Comments on: ABCs and Fake ABCs

By: Wendy

Wendy — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:47:14 +0000

Hi, I totally agree with what you wrote. Firstly, why are they called ABCs anyway. It’s like this term they use to pigeon hole ALL overseas Asians. I’m Taiwanese, but I was raised in South Africa and people here call me an ABC which isn’t technically wrong if you think “African Born Chinese” but then again, Im not Chinese either.
Secondly, I have been working at this CRAM school in Tainan, Taiwan for two years and my boss still only pays me 350 per hour, and she keeps saying its because I’m not experienced enough but I honestly think those are all excuses because you get foreigners who have NO experience in teaching but they get paid the SAME amount as that of those with experience.
Thirdly, I can speak basic colloquial mandarin, but my boss insists that I tell the parents that I don’t know a word of mandarin. It really bothers me because what does it matter??I mean the point is I was raised in SA, so what does it matter that I can speak mandarin?

Anyway, I’m still working here and if you need someone to hang out with, my msn and email is [removed by admin]

Ciao

By: Elliott

Elliott — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 19:24:54 +0000

I have worked with tons of fake abc’s and some were great teachers and some weren’t. Some had excellent English and some didn’t. I have also been working with tons of fake native speakers lately and they seem to follow the same pattern. I am not sure what my point is but from a purely emotional point of view I find the fake native speakers much more deplorable. Again, not sure of my point.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 05:02:23 +0000

I always used to go to Tealit and Buxiban.com to look for work. Also, if you're a language student, you might try looking in your school. Shida always used to have a board with job openings tacked to it. I think you should be able to find something. I had several classmates there, and they all had work. Some schools tried to offer them less money, but the big chains were usually okay. You might start looking at Hess, Kojen, etc...

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 21:57:18 +0000

Hello all. I’ve been worrying about this issue recently. I’m an “ABC” from Seattle and I’m going to study Chinese in Taiwan next year. I want to pick up some work on the side, but I don’t know how it is for Asian Americans.

Also, I don’t speak Chinese. My parents sent me to Sunday Chinese classes when I was little but I don’t remember much. My roommate’s a first year Chinese student and he speaks more than I do. I can understand some Taiwanese, though. I’ll be in Taipei. Where do you suggest looking for teaching jobs?

BTW, how do you make those pop-ups with the pinyin and the translations like on the material girl post? Those things rock!

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 15:43:24 +0000

Off-topic comments related to the topic of discrimination as it affects laowai in Taiwan have been moved. Please restrict comments here to discussion on your thoughts about the term “ABC”, fake ABCs, teaching, issues real ABCs face finding teaching jobs, etc.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 09:47:16 +0000

Kanwa-kyudai Says:
March 30th, 2006 at 1:31 pm e

I would like to talk about fake ABCs here, not racism. When one of your customers wants to buy American goods, you must not sell goods made in other countries. That is a wrong act both morally and legally. It is just a matter of sincerity and contracts.

I appreciate someone getting back on the actual topic of this post. I completely agree. Fake ABCs, regardless of how good their English is, are deceiving the customer. In the case Michael brought up, the employer was telling employees to knowingly lie the customers.

The thing is, as you pointed out, some non-native speakers are better teachers than some native speakers. Somebody like my friend Warren, who was born in Taiwan, moved to the US in third grade, would have advantages over anybody who grew up entirely in one place or another. His English is great, and unlike most real ABCs, he can also speak Mandarin and Minanyu. If I were a buxiban boss, guys like Warren would be on my short-list. If I had a teacher like that, I’d brag loudly about his skills. I wouldn’t tell customers that he was born in the US, though.

By: OnABCs

OnABCs — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 07:38:19 +0000

I completely agree with Kanwa-kyudai’s comment on the fake ABC phenomenon, with the caveat being that if they’re not actually born there but come when they are three and do speak native English, a little fudging wouldn’t be a problem in my book. But yeah, those cases people brought up are as they say here, tai kua zhang le.

By: Kanwa-kyudai

Kanwa-kyudai — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 05:31:34 +0000

I would like to talk about fake ABCs here, not racism. When one of your customers wants to buy American goods, you must not sell goods made in other countries. That is a wrong act both morally and legally. It is just a matter of sincerity and contracts.

Of course, you can not say, for example, all Americans are execellent speakers of English, and they are not necessarily competent teachers at the same time. But employing native speakers above standard is surely profitable for learners and local teachers.

Students expect American teachers not only to teach them real English but also to give them a broad knowledge of American life, culture, customs, and the way of thinking. I can not find any excuse for justifying fake ABCs even if they speak excellent English.

By: Michael Turton

Michael Turton — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 02:44:10 +0000

I was just talking to one of my students, C., whose boss at the English school makes her pretend to be an ABC so he can charge more for the class.

Michael