29 Sep 2008, 05:00
Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 29 Sep 2008, 05:11
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From: José Martel Penate 19th Sep 08
Subject: Fwd: Jose's introduction v1.1
To: H808 08 ac_UNIT 1 INTRO
Hi all,
Firstly, apologies for my late arrival; hope I can catch up fairly soon.
And now the intro...
I'm Spanish, and grew up in England.
For the last couple of years I've been employed as an oral English teacher in China. Currently I "teach" 2nd year students at a university in Shanghai.
My doing a MAODE stems more from wanting to move onto a different, hopefully more satisfying career path here in China.
Why China in particular? Well, my wife is Chinese and we live in Shanghai with our lovely 8 week old, baby girl.
This is my first module of the MAODE. And my first time studying at this level. And my first online course.
I seem to be the least "professional" of my tutor group (Alan’s) which, initially, I find a little intimidating. However, this does mean I have a great opportunity to learn from my fellow members’ experience and expertise in related fields.
Some of you may have noticed that I'm having problems accessing messages on First Class. I'm not sure if this is because I'm (usually) using a Mac, coz I'm in China, both, or neither. But please bear with me while I try to sort out these problems.
By the way, you may already know that my being in China means I'm (usually) 8 hours ahead of UK time (GMT+8). This probably won't be too inconvenient for my tutor group and still allows for real-time IMing or talking over the internet at sociable hours if the need arose or the group decides it may be beneficial.
Over the next few months I hope we all have a stimulating, productive, and enjoyable time on this course together.
Jose
Ok, I've just read Alan's welcome and I think I need to expand this intro a bit.
Unlike most or all of you, I don't plan on using the knowledge and skills gained on the course at my current school/place of work. It's not that I think the kids wouldn't benefit from some sort of online support programme or PDPs, etc, or that my uni has any such programmes in operation or even planned (though a foreign oral English teacher is perhaps the last person to know about such things on a Chinese university campus, with any of the Chinese teachers coming in only slightly ahead). No, the kids would benefit from such programmes, and I might even say they (desperately) NEED them. The problem is that there would be no support from the administration on any level, and it goes without saying that the students would reject the slightest suggestion that they should take resonsibility for their own learning. And don't even mention the word "lifelong"!
So, at the moment I have a pleasant, vague sort of plan in which I hope that the MAODE can lead me away from state-run schools entrenched in their ways, while helping me steer clear of private schools obsessed with profit. Where I'll end up I'm not sure, but hopefully some place where learning is still or newly valued.
Subject: Fwd: Jose's introduction v1.1
To: H808 08 ac_UNIT 1 INTRO
Hi all,
Firstly, apologies for my late arrival; hope I can catch up fairly soon.
And now the intro...
I'm Spanish, and grew up in England.
For the last couple of years I've been employed as an oral English teacher in China. Currently I "teach" 2nd year students at a university in Shanghai.
My doing a MAODE stems more from wanting to move onto a different, hopefully more satisfying career path here in China.
Why China in particular? Well, my wife is Chinese and we live in Shanghai with our lovely 8 week old, baby girl.
This is my first module of the MAODE. And my first time studying at this level. And my first online course.
I seem to be the least "professional" of my tutor group (Alan’s) which, initially, I find a little intimidating. However, this does mean I have a great opportunity to learn from my fellow members’ experience and expertise in related fields.
Some of you may have noticed that I'm having problems accessing messages on First Class. I'm not sure if this is because I'm (usually) using a Mac, coz I'm in China, both, or neither. But please bear with me while I try to sort out these problems.
By the way, you may already know that my being in China means I'm (usually) 8 hours ahead of UK time (GMT+8). This probably won't be too inconvenient for my tutor group and still allows for real-time IMing or talking over the internet at sociable hours if the need arose or the group decides it may be beneficial.
Over the next few months I hope we all have a stimulating, productive, and enjoyable time on this course together.
Jose
Ok, I've just read Alan's welcome and I think I need to expand this intro a bit.
Unlike most or all of you, I don't plan on using the knowledge and skills gained on the course at my current school/place of work. It's not that I think the kids wouldn't benefit from some sort of online support programme or PDPs, etc, or that my uni has any such programmes in operation or even planned (though a foreign oral English teacher is perhaps the last person to know about such things on a Chinese university campus, with any of the Chinese teachers coming in only slightly ahead). No, the kids would benefit from such programmes, and I might even say they (desperately) NEED them. The problem is that there would be no support from the administration on any level, and it goes without saying that the students would reject the slightest suggestion that they should take resonsibility for their own learning. And don't even mention the word "lifelong"!
So, at the moment I have a pleasant, vague sort of plan in which I hope that the MAODE can lead me away from state-run schools entrenched in their ways, while helping me steer clear of private schools obsessed with profit. Where I'll end up I'm not sure, but hopefully some place where learning is still or newly valued.
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