Dear TDSIG members* I'd like to draw your attention to a couple of new features which I've recently introduced over at TDSIG.org. First of all, there's a...
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Pauline Johnson
paunjohnson
Mar 6, 2011 9:40 am
Dear Mark, Thanks for telling me about this new feature. I've just looked at your 'membership map' and seen that you have all of three members. I tried to add ...
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Mark Bain
markcbain
Mar 6, 2011 11:49 am
Hi Pauline Thanks for checking out the membership map - yes, I know, there are only a few people who've added their location, but I'm hoping more will follow....
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Mojca Belak
mojca.belak
Mar 6, 2011 12:39 pm
Dear Pauline Thank you for replying to Mark's post. I find what you wrote quite alarming - you say you've only received one newsletter from TD SIG since you've...
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Bill Templer
bill_templer
Mar 30, 2011 9:57 am
In some countries, ex-pat teachers, esp. from the core English L1 countries, get substantially higher pay for the same job. Is this fair? Below a recent ...
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Anthony Gaughan
anthonygaugh...
Mar 30, 2011 5:27 pm
I think the short answer to all the questions you pose is "no". I find it very hard to imagine a sense in which this is fair. Anthony ... I think the short...
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Mark Bain
markcbain
Mar 30, 2011 5:38 pm
And the flippant answer is "no, but life's not fair". If I may play devil's advocate (in an attempt to get a bit of a discussion going - you up for it, ...
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Anthony Gaughan
anthonygaugh...
Mar 30, 2011 6:32 pm
OK, Mark: I'll bite ;-) Let's take this one proposition at a time, shall we? 1) "Life's not fair" Well-spotted, and it is precisely for this reason that...
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Anthony Gaughan
anthonygaugh...
Mar 30, 2011 6:35 pm
A correction! When I say "but he was struck that a company or institution he was visiting had no non-native teachers on staff", I meant "native speaker...
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Mark Bain
markcbain
Mar 30, 2011 6:42 pm
Oh dear. I feel like I went fishing for sardines and hooked a tuna... is it OK for a devil's advocate to just agree to disagree? Only joking. I'll respond...
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Anthony Gaughan
anthonygaugh...
Mar 30, 2011 7:01 pm
You asked for a demolition and i like to oblige people (I pause to smile...) Sorry but I couldn't resist - was never Patient enough for fishing, anyway ;-) ...
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Adrian Tennant
adrian.tennant@...
Mar 30, 2011 7:30 pm
A couple of years ago I wrote about exactly this kind of thing happening in one of my Viewpoint columns for Voices. I made a number of points there including...
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Anthony Gaughan
anthonygaugh...
Mar 30, 2011 7:45 pm
Hi Adrian, Glad you've come in on this. I agree that the decision and the logic are misguided - but I also think the results are unfair (not deliberately so,...
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Mark Bain
markcbain
Mar 30, 2011 7:50 pm
[Mark smiles to himself. His cunning plan seems to have worked!] ... -- Mark Crawford Bain * *...
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Adrian Tennant
adrian.tennant@...
Mar 30, 2011 7:57 pm
Hi Anthony, Breaking the cycle is not easy. One of the major challenges is that people underestimate how one seemingly small decision can have lots of fairly...
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LANDRY
lklandry2002
Mar 30, 2011 11:47 pm
i'd just like to add that importing foreigners (American, Canadians, British, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans in South Korean's case for example)...
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Anthony Gaughan
anthonygaugh...
Mar 31, 2011 9:22 am
Thank you for providing a balanced counterpoint to my rant, Landry. I agree that cross-cultural exchange is important - and I heard an interesting perspective...
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LANDRY
lklandry2002
Mar 31, 2011 11:11 am
Dear Anthony, It is an interesting world we live in. One addition I thought of was that Koreans speaking English to teachers that can also speak Korean makes...
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Anthony Gaughan
anthonygaugh...
Mar 31, 2011 1:55 pm
Dear Kevin (It occurred to me earlier that this is perhaps more a discussion for the Global Issues SIG, so apologies to any TDSIG members who feel this is...
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Mark Bain
markcbain
Mar 31, 2011 1:56 pm
Maybe it's time we all read the original story (not just the introductory paragraph)? ...
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Mark Bain
markcbain
Mar 31, 2011 2:21 pm
Hi all Hi all I don't think there's anyone who can criticise this discussion as being off-topic, unless they want to start a more on-topic thread of their own....
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Bill Templer
bill_templer
Mar 31, 2011 2:24 pm
Interesting discussion of a complex issue. Re Thailand, most international teachers working in state-funded education are not on the limited experiment of a...
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Anthony Gaughan
anthonygaugh...
Mar 31, 2011 2:25 pm
Hi Mark, Glad you joined in again! It is certainly interesting to read about it in more depth, but I still have issues with it. Firstly, If they were able to...
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Mark Bain
markcbain
Mar 31, 2011 2:39 pm
... I'd call that a bit of a strawman ;) Yes, we were all very ready to jump to the conclusion that the only factor being considered was nativeness, whereas in...
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Anthony Gaughan
anthonygaugh...
Mar 31, 2011 2:45 pm
It's a fair cop, guv ;-)...
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Mark Bain
markcbain
Mar 31, 2011 2:54 pm
Like Bill, I'm looking forward to the day when humanity turns its swords into ploughshares. However, until then, there might still be something teachers can do...
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Mark Bain
markcbain
Mar 31, 2011 2:56 pm
Pays to do yer research: http://markcbain.com/2011/02/hot-air-from-guardian-newspaper/ ... -- Mark Crawford Bain * *...
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Adrian Tennant
adrian.tennant@...
Mar 31, 2011 2:59 pm
First of all we can stop using the term Native speaker (especially when it comes to English). It's such a misleading term to use & in many cases simply...
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Mark Bain
markcbain
Mar 31, 2011 3:05 pm
How about "ultra-proficient"? Any better? I mean, there could be some kind of test... that'd be pure meritocracy, wouldn't it? Or would the powers-that-be...
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Anthony Gaughan
anthonygaugh...
Mar 31, 2011 3:10 pm
The story on your blog nicely illustrates how easily we can be distracted by false or misleading claims - and I was certainly deliberately allowing myself to...
