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Job seeker ramble
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Englishpal



Joined: 05 Nov 2012
Posts: 71

PostPosted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 2:36 pm    Post subject: Job seeker ramble Reply with quote

So I am one of these people that graduated college later in life (mid-30s) and do not have much post graduate work experience. I have been applying to universities personally and through recruiters but am continually getting the response that I need 2 years post graduate work experience. I am a little surprised because I have a CELTA and thought with the Bachelors it would be me being picky not them.

So, trying to roll with this and adapt. Question- Are the language mills like Shane and Aston less than desirable? Would I be better working for a private school? I am at a loss and do not want to get into a relationship with a creepy slave driver. Thanks for your insight.
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GeminiTiger



Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Posts: 999
Location: China, 2005--Present

PostPosted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 2:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

keep trying. instead of looking for a uni job, perhaps try a private school or middle school..
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choudoufu



Joined: 25 May 2010
Posts: 3325
Location: Mao-berry, PRC

PostPosted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

are you looking in only one province/city? try somewhere else.....

i know for a fact it was possible just recently to get a job at a uni
in kunming with zero teaching experience and the pixels still wet
on an online tefl certificate.
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Englishpal



Joined: 05 Nov 2012
Posts: 71

PostPosted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 3:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The irony, Kunming is my city of preference. I have been turned down in several southern provinces for this post experience reason... Yunnan, Sichuan, etc. Recruiters are telling me the North might take me but I am shut out of everything else. Don't want to move to igloo city. Wondering about breaking down and doing private schools, presuming they will have an easier time getting the z visa.
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zactherat



Joined: 24 Aug 2011
Posts: 295

PostPosted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 4:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Englishpal wrote:
Are the language mills like Shane and Aston less than desirable?


yes they are
but a year in a language school can be a good experience, especially if you are just starting out and have longer-term TEFL-related career goals. Main advantages are stability (salary paid on time, previous exp. with foreigners, etc.) and a vibrant staff room, where teachers are surrounded by peers desperately sharing their ideas of how best to weather the storm.

Uni work can be isolating - professionally even more so than socially.

Not all language schools provide a positive work environment, but the bigger chains have some branches that are really well-established, so at least you know what you are getting into.
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Janiny



Joined: 31 May 2008
Posts: 199

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 9:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

No one should never ever consider working for Shane no matter what.

I worked for this mill, as you rightly term it in Japan a few years back. The eccentric founder writes the materials, and the last unit of one of the intermediate books features a dialog that exists quite baldly in order for the male teacher to set up a date with the hapless, soon-to-depart female student. So that gives you some idea.

Teachers are chewed up and spit out at will at Shane English Schools. You will be fired if the students don't like you, and no one is ever liked by everyone, are they?
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Javelin of Radiance



Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 1187
Location: The West

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Janiny wrote:
No one should never ever consider working for Shane no matter what.

I worked for this mill, as you rightly term it in Japan a few years back. The eccentric founder writes the materials, and the last unit of one of the intermediate books features a dialog that exists quite baldly in order for the male teacher to set up a date with the hapless, soon-to-depart female student. So that gives you some idea.

How about sharing that dialogue with us here?
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Denim-Maniac



Joined: 31 Jan 2012
Posts: 1238

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Standards really must be declining if FT's need the dialogue from a textbook to hook up with the hapless, soon to be departing female student :-p
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kev7161



Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 5880
Location: Suzhou, China

PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
the last unit of one of the intermediate books features a dialog that exists quite baldly in order for the male teacher to set up a date with the hapless, soon-to-depart female student.


I'm guessing a mistype, but not sure. Maybe slang of some sort? badly? boldly?
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vikeologist



Joined: 07 Sep 2009
Posts: 600

PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vocab Police alert. I don't know. I think 'baldly' is ok as an adverb. I'm not saying it's common, but the meaning is clear. As a Brit, I have to put up with much worse transgressions from colonists almost daily.

Anyway, I'm not sure that every single Shane is going to be bad. I don't doubt that as an organisation they may have faults, but there probably are good branches out there.

However, almost certainly most of them should be avoided.

I'm a DOS at a Uni, and we take on newly qualified teachers, though the standard of applicants is currently very god, and experience is increasingly an advantage.

I'd say where you're going wrong is by using recruiters. (I would go out on a limb and say that every single recruiter of non-China based teachers is bad). Apply to Unis direct. The best Unis to work for will probably recruit their own teachers. I would never agree to the use of recruiters for my Uni.
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MisterButtkins



Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Posts: 1221

PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 12:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kev7161 wrote:
Quote:
the last unit of one of the intermediate books features a dialog that exists quite baldly in order for the male teacher to set up a date with the hapless, soon-to-depart female student.


I'm guessing a mistype, but not sure. Maybe slang of some sort? badly? boldly?


No, it means 'obvious' here.
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it'snotmyfault



Joined: 14 May 2012
Posts: 527

PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd say it shoud be "boldly" as in "bold as brass". To do something shamelesly.
Baldly means using as few words as is necessary.
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Ariadne



Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Posts: 960

PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 2:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like baldly, as in a bald faced lie.

.
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Non Sequitur



Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China

PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As transgressions go this has to be near the top my Brit friend.
'though the standard of applicants is currently very god'
'Bald' is good.
Ie 'unadorned', 'without cover' etc
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Janiny



Joined: 31 May 2008
Posts: 199

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes friends, I said 'baldly' and I meant 'baldly'. Without consulting a dictionary, I am supposing it means something like obviously, shamefacedly, without apology - yes, as in ' a bald-faced lie'. Thank you Ariadne.

As for sharing with you the requested actual dialog, it was just pathetic. if one were a woman suffering pick up lines in a bar, you'd be saying, 'That all you got?'

Just such shite as:

Lonely-heart Sensei: What will you be doing now that the course is over?

Fumiko
: (Yes, that was her name) Staying home, watching TV.

Lonely-heart Sensei: What about your boyfriend?

Fumiko: (no doubt shyly covering her mouth to giggle) I don't have a boyfriend. (Or perhaps):

'Oh, he's joined the Red Army and is planning ritual suicide as a protest to the U.S. military presence in Yakosuka.'

Lonely-heart Sensei: And are you on the phone? (That ridiculous old and outmoded Britishism for asking if one has a phone - Duh! Of course she does! This is late 20th century Japan, innit?)

Fumiko: Yes, it's 555-5555 (or whatever)

I could go in, but you see how baldly lame this 'advanced' textbook dialog is. It forces the hapless student into surrendering her romantic status and home phone number. I suppose a clever girl, or one who feels all sleazed out by her pimply old gaijin teacher might misdirect him, but most are probably too surprised and doe-eyed innocent to think of it.

By the way, I think the eponymous founder really did get his wife using this method. Don't know if she lived to regret it.


Last edited by Janiny on Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:04 am; edited 2 times in total
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