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Q: How come none of the foreign teachers in Beijing own teaching certificates?
Everyplace I taught English not one of the foreigners had a teaching certificate. Most of the teachers that teach don't know what they are doing. They never had proper training and lack a teaching certificate.
I have one and it is useful when planning your lessons and knowing how to conduct a class. For instance I saw a girl yelling at a bunch of 4 year olds because they wouldn't stop talking. There are other ways to handle that. One of the teachers never showed up cause he didn't know what he was doing and the people in charge didn't know what they were doing so they let him stay even after he missed a whole days of work on several occasions that I had to fill in for.
12 years 20 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - Beijing
dude, you talk like contestant in one of those english competitions. your about as american as a blackburly phone.
your english is good but no forigner speaks this way. its too neat. like other poster said a robot butler. stop trying
mattaya:
Could you please use some Capital letters when you write? It is poor grammar to use all lower case letters especially after a complete sentence.
mattaya:
You could have used an exclamation mark after the words "stop trying". Your comment would have than seemed a little bit more easier to understand. I don't know if your angry, excited, sad or just lazy! A robot would more than likely sound the way you type or write.
rich45:
im lazy. and obsessing over grammar only makes you look even more Chinese
mattaya:
There you go your first capital letter. At least your trying to improve unlike others I have seen on here.
NileRafter24:
Hahahaha... Mattaya, just drop the act already. Your English is better than localla and wenna7 but it's still pretty obvious you're not American, or a native English speaker for that matter.. But I'll give you props for the effort. hahahaha
philbravery:
Could be from New Zealand though. just add Bro to the end of the sentance LOL
Shining_brow:
One of the signs of a native speaker is knowing what you DON'T have to include to be understood! Be it spelling, capitalisations, abbreviations, or whatever (.. although, SOME punctuation is usually necessary). I could understand Rich quite easily!
mattaya:
"forigner"? Please, correct your English first before trying to correct others. Thank you!
Perhaps because the only place that would hire you is already dredging the bottom of the barrel - and so, they can't afford to pay trained, qualified and experienced professionals??
Just a thought.....
As you can see on those ESL teaching job ads, you really don't have to have a tefl/tesol/ esol/ etc cert to teach in China. Five-six years ago, their government didn't really have a check list on who can be or can't be a teacher here until recently (pre- 2008 olympics). Plus, you have your center/school to blame for keeping those kind of 'teachers'. 
If you think you can really make a difference, why not volunteer to do a classroom management workshop at your school/company so you could share your knowledge to your colleagues?
What the hell's the problem? You're not doing a bunch of four year olds a favour by depriving them of an education so they can talk about cartoons and boogers.
I say say give those friggin kids hell and make them cry so they'll be ready for adulthood.
mattaya:
I'd hate to grow up where you grew up. Is that what happened to you? Poor guy!
One of my chinese colleagues invited me to her class. She has a Masters en English Education, so I was very eager to attend!
Most of the class, she spoke in Chinese, and when English was used it was to read outloud from the book.
The students in the first rows were very attentive, underlining passages and making notes.
The middle rows were sort of following the class, but half their attention was elsewhere.
The last rows, students were sleeping, doing other classes homework, playing with phones, mp4's, etc.
I truly do not see how my friends teaching method is any better than that of some foreign teachers. Those at least actually use English in class....
Shining_brow:
I'm not surprised. I had a QQ chat with a friend of a friend. She was just finishing her Masters in Eng Ed as well... and her BASIC English grammar SUCKED!!! Surely, after 15 years of learning this language, you'd get that you use 'is' for singular, and 'are' for plural??? And that 'he' is for males, and 'she' is for females??? No.....?
kchur:
I have to fight my English degree-holding Chinese colleagues daily over teaching grammar. Their argument usually goes something like, "Chinese learn speak so much English grammar. Chinese person English grammar speak so good, you not have to teaching English grammar foreigner teacher no understands English grammar. Pick a topic have a chat."
I seriously doubt the majority of foreign English teachers in Beijing don't have teaching certificates. I smell a superiority complex in this thread.
GuilinRaf:
Before coming to Beijing, I had a colleague who did not have a degree in English nor did he have a teaching certificate or any TESOL etc. What he DID have was a Masters in Anthropology, he had just turned in his Doctoral Dissertation and was taking a year off while waiting for the results. Yup, just another "certificate-less loser".....
Well, if none have them where you worked, you must be working at some crappy place that doesn't care about requirements. I guess you don't have a teaching certificate either? Or maybe your English just isn't good enough. Either way, if you could find a better place, I'm sure you would have already.
Well said Jnus!
NO teacher... so mattya knows all the foreign teachers in Beijing? he must be quite famous and spoke to all of them
mattaya:
That' a weird comment because I was always taught you write as you speak. How were you guys taught?
what teaching cert. are you talking about? "teaching certs." only apply to your home country dumbass. they are not international. and do you really think Certified Teachers are going to leave their plush teachers salaries and home countries to come here???
TESol / CELTA many teachers in beijing and other 1st tier cities have those. that's why it is difficult for me to find a job in this cities (only have a TEFL)
mattaya:
I have three tesol certificates! hahahahah....! Looks like I get to stay in Beijing!
mattaya:
WHy don't you get a Tesol Certificate crimochina? It just takes you answering over 100 questions. You do that on this site anyways! How can you have answered 1000's of questions but you don't have a Tesol Certificate? That's STRANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NileRafter24:
I have a feeling mattaya is an english nerd. we get the point. you overstudied english and you've now come to echinacities to prove a point and pass yourself off as a foreigner. Unfortunately, until you admit that you're not american, every post you make will make you look like an idiot. If you admit you're chinese, we can praise u for your thoroughly spellchecked english.
crimochina:
not true mattaya you are confusing the tefl with the TESOL. you must actually sit through a course for the TESOL and it must be approved by the TESOL organization. seems you are not really TESOL certified my phony friend. (in addition to not being american
Shining_brow:
Where are you guys getting your 'information' from?? The terms TEFL, TESOL and TESL are virtually interchangeable, and in on way indicate a level of qualification. It's merely an acronym to mean the same thing. What DOES matter, is the course you do, how long it goes for, and possibly the name at the top of the page. In that regard, it's Cambridge CELTA, and Trinity College. I've got 2 qualifications - the first was a dodgey one I did just to get into the industry (and China - because here, they don't care about good quals), and then I recently did the CELTA (which IS worth doing... at least for the name). Sorry, no simple quiz and then pass :( Some organisations prefer one acronym, others use different ones. The 2 biggest names seem to prefer TESOL, however.
kchur:
1) Plush teacher salary? 2) The best teaching jobs, in Canada at least, don't involve teaching children, and require nothing but a high level of knowledge in a field businesses are interested in. They blow millions on making their office workers more valuable.
Crimochina, i am not staning up to this Mattaya but here are many teachers in China with a degree, i have a 4year B Ed, and many other teachers i know. I had to verfy it at the Chinese embassy in Europe before the school employed me. The deal was, you must have a Bachelors degree in any field (not only in education).
crimochina:
teacher certification is different from a teachers degree. it is different country to country, maybe even state to state. in New Jersey you must pass an exam after completing your degree in education. despite a degree in education , you cant teach until you pass the cert exam. almost like the BAR for lawyers
All the teachers I work with are qualified in the subject they teach.
If the Chinese choose to hire unqualified people to teach them whose the idiot.
mookie:
Are you being sarcastic or something? I hope so... Because even a non-native speaker like myself would know the difference between "Whose" and "Who's" and if you are a "qualified English teacher" I'd be concerned.
Shining_brow:
And Mookie... forum writing is a lot more prone to mistakes, becuase we're usualy tuyping on the fly... and not being so pedantic (i often do the your/you're error, although I'm quite familiar with the difference, and notice it in other ppl's writings) That's how 'teh' became a meme... (how about 'alot'...???)
mookie:
Sure, nothing against that. Was just wondering, that's all... Hell, I make mistakes all the time too. @crimochina, No idea what you are talking about.
Crimochina,
I'm a state-certified teacher and I left my "plush" salary to teach in China. I make approximately $20,000 less than I did in the States, but I am able to save twice as much. I'm certain there are many certified/licensed teachers in China, the vast majority of whom work in international schools. It is a sad fact that it is far more lucrative for American educators to teach in China or the Middle East than it is to teach in the U.S.
Shining_brow:
Why is it a "sad fact"? Teaching her or the Middle East is a double skill - the subject matter, and in English. Back in the states, it's only the subject that gets paid for... Go ask a local how sad it is to be a subject teacher here...
crimochina:
last i checked (years ago) in New jersey starting pay was 45,000us. what's it in your state?
Quinn68:
The starting pay in my state (which is right next to Jersey) is around 40K. When I left, I was making 60K. When you factor in rent, student loan, car insurance, etc., there was not much left over, certainly nothing significant to save. As I have none of those issues now, I am saving well over half my salary. Abu Dhabi is another popular destination for teachers. Many of them are saving up to 30K a year.
Quality of English is way more important. A foreign English teacher's main job is simply pronunciation, vocabulary and helping the students realize that English is actually a way to communicate, not just crap in a book. My Spanish 101 classes were Spanish-only within 6 weeks of class. Not sure if any of my students have ever had an English-only class.
I'm certified, but not in English. The certification helps me only slightly, in that I know how to set up class so that people can actually practice and learn, instead of me trying to yell English at them till they get it. I still can't teach those who don't want to learn.
paulmartin:
What are you certified in because your post is hard to work out
tmestep8:
haha, sorry for such complex sentences. I'll dumb it down for you next time. I need to remember that English is not natural for all.
why do you care?
obviously, you are a tenderfoot here in China and not "jia ren "
take your complaining ass out of here...
if you spent more time enjoying your life here, you'd see it really does not matter.
the kids who want to learn english will. those that don't won't.
it's not your burden to bear.
Has Admin not t-boned this wu mao imposter yet?
nevermind:
No, I just know what kind of BS you're up to. It's PAINFULLY obvious, 981
If the school you are working for hires "those" kind of teachers...
what does that say about what kind of teacher you are.
Although, from things you have said, I am seriously doubting you are teaching at all.
mattaya:
Looking for something else to do I might go back to the military or work for the govt. later. I still like to tutor but that's about it. I only deal with one on one nowadays. And yes that was the past, I'm trying to move on. Thanks!
Have you read some of the stupid questions this jerk puts on here,,he is either stupid or thinks he knows everything, abd yes I have a teaching certificate get your facts, you are a bad apple and lke stirring up trouble
mattaya:
I didn't say you didn't I said the one's I met. I could have worded the question differently but this is 10 weeks old.
