How To Say Hi In North Korea

China is not so much a country as a huge world in its own right. The ambition of the nation is to be the world’s largest economy, and most educated observers expect that it is only a matter of time before this aspiration is met. But it is not simply the economic dynamism and the strange contrast of cultures that draws the traveler. Thousands of years of history, philosophy and culture are clearly evident, and in a sense all of the political events of the 20th century, are merely a grain of sand on the beach of Chinese history. Cantonese and Mandarin are the official languages; however, in a country of around one point three billion spread over nearly four million square miles, there is a cornucopia of different dialects and idioms. The reality is that Cantonese will serve you well in...  [Read more]

Should Students Be Allowed to Use Their Native Language in the Classroom When I first began teaching lessons during the TESOL Course I found myself almost automatically saying to the students, “English please,” after all it is an English class. However, I began to question myself about whether or not this was “correct” practice or if the students should in fact use their native language to assist them in the learning process. After doing some research I found the TESOL Law Code of Ethics. The Law of Ethics provided many vague and open-ended ideas. It suggested things along the lines of, “The foreign language teacher shall direct her whole professional effort to assist the students to develop his/her second language speaking ability.” It also mentions that TESOL teachers are to...  [Read more]