Scaffolding Schemata

... of reflections. Teachers on a strike The teachers' union in Brasilia are again in campaign for better salaries and work conditions. At least that's what they say. They are threatening the local government - and the population - with strike again. They are obviously free to use whatever instrument they see fit to reach their purposes. However, what deeply bothers me, is the fact that they claim to be forced by the government to go on a strike. Sorry. No one can be forced to go on a strike. If they do it, that's because they believe they have exhausted all possibilities of negotiation or protests and their last resource is to strike for better wages or work conditions. They must admit it, instead of blaming the government. The fact that teachers keep using the same tactics year after year makes me think that the strikes are totally political. When I listen to their claims on the radio, it seems the same message from five, ten years ago. They complain about th...

Open English Course has many supposedly funny ads to show the advantages of an online English course versus a face-to-face one. Because of one of this course's ads, there's a heated  discussion on Facebook about its offensive nature against non-native teachers of English. By the way, the video seems to have been removed. I've tried watching it through different sources, but I couldn't. I do think the commercial is offensive to non-native EFL teachers. However, more than being offensive, it lies to millions of English learners and prospect students. I thought the old discussion on native speaker teachers vs. non-native EFL teachers had been forgotten. I frequently talk to clients and students who ask me about the effectiveness of native teachers, but they easily understand that these teachers are not necessarily the best. Quite the contrary, knowing the language and being born in a country where the language is spoken do not mean knowing about the language or havi...