Random Quote
it's probably not a good idea to underestimate my ability to make an ass out of myself—just when I seem to have it under control, I'll turn around and surprise you.
---- Tenser said the Tensor
To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three men, two of whom are absent.
---- Robert Copeland
Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
---- Jack Lynch
This may be the most interesting blog theme I've ever seen. http://eflgeek.com/index.php Definitely in my top 5 at least.
---- Steve Dembo
Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.
---- Fred Allen
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
---- Franklin D. Roosevelt
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
---- Mitch Hedberg
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.
---- Galileo Galilei
Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
---- Edward R. Murrow
I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
---- Terry Pratchett
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
---- Isaac Asimov
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
---- Isaac Newton
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
---- Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519)
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
---- H. G. Wells
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
---- John Ciardi
As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.
---- M. Cartmill
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
---- Author Unknown
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
---- Robert Frost
Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"
---- Kelvin Throop III
Drink coffee! Do stupid things faster!
---- unknown
Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.
---- Kin Hubbard
Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.
---- Terry Pratchett
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
---- Doug Larson
"It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'"
---- Sam Levenson
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
---- Sheik Abd-al-Kadir
Employment
Two links related to teaching English in Asia. The first is via Scott Sommers. Scott provides a lot of good solid background and advice on getting a university job in Taiwan. It also seems that much of his advice is common sense that could easily be applied to teaching EFL/ESL at the tertiary level anywhere.
The Marmot (a non-teaching related blog favorite of mine) provides a link to an article about Native Teachers for Middle Schools. There are already 8 comments and sure to be many more shortly. My take on this is that it is essentially a band-aid solution. Until the government and education authorities actually make real changes to the curriculum and provide appropriate salaries and support for native teachers, nothing will be accomplished. With low salaries and substandard housing, that is commonly provided will be possible to attract qualified professionals? I think not. For the most part this is just going to be institutionalized hagwons with government funding but no real planning.
I hope I am wrong, but I doubt it.



