Imitative Writing

 With the introductory statement that almost any subject could be included in this Blog, I have decide to share part of a conversation with an overseas senior student about T.E.S.L., and encourage, perhaps, controversial comment. 

Hi;

I knew that it would be hard to change the subject from “Teaching”.  But I’ve been reading through earlier comments and this one escaped my reply,:

“I focus on writing in my class. I usually ask my students to write short passages, like imitative writing. They like to do it and they gradually become more confident in English. I think it works well. And the class becomes not so tiring for me.?”

Note:  (a). The British have been teaching English for hundreds of years. 

(b)  I studied T.E.S.L. at a Canadian college. 

(c). I’m wearing my boring teacher's hat instead of my humorous penpal hat. 

Imitative writing is just copying … a chimpanzee can do that.  Write in early Egyptian hieroglyphs and they can do that equally well, but they’ll not become fluent in Arabic … only how to copy meaningful characters, without understanding the meaning.  Of course, “they like to do it”.  They’re just kids.

Also, thousands of books have been written on this subject, and most end up with concern for fluency.  In China, those books are published by the Propaganda Department of the CCP and do not contribute to a fluent use of the language.  Even the renowned Oxford University Press is based in Hong Kong!  Did you know that?  

There was an English Language Competition on CCTV whose hosts were British/Chinese from BBC TV, together with a Canadian called Dashan (I think).  They were the only Chinese, that I ever knew who were “fluent”.  

[My friend], don’t be annoyed.  I am very (very) aware that you are just following the “book”.  It must be extremely frustrating.  

I’ll finish, as I often do, with a humorous example.  Imagine the U.S. removing all the Chinese teachers of Chinese, ruling that Chinese must be taught by American teachers. [China has, in fact, dismissed all foreign teachers].  Take this idea to Europe and rule that the French language must be taught by German teachers, etcetera.  I may be displaying humour, but it’s very (very) serious humour.  

Bernie

I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself (2)

China's pattern of 'sociopathic behaviour'

The prime minister [Canadian] should be congratulated for refusing to be bullied by the People’s Republic of China into returning Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou to China, though she is being detained in Vancouver for extradition on a demand from the United States for alleged commercial offences. And while we should probably extradite Meng to the United States, we should not ratify an extension of the extradition treaty with the U.S., not because of this particular case, but because we should not be sending anyone to a jurisdiction where practically all prosecutions are successful. In its criminal law, the United States is not a society of laws, it is a prosecutocracy, and we should not feed it. Nor should we be concerned about the non-return to Canada of people whom we believe to have committed crimes. If they did, we don’t want them back; if they did not, they should come back and establish that fact. But we should have no part in stoking the fetishistic American criminal justice apparatus.

The Meng case is a side show and no one disputes that China is an important country and a great historic civilization, and few have any desire to withhold from the Chinese the deference due to them as, along with the Indians, the world’s most numerous nationality, and next to the United States, the largest economy in the world.   (Edited for brevity) 

 

China’s Communist government has exploited the coronavirus crisis, which it was itself responsible for inflicting upon the world, as cover for shredding its treaty with Great Britain over Hong Kong and imposing what amounts to a hobnailed jackboot on the windpipe of that splendid and enterprising city.   (Edited for brevity)

This all constitutes a clear and disturbing pattern of sociopathic behaviour and a reversion to Chinese conceptions of their natural right to impose their will on their neighbours, exact tribute from smaller countries and generally require a level of deference to their wishes that’s incompatible with concepts of international law that have arisen and been generally embraced since the last time China was ruled by a strong government, 400 years ago.   (Edited for brevity) 

We are certainly not dealing with another Nazi Germany or even a Soviet Russia.   (Edited for brevity) 

Of course, China has to be accommodated up to a point.   (Edited for brevity)  

Practically the whole world bought into the wishful theory that if China was facilitated in its quest for prosperity, it would become a co-operative and reasonable member at the top table of the family of nations. This was not how Germany, Russia or Japan developed. There is no serious justification for the policy of the Western states led by the G7, including Canada, to have been so indulgent of China’s excesses and provocations for so long. The major countries of South Asia, Australasia, Europe and the Americas should all concert on trade and sanctions policies and related matters, including the reported targeting of some Chinese nationals studying at Western universities to be potential spies. Many of China’s foreign trade and diplomatic posts are simply places of espionage. The United States in particular possesses a vast arsenal of potential measures for achieving its goals with China, including encouraging a definitive statement of Taiwanese independence, raising the American naval presence in the Formosa Strait in the South China Sea, cancelling many or all of the 300,000 Chinese student visas in the United States and closer co-operation in economic and military matters with the leading states in the Far East and South Asia, especially Japan, Indonesia and India. Those and neighbouring countries comprise a huge block whose economic and military strength substantially exceeds China’s. There is a role for Canada as the fourth Pacific Ocean economy (after the U.S., China and Japan), in developing a system of incentives for the world’s major countries to adopt to help the moderate and constructively internationalist forces prevail in Beijing.

Conrad Black -- National Post