stillhaventfound.org

I attended a workshop at the GoForth National Missions Conference last week. I wish I could have attended the whole conference but I was working. The last time I attended the conference was in 2005 and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s so wonderful to be around other Christians passionate about missions. It really brings you perspective - this is what a Christian ought to be living for!

The workshop I attended was called “Reaching International Students in Singapore”. This is of course the topic I’ve been into recently. The session was led by the people from the Fellowship of Evangelical Students (FES). These are the people in charge of the Christian Fellowship (CF) groups at the various University and Polytechnic campuses throughout Singapore.

The 2.5 hours session consisted of introductory talks and some activities. I’ll just mention some interesting things that were mentioned. One speaker mentioned that Singapore was previously seen as the Antioch of Asia. That is, we’re a base to send out missionaries to the surrounding countries. And while that’s still true, he pointed out that many people are now flocking to Singapore - foreign workers and students. It’s interesting to see it this way. While there’s still a great need for missions in terms of moving cross-culturally, it’s good to recognize that a lot of students and workers are coming to Singapore and there’s a huge harvest field here in Singapore.

It was also mentioned that the top 6 countries from which foreign students come are, in order, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and South Korea. It’s also important to note that Singapore is aiming for 150,000 foreign students in Singapore by 2015. So there’s only going to be more of them coming.

While I thought the session was pretty OK, I felt it didn’t give a very good big picture of what’s involved in reaching out to international students here. The reason is because the speakers were only from one organization. FES does a lot of good work in the Universities and Polytechnics but it has to be noted that most international students do NOT study in these campuses. Most international students do not enter the Government/Public school systems. It was pointed out that only 35% of international students study in this sector. Meanwhile, the majority (65%) study in the private school system. That is, they study in private schools like United World College (UWC) or Singapore American School, but they also study in tertiary-level commercial schools that are sprouting out all over Singapore. These are the schools that offer external diplomas and degrees. For example, a famous tertiary-level private educational organization is Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS). This is one of the biggest around. There are other big ones like Asia Pacific Management Institute (APMI) or PSB Academy. However, there are tons and tons of smaller organizations too that most of us have never heard of.

For me, I’m interested in the international students in these organizations as opposed to those in the campuses that FES has a base in or those in government Primary or Secondary schools or those in International schools like UWC. Why? Because the international students in schools like MDIS or APMI and also in the smaller commercial schools are the most neglected and isolated of all international students. Ok, maybe not so much the bigger commercial schools like MDIS as you have a lot of Singaporean students studying in MDIS. But for the smaller commercial schools, a lot of them consist mostly of international students and hardly any Singaporean students. That means you’ll have fewer Singaporeans to reach out to such students. An international student in UWC or NUS or in local Primary or Secondary schools will have a lot of connections to Singaporean Christian students or churches. Not so for the international students in the smaller tertiary-level private schools. Not only is it more unlikely for such students to hear the gospel due to a lack of Singaporean Christian friends in these schools, but such students are also so much more open to friendships because most of their friends are fellow international students and so they long to get to know Singaporean friends to practice their English and also integrate to Singaporean society.

Therefore, I think it’s these students that are the most interesting lot. They are extremely open and they are longing to get to know other Singaporeans. Another interesting group of international students is the group that comes to Singapore solely to learn English in language schools. They may stay for 3 months or 6 months or a year. Their purpose is only to learn English and most of them do not have any Singaporean friends and so are also extremely open to friendship.

I’ve taught in both kinds of schools before. Right now, I’m teaching in a language school, but before I taught in private school that offers external diplomas/degrees and where about 90% of the students are from China and most of them do not have any Singaporean friends. These people are so open to friendship with Singaporeans and also pretty open to the gospel.

So how do we reach out to these two neglected groups? I believe the best way is to offer free English classes to them…

I haven’t been posting because I’ve been pretty busy the past few weeks. I was looking for a job more intensively. And I’ve also been busy completing an essay for one of my Master of Education (TESOL) modules.

I left my previous English teaching job in April after fulfilling my commitments there. Then I started my Masters and worked part-time at one of my previous jobs. This was also an English teaching job but to 1-3 students at a time. Also, the students were already quite good at English. Though English was their Second Language (they were mainly Koreans who have come to study in Singapore schools), they were very young and thus caught up very fast - a case for the Critical Period Hypothesis that states that if people below a certain age learn another language, they’d do so much more easily than if the person started their learning past that critical period. Teaching to these students was thus quite boring for me and not very challenging. Firstly, it was not the kind of students I wanted to teach. I want to teach young adults who truly have difficulty learning English. And I want to teach in a classroom setting. The dynamics are very different when teaching in a classroom. It’s much more challenging and different skills are involved. This is what I want to do in future and thus while working part-time there, I was also searching for another job.

I wrote about the reasons why I left my previous English teaching job here. The major reason was because it didn’t really care about the students, but only about making money. More specifically, three things really made me leave. Firstly, I was made to use their coursebooks which they created by themselves. To say the least, it was pathetic and not fit to be used as a text. Secondly, they didn’t grade their students properly. Their students only had two levels to go to! Most language schools would have about 6 levels - Beginner, Elementary, Lower-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate and Advanced. The implication of having two levels only was that in my class, there were students of varying levels. Of course, that always happens in a language classroom because no two students would have the exact level of language competence. But having only two levels meant that the difference in language ability within each class is even greater than it should be. And you can’t teach well like that. Thirdly, they had an absolutely ridiculous number of students in each class. For example, there were classes with over 40 (nearly 50) students in the register. So I brought up these points to my boss many times but she didn’t understand.

I feel strongly about all this because I know no language school in Australia (and I would probably say also America, Canada, UK and New Zealand, except for the fact that I don’t have any experience there) who would allow what I experienced to occur in their school. They are just too professional to allow all that. It’s about being professional in one’s job. It’s about going along with best practices and measuring up to international benchmarks. Singapore is a country which has always been pretty advanced and modern (except in their human rights and politics) in what they do. But in this area, it’s so far behind that it’s laughable. I do believe we are one of the best in our mainstream education system. I don’t agree with a lot of things, but if you’re talking about the system and the orthodoxy of the system, you can’t complain. It’s up there with the best. But when it comes to their English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching, we are just so far behind.

I say the above not just based on my experience of my previous school. But I’ve also been to many job interviews over the past few weeks. I know there are language schools that are trying to do the best that they can with what they have. These are schools with ESL departments led by experienced professionals and they know what they’re doing. But I’ve also come across many schools where it’s only about the money they make.

A lot of schools have no clue what ESL teaching is. People don’t know that the ESL/EFL industry is huge and there’s been decades and decades of research and practical experience to draw from. In Australia (and other English-speaking countries too I’m sure), eventhough you’re a teacher who’s qualified to teach English in a mainstream school, you’ll never be able to teach ESL. You need a TESOL/TEFL/TESL certificate because they know that ESL teaching is totally different from normal English teaching. The methodology is unique. But in Singapore, many schools think that just because you have experience in teaching English in a mainstream school means you’re qualified to teach ESL. I know many schools which advertise that they’ll consider those who have a Bachelor of English or Mass Communications or Arts. What?? Having studied English (let alone the others) in University would definitely not prepare you to teach ESL simply because the way one teaches ESL students requires a set of skills that studying English in University will not give you. I’d go so far as to say that through my experiences in teaching in other areas, I think teaching ESL is probably one of the most, if not the most, difficult kind of teaching there is. If you teach other subjects, the major requirement is to have expert knowledge in that subject area. For teaching ESL, one needs to have both expert knowledge (i.e. of the English language), but it also requires a set of teaching skills that is unique. This is because you aren’t just teaching the content of the English language. That’s just a small part of ESL teaching. You’re also teaching language skills and you yourself have got to possess the skill of using the English language to facilitate English learning. I know of qualified mainstream teachers in Australia who’ve said that they’ve benefited and learned more from their TESOL certificate than from their Postgraduate Diploma of Education. I’ve gone through my TESOL/CELTA certification - all 120 hours of input and 6 hours of meticulously evaluated teaching practice - and till now I still feel so inadequate because there’s so much more to learn.

I did a little bit of research on Australia’s high standards of ESL education. Australia has an ELT (English Language Teaching) accreditation scheme called The National ELT Accreditation Scheme (NEAS). The aim of NEAS Australia is to “establish and uphold high standards of service provision in English Language Teaching in Australia”. Not all English language schools in Australia are accredited by NEAS and of course that just means it hasn’t reached such standards. But many schools are (check it out under the “approved elt centres” link). Looking through the criteria for being accredited, I would posit a guess that probably less than 5% or 3% of language schools in Singapore (or other private schools that have an ESL department) would be able to attain the standards needed for accreditation. I would not be surprised if no school/department here would be able to.

Here are some important standards that I know many language schools/departments would not be able to meet (you can view their Standards and Criteria for ELT Accreditation here):

1) Under the Academic management section, it states that the centre has to appoint “a suitably qualified and experienced person responsible for the academic management” and beyond having a recognized degree, this person has to have “five years experience in managing and/or teaching on ELT programs” and also a “TESOL qualification at postgraduate diploma level or about”.

I have come across many schools/departments headed by people who would not even come near to such qualifications or experience. I’ve been to many interviews and I don’t recall a single person who’s interviewed me with such qualifications or experience. In fact, most have not taught ESL for many years and most do not even have a TESOL certification. I think I’ve only come across two or three interviewers who I would say have a good knowledge of what teaching ESL is about and who have good qualifications.
a word about degrees and qualifications.

2) Under the Teachers section, all teachers need to have not just a degree but also some sort of TESOL qualification. A teaching qualification would not do. That means, as I’ve already said, that a person can be qualified to teach in mainstream schools with some sort of Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), but still not be able to teach in the ELT centre. Why? Because teaching ESL is a totally different ballgame.

As I mentioned above, I know many teachers teaching ESL in Singapore who would not be able to qualify as ESL teachers in Australia.

3) Under Teacher professional development, it’s stated that the ELT centre needs to facilitate “ongoing professional development of teaching staff, to ensure teachers are kept up-to-date with current theory, knowledge and practice in the field”. Also, “newly qualified staff are provided with mentoring and support during their first year of employment”.

Again, I know no English school/department in Singapore that does this. And I think this is very important because the new staff need guidance and all the teaching staff need to receive ongoing professional development. Why? Because I think that a TESOL certificate is really the bare minimum that an ESL teacher ought to have. It hardly makes a person a good teacher and there’s still so much more to learn. A school that really cares for its students and its teachers would think about how they can provide teacher development.

4) Under Program delivery, “the student:teacher ratio for classroom based instruction does not exceed 18 students per teacher per class.”

As mentioned above, my first school had about 40 students on average on the class register. I’ve heard of at least 2 classes there just hitting under 50 students!! My previous boss told me the school went by the Ministry of Education’s standards of 40 students per class. I argued back that such standards are not appropriate for ESL teaching.

I’m glad to know, however, that I know no other schools that accept that number of students per class. The most elsewhere I know would be 25 to 30, which is still too high. Many schools I know have between 10 and 20 students, but probably only because they can’t get more per class. If they could get more, I have no doubts that a lot of them would just squeeze them all into one class because it makes good business sense.

Just a note here regarding certification. A certificate or a degree is a just a paper. One can be certified and qualified, and yet be a bad teacher. And one can lack paper qualifications and yet be a great teacher. One owner of a school who interviewed me didn’t care whether its teachers were certified or not. I was quite shocked, not because I think certification is the be all and end all of ESL teaching, but because I think it shows a lack of awareness of TESOL being a very specialized field that requires a unique set of skills to be good at it. Of course, such skills can be learned on the job. It could be learned internally in the school. But schools here don’t train their teachers. Many just think that if you’re experienced in teaching before or if you’re good at teaching in general, you’d make a good ESL teacher as there isn’t much difference between teaching in general and ESL teaching in particular.

Anyway, on to some specific encounters during my search for a job. I’ve talked to at least two people whose experience have further confirmed to me how education is becoming more of a business than about the learning of students. One person was part of a group that came together to start a school because they got so sick of their past experiences in the education industry and how the people there only wanted to make money. Another person talked about being cheated by a partner.

I also had a good talk with a HR personnel who interviewed me. This person honestly shared with me that the White teachers in the school were given a higher starting salary and didn’t have to do as much administrative work as local teachers. This (along with other repulsive company practices) made me sick and this person shared that she didn’t agree with it, but it was the owner’s policy. We got along well during our talk and so I asked why he continued in his job if he didn’t agree with such practices. I got a good enough answer from him.

In a way, I don’t blame the school for such policies. The students want white teachers, so the school has to provide for them if it wants their business. But it just shows how ignorant the students are and how much of an unprincipled money-grabbing fool the owner is. The owner is a typical Singaporean with a hangover colonial mentality. Compare him and his school with another school owned by a British. I had one of my first interviews (for an ESL teaching job) in Singapore with him. He offered me a job which I didn’t take for some reasons. But I asked him honestly whether it’s hard for a non-White to get an ESL teaching job in Singapore. He said he had no problems hiring a non-White as long as the person is qualified and able to teach well. Skin color didn’t make a difference to him. And he went on to say that if his students came to him to ask for a White teacher, he’d tell the student to either accept the teacher he has or leave. What can I say? Either a very lousy businessman, or one with principles.

I wrote to the Ministry of Education here and asked whether there are any standards for ESL schools and teaching here in Singapore - just like NEAS in Australia. And I’m looking forward to hearing from them if they bother to reply me. While being critical of the many ESL schools here, I do understand that a lot of unprofessionalism comes from a general desire to make money and also ignorance of what ESL is all about. The latter is understandable because we don’t have that long a history of being into ESL like other places like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada. These countries have much better standards of professionalism because they’ve been doing this for ages. The ESL industry is only starting to come alive due to more intense globalization. More and more foreign students are coming to Singapore - especially from China, but also from Southeast Asia - and the numbers are only going to increase further as the Singapore government pushes hard to reach its goal of attracting 150,000 foreign students by 2015. All this only means more money and bigger business for many private education organisations. It remains to be seen how the ESL industry in Singapore will develop.

One thing I’ve realized is that there doesn’t seem to be any incentive to provide good education for foreign students. From what I know (which may be wrong), students who come to further their studies in private education organisations here do not really know much about the schools here. That’s because there are just so many around. Sure, there are some of better reputation. But then there are so many other small ones offering education programs. Students overseas mostly go through agencies in their home countries. By the time they reach Singapore, most would already have chosen which school to go to. And agencies over there don’t care whether the school is good or not, but only how much commission they get from the school. So the agencies would probably recommend a school that pays them more per student.

Therefore, a good language school which puts the students’ language learning above making money and which thus invests in good teachers and good facilities and makes sure that the classroom size is small, etc., may not make as much business as a school which puts money first and doesn’t care so much about the students’ learning, but which has more money to pay agents overseas. There’s thus very little monetary incentive to be a good language school.

Of course, Singapore does have accreditation schemes for private education organisations, but I don’t think they have any yet in regards to ESL teaching. I hope one day they will come up with one like NEAS in Australia, although I think it’s still a long way away.

I haven’t written for about a week! The last week has been very busy for me! My last day at the school was on Thursday. Then I had a BBQ with about 20 of my students on Friday. I also invited some of my Christian friends who I’ve been introducing to my students over the past month or so. I do love and miss my students but ultimately I made the decision to leave because I could no longer teach there in good conscience. I could very easily continue on teaching, do a pretty decent job (by the school’s standards) and earn some decent money, but I guess I’m too much of a perfectionist to feel comfortable there. I’ll write more about this in another post. I’ve got so much to say

I only taught my students for under 2 months, but I know that my friends and I will continue to go out with and reach out to them as we’ve built up a good rapport with them. Again, so many things to say and I’ll write more in the future.

What are my plans now? I’ve sent in job applications and gone for a few interviews already. I’ll most probably start my Master in Education (TESOL) at the end of this month. It’s through distance learning. That means, no classes - just assignments. I decided to do my Masters because I want to improve my teaching. I want to be the best teacher I can be. While I already have a recognized certificate, there is so much more I can learn to help me become a better teacher.

This program consists of 8 modules in all. A full-time load would be about 4 modules per semester. It depends on me whether I want to do it full-time or part-time. If I get a job I like, I may do it part-time. If not, I may do it full-time.

The past two months have been tiring, but definitely rewarding. God has brought me good new friendships and also ministry opportunities, which have been answers to my prayers at the beginning of the year. There’s also been some challenges here and there. But I’ve been growing and learning. I’ve got a lot to say about many other things and maybe I’ll share on this blog one day. We’ll see how! Cheers!

I just came back (it’s now 2am Sunday morning) from Easter service at City Harvest Church and a night out with my friend’s CHC cell group. As I write I’m still full of awe and praise towards God for what has happened in the past 9 hours or so! A bit of background first…

As some of you know, I’ve been teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) for just under a month at a private Business School. I got into this field for basically one reason. I hope to do missions in future and teaching English as a foreign or second language is in great demand throughout the world - especially in the mission field where I hope to use this skill to earn a living and reach out to the lost.

When I was in Perth last year, I saw the amazing potential that teaching ESL had in reaching out to the lost in the developed world. And I knew that I wanted to do that in Singapore. The context in Australia and Singapore is different. In Australia, there’s a lot of opportunities to reach out to those on Working Holiday visas. Many churches give free English classes to these people and reach out to them through that. The English classes aren’t just a source of free English lessons but also a place to meet other foreigners and get any help from the teachers there.

In Singapore, you don’t have foreigners coming here on one-year Working Holiday visas. Rather, you have a lot of people from Asia who come here to study in schools. For those who come here to study in Primary or Secondary school, they would be able to integrate into Singapore society. However, many also come here for their University education and go to private schools that offer degrees from Western Universities. Before they are able to start their University studies, however, they normally have to go through English lessons to get their English level up to standard. A lot of these students are of course from China, but there are many also from Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam. And I think most of of them do not integrate that well into Singapore society. This is because their English is not very good. And a lot of private schools have students which consist mainly of foreigners. The places these foreigners live (especially the hostels) are also filled with foreign students. The result is that these foreigners tend to mix around with other foreigners - and thus most likely will not come into contact with Singaporean Christians.

There is thus a great need to reach out to these foreign students. And of course, the ideal person to reach out to such students are ESL teachers. And so this is what I wanted to do while being an ESL teacher in Singapore. I loved teaching. And I loved interacting with youth. I think I can relate to them well and am able to build up a good rapport with them. And I put a lot of effort in my teaching because I want to be the best teacher I can to help my students.

I invited my students to City Harvest for its 5:30pm Saturday Easter service. I didn’t invite them to New Creation because it didn’t have any special service and I knew that New Creation didn’t have the community to be able to reach out to them. I wanted a community of people that would be able to befriend them, make them feel welcome, reach out to them and follow up with them. I had a good friend in City Harvest and had visited his cell before. I knew that they would be a community that would be able to reach out to them. One thing I love about City Harvest is their strong cell community. New Creation sorely lacks this.

On Thursday, about 12 students said they would meet me for the service. I didn’t expect all 12 to come because something always crops up! But somehow as I prayed, I prayed for 11 to come. I thought that was perhaps a bit unrealistic, but I wanted to believe God for that. In the end, 11 of my students came and 1 of them brought a hostel mate of hers. In all, 9 mainland Chinese students and 3 Vietnamese attended the service.

The Easter drama was moving at times. I didn’t watch the beginning because I was waiting for some friends who came late. But the part where Christ was crucified was very good. I was glad for my Chinese students that the drama and the sermon by Pastor Kong were in both English and Chinese so they would understand what’s going on. However, I wasn’t too happy with the sermon as I thought the gospel presentation was extremely unclear. In fact, I thought that was probably the worst Easter service message I’ve ever heard. But I won’t get into that here

What excited me was the response from my students. Before the service, I was praying for 3 salvations. In the end, God surprised me when 10 of the 12 students actually responded to the alter call and went to the front!! I don’t know if every one of them understood the significance of it all as I thought the message was very unclear and also the alter call. However, I also know that most people don’t understand the gospel clearly when they first accept Christ. Whatever the case, I am full of joy that they did take the step they did. I’m reminded once again that this is the reason why I’m teaching. Yes, I want them to improve their English. But more than that, I want them to know Jesus and find true meaning for their lives.

After the service, my students ate together and got to know my friend’s cell members. This is the reason I brought them to City Harvest. Responding to the gospel is one thing. But it’s so important to be part of a community. And I don’t know any other Church in Singapore that can provide such a community like City Harvest can. Nor do I know any other Church in Singapore which is as passionate for evangelism and missions as City Harvest. While I don’t think City Harvest’s teaching is as good as New Creation’s, I’m quite happy to see my students get involved in the City Harvest community.

God is a faithful God. I’ve already seen answers to some of the prayers I’ve been praying since the beginning of the year. Not just regarding the above, but also in other areas. The teachings of New Creation have challenged me in my faith - especially as it relates to believing God for what we ask for.

Now I’m actually thinking and praying about two things. Firstly, on whether I should continue on teaching in my school. I have to make that decision pretty soon. I’ve already mentioned here that the English department is a big joke. And I kind of decided to stop working there once I finish with my present class next month. However, after what happened yesterday, I am praying about it. I know there’s a great opportunity to reach out to more students in the school. That’s what’s making me think twice about quitting. Yet, I don’t like short changing my students - something I’ll have to do if I continue teaching there.

The second thing is whether to continue to stay on in New Creation. This is not something new I’ve been thinking about. Rather, I’ve been praying about it for a while. I know I’ll never be able to get as good teachings in other churches as I would get in New Creation. On the other hand, my view of Christianity as a community is just so different from the community (or lack of) I find in New Creation. I don’t want to always reach out to people and get them to settle in another church! I want to be able to bring them to my church and I want them to find a loving community there. If I were to commit myself to another church, I could still buy and listen to New Creation’s CDs (or even attend their Sunday afternoon services), but you can’t buy community…

Allow me to rant a bit here. Allow me to be ultra-critical - a change from recent posts. I’ll never want to be ultra-critical to Churches and Christian leaders on this blog because I don’t think that builds up the body of Christ. I do take care in who I criticize but for me businesses are not OB (out of bounds). Actually, I love to criticize them. I’m not anti-capitalistic. Maybe I was once. And maybe there’s still a bit of that spirit in me. But I think capitalism has aided humanity in many ways - while also harming it in many ways. Whether one is for it or not, it’s inevitable. The idea is to accept that and focus on restraining how much harm it does while at the same time guiding it to do as much good as possible for humanity.

In today’s Straits Times Forum page, one writer wrote:

It appears to me that, increasingly, Singapore schools are being managed more like businesses than as institutions of learning. (Don’t run schools like a business, Mar 3).

How timely. I wrote recently about my new TESOL teaching job in a private school and how I’d never want to join a mainstream MOE school. And about how education has become more about preparing people to make money than about what education should be about. By the way, for an excellent book on what the purpose (end) of education ought to be, read Neil Postman’s The End of Education. In fact, read everything by Postman. He rocks. He writes beautifully and with much wisdom. I read almost all his books about 10 years ago. My favorite one and his most famous is the popular classic Amusing Ourselves to Death, which I write a bit about here. And I’ve browsed a bit of his Teaching as a Subversive Activity and have been wanting to get a new copy for myself for a long time because I think it would be an excellent book. The only problem is that it’s not really in print. But the title says it all and I believe his view of teaching is something I would strongly hold to.

Anyway, ever since my first full day teaching last week, I’ve been feeling extremely angry, I’ll admit. I’ve ranted to a lot of friends and so it’s time to rant on this blog I’ve realized how the private business school I’m working in is… wow, where do I start?

Let’s just say, I have no love for this school. I can’t stand businesses like the one I’m working for. I hate what it stands for because it stands for making money, not education. Education is big money nowadays, and that’s why businesses are going into the education business. It’s worrying when a business only cares about making money. It’s a hundred times more worrying when that business is an education business. We cannot afford to leave education into the hands of business people who don’t care about education but only care about making money.

As I said, I can tolerate the capitalistic spirit. I don’t normally bitch much about businesses which make a lot of money because that’s a reality in this world. Just make sure you don’t exist merely for maximizing profits. OK, maybe I’m naive because most businesses do that - unless you’re a social enterprise. But I think even if profits are on your mind always, it shouldn’t be to the extent that you neglect your employers or customers. But that’s what it is in my private school. I won’t mention the name simply because I’m not out to shame it. Actually, I’d love to do that. I’d love to see students stop attending that school until it gets its act together and starts realizing that education is ultimately about your students, not about making money off them.

Today, I had a good talk with my boss. I was very honest and we thrashed out a lot of things. I’m in the TESOL department and I can only speak for this department in my school. And I can tell you it’s professionally inept. In what way and why do I say that? I compare the way it’s run to what good TESOL departments or schools are run throughout the world - or at least throughout the developed world as I consider Singapore as part of the developed world. I’m familiar with how language schools are run in Singapore and in Australia. I know the professional benchmarks for how things are done in this industry (e.g. the coursebooks used, the teaching methodology used, the number of people in each classroom and how students are graded and put in different levels), and yet I’m super amazed at the way my department is run. Mainstream MOE schools at least implement best practices in their industry. This department is nothing but full of the worst practices I’ve known from a language school. All to the detriment of the students’ learning.

I’m angry because the biggest losers of all are the students. And these are foreign students who have paid good money to come here to study. To me, it’s a matter of principle and justice. It’s how you treat your students. The school is not poor. I know how much money they charge the students and how much money they make from them. The best they can do is give them a decent education - a kind of education they would get in any other language school in Singapore or Australia or in the developed world. But they are not getting such an education.

One thing I have to acknowledge. My boss is nice and she accepted and in fact agreed with most of my criticisms. I think she was probably nearly as horrified and outraged as I was/am when she arrived to take over the department. And she’s hoping to change it. And yet, I believe the problem is bigger than she thinks. She can change some things, but not everything. She asked me to stay on to help her change the way the department does things. And in a way, I’d like to. But in another way, I know that she faces a lot of constrains. Why? Because she’s just the head of the department and not the head of the whole school. And guess what? No matter how much one wants to change things for the better, I think the core problems will still remain because it’s ultimately about money. The owners and shareholders of the school only care about making as much money as possible. They don’t really care about whether the students receive a good education.

One of my biggest criticism is the textbook the school is using, which it has created. I told my boss straight to her face that it’s crap. And my boss pretty much agrees with me on this. It’s a big joke. She’s trying to revise and update it. And yet I know that no matter how much they do so, it’s still going to be pretty much a big joke. My school insists on using their own textbooks and has created a textbook that any ESL/EFL teacher in the know will tell you does not meet the standards of what an ESL/EFL textbook should be. It’s not even based on good ESL/EFL methodology and research. And it isn’t as if there aren’t good ESL/EFL textbooks out there. There are TONS of them. So many good ones created by professional teachers with years of experience that are published by the biggest educational book publishing companies in the world. That is, good stuff. Tried and tested stuff. Stuff that most every good schools in the world would use. I’m serious about this. Most ESL/EFL schools do NOT create their own textbooks. Simply because there are so many good ones available that they can pick and choose which one they want to use. These textbooks may not be perfect and that’s why teachers around the world are free to adapt them to their context. But the fact is that most schools and teachers throughout the world, as far as I know, use these well-known coursebooks. But somehow my school works differently…

Because of the poor textbook, I feel so sorry for my students. They are being taught crappy stuff. They are bored stiff with the textbook - as I am. And they aren’t learning what they should be learning. I feel sorry for them because these students have come here all the way to study English and they aren’t learning much with the textbook. I’ve had to spend a lot of time photocopying extra materials from books I’ve bought personally for my teaching to supplement the use of the textbook. And today my boss told me that I am not allowed to use outside materials. What? You want me to feed my students the crap that’s been created by the school? You yourself agreed that the book is bad. But I understand that her hands are tied too - by the way the school works. And she kinda threatened to sack me if I continued to use additional materials. And so I’m faced with the choice of being in complicity with my school in short-changing my students or getting sacked for wanting to help my students improve their English. Touch choice aye?

Actually, I’m not afraid of being sacked. I know I’m being a difficult employee. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s me. I would do anything to stand up for people I think I should stand up for. It’s about principles and justice and one’s values. It’s about the right thing to do. I cannot stand seeing businesses making huge profits while short-changing their customers. And education should never be about making money. But throughout the world, it has become so.

Have no doubt, I understand my boss’ situation. I understand her position. In many ways, there are lots of constraints for her too. Her hands are tied by the people above her. So I’m sympathetic to her situation. But have no doubt too that the people I ought to be most concerned about are the students.

I’m passionate about education. I’m passionate about teaching. And I love my students and want more than anything for them to improve their English. That’s why I feel so strongly about all this. I’m not paid much. But it’s not about me or the teachers. A school ought to exist for its students and ultimately education ought to be about the students and their learning, not about anything else or anyone else.

That’s my rant.

Update: On Tuesday, my boss gave me a 20% raise. I’m not sure why she did that (but of course I’ll accept it!) because I never complained about my wages. My talk with her was never about my wages. I did say that I feel the school doesn’t take care of the teachers and the students. I argued my point well and I continue to hold to that fact. But I don’t think I ever mentioned my pay (which is low by industry standards).

Besides a terrible textbook, my second biggest complain was the size of (i.e. number of students in) the classroom. Typical ESL classrooms are not meant to be big at all. You get big classrooms (up to 40 students) in mainstream schools. But in the ESL industry (in the developed world), it’s different. I’ve never come across any ESL classrooms in language schools with that many students. That’s just not the standard for the ESL industry. Most classrooms have at most 25 students. Most of the time, it’s between 10 and 20. The reason is very simple. Teachers can pay more attention to students and the quality of teaching would be much better.

But each class in my school has 40 ESL students per class. The result is that the students’ learning and the teachers’ teaching suffer because it’s harder to control that big a class and you can’t pay much attention to each student. But of course the school only wants to make as much money as possible so they enroll 40 students in each class.

So my boss talked to me on Tuesday and said that after what I had complained about the day before about the big classrooms, she’s decided to raise my pay! I was shocked. Not because I was happy with the pay rise. But because I felt that was so insulting. My concerns were mainly for the students, not for my pay. I told her that it’s a nice gesture to increase my pay but that’s not going to change anything. The students aren’t going to get better teaching because of my pay rise. The students will get better teaching and better attention if the class size is reduced. I’m not interested in my pay rise as much as I’m interested in the school giving the students what they deserve and what they have paid for.

But of course I’ll accept the pay rise and I thank God for that

For those of you wondering what I’m doing now (as in work-wise), well, I’m teaching English. Not in a mainstream Singapore school. I’d never survive working under the MOE (Ministry of Education) with the way things are. I’m reminded of Mark Twain’s quote about not letting schooling interfere with education. Going to school nowadays - in most countries but especially Singapore and many Asian countries - is not about true holistic education that values the whole person. It’s not about passion for life, but about exams and money. It’s about doing well so that you can get a good job so that you can earn good money. As with everything done in Singapore, the schooling system is there for just one purpose: to promote economic growth. The ‘god of economic utility’ has become the pre-eminent reason for schooling. That’s in keeping with pragmatic Singapore.

Woops, I didn’t start this post wanting to bash the MOE, the Singapore education system or the Singapore government Singapore’s education system, like its way of governing, is but a reflection of society-at-large. Society not just of Singapore, but of the world. So in a way, I don’t blame them. It’s the way things are. But then again, I do. The youthful idealist in me doesn’t stay silent for long. He (Mr. Youthful Idealist) is quite in sync with the whole of creation which groans… (Romans eight)

Anyway, back to where I was. Not only am I not teaching English in a mainstream school, but I’m not teaching English to those who speak it as their first language. I teach English to those who speak it as their second (or third…) language. The common term for the industry I’m in is TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). It’s a huge thing throughout the world because millions of people desire to take up English as it’s the language of the world. And teaching such people is very different from teaching English to first language English speakers (i.e. most Singaporeans) or even teaching any other subjects. The teaching methodology is different and there are so many things to learn in order to be a good TESOL teacher. Like I said, it’s a huge industry.

Anyway, I won’t get too much into all this. Just to mention that I started moving into this last year. I got my Cambridge CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) - a TESOL certificate - in Perth, Australia. And today was my first day of teaching English in the private school I’m working at. It’ll be a great challenge for me which I’m quite excited about. 90% of my 40 or so students are from China and have only been here for 1-2 months.

Why I went into this area? It’s because I love teaching. I love relating and interacting with students - especially youth and young adults. But why TESOL specifically? I’ve shared a bit here. Basically, I want to do missions work in future and teaching English is a skill that’s greatly in demand in many developing countries. Thus, having this skill would enable me to be a tentmaker.