I’m teaching at the university level right now and I agree with those 10 reasons that you presented. Fortunately, however, out of a class of 60 students, there are usually 4 or 5 who can help me keep things going. These days, I ‘force’ my students to talk by just pointing at random people during my class, making them stand up, and having them respond to a question. Sometimes they are red-faced but they always try their best. I think eventually, they will gain more self confidence.

I have also taught kids and personally, I find that so exhausting. At least college students will pretend to enjoy what you are doing even if they are bored out of their minds.:)

This does it all. Yeah it’s true that Chinese students must really work hard to be able to achieve that English proficiency in themselves. It really sounds difficult on their part because of the following reasons.

Chinese students don’t know how to:
1. enter a discussion
2. express disagreement without offence
3. pose a question politely
4. hold the floor against an interruption
5. refuse a turn to speak - gracefully
6. deflect a question
7. respond to a challenge
8. use humour
9. respond to humour
10. seek clarification without losing face

I’ve have taught two college schools and a middle school here in China and currently teaching in a kindergarten. These reasons were enumerated for I’ve observed these during my entire teaching career where in my students are adults. You maybe surprise to know why I’m in a kindergarten school now. Teaching college students will really wear you out mentally as compared to teaching kids where in it’s on the physical aspect. Not only that, teaching kids makes us more healthy and young. Why not try it for you will really enjoy rather than teaching lazy college students who think that learning English is not at all important.

The ONLY people who would be misled about this article are people like yourself who did not bother to read the entire article before making a comment about it.

Where in the article is there a sizable paragraph about myself? I don’t think I even once mentioned myself in the article. And even if I did, so what? I own and operate this blog.

In China nobody cares about a BA or MBA. Chinese people want to know what you can do for them. That’s the way it is. Good luck.

Yeah, what’s the point of mentioning how many BA’s ang MBA’s you’ve finshed. You made me laugh with your Nov.12 comments for it seems you haven’t understand what the author would like to emphasize. Before making any contradicting comments, better make it sure that you are on the right side of the road.

I could really care less how many BA’s, MBA’s and licenses you have. Do you think you can somehow prove your worth to everyone with the amount of education you have received or amount of time that you worked in television? I was in radio for ten years and I produced and hosted shows all over the place. So what? That is completely irrelevant to what we are talking about here. You also somehow twisted this into a way to take a whack at Bush…that doesn’t make any sense at all.

I don’t disagree with anything that you have said about English learning in China and I don’t think that you would have disagreed with anything that I wrote had you actually bothered to read the article in the first place.

English is essential in China. People didn’t believe it before but now it’s becoming a way of life. The problem is that most Chinese are afraid to speak English.

English is in demand and will be for the next five to ten years.

If you visited my website you’ll see that I have a BA in Media and MBA in Business Management. In addition, I have a license from the Canadian government to teach English in China.

In the late 80’s and early 90’s I was on television in Canada and the US producing and hosting verious success and entertainment tv shows.

I operate several companies in the US, Canada and Europe, travelled the world and decided to stay in China.

English learning is only one opportunity for foreigners. There are many others.

I do not claim to know everything and never did but I do know about what goes in Asia.

So, in the end, you can say what you want about me but most people can figure out who is telling the truth. - All the best..

Thanks Robert for the laugh tonight! When Zajac said that “basic English is not enough anymore” he was basically stealing from your article that he claims to “disagree with.” I love people who think they know everything and when they try to show it they make complete fools out of themselves. Anyway, keep up the good work and keep me smiling! That’s all I ask.

A few points…

1. You clearly just looked at the title of the article and did not bother to actually read through it so let me help you. Here is what I wrote towards the end…

“The pursuit of English skills is as important in China as ever but now a Chinese student must work extra hard to stand out amongst the millions of other students who are also learning the English language…” It’s better if you read something through once before you comment on it…

2. You said,

“So, unless Robert Vance has lived, worked and experience China, his words are not accurate. It’s far from reality.”

You are what we call a ‘hit-and-run’ case on blogs. You don’t bother to look around on a website and see what it is all about before you make ignorant comments. If you had bothered to look in the ‘About’ section of this website you would have seen the following…

“Robert Vance is a China based freelance writer and teacher who has traveled extensively throughout Asia and Latin America. He spent more than a decade as a radio broadcaster in the United States before moving to Asia to focus on writing about Chinese Culture. He has also lived and traveled throughout Mexico and Central America. He holds a degree in Spanish and International Studies from a unversity in the United States. Presently, he is the senior editor at TeachAbroadChina.com which provides useful cultural information and tips for ex-pats living in the People’s Republic of China. He also writes daily op-ed articles about Chinese culture and politics which appear on the website.”

So there you have it. You didn’t read the article and you were completely wrong about me.