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revenger2013
Joined: 01 Mar 2013
Posts: 111
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 Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 4:24 am Post subject: Your advice on how to rise above the rest.. |
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I read an interesting interview of a gentleman in China who is an English teacher, making a great living in Beijing teaching 'Avation English'
http://www.china.org.cn/living_in_china/expat_tales/2008-05/12/content_15170756.htm
And I think it is great because a lot of people put down TEFL as a losers gig for when everything has gone wrong in one's life - a modern day version of signing on for the French Foreign Legion, and the truth is, it is a billion dollar industry with a lot of potential for growth - in my opinion of course.
For every so called 'loser' teaching at Toss hagwon (I don't see them as losers personally but it is strange how many people bandy this term around about people in the same profession as themselves.) There are guys like Bobby who are thriving and making good money.
I think the moral behind this story is to find a niche within TEFL/TESOL - I would have thought 'Aviation English' was a load of bullshit but Bobby is doing it and thinking about it - English is the language of aviation - you have to give Bobby his dues in seeing an opening and making a good living on the back of it.
So what advice would you give a teacher to rise above the crowd and make a great living teaching English? I feel personally, that a teacher needs to find a niche and perfect their skills within it - Business English, Aviation English, Medical English - I suppose if you stick to teaching conversational English - you will always get the mundane, poorly paid jobs - there are more tips for getting ahead of course, so what are yours? |
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HLJHLJ
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador
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| Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 5:37 am Post subject: |
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With the ICAO rules being enforced now (though not in China who opted out) Aviation English is big business. It's something I've dabbled in and would like to get back into but it's a field where contacts are king and I'm still moving about too much at the moment. Aviation English testing is also a bunfight and someone will make a fortune of it once it settles down, but sadly it won't be me!
In general, I think there is money to be made in any specialised area, if you have the knowledge and the reputation locally to go with it. Professionals in most countries will pay top dollar for high quality instruction, but they are demanding and you really do have to know your stuff and have experience and credentials to back it up.
It's no different to any other field really. Scrat around at the bottom of the pile and you'll never get rich on it. Carve your own niche, market yourself well, and make a name for yourself and the money will follow. |
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Teacher in Rome
Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Posts: 1286
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| Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 6:00 am Post subject: |
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| It's no different to any other field really. Scrat around at the bottom of the pile and you'll never get rich on it. Carve your own niche, market yourself well, and make a name for yourself and the money will follow. |
Yes. Plus have a product / service that people want to buy.
Other things that help: being available and reliable. No point marketing a service if you never turn up for work. Develop contacts and trust - word of mouth referrals and recommendations increase business. Seek out partnerships, either to improve / extend your offering, bring extra skills into what you do, or to cement your local standing.
Keep an eye on trends. YL is big pretty much everywhere now, it seems, while online (online learning, LinkedIn for networking and career opps, Kindle for publishing) is only at the beginning of what will happen.
I think great things are still to happen in our industry. Look at any of the career sites (not just ELT related) and you see huge skills gaps globally. Areas such as customer services, engineering, green energy, finance, etc. The top ten markets are what you'd expect (with the UK coming in joint 10th place with Mexico.) Off the top of my head, these markets include Russia, Germany, USA, Japan, China, India, Brazil... These are the places where ELT training (in specific skills areas) could be very lucrative indeed. |
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jaffa
Joined: 25 Oct 2012
Posts: 403
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| Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 10:13 am Post subject: |
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Bobby Banana  |
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No Moss
Joined: 15 Apr 2003
Posts: 1995
Location: Thailand
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| Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:00 am Post subject: Teaching skills checklist |
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I'm an old-fashioned guy, so I think you ought to know something about teaching before you go too far. Here's a checklist for you:
Do you know what a schwa is?
Can you explain the difference between stress and reduction?
Do you know the phonetic alphabet? Do you use it in class?
Can you explain phrasal verbs?
What's the difference between the simple past and the present perfect?
As teachers, should we generally speed up or slow down?
What's a relative clause?
BTW, all of these are essential to teaching EFL. If you didn't do well on this little test, it's time to do a little more work on your skill set. |
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massiveg
Joined: 14 Mar 2013
Posts: 36
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| Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:19 am Post subject: |
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| The French Foreign Legion pays better, offers a pension and requires proper training. Selection is rigorous whereas in tefl.... |
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Hod
Joined: 28 Apr 2003
Posts: 1613
Location: Home
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| Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 9:13 am Post subject: Re: Teaching skills checklist |
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| No Moss wrote: |
As teachers, should we generally speed up or slow down?
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I must be unqualified today as I don't know this one. |
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JN
Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 214
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| Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 9:26 am Post subject: |
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If it refers to the speed of speaking, I used to speak too fast, but now I think I have slowed down enough, so my students understand me.
However, I don't know the phonetic alphabet and don't even know why it should or how it could be used in class. Does anyone have answers on that? |
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teacher4life
Joined: 22 Apr 2012
Posts: 121
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| Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 10:13 am Post subject: |
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Learn to speak the important foreign languages yourself. Use their language to teach them English. The best ones to learn are Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic.
Lesser languages to consider include Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Bahasa, Bengali, and Hindi.
Barely worth mention are archaic languages like French and German. |
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Denim-Maniac
Joined: 31 Jan 2012
Posts: 1238
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| Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 10:28 am Post subject: |
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| JN wrote: |
However, I don't know the phonetic alphabet and don't even know why it should or how it could be used in class. Does anyone have answers on that? |
Its used as an aid to vocabulary teaching and pronunciation. For example, the words 'heard', 'bird', 'curd', and 'word' are have the same vowel sound but feature different spellings. If students transcribe the word using the IPA symbols they will know how to pronounce them later. Most dictionaries show an IPA transcription after the word for this reason.
Anyway ... on topic.
I think if you want to stand out from the crowd, be better than the average, and make something of yourself, you really need to consider where you are, not just who you are. That sounds very obvious of course, buy you need to be prepared to go where the action is, and that may not be a place where the living is easy.
Interested to hear how teacher4life's comment is viewed. Learning to teach in their language is often viewed as a no-no isnt it? |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 10:35 am Post subject: |
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| Barely worth mention are archaic languages like French and German. |
Worth quite a lot if all your students and your daily life is in one of the above languages. 
As for use of L1 to teach L2, that's not commonly applied everywhere by any means. Students in my teaching contexts don't appreciate this and view it as coddling. They consider it a hindrance to L2 acquisition in most cases. |
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Hod
Joined: 28 Apr 2003
Posts: 1613
Location: Home
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| Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:01 am Post subject: |
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I agree 100%. I learned German (don't know why I bothered as it's archaic) at the Goethe Institut, and an otherwise good teacher ruined any vocabulary explanations by just saying the word in English at the end. Why should I bother listening to the explanation in German if I knew she was just going to say the word in English anyway?
| teacher4life wrote: |
Lesser languages to consider include... Bahasa.
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Spoken by 250 million perhaps but only in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei (I won't include Singapore). What would be the value of learning Bahasa outside of this region? |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:11 am Post subject: |
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| Spoken by 250 million perhaps but only in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei (I won't include Singapore). What would be the value of learning Bahasa outside of this region? |
Clearly, Hod - because it's not ARCHAIC |
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Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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| Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 12:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Denim-Maniac wrote: |
Learning to teach in their language is often viewed as a no-no isnt it? |
Yes, it is. There are plenty of local teachers who do it, and many of them could do it much better than us. |
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Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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| Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 12:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Why would Japanese get a mention on the worth-learning list, above French or German? |
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