| I wanted to write in response to criticism of the Babel Language Center written by Dr. Jeannette W. Cockroft and posted on the ESL Café website. It seems clear that she had an unpleasant experience in China but I also know many teachers including myself who had very positive experiences working for Babel in China. Much of Dr. Cockroft’s issues seem to be with WSIEA which is not connected with Babel and acts as a third-party recruiting organization. I have witnessed firsthand many issues that arise due to the fact the contracts and agreements third parties make with foreign teachers do not accurately reflect contract and program descriptions provided by the Chinese school or organization to the third party. I came to China fully aware that many things would not proceed as smoothly or comfortably as in America. I was instructed beforehand that patience and good communication would be key to a successful experience. I taught for Babel during the 2004-5 academic year and at two English camp locations during summer 2005 (in Hangzhou and in the coastal island city of Zhoushan). I was joined during the summer camp program by teachers who were returning for their second and third summer camps with Babel. I will admit that the nature of the summer camp programs makes them much demanding and irregular than semester teaching programs but I had an overall enjoyable experience as did many others. My hotel in Zhoushan wasn’t anything spectacular but it was near the school, clean, fully furnished, and the towels and linens for my bed were washed daily. There were times when the food wasn’t great but it no was worse than the camp food offered at similar American summer camps and we were often treated to very nice restaurant meals. Dr. Cockroft mentions that Babel campus reps were college students but even in the US it is common for college and even high school students to serve as camp counselors. It is also true that college students tend to be among the most proficient English speakers in the country, which is one of the main reasons they are sought. My Babel rep in Zhoushan was very capable and worked very diligently helping us to prepare classes, communicate with students and the school, and generally help our lives to run smoothly. Also, many camps, including the Zhoushan camp I worked at, provided a school administrative liaison and some of the school’s own English teachers to assist us in anyway during camp times and even after work ended for the day. The administrators and teachers were very friendly taking us on tours around the area and even inviting us to a delicious meal at an expensive restaurant. We ate the rest of our meals at a restaurant near the school with the seafood heavy cuisine ranging from so-so to excellent on a meal by meal basis (we were joined at several meals by the school’s principal who told us it was one of his favorite restaurants). Like any teacher I had experiences with misbehaving and unresponsive students (almost all of these kinds of students were at the Hangzhou location) but the most of my students were a pleasure to teach. Dr. Cockcraft mentions that students cannot learn in an environment of 30 learners, but in fact summer camp class sizes are often the same size or smaller than the students normal classes. The summer camp classes also feature an interactive element which is completely different from the repetition and rote memorization which remains the standard Chinese teaching method. I am not even going to mention the activities and scavenger hunt we held for the students at a local park that went remarkably well given the ratio of students to teachers. As for teachers serving as entertainers, I will admit that we foreign teachers were a bit of novelty but the novelty helped us to engage students in a course matter that they usually found boring and difficult. I feel we left a deep impression in the lives of many of our students. I still have a picture of the “We love you Michael” message a group my Zhoushan students surprised me with on the chalkboard one day. A couple of the students still write me emails asking for advice about English study. It seems I had a very different experience from Dr. Cockcraft and I believe every teacher is free to express opinions of their working experiences both positive and negative but to make a statement about the school administrators such as “BABEL LANGUAGE CENTER ARE NOTHING MORE THAN MONEY GRUBBING ENTERPRISES. FOREIGN TEACHERS ARE PART OF THE ENTERTAINMENT,” is sensational, libelous, and misleading. I am hoping that writing about my experience will help produce a more balanced view of Babel and I will encourage other Babel summer camp teachers to do the same. |