Job Discussion Forums

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

For me, the decision to be an English teacher came before the decision to go overseas.

I decided to be an English teacher while living in Toronto (Toronto gets about half of all immigrants to Canada). I'd been taking martial arts and English was a problem for a lot of the adults. I also worked at a big box store in an area that had a lot of people from South Asia, and English was an issue with the relatives of some of the people I worked with.

TESL is an education area taught postgraduate / consecutively (occasionally concurrently) with your undergraduate university degree at colleges and universities. [Look up "TESL Ontario" if you're interested] Anyway, I did a university program in it.

Decided to go overseas because overseas experience is a requirement of most of the better jobs teaching adult ESL in Ontario. Decided to go to Japan with the JET programme. That was over eleven years ago now and I'm still in Japan.

Decided to do a masters in TESOL while overseas (finished a few years ago).

Thinking of doing a doctorate, but not sure if I will (due pretty much entirely to money concerns).

dragonpiwo · Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin

I got a postcard from a mate in Mexico and from my screen at a merchant bank thought 'I fancy that.'

20 years later.....living the dream Smile

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 1:49 am Post subject:

I found a copy of an old book, from the 80's, "Living in Japan" I believe it was, cheaply made in the pre-Amazon/Internet days. That got me to start doing some basic research on the internet which later lead to picking up a copy of "Teaching English Overseas: A Job Guide for Americans and Canadians. Jeff Mohamed. English International Publications, Jan 1, 2000" which lead me to Dave's ESL Cafe Very Happy

Most of that took place in 2004.

After that, I also spoke to two people who had actually taught EFL in China & Taiwan. Then one day, I was in Denver, CO & I dropped into Bridge-Linguatec for a chat and to pick up a brochure. After more research, I went to Mexico, took a 120 hour on-site TEFL course and started teaching, that was in early 2005... And I am still working in the industry Cool

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Decision ? I do not recollect ever deciding that I wanted to be a teacher. It just happened. I did try working but I did not like that so teaching was okay for me. Nothing prepared me for being in small-town Saudi Arabia as an English teacher in 1970.

Being unhinged may have helped.

esl_prof · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 3:56 pm Post subject:

MuscatGary · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 12:21 pm Post subject:

My Basque g/f at uni in England was cute so when she said that her dad had a job for me at the uni in Bilbao I became a teacher.....