Blog Archives

On Being an Author

5/25/2015

It is really gratifying being an author and looking at your sales soaring. So many people have told me how much they enjoyed the book and many said it should be required reading for anyone contemplating going into teaching. In fact, as I was working with a new teacher today she happened to see a copy of the book on my table and took it for reading. I can't wait to see how she compares her experiences of working in a foreign school with the characters in the book. She promised to report back to me when she finished reading the book. You can either get a hard copy of the book, which you can buy at Asia Books if you live in Asia or online at Friesen Press. at http://www.friesenpress.com/bookstore/title/119734000014595972

Advantages of Being an Author

Instant celebrity status, at least in your own mind.
The opportunity to travel to promote your book. This is a picture of me in Singapore last week. Do I look relaxed?
Meeting great people and continually feeding your own ego when readers send such nice reviews and compliments
Great tax advantages, if I can only figure them out

Latest Promotion
Buy a hard or soft copy of the book ( e version hard to sign) and send it to me. I will pay for the return post and sign it as a special promotion. Look forward to signing hundreds of copies and again thank you for buying and reading the book. It means a lot to me.

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Singapore Reconsidered

5/20/2015

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I just got back from a week-end in Singapore where I used to be a principal of a school. I must say I liked it a lot better this time. For some reason I never noticed how beautiful the city was with its' tree lined streets and public parks. I also don't remember the people being so friendly. No matter where I went, Singaporeans went out of their way to smile, show me where to eat and literally welcomed me to their city.

One night I walked into Ion mall, a huge plaza with probably thousands of stores. I was looking for chili crab and went downstairs to the food court and was asking a woman where I could find some and she literally walked me to the right booth. Now that is service with a smile.

At night I went to Clark Key where three 'volunteers' with lots of money and nerve to spare get into this cabin and get flung around with bungee cords while everyone watches and laughs. Actually I do not remember Clark Key being so much fun where you could be entertained in any number of ways from music to a boat ride on the Singapore river to a delicious meal. There are loads of other entertainment spots throughout the city as well as many interesting districts to walk through. I went to Little India for example and spent a pleasant afternoon.

Singapore has so many interesting areas. There is a Chinatown, a nice harbour, loads of shopping streets, wonderful transportation and so on. I guess as a tourist I could breath a little and enjoy the sites with no pressure.

When you think about this new city-state, only fifty years old, it is not surprising they are all so proud of their city and you would be hard pressed to find a Singaporean who is not proud of their country and heritage, as they should be!

Are you not blown away, by the fact that I spent the week-end in Singapore? It does sound amazing, doesn't it, yet from Phuket it is one or so hours by a plane and extremely inexpensive to get there, although the prices in Singapore make up for the cheap flight!

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Learning a New Language

5/13/2015

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I think that it is critical that as teachers we also have to be learners to better understand the learning process. Secondly, it is also important from the point of view of learning a different culture. Thirdly, it allows us to better communicate with the indigenous population who will appreciate the fact that we are trying as foreigners to better understand the culture we are living in.

I am in Thailand at the moment and I am trying to learn to read and write. Somehow, I have to memorize the alphabet which is completely foreign to me. I even have trouble writing the letters and I have no idea how a five year old Thai child can do it. Amazing. The problem for me, I realize, is that I am trying to learn out of context which clues me in on how to teach contextually. Trying to memorize letters and sounds out of context is difficult. Everything we teach has to be in some format where the child can link things to a deeper meaning.

It is also important in learning a language to understand that language reflects the culture. We learn, for example, in Thai that men say "kup" and women say "ka" at the end of the sentence. Even though someone might look like a man, if they end the sentence with a "ka" they feel like a woman.

We have the same sorts of things in English. For example, Eskimos have multiple names for snow and city dwellers have multiple names for couches like sofas, love seats and so on. It tells us about the English culture in which most of the readers of this blog use.

Do you want to talk to these people and ask them what they are looking at? Most of them probably speak enough English to tell you, but if you start by asking them in English you just might get these stares. Try saying hello and asking them how they are in Thai and you might be able to find out that they are listening to a bird competition.
If you live in foreign environment spend time talking with the indigenous population. If you wanted to hang out with English speaking people why leave home?

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Respect and Disrespect

5/8/2015

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A Thai teacher walked into a class being taught by a westerner and just started giving instructions to kids to start cleaning up around their desks while the westerner was still teaching . I wondered how it was possible that the Thai teacher could show such disrespect to the foreign teacher but I now think I have the answer.

It seems to me that the purpose of education in the west is to teach kids to respect authority but at the same time to question everything thus, in western eyes, making for a stronger state though citizenship empowerment.

The purpose of education in the east, from what I can see and understand is to prepare its' citizens to obey authority without question so that they can be more easily controlled. I see that in a variety of ways from the morning assembly where even a boring speaker will be tolerated and students will sit or stand quietly and listen to how they walk in the halls or greet teachers.

So, how does this fit in with how it is possible that a Thai teacher would completely ignore the western teacher and give orders to the class in the middle of the lesson and the answer is....foreigners or "farangs" are brought over to teach English so that the next generation can do business with the west. They have traditionally been taught by rote learning and that is what they expect from the foreigner. When the farang teacher might want to engage students by playing a word gamefor example, it is considered by the Thai teacher, or this Thai teacher anyway. as frivolous or without purpose and therefore no class must be taking place in here so she could give instructions to kids because nothing was happening anyway of any educational value.

As long as westerners understand their role i.e.as guests in the country to teach English only, there will not be a problem and everyone will be happy. If the foreigner has aspirations of teaching critical thinking in an engaging fashion they will be bound to disappointed because that is not what you will be hired for.

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On Being an Author

Singapore Reconsidered

Learning a New Language

Respect and Disrespect

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