I hope not.
The last thing we need is another patriot act, with the kind of probing usually left to alien abductees.
I did visit the link to your 'quiz' before. Looking at the design, and the wording of the questions, it appeared that you had already decided what the outcome of the 'research' should be. And that you were only looking for data to support your ideas.
That is not research. That is why I did not complete, or even start, your survey.
Sorry if that sounds rude.
Cynic? Maybe.
Won't be watching, absolutely.
Part of the parental obsession may be that for their generation (the parent's) being able to speak English opened doors at a time when families were escaping poverty in a newly opened economy. Securing a university place in the US or UK (and graduating) possibly even meant jumping to the head of the queue for high paid jobs.
That is no longer the case, but the parents may be living their dream through the child's life.
Why not Japanese? It is not the lingua franca of business, although it is growing in popularity as a second foreign language. Especially in Shanghai.
Russian? It did used to be Russian, until there was a falling out politically. And in the North of China Russian is still popular.
Spanish is growing in China, but for the parents, they do not see Latin America as rich.
And BTW, there are people playing Baby Einstein CDs to babies in the womb.
I did teach a class of 6 year olds, and the star of the class was a 3 year old girl. She was able to answer and respond as well as the other kids, and she was bright as a button. BUT the scary thing was that the moment the attention was off her, her countenance fell, her body visibly slumped, and she looked like a depressed old lady. That poor little girl was a performing animal, with no joy in learning.
Part of the problem is that there are newbies willing to work for much less than 100 RMB per hour. As we say back home, "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys".
Employers then complain about crap teachers and are unwilling to pay more. This then becomes a self perpetuating cycle of low pay and low quality.
Good teachers will often move on to other cities that pay much more. Kunming is particularly low paid. I even had one university try to offer me 1900 per month, with no accommodation, visa or flights. Really they were trying to push me to sign a 100/hour contract and be part time. No responsibility on their part.
There is always a conflict of interests between teaching and business. But as soon as you put a Chinese person in charge, it usually defaults to a cost focus enterprise. Quality is paid lip service to. Or they demand their 'pound of flesh' as they see it.
If you only pay people 50% of what they are worth, you only get 50% commitment. You also don't get continuity, many teacher don't sign on again. And so once again teachers are seen as flaky. When in fact the real issue is low pay.
I have one employer who does not pay that well. The resources are terrible, and I spend more time in class prep than I do teaching.
It is only short term, I will not renew, and they don't get my best teaching, just adequate teaching. If people have asked me if I am doing __________, I reply "No, they don't pay me enough".
I have another employer who pays me well, treats me with respect and also has most of the resources a teacher needs. The resources mean that I spend less time preparing for classes and my 20 teaching hours are manageable. They get my best teaching, which is good teaching. I also do more than is in my contract, which includes assisting and advising other staff. There is a word for this 'synergy'.
If any employers are reading this. Western teachers are not used to being treated as just another cog in the machine.
If you only think about costs and the bottom line, your profits will shrink. Because you will be the company that has teachers the parents will be unhappy with. Additionally, because this is China, the parents are unlikely to tell you that they are unhappy. The parents may just go somewhere else next time, and tell their friends.
No results found.
Great to know it is no longer dry.
Good review BTW
This has moved.
The cut flowers are about 700m east on Duonan Jie. The plants and trees are about 700 m west and follow Duocai Section.
A reasonable choice of lumber that has improved over time. Fancy hardwoods like walnut, and mahogany are in abundance. There are some plywood and rubber-wood boards available. There are also some kiln dried imported softwoods and merbao available. Some of the lumber is very green, so look for the kiln dried if you need stable timbers.
Echo everything said by others.
Breakfast great and the serve from 8am. Most other places say 9am and they still are not ready.
Sandwiches are cheap 22-32, and really packed full of filling. We got some sandwiches for a day out, the only mistake I made was ordering two, as this was too much. These are seriously good sangars, and they are wrapped in alu foil.
In fairness to Metro, they are a wholesalers, and not really a supermarket. Hence the need for a card, which can be got around.
They have improved in the year I have been away. They now carry a more consistent range of imported foodstuffs and they also seem to have sorted out the mported milk supply.
They have a wider range of electrical appliances now, there is a coice of more than one toast. There is also a better range of seasonal non foods, like clothes, shoes, garden furniture and camping gear.
Venerable foreigner health check clinic moves to new location
Posted byI often turn up after 10 and the queues have gone by then. I turned up early a couple of times and have had to fight with large groups of Chinese getting their medical. One time a tourist group, another time I think was a gang of migrant workers.
Law prohibits new shared bike companies from coming to Kunming
Posted byLooking at the link in the last post. Really got me thinking about the carbon footprint of all the share bikes in China. Following on from that the footprint of all of the disposed of share bikes. If we remember these bikes are mostly steel, the production has a considerable environmental effect. These bikes seem to be disposable, which begs a question about the sustainability of the business model as well.
An astronomical monster grows in Guizhou
Posted byAstronomical monsters are often built in the middle of nowhere. Less interference from human activity. Guizhou fitted the bill.
If I was developing super computers, I would expect to do it somewhere where I could work secretly. I would also want physical security for something that will become a vital part of the telecoms/economic infrastructure. Guizhou has a history of building secure facilities inside mountains.
On a slightly different note, Guizhou seems to be developing must faster than Yunnan and may even have overtaken it. Guiyang has transformed itself in the last 15 years, and seems to have already overtaken Kunming. Some people were obviously very hard at work, while others were resting on their laurels.
Law prohibits new shared bike companies from coming to Kunming
Posted byAt last, some common sense effort to rein in the madness.
Inspired relaxation at Yunnan's Fuxian Lake
Posted byAddendum. These peddle boats seat up to 7. The water is very high quality. The sun sets later on the east side. On the west you have the mountains shadow and loose the sun much earlier in the day.