COV-19 2020
Interviewer: Tim:
Interviewer: Tim: Interviewer: Tim:
Interviewer:
Tim:
Interviewer: Tim:
Interviewer: Tim:
Interviewer:
And how did it all start? I live on the east coast and my sister lives thousands of miles away. She told me that her kids had problems with math at school, so I started to give them lessons on YouTube. Then I began to get feedback from total strangers. That’s what gave me the idea for my academy. Education for anyone anywhere? Exactly. Why are your lessons so attractive to so many people? One reason is that it feels like I’m really sitting next to a person. But another important reason is that lessons are individual because everyone can work as fast or as slowly as they want. Do you think all teaching and learning will be online in future? I don’t think so. There will still be schools and colleges, but they’ll be different. We’re already testing a new method in the United States. Students watch my videos for homework, then they come to the classroom and are given problems to check that they’ve understood. If they have any difficulties, the teacher helps. There are no books in the classroom and no lectures by the teacher. What if students don’t have a computer at home? The colleges stay open late, so students can use the computers there. Is this the future of education, Tim? I think it is. It’s flexible, it’s individual, and a teacher can work with large groups. And the students love it. Thanks for talking to us, Tim.
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Hi, I’m Jane Smart. I work for an international company in Canada. My company often sends me to Asia on business. One important thing I had to learn is that in general Asians are not as informal as we Canadians. In North America and Great Britain, people have a first or given name – such as Jane or John, and a last or family name – such as Smart or Smith. In formal situations we use Mr. for men or Ms. for women, so I would be Ms. Smart. In Canada we use first names most of the time, but not many Asians do that in a business situation. So let me tell you about some of the things I have discovered. In China, the family name is always first, so if you meet Zhang Ping, Zhang is the family name and Ping is the given name. I didn’t know this, and on my first visit to Beijing, I was surprised when somebody called me “Ms. Smart Jane”! Today, the Chinese often use Western names when they do business with Westerners – they are easier to pronounce. In Korea, the family name also comes before the given name. Koreans speak to their superiors with great respect. The president of a company is addressed as Mr. President and not by his family name. Colleagues use sonseng-nim, which actually means “teacher,” to address each other. So when I worked in Seoul, I became “Smart son-seng-nim.” In Indonesia, you must address businesspeople with a title and family name. If a person does not have a professional title such as Doctor or Vice-President, you should use Bapak or Pak for Mr., and Ibu or Bu for Ms. Bapak actually means father and Ibu is mother. In Thailand, people like to use first names, but often with the word Khun in front, so I became Khun Jane. For senior persons, you use Taan in front of their first name. So I addressed the senior employees there as Taan Bundit or Taan Sumati. Finally, let me tell you about my visit to Kyoto. Japanese adults don’t use first
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