ESL Daily
Your News & Information Source for Living and Teaching ESL and EFL.
By the Teachers, for the Teachers
Your News & Information Source for Living and Teaching ESL and EFL.
By the Teachers, for the Teachers
ESL Daily
Japan: ESL Teacher Killer Lead Suspect FINALLY Arrested
Tatsuya Ichihashi was arrested November 10th 2009, after a plastic surgeon tipped off the police that the suspect had undergone facial altering in Nagoya, late October. (Photo top left of Ichihash before and after plastic surgery)
The bridge of Ichihashi's nose has been made more prominent, his eyelids have been given a new shape and his protruding lower lip has been thinned. His eyebrows have been given a different angle and two distinctive moles on his left cheek have been removed, while he has replaced his short hair with a shoulder-length cut and has cultivated a light beard.
Police have revealed that the doctor at the clinic contacted them after performing a procedure on Ichihashi's nose on October 24 and that officers were prepared to swoop when he returned some days later to have the stitches removed and have further post-operative care.
Ichihashi failed to keep the appointment and remains at large… Telegraph
Bill Hawker, father to the victim, stated to reporters:
"The battle is over. We've worked tirelessly as a family, we've never given in. We wanted justice and we finally got justice."
He said his family is so relieved by Ichihashi's arrest and that "I can go down to my daughter's grave to tell her." – Associated Press
Lindsay Ann Hawker Related articles:Timeline: Lindsay Hawker's murder (From the Guardian)
October 2006 Lindsay Hawker travels to Japan to teach English after graduating from Leeds University.
25 March 2007 Hawker, 22, gives Tatsuya Ichihashi an English conversation class at a coffee shop near her home in Gyotoku, Chiba prefecture. They go by taxi to his flat in nearby Ichikawa. Hawker asks the driver to wait, but he leaves after several minutes.
26 March Police find Hawker's body in a bathtub on the balcony of Ichihashi's flat after being told by her friends that she had failed to return home. They go to Ichihashi's flat but he evades police officers and flees in his socks, dropping a rucksack containing cash.
26 April Hundreds of mourners, including the Japanese ambassador, attend her funeral.
23 May The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, on a visit to Tokyo, appeals to the Japanese media to give the case more coverage. Later in the summer Hawker's parents appeal to the public.
21 March Police release several life-size cutouts of Ichihashi as the Hawkers publicly criticise the progress of the investigation for the first time.
4 November The Japanese media say Ichihashi has undergone plastic surgery. Police release a new photograph.
9 November Newspaper reports say Ichihashi worked as a labourer for 13 months to save the money for plastic surgery.
10 November Police apprehend Ichihashi after a tip-off from a member of the public. Guardian
Japan: Lindsay Ann Hawker Killer Reward Increases
Japan: Detective on Hawker Case Replaced, Killer Still on Loose
Update: Hawker's Parents to Visit Japan Easter Weekend
ESL TEACHER'S KILLER STILL MISSING
No One Laughed at Peter Sellers' Grammar
I once saw fifty year old film footage of an anti colonial protest by high school village children in Ghana. They were holding placards in their children's handwriting. I was struck with their impeccable English grammar. Even their apostrophes were all in the right places. A great number of ESL teachers today are less literate.
That is our shame but mostly not our fault. English education has in our life times gone down a road that has not given prestige to accuracy and professional English. English language professors have been quick to assure the public that is not so important. Taking their argument to its conclusion, we don't really need legs and skill to walk. We can get by even faster and more sensitively in wheel chairs.
Peter Sellers was an English comedian who made a successful career as an imitation of a bumbling Indian man. The joke was his English in his situations was too erudite, too book focused. Everything he spoke or sung was in a sing song Indian accent. When his character grew up in India, there were no cassettes or DVDs. There were only Indian Native teachers who would be lost in England but read the London Times.
Yes he was amusing. I am not in any way underestimating cassettes or DVDs. You might notice the public jokes about Asian English accents seem to have disappeared. There we have been brilliantly successful. But there is plenty of public humour about the many grammatical versions of Asian English. No one has ever coined Indlish or Ghanlish. But we all know about the next wave of ESL instruction, Chinglish and Kringlish.
A Korean Math teacher told me once she had asked to be in my ESL class because she gained from my instruction in structure (the g word). That was encouraging to me as I get so much negativity in my ESL instruction. As I see it, there are almost no English words that don't carry a language rule. The English language is a huge onion. The more you peel, the more subsets of English rules there are. If you can't find the rule in an English language structure book, make one up yourself. Every English structure book has its own version of language rules. Therefore yours might be better than anyone elses. Or maybe so absurd your students will remember it. For example. The English subject pronoun uses its object form when its verb is understood in the sentence or goes before the pronoun. I have never read that in an English language book. They all insist on teaching 'It's I' or 'it's they'. No native English speaker uses those expressions in English. If you the ESL teacher don't understand what I am talking about, you are likely not to read any other theory I have about the English language. Or if you are an ESL student, not come back to my class. That is the problem. I could be right at least like Christopher Columbus was right about India. Then of course you can't learn or even feel challenged by me.
The perception that learning English is a fun thing has permeated our ESL students. The general thrust of ESL is to throw English at them and expect them to pick it up themselves. They have been unfortunate that in the same era of the global demand for English, English speaking countries started forgetting the language.
In the popular culture, the earnest pedagogue is always dry, a figure of fun and public contempt. In the Dead Poets Society movie, while Robin Williams is prancing about his classroom, enticing the students to vandalise their poetry books, the Latin teacher next door is drearily teaching conjugations. The only Latin teacher I have ever seen in the movies treated at all sympathetically was a paedophile and a man without a face! The Dead Poets Society film doesn't show how the boys learnt to appreciate dead poets. They read them while Robin Williams was asleep. In the movie A Beautiful Mind the exact opposite happens. The savant over awes everyone with his mathematical theories. His savant status is assured because no lay person has a clue what he means.
If you have any response to my opinions,please don't be shy to comment. The great endeavour of a one world language has been given to us. I don't think the promise is being fulfilled. There are powerful oligarch interests who want to keep it that way.
Incidentally, Dead Poets Society does not need an apostrophe as it is the title name of an organisation.
Goethe
That is our shame but mostly not our fault. English education has in our life times gone down a road that has not given prestige to accuracy and professional English. English language professors have been quick to assure the public that is not so important. Taking their argument to its conclusion, we don't really need legs and skill to walk. We can get by even faster and more sensitively in wheel chairs.
Peter Sellers was an English comedian who made a successful career as an imitation of a bumbling Indian man. The joke was his English in his situations was too erudite, too book focused. Everything he spoke or sung was in a sing song Indian accent. When his character grew up in India, there were no cassettes or DVDs. There were only Indian Native teachers who would be lost in England but read the London Times.
Yes he was amusing. I am not in any way underestimating cassettes or DVDs. You might notice the public jokes about Asian English accents seem to have disappeared. There we have been brilliantly successful. But there is plenty of public humour about the many grammatical versions of Asian English. No one has ever coined Indlish or Ghanlish. But we all know about the next wave of ESL instruction, Chinglish and Kringlish.
A Korean Math teacher told me once she had asked to be in my ESL class because she gained from my instruction in structure (the g word). That was encouraging to me as I get so much negativity in my ESL instruction. As I see it, there are almost no English words that don't carry a language rule. The English language is a huge onion. The more you peel, the more subsets of English rules there are. If you can't find the rule in an English language structure book, make one up yourself. Every English structure book has its own version of language rules. Therefore yours might be better than anyone elses. Or maybe so absurd your students will remember it. For example. The English subject pronoun uses its object form when its verb is understood in the sentence or goes before the pronoun. I have never read that in an English language book. They all insist on teaching 'It's I' or 'it's they'. No native English speaker uses those expressions in English. If you the ESL teacher don't understand what I am talking about, you are likely not to read any other theory I have about the English language. Or if you are an ESL student, not come back to my class. That is the problem. I could be right at least like Christopher Columbus was right about India. Then of course you can't learn or even feel challenged by me.
The perception that learning English is a fun thing has permeated our ESL students. The general thrust of ESL is to throw English at them and expect them to pick it up themselves. They have been unfortunate that in the same era of the global demand for English, English speaking countries started forgetting the language.
In the popular culture, the earnest pedagogue is always dry, a figure of fun and public contempt. In the Dead Poets Society movie, while Robin Williams is prancing about his classroom, enticing the students to vandalise their poetry books, the Latin teacher next door is drearily teaching conjugations. The only Latin teacher I have ever seen in the movies treated at all sympathetically was a paedophile and a man without a face! The Dead Poets Society film doesn't show how the boys learnt to appreciate dead poets. They read them while Robin Williams was asleep. In the movie A Beautiful Mind the exact opposite happens. The savant over awes everyone with his mathematical theories. His savant status is assured because no lay person has a clue what he means.
If you have any response to my opinions,please don't be shy to comment. The great endeavour of a one world language has been given to us. I don't think the promise is being fulfilled. There are powerful oligarch interests who want to keep it that way.
Incidentally, Dead Poets Society does not need an apostrophe as it is the title name of an organisation.
Goethe
China: Canadian ESL Teacher by day & Drug Dealer by Night Arrested
An English as a foreign language teacher, identified only by the name Cody, was arrested Xinyi, Taipei last week. The teacher was busted with 136 grams of cocaine that was stashed in his safety box. Cody would find potential buyers at local night clubs and invite them to private drug parties or other locations to make purchases. The 31 year old man held a day job at an after school English center.
Cody claimed he was unaware of the illegal nature of cocaine in Taiwan. Drug dealers can face serious sentences in Taiwan, including death.
Source: China Post
“Akmal Shaikh, 53, male, was sentenced to death in the first instance trial by the Intermediate People's Court of Urumqi Municipality in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Oct. 29, 2008” - People's Daily Online
Asian Pacific Post
Further research
Penalties for drug-related crime in Asia
Cody claimed he was unaware of the illegal nature of cocaine in Taiwan. Drug dealers can face serious sentences in Taiwan, including death.
Source: China Post
“Akmal Shaikh, 53, male, was sentenced to death in the first instance trial by the Intermediate People's Court of Urumqi Municipality in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Oct. 29, 2008” - People's Daily Online
=> Update: Akmal Shaikh in October of this year: “A mentally ill British man could be executed in China within days, after the country's foreign ministry said today his appeal against the death penalty for drug smuggling had been rejected” - Guardian“Mathieu Forand of Port Moody who has been charged with being in possession of 414g of cocaine, 515g of marijuana and hundreds of ecstasy pills… faces the death penalty in Taiwan…”
Asian Pacific Post
Further research
Penalties for drug-related crime in Asia
ESL Teachers may fall victim from Cram School Tax Evasion
The unequivocal truth, in which only taxes and death are certain, may be flawed in Korea. It is certain that South Korea’s mortality rates (5.94 deaths per 1000) are still existent; however, due to claims from the National Tax Service (NTS), taxes may not.
NTS recently reported a continuing investigation on over a 100 high-income individuals, whom they described as evading taxes. NTS claims that some individuals have, as high as, 40% of their income unreported. It was also noted that many of these people are owners of private institutes. Although it is not certain how long this investigation will take, it is certain these groups will be heavily penalized.
Considering, a portion of tax evasion penalties results in a fine - the adverse affects of these fines may forecast a growing concern, in the ESL community. Already, prior to the NTS reports, many English instructors have reported illegitimate paper work – conducted by private institutes. Instructors have claimed delayed payments, irregular pay amounts, and even incorrect pension funds. Aligning, the numerous accounts of unethical business practices, with the current problems – some institutes may go out of business. It's reported that one private school owed up to 2 billion won, in taxes. The end result may be, schools having to mass lay-off instructors. Other dangers, ESL Instructors may face, are penalties from their home countries for undocumented work.
To be aware of the situation, Instructors are recommended to document all their school payment activities. Schools are required to provide Tax documents to the government, every February, and should have these available, upon request. One of the key factors the NTS looks for, in tax evasion, are institutes that limit their customer usage of credit cards. Instead, schools demand all transactions in cash. Not only do they charge in cash, but they pay only in cash, as well. Inconsistent pay dates or irregular amounts are also signs, instructors can use, to determine if their school is luring for trouble.
However, for those who plan to precede the situation, with legal actions, it becomes more complicated; possibly expensive.
When asked, a resident expert for ESL Daily replied, “If you do make the move to report your school to the tax authorities…be prepared to loose your job…you are going to make your job loose serious cash.”
The ethical solution doesn’t come cheap. If an English instructor is suspicious, that his or her school is failing to report taxes, they can expect to spend hours at the tax offices – simply gathering data to legally confirm the situation. Certainly, time does not come cheap either. Government offices close on weekends and spending time off work can cost up to a 250,000 Won (equivalent to $250 U.S dollars) pay deduction, per day. Once all the information is gathered, the process may require a visit to the the Labor Office and possibly a visit to a lawyer. Further costs should then be considered; law practices in Korea tend to charge about the same as they do in the U.S. In the end, the most debilitating result, from reporting your school, may be job loss
Instructors may begin seeking alternative methods. On one account, an instructor was notified that he will be dismissed, prior to one month before completing his year-long contract (The 11 month scam). This meant that he will not receive his bonus salary nor a paid return-flight home. Using the school information he gathered, the instructor then suggested, to his employer, that he’d pay a visit to the Korean Tax Office. One month later, the instructor happily found himself receiving his bonus salary and an accommodated flight home.
Despite all the measures ESL Community members can take, some may still feel at a loss. Therefore, it is strongly advised that teachers understand the atmosphere of their work place and communication, before continuing any course of action.
by: Jyu Young Lee
Related articles:
Unemployment - ESL Recession : Study Three (Tough Times for the Job Seeker)
Cram Schools - Cram Schools: Losing an arm, a leg, and maybe the head
Breaking Contract -The Unbinding Contract: It's Hard to Quit
Sources:
Mortality rates
2008 tax summaries
Nation Tax Service (NTS)
EFL Law help
Korea Times report with NTS
NTS recently reported a continuing investigation on over a 100 high-income individuals, whom they described as evading taxes. NTS claims that some individuals have, as high as, 40% of their income unreported. It was also noted that many of these people are owners of private institutes. Although it is not certain how long this investigation will take, it is certain these groups will be heavily penalized.
Considering, a portion of tax evasion penalties results in a fine - the adverse affects of these fines may forecast a growing concern, in the ESL community. Already, prior to the NTS reports, many English instructors have reported illegitimate paper work – conducted by private institutes. Instructors have claimed delayed payments, irregular pay amounts, and even incorrect pension funds. Aligning, the numerous accounts of unethical business practices, with the current problems – some institutes may go out of business. It's reported that one private school owed up to 2 billion won, in taxes. The end result may be, schools having to mass lay-off instructors. Other dangers, ESL Instructors may face, are penalties from their home countries for undocumented work.
To be aware of the situation, Instructors are recommended to document all their school payment activities. Schools are required to provide Tax documents to the government, every February, and should have these available, upon request. One of the key factors the NTS looks for, in tax evasion, are institutes that limit their customer usage of credit cards. Instead, schools demand all transactions in cash. Not only do they charge in cash, but they pay only in cash, as well. Inconsistent pay dates or irregular amounts are also signs, instructors can use, to determine if their school is luring for trouble.
However, for those who plan to precede the situation, with legal actions, it becomes more complicated; possibly expensive.
When asked, a resident expert for ESL Daily replied, “If you do make the move to report your school to the tax authorities…be prepared to loose your job…you are going to make your job loose serious cash.”
The ethical solution doesn’t come cheap. If an English instructor is suspicious, that his or her school is failing to report taxes, they can expect to spend hours at the tax offices – simply gathering data to legally confirm the situation. Certainly, time does not come cheap either. Government offices close on weekends and spending time off work can cost up to a 250,000 Won (equivalent to $250 U.S dollars) pay deduction, per day. Once all the information is gathered, the process may require a visit to the the Labor Office and possibly a visit to a lawyer. Further costs should then be considered; law practices in Korea tend to charge about the same as they do in the U.S. In the end, the most debilitating result, from reporting your school, may be job loss
Instructors may begin seeking alternative methods. On one account, an instructor was notified that he will be dismissed, prior to one month before completing his year-long contract (The 11 month scam). This meant that he will not receive his bonus salary nor a paid return-flight home. Using the school information he gathered, the instructor then suggested, to his employer, that he’d pay a visit to the Korean Tax Office. One month later, the instructor happily found himself receiving his bonus salary and an accommodated flight home.
Despite all the measures ESL Community members can take, some may still feel at a loss. Therefore, it is strongly advised that teachers understand the atmosphere of their work place and communication, before continuing any course of action.
by: Jyu Young Lee
Related articles:
Unemployment - ESL Recession : Study Three (Tough Times for the Job Seeker)
Cram Schools - Cram Schools: Losing an arm, a leg, and maybe the head
Breaking Contract -The Unbinding Contract: It's Hard to Quit
Sources:
Mortality rates
2008 tax summaries
Nation Tax Service (NTS)
EFL Law help
Korea Times report with NTS
A Letter from China
I simulated putting a boy's head into the school water fountain last week. He was a big ten year old. My classrooms are very large. He had started playing a game of outrun the teacher. I could not tell him how I felt about it. So I took him outside the classroom, gripped his head and thrust it towards the fountain. Unfortunately a Chinese teacher witnessed it and was full of concern. She regularly belts her students in the office with a ruler. I said to her. "I don't want women teachers here". I knew exactly the consequences. She would get the boy to apologise and he would return smirking to the classroom instead of his state of near tears.
I wondered at my consequences. Nothing was said at the school although I knew it would be gossiped everywhere. That night I got an email headed Teacher Performance from my dishonest school recruiter. It said I was not going to be "scolded" but a reply was requested on issues "That might impact on my employment at the school". I replied that I have to "act strongly with the students as I have no back up from the Chinese teachers".
I have never understood the role of school recruiters. They seem to hang around my schools.
The next day I contacted an ALERTSSERIOUSTEACHERS automatic job application email. I almost immediately got an reply asking me to send in an email application form for adult classes, Universities and high schools.
So I am now waiting how things shape up. There has been no further feed back from anyone. The set up for ESL teachers at this school is to fail. The school has no printer or paper reserves to alleviate the children's boredom with my tapes and textbooks. I am usually alone with as many as forty children for forty minutes. I doubt anyone could do any better than myself and think ESL would go into a spiral should I leave. A six foot bozo would do better with discipline. But a six foot bozo would not handle the tiger jump.
Two nights ago I had dinner with my friendly slum landlord and his lovely family at a restaurant. His children took me to an upmarket restaurant in a German car. For the last two months I had been regularly propostioned by a rough Chinese man without a word of English. He grabbed my arm the last time and looked so hurt I took pity on him. He took me to a terraced apartment building opposite my slum building. I found out he was my landlord. Through his daughter L. he invited me to dinner the next night. His other daughter looks a bit backward and is very pregnant. On his living room wall there is a large portrait of Mao Tse Dong. He seems oblivious that the Communists would have executed him in 1949.
L. is a translator and very chatty. At the restaurant she brought up the issue of the Dalai Lama. She said she only hears bad things about him. I told her I had sent a blog that the best thing that had happened to the Tibetan people was when the Communists invaded them. That was true and there is no harm in buttering up ones landlord's family.
I will have to lie low for the next fortnight as I am running out of money again. I have money for my Internet site in a New Zealand bank account. It is burning a hole in the ATM machine. I got a letter from W. wishing to meet me again. But she will just have to wait as the fire emergency service said to me on my last day in Auckland when I was stuck in a lift.
I ran out of money because I went to Hong Kong again to inspect my Internet site. Hong Kong is the most corrupt place I have ever encountered. Bangkok was a Buddhist monastery compared with Hong Kong. My Hong Kong landlord lied that I had stayed at his hotel the last time. So I tried to return in the night with my former hotel business card. It was a freakish chance I found my hotel. They play tricks and hustle me to snatch my money all the time and grudge me a single bed sheet. There is also a very nice old British Hong Kong but low side Hong Kong is a cesspool.
I found a frisky rat in my bedroom. It had a longer tail than my old scaly friend. There was something about that put me over the ledge. I rushed over to my Internet cafe and crawled on the floor to imitate a rat. The manager whose son I teach googled a Chinese translation. It came out as "OK I will meet you later". He wrote down the Chinese words on a paper slip. I was on the point of rushing over with it to a shop to buy more poison when I read the English version. The very helpful young man came over and gave me the correct Chinese words. I purchased a packet of poison that carried the sign, "This mouse poison can be eaten by people". It has been eaten and no further sign of rats. L. told me if I have further problems her family will provide me with a cat.
If you would like to read my fiction and biography, Google: Sargon Press.
TO BE CONTINUED
Goethe
I wondered at my consequences. Nothing was said at the school although I knew it would be gossiped everywhere. That night I got an email headed Teacher Performance from my dishonest school recruiter. It said I was not going to be "scolded" but a reply was requested on issues "That might impact on my employment at the school". I replied that I have to "act strongly with the students as I have no back up from the Chinese teachers".
I have never understood the role of school recruiters. They seem to hang around my schools.
The next day I contacted an ALERTSSERIOUSTEACHERS automatic job application email. I almost immediately got an reply asking me to send in an email application form for adult classes, Universities and high schools.
So I am now waiting how things shape up. There has been no further feed back from anyone. The set up for ESL teachers at this school is to fail. The school has no printer or paper reserves to alleviate the children's boredom with my tapes and textbooks. I am usually alone with as many as forty children for forty minutes. I doubt anyone could do any better than myself and think ESL would go into a spiral should I leave. A six foot bozo would do better with discipline. But a six foot bozo would not handle the tiger jump.
Two nights ago I had dinner with my friendly slum landlord and his lovely family at a restaurant. His children took me to an upmarket restaurant in a German car. For the last two months I had been regularly propostioned by a rough Chinese man without a word of English. He grabbed my arm the last time and looked so hurt I took pity on him. He took me to a terraced apartment building opposite my slum building. I found out he was my landlord. Through his daughter L. he invited me to dinner the next night. His other daughter looks a bit backward and is very pregnant. On his living room wall there is a large portrait of Mao Tse Dong. He seems oblivious that the Communists would have executed him in 1949.
L. is a translator and very chatty. At the restaurant she brought up the issue of the Dalai Lama. She said she only hears bad things about him. I told her I had sent a blog that the best thing that had happened to the Tibetan people was when the Communists invaded them. That was true and there is no harm in buttering up ones landlord's family.
I will have to lie low for the next fortnight as I am running out of money again. I have money for my Internet site in a New Zealand bank account. It is burning a hole in the ATM machine. I got a letter from W. wishing to meet me again. But she will just have to wait as the fire emergency service said to me on my last day in Auckland when I was stuck in a lift.
I ran out of money because I went to Hong Kong again to inspect my Internet site. Hong Kong is the most corrupt place I have ever encountered. Bangkok was a Buddhist monastery compared with Hong Kong. My Hong Kong landlord lied that I had stayed at his hotel the last time. So I tried to return in the night with my former hotel business card. It was a freakish chance I found my hotel. They play tricks and hustle me to snatch my money all the time and grudge me a single bed sheet. There is also a very nice old British Hong Kong but low side Hong Kong is a cesspool.
I found a frisky rat in my bedroom. It had a longer tail than my old scaly friend. There was something about that put me over the ledge. I rushed over to my Internet cafe and crawled on the floor to imitate a rat. The manager whose son I teach googled a Chinese translation. It came out as "OK I will meet you later". He wrote down the Chinese words on a paper slip. I was on the point of rushing over with it to a shop to buy more poison when I read the English version. The very helpful young man came over and gave me the correct Chinese words. I purchased a packet of poison that carried the sign, "This mouse poison can be eaten by people". It has been eaten and no further sign of rats. L. told me if I have further problems her family will provide me with a cat.
If you would like to read my fiction and biography, Google: Sargon Press.
TO BE CONTINUED
Goethe
H1N1: It’s Here, Time to Deal with It!
Previously ESL Daily wrote several articles on the H1N1 flu virus:
There is much talk going on in the EFL industry. Many schools have been shut down across the world. Foreign teachers have been quarantined and even fired. Teachers are wondering what is truly going on, while thousands of people line up at public facilities for the 'flu shot.'
In South Korea: "311 schools have been closed across the country, including 46 kindergartens, 164 elementary schools, 64 middle schools and 9 vocational schools." - Asianews.it
In China the number of flu cases has doubled in just one week. Many schools have been shut down and infected individuals have been quarantined. – NTDTV
Japan is prepared to close 14000 schools as the formerly known pig flu spreads throughout the country.
Taiwan, Mexico, Thailand… all have felt the effects of the flu; however, being in a more warm climate, the flu season has not hit yet.
As ESL/EFL teachers, we can not just run away from the situation. Here are some helpful tips:
PR dot Com has an interesting press release illustrating the effects that the virus is having on the language travel market:
Korea: Swine Flu? You're Fired!!!There is no denying it, the flu virus is here. Immigration and school systems can no longer just point their finger at foreign EFL teachers and sentence them to quarantine.
Swine Flu a Foreigner Disease in Korea?
Korea: American Foreign English Teacher Quarantined with H1NI Flu - Updated - 8 more EFL Teachers Infected
Swine Flu (Influenza A): What it means to the EFL Teacher
Bird Flu: preparation precautions for the English teacher
There is much talk going on in the EFL industry. Many schools have been shut down across the world. Foreign teachers have been quarantined and even fired. Teachers are wondering what is truly going on, while thousands of people line up at public facilities for the 'flu shot.'
In South Korea: "311 schools have been closed across the country, including 46 kindergartens, 164 elementary schools, 64 middle schools and 9 vocational schools." - Asianews.it
In China the number of flu cases has doubled in just one week. Many schools have been shut down and infected individuals have been quarantined. – NTDTV
Japan is prepared to close 14000 schools as the formerly known pig flu spreads throughout the country.
Taiwan, Mexico, Thailand… all have felt the effects of the flu; however, being in a more warm climate, the flu season has not hit yet.
As ESL/EFL teachers, we can not just run away from the situation. Here are some helpful tips:
- Consider, if available, getting the flu shot.
- Avoid physical contact with students.
- Wash frequently.
- Cough into your arm, and not in the air or on the person sitting next to you.
- Avoid public places when possible.
- Students with flu like symptoms should be sent home; however in many cases this might be difficult, perhaps seek advice from your supervisor.
- Teach your students proper sanitation.
- If you yourself get the flu, stay home!
PR dot Com has an interesting press release illustrating the effects that the virus is having on the language travel market:
A significant number of Mr. McMullan's students have reported that their parents are concerned about their safety regarding Swine Flu. “Their moms are calling them up and, in some cases, sounding a bit panicky”, he says. “My advice to other language schools is that they sit down with their students, calmly tell them to get the vaccination and even direct them to the clinics where they can get a shot. Students just off a plane should be asked to wait at a few days before starting school. And, those that do show signs of illness should be asked to stay home. Chelsea encourages this by offering them extra days of study in case they get sick.” PR dot COM
Twenty Six Etiquette Rules for ESL Teachers
You might like to print this and put it in front of your water closet in your bathroom. It makes suitably somber and admonitory reading for yourself and your ESL guests. I claim expert status after nine years of ESL teaching in eight countries and having broken every one of them.
Goethe
- When passing through an American international airport don't slowly pull a document out of your pocket in front of an official. You might get shot. Also in American international airports don't go on walk about if you look the least Middle Eastern. Someone might call the cops.
- Don't lose your clothes in a spa. Spas cannot trace them. You will lose literally everything. Also don't use the neighbourhood spa. You might meet a junior student and his father.
- Don't go for a walk or drive when you are new to a school without your employer's business card. You might not find your way back. No employer likes to be woken up at 2am to rescue a lost employee.
- Watch your morals in your neighbourhood. Highly coloured reports always get back to your school. It was reported back to my College employer in Mongolia that I lived and drank like a hobo and brought homeless women into my apartment. I rather puffed my chest at that.
- Never give an impression or worse that your relationship with a student is anything else than professional. I mean female or male student.
- Don't drink soju the night before a school day. Everyone will smell it the next day at the school.
- Don't confuse yens with wons. You might have to pay fifty dollars for a meal when you thought you were paying five. Never leave your bank cards behind. You might get muddled with dongs and short change your hotel by a few dollars. Then don't try a flit. They will come after you.
- Always physically check the night before you cross an international border that you have all your documents. Mislaying a document can cost you a school and leave you broke.
- Never cross an international border with anything less than kosher. For example with a poem, Somebody Blew Up America.
- If you think the world for the last seventy years has been living in a real life Truman Show, don't tell your school that. If it slips out don't explain why you think that. It will only make it worse.
- Don't mention your host countries politics especially at the school. Their President might be a media darling in your country and a Nobel prize winner. But to your employer he is a trouble maker and rioter.
- Don't comment on racial physical differences even as a joke or meant to flatter. Your work colleagues and employer are not race horses. It is true they do look alike in South Asia. But don't tell them that.
- Before you present yourself to your students or to your employer, always spot check your clothes and your hair. You might be undone.
- Always give the impression you are on top of things. That is why you are there. Your employer is not your friend.
- Never trust a boy any age anywhere to correctly do anything for you. They will always mess it up. Most boys are bundles of malice and will make a point of messing it up if they are not just stupid.
- Never intentionally overlook a grammar mistake. I was abused in front of my employer for several days by a semi literate ESL Canadian teacher for not correcting use of the word would. Even though the student's sentence was right in some contexts. I am a male chauvinist and always sheltered her from her mistakes while she always blabbed mine all over the school. When there was a redundancy I was the one who got the chop.
- If you must strike a child, never formally with a hard object and never above the shoulders and below the back. A soft school book is always the best disciplinary object. You can always give the impression you are just getting attention. I should point out you usually are.
- In large classes always be an old bastard or an old bag. You can loosen up when your time at the school is up. Try not to draw attention to yourself. You will anyway. So why pick a sore?
- Always follow your employer's dictates, no matter how stupid they seem. They never will seem so to your employer.
- Unless you are very confident don't sign a contract that has a three month probationary period. The school has already shown it has a ruthless streak.
- Unless the school offers you an air ticket, don't choose a school in a far away part of the world you are unfamiliar with. No matter how exciting it might seem in your home town. Real life is not a movie. Or if is, film stars don't go hungry or homeless in foreign countries.
- Don't ask awkward questions at memorial shrines. Like for example how did the Vietcong go to the bathroom in the Cu Chi Tunnels. The retired Vietcong man was able to explain. But the question somehow didn't seem right.
- When you take holiday time, always make sure you can get back to your school on its first school day. That might require special investigation before you cross that international border or cross that water or climb that mountain.
- Above all deny everything. If you are caught red handed, immediately plea bargain. I am a little white guy from New Zealand.
Goethe
ESL Recession : Study Three (Tough Times for the Job Seeker)
The previous two articles outlined that there has been a 30% increase in ESL teacher applicants over the past few months and over 700% negative change in the number of job advertisements.
ESL Recession : Study One (Teachers Are On The Rise)
ESL Recession : Study Two (Where did all the schools go?)
In the next section of ESL recession we will investigate the response that teachers receive from posting profiles on the net.
In 2007, we preformed an experiment in which we posted the profile a 25 year old female teacher on five different ESL/EFL websites. The teacher had an education degree and over 3 years teaching experience. Over the course of one week this teacher had received a stunning 393 job offers. These offers ranged from recruiters, to individual schools from all over the globe.
The experiment was repeated this year. The same teacher, with the same photo and work experience was posted on the same ESL work related sites. The only difference between the two postings was the teacher’s birth year (2 years younger to match the age of 25). Our new tally is 41 responses for 2009, a dramatically poorer turnout than the 393 of 2007.
Final results are displayed below:
As shown by the above results, it is clear that there has been a serious decline in EFL/ESL jobs. The above teacher is 25 years old, blond hair, blue eyes, has a perfect education and three years teaching experience. One could only imagine the difficulties found in being over the age of thirty, with an unrelated educational background, and less than pinup model looks.
ESL Recession : Study One (Teachers Are On The Rise)
ESL Recession : Study Two (Where did all the schools go?)
In the next section of ESL recession we will investigate the response that teachers receive from posting profiles on the net.
In 2007, we preformed an experiment in which we posted the profile a 25 year old female teacher on five different ESL/EFL websites. The teacher had an education degree and over 3 years teaching experience. Over the course of one week this teacher had received a stunning 393 job offers. These offers ranged from recruiters, to individual schools from all over the globe.
The experiment was repeated this year. The same teacher, with the same photo and work experience was posted on the same ESL work related sites. The only difference between the two postings was the teacher’s birth year (2 years younger to match the age of 25). Our new tally is 41 responses for 2009, a dramatically poorer turnout than the 393 of 2007.
Final results are displayed below:
Dr. Martens Vs the Korean Taxi Driver
Slightly distracted by the spring heat and deep in thought about what I would be teaching during the day’s lesson, I began walking in a zombie-like trance across the parking lot. Unexpectedly, a taxi-van appeared out of nowhere, raced across two lanes of traffic, and pulled into the department store parking lot without stopping for the pedestrian crossing.
Thump!
The front wheel drove over my right foot. Surprised, the taxi driver stopped with alarming precision. The van was now balanced directly on my foot.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
Immobilized, I began yelling, “Get off!! Back up!!” along with several profanities in both French and English (still a virgin in the Korean language at that time).
The Korean driver understood nothing I was yelling, so I began banging on the van’s hood. Confused, the driver jumped out of the van, ran around the vehicle, and nearly passed out when he saw my foot wedged under his tire.
Finally the driver backed off and jumped back out of his vehicle.
Limping, and running around like a chicken without a head, I lunged at the man. But I hadn’t noticed the man’s size. This man was huge. It turns out he was a retired military man and probably a triple black belt. With ease he caught my feeble cheep shot with his left hand and swung his right hand under my body. He picked me up and tossed me in the back of his taxi and drove me to the nearest hospital.
Several x-rays and two hours later, the doctor tossed on a bandage and said you are good to go, just several bruises. However, my Dr. Martens were not so lucky. The right shoe had a permanent tire track imprinted on it. The van driver had long disappeared.
Relieved that I did not have any broken bones, but upset that I would have to find a way home without my right shoe, I began limping to the bus stop. Once again, like a bat out of hell, the driver skidded into the parking lot of the hospital and ran up to me with a fresh pair of Dr. Martins. He must have made dozens phone calls across the city to hunt down the correct shoe and size.
The Korean giant approached and in his Konglish heavy accent he said “I so-ree.”
We shook hands, and went our separate ways.
Moral of the story: Kamikaze they may be, Korean taxi drivers do have hearts. And always wear proper footwear when traveling in foreign countries.
20 Free Resources for TOEFL Test Takers
The Internet offers many resources that test takers can use to learn more about the different sections of the TOEFL. The web is also a good place to find study material and practice tests. Here are 20 free resources that TOEFL test takers can use to prepare for test day:
ETS - ETS offers test taking tips, test information, and other resources for students who will be taking the TOEFL. The site's test review page also features free sample questions for reviewing question types and content on the TOEFL.
i-Course - The i-Course site provides a sample test that can be used to review the reading, listening, speaking, and writing portions of the TOEFL test. The sample test only includes about half of the material that can be found on the actual test but it is good for practice purposes.
Private English Portal - Steve Ford of the Private English Portal offers free video English lessons and test prep tips for TOEFL test takers via this YouTube channel.
Free English - Free English offers a practice test for the TOEFL iBT. The practice test covers all four sections of the TOEFL.
EnglishClub.com - TOEFL test takers will appreciate the thorough overview and practice resources provided by EnglishClub.com. Resources include a practice session and 20 useful test taking tips.
Salsita Says - Salsita Says is an English blog that provides an in-depth look at some of the questions on the TOEFL iBT. This blog also lists resources for achieving the best results on the test.
Get TOEFL - This online TOEFL review site offers a daily changing quiz, listening questions, test tips, word quizzes, and a 20 minute sample TOEFL quiz.
Test Magic - Test Magic is a free testing site that features sample tests, essays, and listening information for TOEFL test takers. This site also provides reference lists and a TOEFL forum.
James Abela ELT - This resource site offers an overview of the TOEFL along with informative links for studying TOEFL material. Users of this site will also find a test guide, handouts, sample answers, essay guides, and video resources.
Kaplan - Kaplan offers several online resources for TOEFL test prep. After signing up for a free membership, users can gain access to TOEFL flashcards and a 35 minute mini test.
TOEFL iBT Course - The TOEFL iBT Course offers a variety of tips and information that TOEFL takers can use for studying. Just a few of the resources available include TOEFL words, practice tests, and essay help.
4 English Exams - 4 English Exams is loaded with free information about the TOEFL. Through this site, students can find scoring information, preparation material and tips, writing topics, free tests, and much more.
TOEFL Test Review - The TOEFL Test Review provides an overview of the TOEFL test. This site also features tips, examples, and sample questions for studying.
TestPrepPractice.net - With TestPrepPractice.net, TOEFL test takers can find several free downloads loaded with tips and practice. This site also has TOEFL practice tests that can be used for studying comprehension, sentence correction, and completion.
TOEFL Blog - The TOEFL Blog provides three free listening practice sessions for test takers. Each session features a video followed by six questions.
Learn4Good - Learn4Good offers free sample tests, lessons, and tips that are great for test review. Along with the lessons and tests, Learn4Good also provides writing practice and a list of possible topics for the TOEFL.
ESLPod.com - ESLPod.com's TOEFL Podcast is great for increasing your listening skills. This podcast also features a guide to studying for the TOEFL.
TOEFL Tips - This informative blog on mastering the TOEFL iBT features examples of speaking questions that will be encountered in the speaking section of the test as well as speaking practice.
Testwise - Testwise offers a comprehensive overview of listening, reading, and grammar for the TOEFL. The overview contains multiple choice quizzes that you can use to test your knowledge of the English language.
MetaCafe - The MetaCafe has 71 videos relating to the TOEFL iBT speaking and writing section. The videos are an excellent resource for students who are practicing for the test.
Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online school for OnlineSchool.net.
ETS - ETS offers test taking tips, test information, and other resources for students who will be taking the TOEFL. The site's test review page also features free sample questions for reviewing question types and content on the TOEFL.
i-Course - The i-Course site provides a sample test that can be used to review the reading, listening, speaking, and writing portions of the TOEFL test. The sample test only includes about half of the material that can be found on the actual test but it is good for practice purposes.
Private English Portal - Steve Ford of the Private English Portal offers free video English lessons and test prep tips for TOEFL test takers via this YouTube channel.
Free English - Free English offers a practice test for the TOEFL iBT. The practice test covers all four sections of the TOEFL.
EnglishClub.com - TOEFL test takers will appreciate the thorough overview and practice resources provided by EnglishClub.com. Resources include a practice session and 20 useful test taking tips.
Salsita Says - Salsita Says is an English blog that provides an in-depth look at some of the questions on the TOEFL iBT. This blog also lists resources for achieving the best results on the test.
Get TOEFL - This online TOEFL review site offers a daily changing quiz, listening questions, test tips, word quizzes, and a 20 minute sample TOEFL quiz.
Test Magic - Test Magic is a free testing site that features sample tests, essays, and listening information for TOEFL test takers. This site also provides reference lists and a TOEFL forum.
James Abela ELT - This resource site offers an overview of the TOEFL along with informative links for studying TOEFL material. Users of this site will also find a test guide, handouts, sample answers, essay guides, and video resources.
Kaplan - Kaplan offers several online resources for TOEFL test prep. After signing up for a free membership, users can gain access to TOEFL flashcards and a 35 minute mini test.
TOEFL iBT Course - The TOEFL iBT Course offers a variety of tips and information that TOEFL takers can use for studying. Just a few of the resources available include TOEFL words, practice tests, and essay help.
4 English Exams - 4 English Exams is loaded with free information about the TOEFL. Through this site, students can find scoring information, preparation material and tips, writing topics, free tests, and much more.
TOEFL Test Review - The TOEFL Test Review provides an overview of the TOEFL test. This site also features tips, examples, and sample questions for studying.
TestPrepPractice.net - With TestPrepPractice.net, TOEFL test takers can find several free downloads loaded with tips and practice. This site also has TOEFL practice tests that can be used for studying comprehension, sentence correction, and completion.
TOEFL Blog - The TOEFL Blog provides three free listening practice sessions for test takers. Each session features a video followed by six questions.
Learn4Good - Learn4Good offers free sample tests, lessons, and tips that are great for test review. Along with the lessons and tests, Learn4Good also provides writing practice and a list of possible topics for the TOEFL.
ESLPod.com - ESLPod.com's TOEFL Podcast is great for increasing your listening skills. This podcast also features a guide to studying for the TOEFL.
TOEFL Tips - This informative blog on mastering the TOEFL iBT features examples of speaking questions that will be encountered in the speaking section of the test as well as speaking practice.
Testwise - Testwise offers a comprehensive overview of listening, reading, and grammar for the TOEFL. The overview contains multiple choice quizzes that you can use to test your knowledge of the English language.
MetaCafe - The MetaCafe has 71 videos relating to the TOEFL iBT speaking and writing section. The videos are an excellent resource for students who are practicing for the test.
Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online school for OnlineSchool.net.
