In 1862, under the Great Qing Dynasty, the first English Language School was officially opened by the Chinese Government to train ten men for the newly created diplomatic corps. (Deyi, Diary of A Chinese Diplomat, 1992 Panda Books) Now, China annually recruits 100,000 "Foreign Experts" (FE) to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) (source:www.Chinatefl.com) with an accompanying 10 billion Yuan price tag. (ChinaDaily, Hong Kong Edition, October 9, 2002.) According to one Internet recruiting web site there are 150,000 foreign ESL teachers working in China (www.AbroadChina.com). The People's Daily (1/23/02, "English Language Training Profitable Industry in China") reports that in 2001 the industry made a 700 million yuan (US$8,700,000) profit in Beijing alone.

NO CENTRAL GOVERNMENT POLICY

It does not appear that the Chinese Central Government has issued any formal Resolution or Position Paper authorizing, condoning or supporting the current ESL revolution in China. Rather, it has been allowed and even encouraged to just evolve. Other than standardized testing for College entrance, the Central Government seems to have no set educational policy or curriculum for ESL. There is no single Ministry of Education document stating the Government policy on ESL in China. (8/01, He Qixin, Foreign Language and Teaching Research, "English Language Education in China") There does not appear to be any Central Government regulation of this "big business," except for some limited guidelines for inviting Foreign Experts (FE), (the only publication is an Official Government publication in 1994, republished in 1998 and 2002) which has and will continue to allow for many deficiencies and abuses.

The authors have personal experience teaching English as a Foreign Language and ESL in top tire university, 2nd tier university, 3rd tier college, private business institute and joint venture university. These varied teaching experiences have exposed the authors to many "foreign experts" and "foreign teachers" as well as their varied complaints about teaching English in China. The questions arose: Are these complaints valid; how wide spread are they; and what are the causes?

This article will examine the various existing ESL school management models; the varied curriculum models; the ESL teacher recruitment process; the common problems encountered by the recruited native ESL teacher with analysis of how the existing system fosters these; the mentality of the various Chinese student groups and how this effects ESL teaching methodology and results; and suggestions for improving the existing system.

II. MANAGEMENT MODELS

INTRODUCTION

ESL is taught throughout China in both public and private kindergartens, primary schools, middle schools, high schools, universities, colleges, private business institutes and training centers. There is no uniform management or administration model for the various schools or programs and neither school Administrators nor FAO Directors are required to have any minimal education, training or experience in education administration, business management, human resource management, or cross-cultural relations. FAO directors in public universities and colleges are required to have a Bachelors degree in English.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Public schools have everything from informal English programs (primary, middle and high schools) to English departments within foreign language departments (universities and colleges). The public primary, middle and high schools generally do not have any Foreign Affairs Offices while both public and private universities and colleges usually have a formal Foreign Affairs Office. The FAO is charged with everything from recruitment of Foreign Experts to arranging their visa, foreigner residence permit, foreign expert certificate, arranging housing, and providing for the safety and care of the foreign expert while they are in China. The FAO are sometimes staffed with novices who provide less than adequate services but more often than not, at least public universities and colleges have very professional staff who do a quality job.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS WITH PRIVATE CONTRACTORS

Many public primary, middle and high schools utilize agencies to recruit and care for the needs of the foreign experts.

Some universities and colleges partner with private educational corporations to provide an English Department. The private corporation recruits the foreign experts and provides for all of their needs. The private corporation develops and implements the curriculum.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

There are many private schools that are primarily owned and managed by Chinese who lack adequate education, training or experience in Education Administration, Business Management, Human Resources Management or Foreign Affairs Office Administration. By far this type of management model is the primary source of FE complaints.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS WITH WESTERN MANAGEMENT

These schools are few and far between. The school has western managers and directors of curriculum. Usually these are international schools with operations in many different Countries.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS WITH WESTERN DIRECTOR

Dual management or complimentary Chinese and Western management sharing. The Chinese management is responsible for recruiting students, all financial matters, physical plant management and maintenance. The western director is responsible for teacher recruiting/termination, class scheduling, teacher assignment, curriculum design and implementation and also acts as the go between with the Foreign Affairs Office staff that is on the Chinese side of management. This type of school is usually in partnership with a Public University and provides classes to the non-University private sector as well as servicing the University's needs.

This type of school relies upon the university to provide the degree, physical plant and the bulk of the students who basically pay all overhead expenses. All of the private sector students are pure profit for the school. Therefore, all university students are treated to a special educational bonus, i.e. they can fail every course for three straight years and still earn their diploma. A teacher's failing grade is administratively converted to a passing grade so as to not offend the university.

The western director is often just a figure head because the Chinese marketing staff sells classes at a particular time slot (western manager does not need to schedule classes, only make the written schedule), sometimes for a particular FE (western manager does not need to assign FE), and if the students do not like their FE the FE is terminated (western manager has no choice but to terminate the FE), and since the FAO director is Chinese, the western manager merely directs the FEs needs and concerns to the Chinese side. The western manager does have a say in curriculum but that usually must be a consensus decision with the Chinese management that is in charge of ordering textbooks (budget issues may dictate the chosen text and the Chinese side is responsible for all financial matters). The students even go around the western manager, directly to the Chinese manager, with their complaints. Often times the western manager is also told who to hire.

TRAINING CENTERS

These are normally private corporations providing tailor made educational programs to business clients utilizing the client's facilities. Classes are usually held in the weekday evenings and on weekends when the employees have free time. They have also been known to assign teachers to public kindergartens, primary schools and middle schools on weekends, which generates numerous FE complaints.

AGENCIES

These private businesses do not manage or administer any school. They are limited to the recruitment of teachers for client schools and charge a fee either to the school or the successfully recruited FE. A few agencies also act as the "Foreign Affairs Office" for their client school and thus provide some or all of the services required by the FE. Most agencies do not act as the "Foreign Affairs Office" for their school clients and do not provide any services beyond the initial contact between employer/school and teacher/recruit. This creates an opportunity for confusion and misunderstanding by the recruit who does not fully understand the nature and functions of the agency.

Some agencies are mere Internet web sites where employers or Agencies pay a fee to post their employment opportunity for potential recruits to view and potential employees can post their resumes for potential employers to review. The web sites may also provide advice but no actual services beyond the introduction opportunity. In either case, Agencies are a major source of dissatisfaction and complaint by ESL teachers in China.

III. CURRICULUM

INTRODUCTION

There is no national ESL curriculum emanating from the Central Government of China. Each public and private educational institution is free to develop and implement its own ESL curriculum so long as public degree granting institutions meet the total required instructional hours (private schools are not allowed to grant degrees). The ESL teaching curriculum in public institutions is broken down into separate classes teaching vocabulary, reading comprehension, listening comprehension and oral conversation. In private institutions ESL is taught as a homogeneous subject. As a result, public school students with six or more years of ESL classes are well schooled in grammatical rules but unable to produce an intelligible basic English conversation (He Qixin, 8/01, "English Language Education in China"); while private school students are capable of producing advanced English conversation within three to six months and are able to advocate and debate in English after only one year of ESL training. While the latter group may not be well versed in grammatical rules, they are effective ESL communicators.

BAND 4 AND BAND 6 TESTS

Band 4 and Band 6 are standardized ESL tests for Middle School, Senior School and University students in Public institutions. Chinese ESL teachers designed the tests. These tests purport to measure student accomplishments in vocabulary, listening comprehension and reading comprehension, a somewhat dubious claim with even more suspect results, which have come under increasing criticism of late. (There are even professional exam takers who will sit as a proxy for someone who is not capable of taking the test. This type of cheating requires the knowledge and assistance of the test monitor and further dilutes the validity of the process.)

In any event, these tests do not test oral communication or production ability. Tragically, these tests actually discourage oral English teaching throughout the various levels of public academia in China.

ORAL ENGLISH

The goal of the Oral English or English Conversation class is to have the students utilize and practice what they have learned in the vocabulary, phonetics, comprehensive reading and comprehensive listening classes. A more apt class title would be "Speech Lab." The FE is the Lab supervisor who facilitates the Lab activity, i.e. speaking. This is not a lecture class that imparts substantive content for future reference, although interesting issues can serve this incidental function.

In China, Oral English classes in public schools have 60 to 150 students sitting in a lecture hall all facing the teaching platform in the front of the room. (Teaching and Learning Forum 2001, Zhichang Xu, "Problems and Strategies of teaching English in large classes in the People's Republic of China") There are two, forty-five minute class periods per week. Students sit in lecture hall type seating facing the front of the room. With 60 students in a class, this provides each student with less than 1.5 minutes a week to practice oral English production with the FE.

In private schools there are usually no more than 10 to 12 students sitting in a small room with the desks in a "U" configuration for easier and friendlier conversation. There are ten, forty-five minute class periods per week. This provides approximately one-half hour per student, per week, for actual oral English practice with a FE.

The Speech Lab should be designed and equipped to facilitate speech production. Round tables, with which the Chinese are very familiar, or "U" shaped tables that provide teacher access in the middle, are the best seating arrangement.

A close, friendly, non-threatening atmosphere should be established to induce a friendly coffee shop approach to the small group conversation. As in a coffee shop, the topics should be current events that are relevant and interesting to the speakers. The best source for such topics is the local English newspaper, just as in the western Countries.

English conversation textbooks written by native English speakers are usually old and boring, using stories outdated by at least twenty years. The language is also old and outdated, culturally out of step with current language usage. English dictionaries are updated annually but these English textbooks are not. This is primarily due to budget constraints.

Textbooks written by Chinese English speakers often use inappropriate vernacular. They are usually authored by Chinese English speakers who have had little or no exposure to English culture and must rely upon their understanding of dictionary definitions for word choice. This dictionary definition English is too formalistic, rigid or brittle, and can produce tears of uproarious ridiculing laughter in a native English speaker who hears it. When was the last time you heard a native English speaker use any of the following expressions in daily conversation? 1. I am so sorry, pal. 2. Beg pardon. I didn't quite catch your meaning. 3. I must atone for calling you so late. (Interactive Speaking, 2001) Current production, at least in America, would be closer to: 1. Sorry. 2. What? 3. Sorry for the late call. The following are some random examples of sentences from Interactive 2001 that simply do not reflect the way L1 English speakers talk:

It's time to say our farewells. P55
Could they make me known the exact time the plane takes off? P69
Have I got the go ahead to put out the fire? P119
I wonder if you'd excuse me for a moment. P152
… I'm afraid. P183
I'm afraid …. P 24, 167, 182
Will it be convenient if I call upon you at seven this evening? P220
To be openhearted, your denial that you had witnessed the accident dumbfounded me. P 249
He chooses to look into the matter till the truth is out. P264

More often than not the FEs are left to their own devices to obtain materials for the oral English class. When materials run short or the well runs dry they resort to showing DVD movies or playing games like "hangman" in class to "kill time."

The FE must also keep in mind that topics for discussion must be of interest to a majority of the class members. A female to male ratio of 6 to 1 is restricting on the quantity of sports related articles that may interest the class.

AD HOC

When a recruiting school encourages a FE to bring cultural materials from home, it is a pretty good indication that the teacher is expected to provide their own teaching materials and that the school has little or no English teaching resources. There are probably not any English books, magazines, movies, or other written materials suitable for English discussion, not even the prevalent out of date, twenty-year-old texts used by so many modern Universities throughout China. Those FE who require a structured or "set menu" curriculum may view this as a detriment. However, the truly creative FE view this as the greatest and most challenging opportunity to develop their own teaching program using up-to-date articles of local interest and relevancy that will interest, excite and encourage their students to participate in the discussion.

Some schools provide English resources and materials but the teacher is free to select the specific materials and organizes them in the order of presentation. And of course there is always the school that does not provide any teaching materials and also forgets to advise the Fe to bring their own.

IV. RECRUITMENT

INTRODUCTION

The only universal guidelines, regulations or laws regulating salary, travel expense, housing, medical or teacher qualifications appear in a 1994 publication of the State Bureau of Foreign Experts (Guide for Foreign Experts Working in China, republished in 1999 and 2002). While there are controlling national immigration laws, FE certification requirements appear to vary from province to province, notwithstanding the guidelines of the State Bureau of Foreign Experts. Some of the remote provinces have allowed U.S. high school graduates to teach while Shanghai and Beijing will not.

1. SALARY

Please see the limited, representative salary charts below for public and private schools, by province. This information was compiled simultaneously from www.ESLcafe.com; www.chinatefl.com; and www.abroadchina.org (these three web sites appear to offer the largest quantity and diversity of ESL teaching jobs in China) on a single February 2003 day and is only representative, not comprehensive. They do reflect the differences in salary (which are inconsistent with the guidelines of the State Bureau of Foreign Experts) ranges and numbers of employment opportunities in a given province, comparatively speaking.

Anhui Province: 11 jobs 3,500 average salary
Hainan Province: 5 jobs 3,000 average salary
Inner Mongolia: 7 jobs 3,000 average salary
Qinghai Province: 10 jobs 2,500 average salary
Shanghai: 25 jobs 7,000 average salary

The amount of salary is also tied directly to the degree held, particularly in public universities. The higher the degree, the higher the salary.

The private schools that offer higher salaries usually tie the higher salary to a heavier workload, i.e. more teaching hours per week.

The Central Government guide provides:
"According to the invitee's professional level, post held, and academic background and experience, he or she will be paid a salary of between 1,200 and 4,800 RMB Yuan per month. For every year's work completed, the equivalent of half a month's salary is paid as a departure allowance." (1994, Guide for Foreign Experts Working in China, State Bureau of Foreign Experts, p.52)

This regulation is somewhat outdated by differing salary schedules in various provinces.

2. HOUSING

All schools promise housing. Some go so far as to promise "western style" housing, (with the emphasis on "style"). Some only promise "assistance" in locating housing. Public Universities usually provide on campus housing but a few provide a room in a low class Chinese hotel. Some teachers have been put up with local Chinese families in very unsatisfactory conditions. Private business institutes usually provide their own housing or an ample allowance for off campus housing.

However, even the best of the "western style" housing is still housing in China, designed and built according to Chinese standards and interpretation of "western style housing" by people who have never been to the west. There are instances of regular power outages, lack of adequate heat, lack of adequate hot water, lack of cable or satellite television, lack of a DVD or CD player, lack of any kind of oven, censored Internet access, etc.

The Central Government guide provides:
"Accommodation will be provided for the invite and all related costs met, as well as for his spouse and children not over the age of 12 if agreed by the inviting party." (1994, Guide for Foreign Experts Working in China, State Bureau of Foreign Experts, p.52)

"According to the relevant regulations of the People's Republic of China, foreign experts cannot rent and live in ordinary apartments. Such rule is enforced out of consideration of administration, as well as to ensure the expert's security in China. At present, accommodations for foreign experts are mostly provided by inviting parties. They are usually of three types; A. At the place of work, in either a specially built or converted building. B. At foreign expert's reception centres. C. In hotels or guesthouses, depending on whether the unit has appropriate accommodation. All types have bathrooms, and the rooms vary in size and number. They are furnished with desks, sofas, bookshelves, TV sets, refrigerators and central heating and air conditioning." (1994, Guide for Foreign Experts Working in China, State Bureau of Foreign Experts, p.55)

It should be noted that this regulation is somewhat outdated as foreign experts are now allowed to live in certain designated regular apartments in certain major cities and some schools charge for rent and utilities for "on- campus" housing.

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