means insurers cannot charge different amounts on the basis of gender (gender discrimination).

Although this has just happened the law will not come into force throughout the EU till 21^st December 2012.

Of course, more equality and fairness is a great thing and should be law in all areas (such as equal pay between genders for doing the same job) but some people are not happy…

After reading an article on the ruling in the Guardian (online) there seems to be more people against this ruling than those who support it, the reason being is that it is suggested (and most likely correct in their assumption) that the price of car insurance will increase significantly for woman. People are using that argument to justify gender discrimination. So it seems discrimination is OK, as long as it means prices stay down.

It seems to have completely gone over peoples heads that the fact that insurance companies are ripping us off is a separate issue altogether. We should support equality and at the same time fight against these companies who are extorting money from us.

What if it was found that, for example, white people were more likely to be in a car accident than non whites so as the insurance industry works on risk assessments then they could charge white people more? There would be uproar! Yet somehow this is what is/was happening, the same principal being applied to gender, as men get charged more (or women get charged less) it’s OK!

The author of the Guardian article also, in what I can only see as typical UK ‘EU bashing’ accuses the ECJ of trivialising human rights! Despite the fact that it was not a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and that this was brought to the ECJ’s attention by a consumer group, not the EU itself just because it’s bored. Maybe said does admit though that jurisdiction of the ECJ and the ECHR is not always very clear.

Some of the responses have been the usual nonsense of “we must leave the EU”, why? Because they make rulings that discrimination is unacceptable? What kind of world do these people want to live in?

6 Months in: Living in China

I have been in China for 6 months now, living and working in a small city east of Xi’an in Shaanxi province. Many of my experiences come from breaks from work where I have been able to visit other parts of this fascinating country.

First port of call was Mudanjiang in north-east China, not far from the Russian border, this was a brief stop over from the train that left Vladivostok (RU). This seemed (at the time) at be a magnificent place a busy, bustling city, heavily populated with seemingly everything available that one could want. This view was in part due to have come from Russia where (outside of Moscow & St. Petersburg) there is nothing but abject poverty, people living in tin sheds spending their time drunk (possibly because alcohol and cigarettes are the only things affordable).

One thing that I found really strange was, at night, a well dressed woman (maybe in her thirties) carrying a baby (not with a man or friends) approached us (my girlfriend, a German friend that we made on the train and myself) smiling, making the baby wave at us and wanting us to hold the babies hand (she didn’t speak English and we don’t speak Chinese). A woman with a baby (or otherwise) would never approach a stranger or strangers at night in the UK, it would be deemed too dangerous. In China, here and elsewhere, it feels very safe from other people, no-one wants to harm you, they want to be your friend, shake your hand, see you smile and move on, no strings attached.

We got a taxi from the train station to the city centre (about 5-10 minutes drive) the train attendant paid 5 Yuan (47 UK pence) 47p! I knew I was going to like this place!

Places visited so far:

Mudanjiang – Nice introduction, good food and shops, not much else.

Harbin – Beautiful, European style city, well worth a visit any time of the year.

Guangzhou – Huge city, can be a bit overbearing at times as well as polluted, plenty to see and do.

Guilin/Yangshou – Stunning scenery, a must see for everyone, watch out for ‘tourist prices’

Xi’an – A lot to see and do, easy to get around and reasonably priced, could happily spend a lot of time here.

Food:

Some is great, some is crap. Prices range massively, large portion of noodles with egg and beef in a small restaurant can cost from 3.5 Yuan (under 35 pence). Hot pot at a fancy restaurant can cost up to 80 Yuan (just under 8 pound).

China does noodles and rice dishes extremely well along with Chinese dumplings and some other specialities. China is clueless when it comes to chocolate, coffee and bread (that isn’t sweet), which is a real shame as back in the UK they are some of my favourite things!

Some ‘street food’ is delicious and cheap, some will give you (me!) food poisoning.

Transport:

China’s transport system is generally very good, fast, efficient and cheap. A one-way hard sleeper bed on a 17 hour train journey (not the cheapest ticket available) costs 323 Yuan (under 32 pound). However, one journey (a 37 hour one) where all beds and seats were booked meant our ticket was standing only! Too many people can make some trains a living nightmare, standing for 37 hours is a joke, I slept on newspaper in the gangway between the two isles of seats (I wasn’t the only one either). What is even more bizarre and irritating is the train staff trying to sell you crap every half an hour, from torches to key-rings to cuddly toys.

If you suffer from a nervous disposition it would be wise when taking any form of transport on the roads to keep your eyes closed! They are crazy drivers, traffic lights and green men (safe to cross the road) mean very little, near misses happen on every journey and often we will find yourself staring at oncoming traffic while the driver is smoking and using their mobile phone.

Health & Hygiene:

One of the major drawbacks for living in China is the health and hygiene issues, polluted skies, dusty streets, dirty food preparation leading to food poisoning.

Almost on a daily basis I will see babies shitting in the streets and people throwing up by road side trees. Meat is often not refrigerated and left on benches all day (sometimes in direct sunlight) waiting to be bought either by businesses or individuals. Fish and other animals are at times skinned and/or gutted while it is still alive, both on the streets and in supermarkets!

In this 6 months I have had food poisoning twice, diarrhoea for a month and the flu. Drugs in the pharmacies are generally weak and ineffective.

People & Culture:

There are many great things about China but number one is the people, whether it is in the workplace, in shops/restaurants or just on the streets on China, the Chinese people are amazing. Having been to around 20 different countries and China being the third that I have lived in I can honestly say that the Chinese people are the friendliest, most helpful, genuine, want for nothing people I have ever met. It really does seem, especially in the smaller less touristy places that it makes their day just to see you, to say ‘ni hao’ (hello) and shake your hand.

At times it can feel like the place revolves around you, you walk down a street and everyone either smiles at you, says hello or wants to get your QQ (Chinese version of MSN) number.

Other:

For some people there are other issues that can irritate, such as not being able to access certain websites though this doesn’t effect me as all the ones I wish to access I can, Though it would be nice if the broadband services were faster and a little more reliable. All things considered (for a foreigner) this is an awesome place to live short term though long term people will prefer somewhere physically healthier.

6 Months in: TESOL in China

The thought of teaching can be pretty daunting for anyone, let alone teaching in a developing foreign country. Prior to coming to China to teach I had never taught before or for that matter stood in front of people to give a speech/presentation etc.

Teacher training in Guanxi province to obtain the TESOL certificate included a few seminars/workshops and to teach a class of 15 Chinese students while being assessed by the training/employer company.

This doesn’t sound too bad but as it was the first time to do anything of this nature and that it was being assessed and watched by all the other teachers in training it was damn nerve racking! My class which I had to plan myself was on holidays, where people go, where they stay, what they see and what hotel/hostel problems they may face, despite the nerves it went well and the assessment went well.

Watching the other teachers go through the same experience you could clearly see who was set to be a great teacher and who wouldn’t last 5 minutes before heading off back to their home country (and there were a few).

The teachers, including myself set up a mailing list and agree to keep in touch before we go our separate ways being sent to different schools all over the country.

The senior middle school we (my girlfriend and I) arrived at was in a small city in Shaanxi province, I would be teaching about 2200 16 year old students (grade 2) split over 30 classes. Class 1 has 30 students and the rest average at about 75 students per class. I teach 15, 45 minute classes per week.

The apartment is by western standards poor, the heating system at best can be described as antiquated, no double glazing (in winter the kitchen gets thick chunks of ice on the inside of the windows) you can see yourself breathe! Another drawback is the lack of hot water, only the electric shower has hot water. On the plus side the apartment is a good size, two large double bedrooms, a computer room, a lounge, kitchen and bathroom (with western style toilet). I have been provided with new appliances such as fridge, freezer, computer, rice steamer etc.

Some of the staff (mainly from the English department) met with us and took us out for dinner and we had a nice ice-breaking chat, they were and remain to be very helpful and friendly people.

The first day of work was again a nervous one but the rapturous welcome as I walked through the door of the classroom was very warming, exciting and calming. The students though numerous were not intimidating at all and I settled into the role of teacher much easier that I had expected.

Through the mailing list with the other westerners who I trained with I learned that some were having difficulties adjusting to their new careers as teachers, some had problems with the job, some had problems with the living standards of their new homes (accommodation and cities). Indeed some had returned to their homeland. One thing that struck me was that though there was a mixed bunch of native English speakers, Australians, New Zealanders, British, Americans, Canadians and South Africans the only nationality that has yet to either go home by their own accord or having been sent home (sacked) by the company is British. This is maybe one of two reasons, either it’s British grit or we are just used to a poor standard of living!

Some of the students regularly visit us at our apartment to practice their English and to be friends with us, 99% of the students at the school are lovely, friendly, curious and helpful, the staff are still excellent. We have met some other westerners in this small city, mostly Americans and one Brit, we often go out with them and Chinese friends for dinner. Despite the dust and smoke constantly in the air this place has a lot going for it, primarily the wonderful Chinese people.

During the half term we were invited to participate as judges in an English competition by the head teacher of another language school (owned by our employer) for 7 to 15 years of age, it lasted a couple of hours and involved 50 students. The organisers took us out to dinner afterwards and gave us a cooked Beijing duck each packaged up in a fancy box which was a bit strange but really nice of them.

We look forward to the next 6 months.

New computer, new system!

Recently I bought a Samsung N148 Plus notebook with Windows 7 Ultimate pre-installed. Apart from the microphone and headphone jacks not working (drivers weren’t installed) and the fact that there was no useful software/codecs included it all seemed OK.

These issues were not a problem, OpenOffice is free to download as are audio drivers and video/audio codecs so it’s an easy task, been a Windows user for over 10 years, done this many times.

However… a week or so later a message pops up telling me that I need to activate Windows (even though Windows says that it is already activated under the Activation section).

This was a turning point, I had two clear options, get Windows activated (legally or otherwise) or switch to a free alternative OS (operating system).

The reason to switch was not just because of this one incident but the culmination of 10 years of Windows frustration, the crashing, the viruses, the blue screen of death and the financial expense.

I am not a programmer or computer whiz kid, I would say that my computer skills are that of your average user and no more. With this in mind, I went about setting up a duel boot so I could have both Windows 7 Ultimate and Linux distro Ubuntu 10.10 (notebook).

Ubuntu 10.10 comes with a handy program called Wubi to help you set up a duel boot and after a few clicks here and there, some waiting time (about 30 minutes) it is all set up and ready to go (by ready to go I mean the drivers were already installed, including the audio jacks! As well as all office programs etc).

I was pleased to see that some of my fears about this system that is new to me were unfounded, most things ‘just worked’ such as the wireless connection and I can access my files on the Windows partition of the hard drive (though Windows wont let me access the Ubuntu partition of the hard drive). I found the Ubuntu system easy to navigate and intuitive as well as finding I had some excellent software included such as Rythembox Music Player which (in my opinion) shows up Windows Media Player for the outdated, slow and clunky program that it is.

Another massive plus for me is the Ubuntu Software Centre, if there is anything I need that isn’t already installed I can easily find a program to do the job, it’s very easy to use, it’s fast and it’s free!

It’s not all plain sailing though, Ubuntu (and I imagine most if not all Linux systems) still has trouble running Windows made programs even when using Wine (a Windows emulator). As I said before, I am no programmer nor technical genius so although it may be technically possible to run certain Windows made software, I can’t figure it out.

Unfortunately for me, the program I was trying to run in Ubuntu was the Rosetta Stone language learning program that uses voice recognition and as of yet, no open source alternative exists.

Having two OS’s one the one computer for now is the best choice, I get the best of both worlds but if Linux/Ubuntu get Windows made software working seamlessly and/or expand the open source alternatives then it could be goodbye Windows forever…