"I'm a panda.  I want to go on the teacups."

If that makes no sense to you, you're in good company.  If this is an oft used phrase in your conversations, enlighten me.  Do you regularly speak with pandas?  How about peacocks?  Geese? Children around here are often subjected to a nonsensical, and all together militaristic way of learning--it's no wonder that after 10+ years of learning they still can't carry out a decent conversation if and when they reach the university level.  "Peacock...Peacock...Peacock..." went the class as each student bobbed up and down from their seats to individually repeat and practice.  What got me was when they got to "goose" and each student repeated with "Goose-AH."  Oh no, no, no.      

I will not save the motherland's English by being an English teacher here.  I'm actually aiming at what seems a more impossible task, but one with Promise. Is it necessary that we teach English along the way?  Doesn't it substantiate others who claim that we are merely pulling the 'ol switch and bait?  That's why I get slightly ticked about those who regard the whole teaching endeavor as a means to an end.  Sure, I carry an Agenda, but I'm going to work at my craft with all my heart such that who I am is plain to all men.  In the world of panda and teacups, this is huge.