Good English teachers don't have to be "foreigners"

Goodheart

Just reading a few posts here and feel that I have to vent my feelings with those interested to read this.

I am well aware that a lot of people in HK prefer to have Caucasian or Indian English teachers for their children as they believe that the quality of English taught will be superior.  Without upsetting anybody here, I would like to remind some parents here that many Caucasian Americans, British, Australian, Canadians and Indians etc. do not necessarily have "perfect" English.

It is really disturbing and disappointing to find that Chinese people can so easily judge a book by its cover.  Through my work and play, I have met "teachers" in HK who cannot spell correctly; some are backpackers who ended up here and realised that they can earn a higher salary being a teacher.  They take the short teaching certificate course and voila, they are teachers.  They may be blonde with blue eyes, but I do sincerely feel sorry for their students who will come out speaking with a cockney accent.  Do the parents realise this??  No, because superficially, their teachers are "foreigners".

As with the post regarding Chinese teachers at an ESF kindergarten, what is the difference between an overseas-born Chinese, and an overseas-born Korean?????  Does the latter have better English, just because they don't speak Cantonese or Putonghua at home?  Do you think the Korean teacher doesn't speak Korean?

Come on Hong Kong..... don't look down on your own race.  There are a lot of Chinese people in our generation who were born overseas, have mastered English as their first language, and have managed to learn Cantonese/Mandarin through home study.  Isn't that the perfect role model for your children??  If we don't respect and value our own people, who will?

babyjc

Hi Goodheart, I can't agree with you more!!! I've also been through quite a few post on this site and it seems like there's quite a few out there that are prejudice (just my feeling) against Chinese people teaching English?!:tongue:  To be honest, I'm actually quite offended, I'm from the UK (born and brought up there) and it disgust me to think that if I was to teach, these parents will dislike me because of my Chinese appearance even though I speak native English.
Good on you to express your thoughts Goodheart and I hope the parents who has these feelings towards Chinese teachers teaching English to seriously rethink...
I don't mean to upset anyone but it just seems so SAD that one should think that way, anyway just my thoughts! Have a good day...

bawt

Have you guys posted in the wrong section? I think you might consider posting your comments at the local school sections.

What I note (both here in BK and elsewhere) is that international schools parents mostly do not really care what ethnic group the teachers are.

Goodheart

I guess my emotions finally put fingers to the keyboard when I read the ESF Tsing Yi thread recently posted. I think my feelings apply to both local and international schools parents, although I would say that the selection process for NET by international schools are somewhat more detailed than local schools.  International schools may select based on true qualifications and experience as opposed the appearance of the teacher.

But yes you do have a point - I should post my thread on the local school site, so more local parents can understand the situation more.

bawt

原文章由 Goodheart 於 07-9-9 02:11 硐表
I guess my emotions finally put fingers to the keyboard when I read the ESF Tsing Yi thread recently posted. I think my feelings apply to both local and international schools parents, although I would ...

I never followed those kindergarten threads since my children have way passed the stage.
I have always had the feeling that IS kindie parents are, usually, still in the process of learning what IS education is. Plus, it is a fact that most of the IS parents (that are here posting messages at BK) are actually locals, some of whom might never have lived in or received education in another country. To them, only people with blond hair and blue eyes speak good English. I agree that it would be unfortunate if some parents are judging the abilities of the teachers by their ethnic groups. But, in a way, I am not too worried about this. Those few posts are merely comments from the minority. It would not be too fair to think those few comments are representing the whole population of IS kindie parents. Many IS kindie parents do not even come to BK, and those who do, might not care posting any comments at all. So those are just the minority. To be honest, what ethnic groups don't international schools have, for teachers and students alike? From Africa to Scandanavia, from China to Egypt. On the other hand, I agree that this ethnic issue does bother most parents (or principals) of local schools, or at least what I noticed and heard.
If you are to read more of the posts from primary or secondary IS parents, you will see that, we would not think poorly of non-western teachers. In fact, I personally PREFER the school to have teachers from as many ethnic groups as possible. My child, for instance, is enjoying his classes from his Indian Math teacher, who he said "is very good at teaching them Math" and he now just LOVES Math.

[ 本文章最後由 bawt 於 07-9-9 10:59 編輯 ]