語彙を改善する IMPROVE VOCABULARY
Listen and Repeat; then record your practice.
Saying Thank You
ありがとう
Love the Language You’re In – China Tour
Have You Ever Wanted to Learn a Foreign Language ?
Not sure where to begin? With a sea of web-based resources, who knows their beginning from their end? My journey to learn Japanese language started many years ago. Unable to physically immerse in language study for a lengthy period of time after studying at a Japanese University (Kansai Gaidai, Osaka), my return home meant returning to a job and managing family matters. Improving my language skills required taking every opportunity available, and some twists and turns in seeking resources (on-line courses, books, and study partners). I always seek to communicate and learn from native and non-native speakers. Although rewarding and a lot of fun, acquiring a foreign language can also be a slow and sometimes tedious journey and well worth the effort!
♠ It occurs to me that one of the most effective ways to learn a language is to learn the people who speak the target language. Mandarin Chinese is difficult to learn, I have managed to improve with time, and having knowledge of Japanese Kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese writing) has helped a lot with reading. My Chinese friends and associates have been a the best source of encouragement, correction, and even challenge.
The most inspirational and reassuring experience as a language learner, teacher, or enthusiast is to “get up, get out, get moving” to discover the country and its people. Travel to the target country may not be an available option, but there are scores of books, electronic media, and resources, as close as your local library, internet websites, chambers of commerce, and even television (for example, National Geographic and Create T.V. travel shows)
As a student and teacher of language, who majored in Interanational Studies in college, I can recall the excitement of learning about Chinese Politics (and history), studying under the guide of Dr. John Copper, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN.
But until the Odyssey Unlimited China, Tibet, and Yangtze River Tour (a wedding anniversary trip with my husband), my book knowledge had not been challenged, nor did I have the full understanding and appreciation for the country and people until I experienced this small group tour (over a 17-day period of flights) taking us to Beijing, Chonqing, Lhasa Tibet, Three Gorges Dam, and a Yangtze River Boat Tour. Our jouney ended with a final flight to Shanghai for an extended four days. The tour was an opportunity to participate in the history, politics, and culture of China.
As difficult a time as I had breathing in Lhasa, it seemed all worth it when I was welcomed (as a mere bystander and tourist), invited to join the Tibetans in their morning dance in the mountains! We shared a rare moment where we spoke same language in dance. Somehow, I forgot about the the difficulty in breathing the Himalayan atmosphere. Tibetans are genetically adapted to the high altitude, I am not. Yet, like magic, as I danced, breathing was not problem at all.
Most importantly, the experience was a chance to speak, read, and write Chinese language and take advantage of every effort to communicate and be understood. Like me, there were a few Chinese, who desired to excercise their knowledge of English, which made for a dual-language exchange and harmonius communication.
Here, I share a few photos (and videos) from our China tour. However, photos nor video can express the experience of being immersed in the language and culture. My advice to the langauge learner and culture ethusiast, “love the langauge you’re in,” but if you are really into learning a new language; start by getting to know, try to learn, more about the people and their culture.
Three-Gorges-Tour_Yangze-River_2019-10-23-
TOP FIVE APPS TO DOWNLOAD BEFORE YOU COME TO CHINA!!
Toni wants you to notice the Chicken designs atop the roof in her photo. Is this significant in China architectural designs?
1/7/2020
polyglot2abroad
INTRODUCTION
The top five apps that you should download before coming to China. You will need to either open your current phone plan to allow for international use or purchase a sim card when you arrive so that you can have internet access outside of Starbucks and the airport. You can usually get a sim card at the airport when you arrive or you can go to any phone store and get one. For someone coming for their first time with no use of the language and no one to help translate for you, I would suggest just getting it at the airport when you arrive.
TOP FIVE APPS (more…)
Learn Japanese at Japanasu
Our teaching method here at Japanasu is a little different from other Japanese learning websites. We teach Japanese grammar from the very start. We have found that teaching students grammar first gives them a solid foundation from which they can then build upon. It also means that students can confidently string together sentences from day one. As they absorb more vocabulary, they are then able to creatively apply the rules in order to construct a wide variety of new sentences.
Original Art from Moritani-sensei
Our partnership with Seedtime Multilingual started in the fall of 2019. In fact, Toni Stillman, the founder and president of Seedtime Multilingual, Inc., used to be a private student of Aki Moritani, who is the head teacher at Japanasu. Toni approached us in 2019 about the possibility of partnering up and the rest is history! We are very excited about the prospect of teaching Japanese to under-privelidged students and to make a difference to their lives. Seedtime Multilingual students not only get free courses, but they also are provided with one-to-one skype lessons to ensure they are progressing well. Who knows what opportunities will lie ahead for them in the future! Let’s plant seeds together for a better future!
At Japanasu we are always looking for enthusiastic article writers! Topics can be anything to do with Japanese language or culture. Contributors are rewarded with free access to all our courses and premium content! Check out our articles page here to see some examples, some of which are written by us and some by our contributors. Email info.japanasu@gmail.com if you are interested in becoming a contributor.
What to look out for BEFORE you sign a contract to teach English in China.
BY NAJIYAH KELLY
Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be failure.
-Confucius
WAIT!!! Before you sign that contract, check out these tips for what to look for in an English Teaching contract in China!!
In this changing world, ESL teaching is not the way it was before, in the past. Schools, especially in bigger cities, are treating education like an industry, a form of business and foreign teachers are what some schools use to keep their mills running. So, in the “education industry” many new teachers, and even seasoned teachers, are uneducated on the legalities of the contracts that they are presented with. It is important to know what to look for, what to ask for, and when to walk away from a trap. Some schools only care about making money and good teachers loose their passion for teaching because they sign up with schools who only want to abuse them and can legally screw them over once those teachers get enough sense to stand up for themselves. Chinese parents will pay a lot of money for education in China and foreign language is one of the bigger selling points for a school because of its popularity.
So, if you find yourself in the position of looking for a job and you find a school that you that gets your interest, just take a little extra time to look over the contract. Think in detail about what you need to haggle for and what you REALLY need that you may not even realize. Finally, don’t be afraid to walk away! If a school is not wanting to be fair with you in the beginning while negotiating a contract, you probably will dodge a bullet by not signing up with them anyway. The last thing you want to do with your time abroad is to end up in a legal battle with a school that is deceitful and vindictive.
1. End of contract bonus. Make sure your contract has some form of end of contract bonus and it should state how much it is. If the bonus is performance based, have them state some criteria how they will determine grade your performance. The more details the better. Parent satisfaction, class quality, preparation, attendance, professionalism in dress code etc. They should list what they will be looking for to judge your performance, not just vaguely say it is performance based or you could end up in a situation where they don’t want to pay you and make up fake reasons for why you should not receive it, when all is said and done. I would say that this is standard and most schools offer this. If your school does not offer this, it is a red flag that they are cheap, cutting corners, and trying to skim off the top and get the most out of you that they can.
2. Actual work times. （To get your normal hourly wage, divide your monthly salary（after tax) by the hours you work in a month.) You need to get a clear defined work time spelled out in your contract, otherwise the school can call you in at any time for any reason and call it work related just to use you 24/7 as their work dog. I have worked with schools who would call me and send messages at all times of the day, on the weekends, over the holidays. One of my previous school owners even messaged me at 9:45 on a Saturday night to ask me about one of the weekly reports I had written about my students. When I told him that I need to defend my personal time, he insisted that it was an emergency that I should respond to the parents concern immediately and that this was Chinese culture and that I need to be able to respond whenever the parents wanted. (I have lived in China as a teacher for over 6 years. This is not Chinese culture) I told him that my contract hours were from 8-4:45 M-F and in the contract it says in two places that work should be done during work hours. He could not accept this and terminated my contract for “not having good teamwork”. This is real. This happens. If you see red flags for a school, honestly it is in your best interest to avoid it. Leave, find another one.
a. Overtime compensation. Is overtime mandatory or optional. Is overtime paid at the normal hourly rate or is it paid as time and a half?
b. School events? Halloween parties, holiday events, CHinese New Year? October Holiday? Graduation ceremonies? Are these mandatory? Are these paid? At what rate? Overtime or normal hourly pay? Will travel time to these events be compensated and will traveling expenses be paid or will transportation be provided? After the event is over, will transportation home be provided or compensated for?
3. What are your actual duties? Will you need to create the curriculum from scratch or do they have lesson plans already. If they say they have lesson plans already, ask to see them. See for yourself what they have prepared. The school I was with told me up and down that they had a curriculum. Did they? No. I ended up making all of the lessons myself from scratch. No training or guidance were given.
4. Support From the School. Will you be required to communicate with parents? Will you be required to write progress reports on the students? How often? How will the school handle communication between you and the parents? How will they manage the parents if there are any disagreements? Will they threaten to fire you every time one of the parents has any minor complaint?
5. Contract Termination
A. What are the consequences if the school decides to terminate the contract early? Will they compensate you for the time you worked? Will they give you a package for terminating the contract? Under what circumstances could they terminate your contract? Can they terminate at will? or do they need to provide a clear reason? What reason qualifies as justified? Is there a protocol that they follow before they terminate if they are unsatisfied? Will they have a meeting? Will they give a warning? Or will they just fire you? Is there a handbook that explicitly states what kinds of behaviors and reasons would be cause for a termination? Can they make changes to that handbook whenever they want over the course of the year? Can they terminate you for vague reasons such as “parent dissatisfaction”, “student dissatisfaction” or “lack of teamwork”.(These are real reasons that schools have submitted before as reasons for terminating a contract.)
6. This may be the simplest and most useful advice. Talk to current teachers at the school about their experience.
A. If there are other teachers at the school, talk to them about their experiences. Read blogs that other teachers have written about the school. It is the best way to get an accurate reflection of the school culture, and teacher satisfaction in their roles. Ask them how long they have been working there. Ask how the turnover rate for teachers is at the school. Ask them how happy they are with their work load and how they feel about job security? How they treat their current teachers is exactly how they will treat you.
7. Don’t forget. Ask for the handbook.
Many times there is a clause in the contract stating that the handbook is an inseparable part of the contract but schools don’t usually give it to you unless you ask for it. I have heard teachers say, “If I knew about these rules in the handbook, I would not have signed the contract.”
8. Know the Labor laws!!
Check out Chinese law on Labor contracts or contact a professional if you can. Here is a snippet about probation period time limitations from the “LAW OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ON EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS”
“Article 19
If an employment contract has a term of not less than three months but less than one year, the probation period may not exceed one month; if an employment contract has a term of more than one year and less than three years, the probation period may not exceed two months; and if an employment contract has a term of not less than three years or is open-ended, the probation period may not exceed six months.
An Employer may stipulate only one probation period with any given Employee.
No probation period may be specified in an employment contract with a term to expire upon completion of a certain job or an employment contract with a term of less than three months.
The probation period shall be included in the term of the employment contract. If an employment contract provides for a probation period only, then there is no probation period and the term concerned shall be the term of the employment contract.”
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=intl
Be sure to negotiate the length of that probation period, Most times the monthly salary is paid at a lower rate during the probation period so the longer the probation, the more money you are losing.
Conclusion
Take your time to think deeply about the terms and conditions in your contract. Think seriously about what you want from the school. It does not matter how nice they may seem in the beginning or how many things your agent or HR may promise you. If there is a dispute, the only thing you have is your contract to fall back onto, and some schools may even try to go against that. No promise or agreement or wechat messages will help you. It costs money to take a school to court, so its not as easy as just saying, “I’ll just sue them if they break the contract.” Often times it costs thousands of RMB to move forward with legal proceedings so if they break the contract, most times you can only walk away and hope to find a better contract. Understand this BEFORE you sign a contract. Are there any conditions that state what the consequences are for the school if they break the contract? Are you comfortable taking the risk of being at the mercy of a power hungry principle who has no consequences for kicking you out on your bum? The only thing that you can do to protect yourself is to make sure the contract is going to cover you in case of any future disputes BEFORE you sign it. Be safe, give yourself time, save yourself future grief. Don’t become another sob story.
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