Sunday, December 20, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Wuxi Tony Update #378: Tony on a Boat.
My son Tony accompanied me on the HyLite School Trip to Tianmu Lake.
Monday, April 27, 2009
English Trainers needed at HyLite School in Wuxi starting immediately, 8500 RMB / Month.
Required
*Native speakers from Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and USA.
*Age: 25 – 60
*1-2 years experience.
*Bachelors degree or higher
*Teaching qualification(TESOL or TEFL), preferably to diploma or Masters level
*Sound understanding of SLA theory and modern language teaching methodology
*Excellent communication and organizational skills
*A high degree of professionalism
*A high degree of enthusiasm for quality education
Benefits
*Two weeks paid vacation and national holidays.
* Monthly salary 7500RMB plus 1000RMB living allowance. For first year trainers, there is a 500RMB Holdback which is paid at the end of the contract. As well, the first month for a new trainer is probationary.
* Return airfare at the end of the contract.
* All Visa costs will be reimbursed with receipts. Residency permits and working permits will be arranged by the school. *Airport pick up
* Accommodation provided in an excellent hotel while you are assisted in finding a suitable living location.
The job is 5 days per week comprising 25 fifty-five minute classes and 15 hours prep. time with optional overtime classes. The trainer has 2 consecutive days off each week. The teaching materials are all supplied to which trainers add their own ideas to enhance the learning experience of both students and themselves.
At Hylite, you will teach a wide variety of class sizes from 1 to 50. The majority of classes you teach will be private classes (max. 4) and salon classes (max 8). We are teaching more and more corporate classes so those teachers with business experience are especially needed. As well, you will have the opportunity to teach an occasional primary and middle school class.
HyLite School is located in downtown Wuxi close to McDonalds, KFC , Starbucks and major shopping areas. The school has modern classrooms, a library full of foreign books, a table-tennis table and a snack bar selling drinks and snacks.
The foreign trainers come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, but they are qualified, experienced and dedicated to teaching. You will never feel like you are alone in a foreign country. Currently, we have 8 trainers from Australia, Canada, Ireland and England. The students are motivated adults (the youngest students are 15) and they will surprise you with their tenacity and eagerness to learn. Trainers are also expected to join in the fun of such off-campus events like, Hawaiian Beach Parties, Halloween extravaganza, day trips to visit local sights(Lake Taihu, The Ling Shan Bhudda-88 meters high!) and all kinds of parks and festivals that happen year round.
Most trainers now live less than a 5 minute walk from the school.
The city of Wuxi is s mall bustling city of 4.5 million people located in Jiangsu province about 70 minutes by train from Shanghai. There is excellent public transportation, the city is clean and on the whole it is a friendly and well-off community with many things to see and do. There are several large Western-owned super markets so if you like to cook you will find all the "home cookin" foodstuffs you need. There are Western restaurants and all kinds of different styles of Chinese restaurants such as Cantonese, Sechuan, Peking etc. A plate full of noodles with vegetables, very tasty, is about 7rmb.There are local Gyms to keep fit and other sports centers to play basketball, volleyball, table tennis and even a summer softball league.
We are looking for teachers who want to begin their ESL career as well as those who are enjoying the beginning of a 2nd career. Age isn't a factor, however, attitude certainly is. If you work and play well with others, enjoy the team approach to work, enjoy laughing and learning then this may be the place for you. We are a diverse group by age and nationality and welcome your interest in joining our school.
We hope to hear from you soon.
All applications should be submitted in MS Word, and the must contain COPIES OF:
1.a valid passport with photo
2.a TESOL, CELTA ETC. diploma
3.a minimum college diploma
4.a MAXIMUM 2 page resume
5.a letter of reference with e-mail contact
6.a phone number where you can be reached
Mail all applications to akaulins@gmail.com attention: Andis Kaulins
*Native speakers from Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and USA.
*Age: 25 – 60
*1-2 years experience.
*Bachelors degree or higher
*Teaching qualification(TESOL or TEFL), preferably to diploma or Masters level
*Sound understanding of SLA theory and modern language teaching methodology
*Excellent communication and organizational skills
*A high degree of professionalism
*A high degree of enthusiasm for quality education
Benefits
*Two weeks paid vacation and national holidays.
* Monthly salary 7500RMB plus 1000RMB living allowance. For first year trainers, there is a 500RMB Holdback which is paid at the end of the contract. As well, the first month for a new trainer is probationary.
* Return airfare at the end of the contract.
* All Visa costs will be reimbursed with receipts. Residency permits and working permits will be arranged by the school. *Airport pick up
* Accommodation provided in an excellent hotel while you are assisted in finding a suitable living location.
The job is 5 days per week comprising 25 fifty-five minute classes and 15 hours prep. time with optional overtime classes. The trainer has 2 consecutive days off each week. The teaching materials are all supplied to which trainers add their own ideas to enhance the learning experience of both students and themselves.
At Hylite, you will teach a wide variety of class sizes from 1 to 50. The majority of classes you teach will be private classes (max. 4) and salon classes (max 8). We are teaching more and more corporate classes so those teachers with business experience are especially needed. As well, you will have the opportunity to teach an occasional primary and middle school class.
HyLite School is located in downtown Wuxi close to McDonalds, KFC , Starbucks and major shopping areas. The school has modern classrooms, a library full of foreign books, a table-tennis table and a snack bar selling drinks and snacks.
The foreign trainers come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, but they are qualified, experienced and dedicated to teaching. You will never feel like you are alone in a foreign country. Currently, we have 8 trainers from Australia, Canada, Ireland and England. The students are motivated adults (the youngest students are 15) and they will surprise you with their tenacity and eagerness to learn. Trainers are also expected to join in the fun of such off-campus events like, Hawaiian Beach Parties, Halloween extravaganza, day trips to visit local sights(Lake Taihu, The Ling Shan Bhudda-88 meters high!) and all kinds of parks and festivals that happen year round.
Most trainers now live less than a 5 minute walk from the school.
The city of Wuxi is s mall bustling city of 4.5 million people located in Jiangsu province about 70 minutes by train from Shanghai. There is excellent public transportation, the city is clean and on the whole it is a friendly and well-off community with many things to see and do. There are several large Western-owned super markets so if you like to cook you will find all the "home cookin" foodstuffs you need. There are Western restaurants and all kinds of different styles of Chinese restaurants such as Cantonese, Sechuan, Peking etc. A plate full of noodles with vegetables, very tasty, is about 7rmb.There are local Gyms to keep fit and other sports centers to play basketball, volleyball, table tennis and even a summer softball league.
We are looking for teachers who want to begin their ESL career as well as those who are enjoying the beginning of a 2nd career. Age isn't a factor, however, attitude certainly is. If you work and play well with others, enjoy the team approach to work, enjoy laughing and learning then this may be the place for you. We are a diverse group by age and nationality and welcome your interest in joining our school.
We hope to hear from you soon.
All applications should be submitted in MS Word, and the must contain COPIES OF:
1.a valid passport with photo
2.a TESOL, CELTA ETC. diploma
3.a minimum college diploma
4.a MAXIMUM 2 page resume
5.a letter of reference with e-mail contact
6.a phone number where you can be reached
Mail all applications to akaulins@gmail.com attention: Andis Kaulins
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Littelfuse
My course with Littelfuse is just about completed. Here is a group photo taken with some students. The girl sitting to the right of me is Lisa. She teaches one group. I teach another.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
HyLite School from the Intersection of Zhongshan and Xueqian Roads
The building on the left is a church. The building behind the front of the bus contains our school
Thursday, March 5, 2009
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
The following is true even when teaching. But plan you must. And you got to know what it is you want to do. Have an objective.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
A lesson in Wuxi local dialect #4
Amy who works in our Corporate office teaches me some more Wuxi Hua.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Lunch!
A student bought me lunch. A sometimes fringe benefit of being an English Teacher here at HyLite Language School in Wuxi.
You can meet some of the nicest people ever doing this job.
You can meet some of the nicest people ever doing this job.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
A lesson in Wuxi, China local dialect #3
Helen, who works in corporate, teaches us how to count from one to ten in Wuxi local dialect.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Lantern Festival.
Lantern Festival marks the traditional end of the Spring Festival aka Chinese New Year. So, Monday evening we have no classes.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Educational Economics.
Having majored in Economics and being a teacher now, I am interested in this article about Education and Economics from the City Journal, a conservative New York urban issues magazine. The approach of the economists to education in the article is however quantitative. That is, they are using econometrics to study the effectiveness of teachers. I am suspicious of Econometrics and mathematical modelling in general. I believe that the overuse of mathematical models has contributed to the banking crisis, and the global warming hoax.
However, I do agree with this statement in the article:
I also agree with this:
You can substitute student for child and the statement still holds true. And in my case, the student to speak better English. I have seen so many teachers try to be nice at the expense of the students learning anything. To learn a language, one has to have discipline, and a good English teacher should instill that in the students.
My problem with the article is how to measure student and teacher performance. So much of how a student performs, I believe depends on the students themselves. Clever students make teachers feel like good teachers. Good students are often not the ones who get the best mark in class. That is, the students you do help are the ones you can improve the most.
From what I have heard of the Chinese system, quantitative results are everything. That is, the incentive for the teachers and the students is to get the best test scores. So the students who don't get high scores are often ignored because from the teacher's incentive is to get students to pass the university entrance examination. Couple this incentive with the corruption that is endemic to China, and I don't think that test scores the sole way to truly assess a student's ability to operate in the real world and a teacher's ability in helping the student to achieve there.
Be that as it may, most of the students I have taught have a discipline that I can only envy. Too bad, their system doesn't instill in them some imagination.
However, I do agree with this statement in the article:
....we can say with confidence that a teacher’s ability to produce student
proficiency does not depend on experience and advanced degrees. Economic theory
tells us that a better system would pay teachers according to their
productivity.
I also agree with this:
Looking a child in the eyes can fog anyone’s judgment. We can readily
produce policies that make a child smile in the short term, but lead to tears
down the road if that child fails to acquire the skills necessary for a
productive, fulfilling life.
You can substitute student for child and the statement still holds true. And in my case, the student to speak better English. I have seen so many teachers try to be nice at the expense of the students learning anything. To learn a language, one has to have discipline, and a good English teacher should instill that in the students.
My problem with the article is how to measure student and teacher performance. So much of how a student performs, I believe depends on the students themselves. Clever students make teachers feel like good teachers. Good students are often not the ones who get the best mark in class. That is, the students you do help are the ones you can improve the most.
From what I have heard of the Chinese system, quantitative results are everything. That is, the incentive for the teachers and the students is to get the best test scores. So the students who don't get high scores are often ignored because from the teacher's incentive is to get students to pass the university entrance examination. Couple this incentive with the corruption that is endemic to China, and I don't think that test scores the sole way to truly assess a student's ability to operate in the real world and a teacher's ability in helping the student to achieve there.
Be that as it may, most of the students I have taught have a discipline that I can only envy. Too bad, their system doesn't instill in them some imagination.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
All the Interviews of the ladies who work at HyLite.
Here you can access all the interviews I have done with the fabulous staff members of HyLite Language School here in Wuxi, China. You can meet Josie, Snowie, Nancy, Elsi, Tina, Ida, and Anna.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
HyLite Language School, Wuxi, China: Interview with Snowie.
This blog will be back after February 1 and the start of the Year of Ox.
To the rare readers of this blog, this video is my gift to you.
Xin Nian Kuai Le! Happy Chinese New Year!
Gong Xi Fai Ci! Good fortune in the New Year!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The previous entry is misplaced.
Wednesday night Tony should be in my other blog. I apologize to those who are expecting to see photos from our Chinese New Year Dinner.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Wednesday Night Tony.
Let it be known that getting Tony to pose with the hat on was quite a feat. He wouldn't let the hat his mom bought him stay on his head for more than three seconds.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
CNY 2009: Snowie and the Boys.
CNY 2009: Nancy and Nancy!
CNY 2009: Harry and some ladies.
CNY 2009: Course Consultants!
CNY 2009: Cinderalla!
Elsie and Josie
Friday, January 9, 2009
Meet Nancy, Tina, and others from HyLite Language School in Wuxi, China.
Meet Nancy and Tina, two study advisors at HyLite in Wuxi, China. You can also see Harry Moore just at the end of the video with something to say to his daughers in Australia.
The notorious Wuxi Smoked Fish video
This was taken at yet another past HyLite Chinese New Year Dinner
Chinese New Year Dinner prep.
The School's annual Chinese New Year dinner will be tomorrow night. So I will be gearing up for that and doing my routine duties over the next 36 hours or so. I have a test to prepare for Suntech. I have listening materials to find for Littelfuse. I have a Movie Salon to prep - I will show the film Black Hawk Down.
I have to bone up on Waltz Sing Matilda which is what the foreign teacher's department will sing at the Dinner tomorrow.
Why sing that Australian song? The majority of trainers are from Australia and it is the only song they may know. Canadians are quick-studies.
I have to bone up on Waltz Sing Matilda which is what the foreign teacher's department will sing at the Dinner tomorrow.
Why sing that Australian song? The majority of trainers are from Australia and it is the only song they may know. Canadians are quick-studies.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Chinese New Year Dinner on January 10th.
The school will hold its Spring Festival or Chinese New Year Dinner this Saturday Evening. Expect some photos and videos to appear in this blog soon after.
The Trainers will have January 25 to January 31 off for the holiday.
The Trainers will have January 25 to January 31 off for the holiday.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Who would you marry? General Patton or General Bradley?
I showed the first thirty minutes or so of the movie Patton (about famous World War II General George Patton) in the Saturday Afternoon movie salon class at my school. With the majority of the students being women, I got cheeky and asked them if they would marry General Patton or his sidekick General Bradley. One female student told me she would marry General Bradley because Omar seemed to be a nice man and have General Patton as her boss because George had a way of getting the best out of you and making one a better worker.
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