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Steve Schertzer, esl_steve@excite.com
Outsourcing in the TEFL Industry
This fella is despised on the Korean forums for some of his views.
Korean Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - Outsourcing TEFL: Not Just For Western Creepy People Anymore
I have just brushed over it until now.
Is one of Ajarns regular writers a man who was fired for discussing his whore mongering with his students?Quote:
Originally Posted by Yu_Bum_suk[/url]
Anybody got the dirt?
how old were the students
what sex/gender?
Steve Schertzer gets some credit from me for writing articles for newspapers and posting under his own name.
It seems that if people disagree with his opinion, they have a tizzy fit.
He's also critisized EPIK and others.
The word from AUA, is that he was teaching a writing class, and the students complained so much that they had to give him the axe.
He wrote about his writing class, and how to teach it on Ajarn.
Of course this is what I was told, but it was from a person who worked at AUA Ratchadamri, and I am assuming they have veracity.
^ I heard similar from a few people. Thought it would make a good post in here though. Nothing like stirring the pot.
I actually quite like his articles. They paint the EFL industry in a pretty true light. Problems is nobody likes to hear that they are just EFL bums.
He's like Smeg without the overthetopness that he sometimes shows.
mrsq,Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsquirrel
I don't know why people get their knickers in a twist with Schertzer.
I think they're just jealous he's writing his own opinions.
Sometimes he's over the top, but often, I agree with him.
Even the "I own the classroom" article.
I hope he keeps writing. I'm quite sure he will.
I own the classroom was pretty good.
Upset a lot of people.
Is he just an old alky getting by as a TEFL bum or is he sitting there laughing at us as he teaches just for fun living off his millions as CEO of Samsung?
Still pretty funny if the fella got fired from AUA for a shit writing class and then tells people how to teach.
Hard to say, mate.Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsquirrel
You can still find that thread on Ajarn, I'm sure. Do a search.Quote:
Still pretty funny if the fella got fired from AUA for a shit writing class and then tells people how to teach.
As Steve's writing class thread and ideas emerged, people started critiqueing his teaching of writing. Bangkok Phil offered a lot of great ideas for teaching writing and dealing with the student complaints Schertzer described. Schertzer started discussing how the class wasn't going well, and that the students weren't happy, etc., and many thought it revealed how little he knew about teaching writing, based upon Steve's own opinions on teaching it.
I'll do a search for that thread. I assume it's in the "classroom."
hey Milky you've been direct quoted over on the ESLcafe for that thread above. Do you want me to try and bully some royalties out of them.
More intersting is this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BKK Phil
So is Steve one of Phils old buddies? Why was the fella's photo taken down?Quote:
Originally Posted by Some fella who started the thread
Natalie8 appears to know a lot about him.
Where am I quoted? What thread on ESL Cafe? Thanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsquirrel
dave's is a disappointing little spot. sort of a tv goes esl.
He seems to have his act a bit more together now, but a few months ago Steve Schertzer gave the best impression of a man documenting his own mental meltdown!
I don't agree with everything he says by quite a long shot, but he does make some valid points.
I can surely vouch for this and agree that he's guilty of this because one of an ex-students told me about this.:kiwi:Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsquirrel
ive met steve. ive seen him walking with a young man/boy in pattaya along beach road at night. he is the complete opposite of how he comes off in his writing. hes shy, helpless, and confused.
oh yeah, nice credible first post.Quote:
Originally Posted by samsara
[quote=kingwilly;639125]I wouldn't want to be near him. His writing style (and I've read a few articles) seems to overcompensate for his lack of control in his own life. I'm sure you've got his card, Samsara.Quote:
Originally Posted by samsara
A real douchebag...no doubt.
....slightly more credible than your 18,120th though....Quote:
Originally Posted by kingwilly
credible in what way ?
^Single smiley posts.... DD can you ban this muppet:)
flaming in newbies threads, jail term i think!Quote:
Originally Posted by NickA
^it would be..... if this WAS a newbie thread.
Moron:kma:
I can't believe all you morons who correspond with, and are members of TD. You can't get jobs in your own country, so you come to Thailand, where you masquerade as teachers,
**the rest of his crap has been deleted. Why? I hit the wrong fucking button. :( Regardless, he/she/it can post again. My apologies...***
^think you're in the wrong place, try ajarn dot com
or thai visa.
Is that similar to a "know nothing"?Quote:
Originally Posted by geoff
Yes they do.Quote:
Originally Posted by geoff
I am actually.Quote:
Originally Posted by geoff
Win what?Quote:
Originally Posted by geoff
It's easy to get a job in the UK.Quote:
Originally Posted by geoff
Just as we put up with yours.Quote:
Originally Posted by geoff
Quote:
Originally Posted by geoff
Qiute the contraryQuote:
Originally Posted by geoff
Listen, why don't you try fuck off you git and troll ajarn forums
Dickhead
Mr Pot
:tool:
this is the best bit out of this threadQuote:
Originally Posted by mrsquirrel
Is this a new dialect of English, or are you just an uneducated dumb fuk?Quote:
Originally Posted by geoff
You all rose to the bait then. What a bunch of dummies you are. I just can't believe it. Made my day.
^ It's the old "Ha ha, I was only joshing" trick and we all fell for it. Gee aren't we all really stupid.
:rolleyes:
Sarcastic
I've never had anything to do with the ajarn.com site itself. I know little if nothing about it. For the latest news, I prefer reading another source.
Steve's writing makes him come off as a serious nutcase. His writing is so whiny, he thinks everyone is wrong except himself. He also takes himself way too seriously. Come on, Steve is an ESL teacher, nothing wrong with being an ESL teacher, but what makes anyone think he knows enough about the industry and the meaning of life to make intellegent comments on these subjects?
So he got fired from AUA (which is not easy), he still found another land to pursue his "profession" in.
I don't know the guy, but his writings come off as those of one who can not be bothered with critical thinking. Of what I have read, all his arguments has huge holes in them.
Typical TEFLER?
But, he does deserve credit for having enough nads to attempt to be a writer.
Something I can relate to.
so you agree or you disagree with him?Quote:
Originally Posted by Accidental Ajarn
anyway, give us some examples...
KW
I hadn’t read any thing Steve has written for awhile, always felt like it was like poking at that sore tooth. You know reading Steve’s stuff is going to be painful, but you can’t help doing it. So I revisited some of his “gems’
“Inherent in the flame of hope is the profound belief that we EFL teachers can alter the course of human history simply by sharing ourselves with others.”
http://www.ajarn.com/Contris/schertzerdecember2005.htm
WFT!!
Students come to an ESL class to learn English, not to be taught the secrets of life by Steve or other life gurus posing as English teachers. Sorry, Steve, you ain’t that special and your job is to teach English and not change the world.
“There is one guy on who uses his real name. Steve Schertzer. What an asshole. He claims to be so much better than everybody else. He keeps talking about responsibility and how teachers should be professional and more dedicated. Screw him! Who does he think he is anyway, Mother Teresa? Anyway, this Steve Schertzer guy, (if that's is his real name), has been known to write columns for the Korea Times, a real pro-foreigner newspaper if I ever read one. He goes on and on about how most native English teachers in Korea, (and elsewhere), are scum; little more than losers and social misfits who probably couldn't get a job stuffing envelopes in the North Pole. What a monkey! What a buffoon! He claims that he uses a teaching method that guarantees results, and that his students learn English so much faster than everyone else. What a moron!”
http://www.ajarn.com/Contris/schertzerjune2007.htm
I guess Steve is trying to highlight his professionalism here. Really amateur stuff, professional writers know the subject takes central stage in an article, not the personal life of the writer. But for Steve, it is all about Steve, and all others are wrong.
“All of us have left our homeland to come to your country to teach English, a language that is needed if Thailand is to compete in a very competitive and globalized world. In case you haven't noticed, Sir, it's not easy to leave one's home, to travel to a distant land, and to live and work in an unfamiliar place. So respect is due to us teachers,”
http://www.ajarn.com/Contris/schertzerjuly2006.htm
Give me a break! Oh the ESL teachers as martyr coming to Asia to save the blind and ignorant locals from their pagan ways. What a load of horse hockey pucks. ESL teachers are like everyone else, they choose to teach because they feel it is their best career option, not because of a calling to spread the knowledge of the language of the US and UK to the ignorant masses.
The entire history of English teaching in Korea has been one long act of religious, cultural, and economic imperialism.... isn't it at least time for teachers to be honest and up front about what they are teaching, and why? Instead of embedding things within and beneath the surface of "appropriate" materials?"
http://www.ajarn.com/Contris/schertzermay2008.htm
Hypocrite, after years of writing about the specialness of ESL teacher, he now tries to do a complete 180 and claim ESL teachers shouldn’t be changing everyone’s life. Or is it only to change people to have the same views as STEVE? What a load of nonsense.
Ok, saying all that, give the boy some credit. He deserves credit for having the nads to make public his thoughts (no matter how ill-formed and poorly presented) and while he is misguided in my opinion, I do suspect he believes he is trying to make a positive “difference.”
Reading STEVE'S gems is strangely addicting.
“I just finished reading an article in the Nation newspaper about the Thailand TESOL Conference which took place in Bangkok on January 20th, 2005.
I try not to attend these conferences. One reason is that I'm usually busy teaching. Another reason is that they are usually sponsored and run by self-centered, pompous, and arrogant buffoons who have been out of the classroom far too long to have anything worthwhile to share.”
http://www.ajarn.com/Contris/schertzerfebruary2005.htm
So Steve has no respect for any aspects of ESL “academia.” Why should he, Steve knows it all already!
“Mass tourism is one of the worst things that has ever happened to Thailand. I make this bold statement because of two stories I recently read in the Nation newspaper here in Bangkok.”
http://www.ajarn.com/Contris/schertzerjune2005.htm
Now, for making sweeping generalizations based on very little evidence, Steve has got it down. Let us hope he does not attempt to teach research methodology or critical thinking skills.
“One needs only to peruse the ajarn.com forum, or any of the other teacher's websites from Dave's ESL Cafe to pusanweb.com in Korea, to come face-to-face, or computer terminal to computer terminal with the biggest and loudest bunch of educational buffoons, social losers, sexual creeps, and degenerate drunks in all of cyberspace. These whining weasels, who have the audacity to pass themselves off as English teachers, possess not an ounce of responsibility as they take it upon themselves to endlessly pontificate about the integrity of the educational system.”
http://www.ajarn.com/Contris/schertzerdecember2006.htm
Seems, Steve is trying to say he is more professional than most ESL teachers? What evidence does he have of his superiority? From reading his ill-conceived articles, I have a hard time buying into the Steve is superior paradigm.
“The immaturity and lack of leadership among foreign English teachers here in Korea never ceases to amuse and amaze me.”
http://www.ajarn.com/Contris/schertzermarch2007.htm
Again, this seems to be nothing more than a Steve is better than those around him rant. Still haven’t seen any evidence for me to buy into his claims of professional superiority.
“Few things upset me more in this profession than lenient teachers; teachers with no goals, no rules, no guidelines, and no responsibility. Teachers who so readily lower the bar. Teachers who are afraid to teach and who just want to be liked by the children.”
http://www.ajarn.com/Contris/schertzerjanuary2008.htm
Who cares what the children, parents or other educators think, Steve knows the method to be used for all kids.
We have all heard that old saying that it is better to remain silent and have others think one is stupid rather than opening one’s mouth and removing all doubt. Steve has removed all doubt about his writing skills and critical thinking abilities.