Saturday, August 20, 2005

Letters from Africa

My website just gets the weirdest stuff:

Dear sir micheal,

I am very happy to write this letter.

I am enquiring to know some information from your assistances.

I am a black african from Ghana the west of Africa.

I will like to teach english in Taiwan since I have the TEFL socre.

I will like you too support me.

Please advise me before I travel to Taiwan the next coming month september 2005.

Thanx and i will be wait for your reply.

Best regards,

[name deleted]

Tutor
UPDATE: He writes again today, 21st:
I am online now,
I will very happy if u could spare me some of ur time to explain some little information about teaching in Taiwan to me.
and then I found a second letter:
Hello Mr Micheal,
I wanted to know if I could be recruited into any teaching vacancy position to teach English in Taiwan.
Since am from Africa and I have TEFL score.
So I wrote back to ask whether he had a BA. The drama continues......

UPDATE: 8/22 Yes, another letter has arrived...I have fallen off my "sir" pedestal and am now merely "mr".......

hello mr micheal,
yes to the question requested.
i have a four year degree certificate and a TEFL cert.
I also have Diploma in Business studies DBS and a high school certificate too.
please kindly organise some school in taiwan for me so can come there and teach english language.
Thanx n wait for u.

I don't find jobs -- got investigated once already by the Bureau of Labor for that. I guess he'll just have to be disappointed....

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you receive Her Majesty's knighthood "sir micheal" for services for Blogging?
It is frightening that people with such illiteracy could be employed as teachers of English in Taiwan.

Michael Turton said...

I don't think they can -- he doesn't appear to have a BA. I've met a few Africans here, but not all of them were English teachers. Anyway, just getting here presents formidable obstacles of cash and visa.

Michael

Anonymous said...

This person's English sounds like my Chinese.

My tutor saw some Chinese I'd written quickly, so I could look something up. She said "Oh, how cute! It looks just like a child's writing!"

But I'm not asking to teach the language, either.

"just say no."

Anonymous said...

I received an email from Japan from similar to that. I'm not sure where they got my email from or the idea I am an employer or a recruiter from.