Job Discussion Forums

[esl_prof]

This is my first attempt at running a poll. Hopefully, we're allowed to choose more than one item as many of us have more than one single thing that motivates us. The four categories in the poll were borrowed from Susan Griffith's Teaching English Abroad. My guess is that there are others that she might have missed.

Please feel free to comment.

[rioux]

When I first started teaching I just needed a job and a girlfriend.

I'm married now so I just need a job.

[water rat]

double posting

[water rat]

I clicked the third option, but either of the first two would have been equally true. All right, the second choice maybe not so much, but definitely not the fourth. I am a good Catholic boy, but I know to keep my faith to myself in the classroom. It's the priests' job to line up new recruits, not mine. If you had made, "Money, money, money" an option I would have clicked that. No one much gets rich teaching, least of all teaching English abroad, but I knew that going in. I just wanted a job less strenuous and filthy than the sort of jobs I had in my youth.

[esl_prof]

I started out in TEFL on a two year volunteer stint with a faith-based NGO in Latin America (option 3). Upon completion of that commitment, I stayed in the region for another three-and-a-half years, teaching English while completing a masters program at a local university (option 2 -- sort of). Long story short, I'm still teaching English all these years later so I guess that makes me a serious career teacher (option 1, which is what I selected in the poll above), though more by default than intentional.

[Shonai Ben]

It's a job.
And,one that I actually enjoy.

[scot47]

I got tired of sleeping on park benches. Being a bum is hard work.

[MuscatGary]

I clicked 'other' but really it's for money. I've not found it hard to make decent money but only because I'm prepared to put up with working in sandpits.

[Agamemnon]

I started out 20 odd years ago, it was a different world then and I had some ideals about what a teacher should be like, maybe even thought I would become a better person for it. The most amazing thing is that I have survived while many others haven't for many different reasons. Still to be honest, its only the money that keeps me going, not a great fortune in real terms but it has given me a better lifestyle than I would have got back in my own country.
Maybe a chance to write a scathing insight to all this bs we call teaching would be a stronger motivation.

[MotherF]

2015 is my twentieth anniversary as a teacher of English as a foreign language!

But I don't see the world as being so different. I started as 2 (and try to keep some of that alive) veered into 3, then realized 1 was a viable option and a good fit for my personality.

I work in the public sector, so we try to steer clear of 4.

[JazzPanda]

I'm new to the world of teaching, having spent the past two summers teaching in Germany and now moving to Japan for the year so I'd say, at the moment, my main motivation for teaching is broadening my horizons by meeting new, interesting people and traveling to different countries and experiencing a different way of life

[BadBeagleBad]

I started out teaching Elementary school but realized while I like individual children just fine, I don´t really care to teach children in a public school setting. I started doing volunteer work teaching adults, which was much more satisfying, so made the switch to teaching adults and never looked back. I really enjoy teaching motivated students, and while not every student I have had has been super motivated, the majority of them have been. So I guess my answer would be that I enjoy teaching, but since it was not an option I picked career teacher.

[BadBeagleBad]

I started out teaching Elementary school but realized while I like individual children just fine, I don´t really care to teach children in a public school setting. I started doing volunteer work teaching adults, which was much more satisfying, so made the switch to teaching adults and never looked back. I really enjoy teaching motivated students, and while not every student I have had has been super motivated, the majority of them have been. So I guess my answer would be that I enjoy teaching, but since it was not an option I picked career teacher.

[natsume]

They are mixed, for me. 2, and to a lesser extent 3, were the initial motivations for 1, which I do take very seriously.

I tried straight high school English teaching in the states, and had similar realizations to the Bad Beagle regarding population and motivation of students.

[MENA_chica]

I chose the first! I started out tutoring whilst applying for jobs after completing my postgraduate degree, then overtime I realised that I really enjoyed teaching English and would love to make a career out of it. Did the CELTA, and as they say, the rest is a mystery...sorry, history!