Personally, I think this is a good idea... And the ASEAN authorities make a valid point, I think:
The measures, proposed by education department officials in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), are intended to prevent large numbers of unemployed foreigners from countries including the US, the UK and Australia from flooding the local job market in search of employment as “native English teachers”.
http://eslblogs.englishclub.com/blog/news/asia-bound-teachers-face-grammar-iq-tests-on-arrival/
It may feel like a kick in the gut, but many of the Asian countries have a much tougher scholastic curriculum than those in North America.
I am not particularly in favour of the applicant footing the bill for the battery of tests, and wonder if the sponsor school might consider doing so as a responsibility. That way, the schools would also be more strict in their vetting of applicants for teaching positions in their programs, and eliminate those not up to the requirements from the beginning.
Charles, what do you think?
Any other TEFL language educators out there in the world have any thoughts on this?
Cam
I would find myself in agreement with you Cameron.If one is going to tech the proper use of the English language,then one should have a proper education with which to do so.
ReplyDeleteIf a student does not require a formal education in english then one may learn at the docks for nothing but the time invested.
ttthhhhpppttt ;)
ReplyDeletefalls back to american shorthand for synopsis*
ReplyDeleteif the kids are going to publish in the science journals~they need formal english(and possibly some latin)
if they are going into business multi-national then they need an education in connotation more than the formal grammer.
for grade school..simple name/object is enough to start with.
maybe they ought to have a grading system for immigrating teachers?
I say we let them set their own standard. If they want to set the bar way high then that's their right. If (IF) they can weed out the inappropriate people (and Im sorry but that guy on the webpage was very inappropriate) and get serious educators vs people who just want to hang out in Thailand on their holidays, I say more power to them.
ReplyDeletemy daughter writes poems in Latin.
ReplyDelete(a page long poem that brought tears to my eyes because it was so harsh)
she's still in high school
i don't care if the guy follows rastafar as long as he knows how to Teach!
but he'd better be able to Prove It
And attend to the job at hand or get lost buddy
ReplyDeleteperhaps~with respect due,and w/o reserve~you were thinking 'dead poets society'
ReplyDeleteSee, that's the American approach, perhaps, but unfortunately, appearance, mannars, hygiene, etc. play an important part as well as education over here in Asia.
ReplyDeleteunderstood
ReplyDeletewill not argue further
living on a volcanic seismic rock does put constraints on a population :|
*bows* i am no judge of other than my own culture
how do you think the english speaking world should handle this (in long form~you gave us the brief) ?
ReplyDeleteWell... I have to admit that it did strike a chord when the article said they want to weed out those who can't get a job in their own country and therefore "take the easy way out" to be English teachers. Unfortunately I have known too many in that boat, and have to concur that a good majority of those who come to Asia to teach are really not qualified to do so. I don't mean having a BEd; I mean people who are literate, expressive, grammatically correct, empathic, well-mannered, polite, knowledgeable, have teaching skills, sensitive to other cultures, and above all the desire to impart knowledge on to the next generations (as well as not sloppy).
ReplyDeleteAsean will have to figure it out. Their current restrictions may be too strict, and they may lose a lot of good people, or they may hire people who SEEM to fit their criteria, but turn out to be totally incapable of providing what the students need.
And then the English speaking world who wish to go there can do their best to meet the requirements. Kind of like getting into a private club, or a private school. It will give them some advantage, I think.
The Tigers are awake now, as are the BRICS, so unfortunately for us, in a global world, everything tries to move toward equilibrium. So as China, India, ASEAN move up, we will move down. It's been happening in Japan for a while now. No longer do Japanese children rank highest on the global exams. The government reduced the requirements for educational curriculum, cut off schooling on Saturdays, etc. so now the educational level has actually dropped somewhat. I know some Chines families who moved to Japan because the schooling is easier here and their kids couldn't get into the extremely competitive schools in China. I know an Iranian guy who has been here 25 years and has kids here. He said that the Japanese school system is so easy compared to the Iranian school system. I asked him if he thought to send his kids to college in Iran, and he said that they would never get in, because the exams are too difficult. Asian education (outside of modern japanese education) is extremely difficult. Which might explain why Asian kids who go to NA schools seem to do so well, effortlessly.
Any ways, that's the long form. Hope you don't mind.
ReplyDeleteTime to go and see if I can buy eggs. Fridge is empty. Then it's off to visit Mayu.
Have a great weekend, Shane & you too, Mousie! Thanks for always popping in.
not at all~precisely what i asked for
ReplyDeletethank you for the considered reply.