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miguelito
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Beryl OMonkiss
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agatha
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Turnoi
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Robert Vance
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Trying to catch up on multiple topics!
Fri, 01/22/2010 - 09:02
I have been somewhat among the missing recently due to myriad factors - end of term at the Uni, rapid escalation of classes at our own school, a new computer, my stepson returning home for winter breack, etc - so I want to comment on several ongoing threads...
Google - (and intenet access issues) after I got the new computer I decided to sign up for Express VPN so I have completely open access to the internet (yes, I can Tweet or watch Youtube!! And for 70 rmb per month on a one year contract it is worth every rmb!). From reading many reports from America and talking to some techie friends and family members Google's issue is not so much censorship but rather a seemingly coordinated attack on GMail accounts held by activists - an attack that certainly smells like it was, if not launched by the gov, most certainly had to have had government backing.. And, yes, I think it is very possible that Google would pull out of China. This was not the first cyber attack against "enemies" of the gov. and if it continues I wonder what the US and other nations might do to protect sites - maybe surround China with a great wall of the west that would isolate China from the internet as a whole? I think the situation is much more serious that anyone here seems to realize.
Morgan - I, first, welcome you to TACA and second I would echo many of the comments here about going for the longer contract but I would strongly urge you to look at University positions - training centers and private schools are busiest when the kids are not going to the public schools so there is usually much less time off over the winter holidays. I turned in my last grades at the UNI on Jan 4th and will not teach again until March 1st - except for the fact that my wife and I have opened our own school so my teaching load actually increased last week from 10 at the Uni and 12 at our school to 26 at our school We will teach until Feb 7th then I will be free until March 1st. so....go Uni!!
To all the other new members, WELCOME!! It is great to "see" so many new "faces".
Sat, 02/13/2010 - 13:30
#2
Training Centres=No Exams/HW.
... Morgan - I, first, welcome you to TACA and second I would echo many of the comments here about going for the longer contract but I would strongly urge you to look at University positions - training centers and private schools are busiest when the kids are not going to the public schools so there is usually much less time off over the winter holidays. I turned in my last grades at the UNI on Jan 4th and will not teach again until March 1st - except for the fact that my wife and I have opened our own school so my teaching load actually increased last week from 10 at the Uni and 12 at our school to 26 at our school ....
RE: Toverocker's remarks as quoted above: Reading between the lines -- translation: Teaching at universities there are EXAMS and GRADES, and sometimes the need to MARK homework -- Taking the office/ school home. Teaching at training centres mostly involves NO EXAMS and NO HOMEWORK! The exams are the relative GRE, GMAT, IELTS or TOEFL or BEC tests that the students have signed up for -- OUTSIDE the training centre, and outside your class-time. Teaching at training centres mostly are just conversational classes -- talk till they drop (not you!).
Teach at the uni, a twelve-hour week might end up more than that. Teach at a training centre, a twelve-hour week is just that, twelve hours and no more. Any extra hours with the training centres are calculated for extra pay. Check your contract.
Sat, 02/20/2010 - 12:49
#3
Express vpn
Hi,
How do you go about getting this express vpn?
tintinxmu
Sat, 02/20/2010 - 15:11
#4
Express VPN
Try this link:
http://www.expressvpn.com/tell-a-friend.aspx
Or "google" it as long as we can in China!!!!
Sat, 03/13/2010 - 04:29
#5
Wrong place
I think that I will need to move this comment to a forum topic somewhere else on the board.
Also, please provide a link of some kind to this article. Just copying it from somewhere is not the way to do it...
Sat, 03/13/2010 - 08:29
#6
How do you do that anyway?
Porque? (Where's the upside down question mark when you need one?) Not that I really mind, it's just that I don't know how to do that. Paraphrasing would take longer than I was willing to give it at the time, but the gist of it made the Social Studies middle school teacher in me madder than hell. But the Oral English teacher in China just couldn't really care. I guess, that's the real point. I wasn't as moved by the news as I'd expect myself to be, but from so far away it just seemed silly to get too worked up about it. Texas education is just as bad as Arizona's, and the politics really does a number on the respective Depts. of Ed. This I know. But with the real everyday concerns that students in China face, I just couldn't see a similar thing happening here. Maybe it does. Of course, there's controversy; we don't want to talk about Tibet and disadents (?), Tiannamen Square, etc. in the classroom, for example. In general, I'd expect the government here to simply tell us what to teach, and that's that. From my little city in Hunan the concerns about standards and semantics in the US have lost meaning for me. I used to argue about things like this all the time. What do you mean we don't have to teach about TJ? Is it age? Have I grown so old and worn out that I haven't the energy to fight for things anymore? Even now, you say I shouldn't cut & paste, and my immediate reaction is "why not?" I'm sure you have some sound reasons, and I'm happy to hear them, but for now it's enough that you simply asked me not to do it. Ok, Robert, it's your site. I'm cool with that.
What's this?
I just ran across the following AP report on Yahoo.com...
BEIJING – China has rejected U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's call for China and other nations to lift their restrictions on the Internet, saying it was harmful to relations.
A statement posted on the Foreign Ministry's Web site Friday said Clinton's comments were damaging.
The statement says: "We urge the U.S. side to respect facts and stop using the so-called freedom of the Internet to make unjustified accusations against China."
Clinton's speech elevated Internet freedom to the level of a major facet the U.S. human rights agenda as never before. She urged China to investigate cyber intrusions that led search engine Google to threaten to pull out of that country — and challenged Beijing to openly publish its findings.