Posted on April 3, 2009 by George Deftereos
I think we are beginning to lose our way
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/796242/aussies-outraged-by-mcg-takeover-prank
This is a story about an April Fool’s prank in Melbourne. A local newspaper reported on a Chinese takeover of the MCG, changing the name from Melbourne Cricket Ground to Mekong Cricket Ground. Many people seemed to miss the clues that this was a prank, namely the [...]
Filed under: Australia, China, Japan, Lunacy, Melbourne, Vietnam | Tagged: 'lucky country', 'swamped by asians', April Fulton, Australia, China, Chinese, Chinese investment in Australia, Chinese takeovers, coal, cricket, Donald Horne, Fareed Zakaria, geography, Harris-Daishowa, Japan, Kuwait, MCG, Mekong, ninemsn, Pauline Hanson, racist, Saudi Arabia, The Future of Freedom, Venezuela, Vietnamese | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 31, 2009 by George Deftereos
Some is fresh like that weak brew coffee we have, some is aged to perfection.
* Spain is pressing the USA over torture charges for 6 former high level Bush-ites who provided the legal framework to justify torture. The birthpace of the Inquisition supposes to lecture the land of the free and home of the brave [...]
Filed under: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Brazil, China, Chinese Studies, England, France, Hainan, IMF, India, International, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Korea, LCI, Russia, Spain, Teaching English, United Kingdom, United States, human rights, kindergarten, teaching in Korea | Tagged: India, Iran, England, Japan, USA, China, Russia, Korea, Chinese, Obama, Bush, torture, IMF, Korean people and language, Teaching English, French, Hainan, Spain, Mayflower, pilgrim, Inquisition, Associated Press, AP, Japanese, France, Brazil | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 12, 2009 by George Deftereos
As part of the stimulus package, employers receiving government bailout money limit the hiring of non-US citizen workers to zero. Almost sounds like a federal mandate for discrimination. Some employers are trying to find loopholes to by pass this provision (‘buy American’, anyone?). This move by the administration smacks of protectionism, for is labour not [...]
Filed under: China, Korea, bailout, hagwon | Tagged: America, bailout, China, Chinese, commodity, discrimination, Economy, education, EEZ, hagwon, Korea, Obama, test | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 12, 2009 by George Deftereos
Part of my job involves skimming through the internet for news articles about my employer. As such, factiva is an awesome, but really expensive, search tool.
As anyone who studied Chinese with me will attest, I am easily distracted from my task, to the point where I would open up a dictionary to search for a word [...]
Filed under: China, Chinese Studies | Tagged: China, Chinese, Chinese Studies, dictionary, factiva, Sinologist, Victor H. Mair | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 2, 2009 by George Deftereos
I have a Korean vocabulary book. It’s quite good considering it is actually for Koreans to learn English instead of me learning Korea. There are 13 parts with the heavy grammar stuff at the end. The first part is about people with lesson one on the family. It is telling of Korean culture and society [...]
Filed under: Korea, Korean people and language, Teaching English | Tagged: Belarus, Chinese, Hannibal, Korea, Korean people and language, Kubblai Khan, suicide, Teaching English, Ukraine, Won-bok Rhie | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 31, 2008 by George Deftereos
Another year comes to a close tonight. And with that there are sure to be many new year’s resolutions made and broken, usually within the first week of 2009. Here are mine, in no particular order.
1. Improve my Korean: Now, this is hard to judge as there is no definite end. But I will study to take the S-TOPIK [...]
Filed under: 'wo/man of the moment', Korea, LCI, jukjeon | Tagged: Korea, LCI, hagwon, Chinese, 'wo/man of the moment', Korean people and language, LCI Jukjeon, LCI Suji, teaching in Korea, KFC, Sydney, Melbourne, Teaching English, jukjeon | 2 Comments »
Posted on September 10, 2008 by George Deftereos
If you work in a hagwon you will have met target language. The emphasis is on rote learning which is essential in the very beginning of anyone’s linguistic adventures but rapidly loses importance as one becomes more proficient in the language and can actually express their own ideas. My Chinese teacher would say, in his SoCal [...]
Filed under: LCI | Tagged: China, Chinese, hagwon, kindy, LCI, panties, target language | 1 Comment »
