I have lived in Taiwan for awhile now and one thing that still amazes me is the demand for English teaching on this island. There are so many cram schools that push and push English (and other topics) into kids, it is amazing that they don't explode. In my time here, I have worked at a plethera of jobs ranging from high schools, kindergartens, cram schools, to private classes, and all were fairly standard and clear-cut. Then I found out about ALE and realized that this was a little bit different than the ordinary, run-of-the-mill English school (jail).Basically, ALE is a social club where the people that attend are not considered students, but members, and thus, the people leading activities are not really considered teachers, but crewmembers. It is a much more relaxed atmosphere than other schools and members can really use the English that they have been trained to use. Many schools just keep telling them what to learn, without ever giving them a chance to actually use what they know - that basically what "cram" means, by the way.
Anyway, I must say ALE is pretty good - at least from my end of things (as a crew). I get to design and create my own seminars and I can even choose the places that I would like them to be held - usually in a restaurant, secluded from the other customers. Not only that, I eat for free and get a decent salary. In addition, my working hours are about 2-3 a night and that is pretty much all I do. With the salary I am making from this job, I do not need to work more hours and thus I have loads of free time - which makes many people jealous. Hey, if you are, then change your situation, I say.
There are different parts to ALE, and if you can read Chinese (or rather if your computer can read Chinese), you might just want to head on over to their main site here. But if you can not do the Chinese thing, then I can briefly explain some of the activities that we do.
English Carnival
This happens every month, usually on the first Saturday and Sunday and is a time when many people can get together for about 4 hours and discuss a variety of topics in small groups, facilitated by crewmembers. There is also ample time for mingling (ie, breaks) so people can really meet many people, if they want. The topics are usually pretty good, but even if not, there is flexibility in the discussions, giving everyone a chance to participate.First Step Course
Since ALE is a non-traditional style of teaching, an acclimation period is the best way to let members get used to the ideas the goals of ALE. That is why we have a First Step Course, which is basically a game that we play with new members. The game is both a learning tool for English as well as an introduction to the concepts in a social club, as opposed to a cram school. Currently, I am the First Step Coordinator in the Taichung region and have quite a few opinions and thoughts about how to make the game run smoothly and what are the expectations the members should leave with. If you want to hear them, zoom over here.Music Parties
A music party is just what it sounds like. Once a month, we head on over to a popular pub in town and have quite a few activities and fun stuff to do in a very non-school like atmosphere. It is also a good time just to mingle, since the emphasis is on fun, rather than using English. Of course, everyone is encouraged to use English, since that is what Actual Living English means, but everyone has their own reasons for joining ALE. Oh, did I mention there is a lot of dancing? Come and bring your cool moves......Mini Adventures
These are the bulk of what ALE does. The crewmembers create, prepare, and facilitate these classes, which really should be called seminars. There are about 20-30 different seminars every two months (depending on the region). Here in Taichung we can have 20 seminars, and that means many crewmembers have a chance to create two each. These are not daily events, but on average, you might have a mini adventure 2-3 times a week, repeating the two that you created over a span of two months. The classes are the same, but the people that come to them are different each time. Thus, there is a chance for cariety and small tweaking that goes on. The main philosophy for the mini adventure is that we will teach a topic, but we wont teach English. We will USE English to introduce the topic and then go over everything without the boring grammar and sentence patters that plague many schools here. In that way, it is a pretty cool (imho) way to learn about a variety of topics - such as cultural activies, sporting events, entertainment, fun academic stuff, and practical applications for speaking and listening. Very little is done in the way of writing, but then again, there are seminars specifically for boosting writing performance. Basically anything you can think of could be a seminar here. That is why I like ALE since most of my interests have become mini adventures. If you would like to see a list of mini's that I have done in the past, just go here.Telephone English
