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Q: What do you think will happen to ESL in China
The English score in Gao Kao will be reduced to 100, Then English will be eventually dropped from Gao Kao. Could this mean English will become an Elective? Could this mean the end of training schools? Would ESL teachers require education specific skills and degrees. What is your opinion.
12 years 14 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
Fast forward 20 years: Project ESL.
Most, if not all, ESL teachers in China will be Chinese nationals teaching Chinglish. There will be a very few extremely well-paid, token native English teachers with PhDs from Harvard or Oxford (so China can do a little boasting) to "spearhead the project", but only as figureheads who will adorn promotional and sensationalist newspaper/Internet headlines, TV spots, subway billboards/hoardings, etc. across the nation. Hell, they might even be fictitious. Nothing new there, right?
It only stands to reason. Why spend dear money on ESL teachers from an Anglophone country when you can - for the same price - buy 5 Chinese nationals with passable English skills who will do the same job but with "Chinese characteristics".
The ESL market will change, there is no doubt in my mind. After all, of the hundreds of million people in China, who really needs to learn the language if they never ever have a need for it? Sooner or later, laowai will not be needed to deliver English language lessons.
I would develop my argument but it's past my bedtime and I'm beat.
ironman510:
90% of PHD holders would never teach ESL. Well maybe University.
I picture it to be the same, visa laws that go up and down. I was in Korea 12 years ago, and now Korea is still booming with jobs, China will always have this market for us, unless a war breaks out, as my friend said: You can't replace the confidence you have in Native speakers. Sorry you can't replace that and China won't replace us with Chinglish. I was told 5 years ago we'd already be replaced by now, but here we are, still here, even more jobs due to the visa squeeze.
I predict we'll be here 40 years later, then replaced by advance technology or we'll be POW's by then.
ironman510:
Don't forget China needs foreign investment, and they also like to decorate the city with foreigners. QingDao for some reason tried soooo hard to get foreigners in Shenzhen to move to their city, I asked a gov friend why? Because Gov's like to see the city with educated foreigners working here and showing interest in China.
We are safe.
