Graduating! No wonder she's smiling.Four long years of work, growth, joy, sorrow, frustration, and learning ended yesterday as my advisees celebrated their graduation.
We met at the Landis Hotel downtown for food, drink, conversation, and (it goes without saying) KTV.
What will these kids do in Taiwan's de-industrializing, service-oriented economy? Lots of them go to work for trading companies....
......A former student sent me this pic of herself with some buyers from Syria. One thing that their college background doesn't prepare them for is the range of accents with which English is actually spoken. After all, most of their business conversation will be with people who speak English as a second language. It is not for nothing that at many schools foreign teachers argue that people from non-native speaking countries in the developed world be hired to teach, so that students can learn to deal with those accents and cultures. I have yet to run into an AFL Department that has grasped that important point, however. In the meantime the Taipei Times reports today that Koreans are flocking to the Philippines to study English......
Here is another one of my students, an extremely beautiful girl whose company used her in one of their ads.
I drowned my sorrows at watching my fledglings leave the nest with a night out on the town courtesy of Karl from
Chewin in the Chung. One place he took me to was La Terrasse....
I didn't eat so can't vouch for the food, but I did enjoy some great conversation with the friendly owner, who seems to have read all the same books I have. The place has a cozy atmosphere, lots of expats, and plenty of good western dishes on offer.
La Terrassse[Taiwan]
" I have yet to run into an AFL Department that has grasped that important point, however."
ReplyDeleteWhat d'ya mean? I can tell you from personal experience (and from a few dozen resumes I've recently recieved) that there is a rich melange of umm...colorful English speakers currently awash in this Formosan sea of ESL teachers, who have been *gainfully* employed since reaching these now soggy shores. Take, for example, Xxxx from Turkey, who says he has "a TESOL deploma and is availible ASAP." He has been here for 3 years already!
Sarcasm aside, I do agree with you. That's why I often do half a lesson with a thick French or Spanish accent. Iz reelee efectif, I sink. ;)
Ziz ren is getting to mi...eat noting but leak soup not good for bady.
ahem...[guttural noise accompanied by visible embarrassment] I mean "received".
ReplyDelete