Job Discussion Forums

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

Been in EFL for 20 years and the offers advertised just seem to get worse and worse. Would you do it all over again? Do you think people should get into it?

Even in the Middle East, the deals are becoming far from generous.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

My advice is to get a job as a Tube Driver in London.

JN · Joined: 17 Jan 2008 Posts: 214

I would have gotten accreditation as a teacher in the US, so I could now have a chance to work in international schools. That's what I would have done differently.

buravirgil · Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 3:29 pm Post subject:

Market, schmarket.

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

I think that's a sound thought JN.

buravirgil · Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 5:47 pm Post subject: Re: Yep JN

esl_prof · Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:07 pm Post subject:

Didn't get into it for the money. Definitely haven't stayed in it for the money. Could I have made life choices that were more financially lucrative? Yes, but I didn't. And I'm okay with that. One doesn't spend two decades in Latin America for the money. There are other reasons to go, but money isn't one of them.

peripatetic_soul · Joined: 20 Oct 2013 Posts: 303

I'm with esl_prof. I didn't pursue it to be affluent. However, as a parent with a mortgage and tertiary ESL jobs being what they have been for so long (i.e., adjuncting sans any benefits), I made the wise decision to pursue a Plan B and got certified to teach ESL in public school which paid much more with some stability and solid benefits. However, now, those jobs offer less perks and for instance, there were no raises in our state for over 6 years. My friend has had the same salary as in 2008. The state retirement system no longer pays the 100% into your retirement, and the health insurance packages are pathetic (as bad as the Marketplace)!
However, not only has the ESL/EFL "industry" been adversely affected.

Let's face the reality. Almost all jobs have been dramatically shaved in one respect or another. A friend's daughter was accustomed to a 6-figure income (in marketing) but took leave to raise a child now cannot find anything lucrative and salaries plummeted to 5 figures with not so generous health care benefits. We hear about layoffs and downsizing on a frequent basis. You know the Bob Dylan lyrics, "The times, they are a changin'." And that's not just in the teaching world.

I think it's important to do what you love so that, as I think it was Johnslat who commented thus, it doesn't seem like a job. I share those sentiments. I intend to continue teaching until I "turn in my rice tickets" as the Chinese proverb goes, or the college implements a new policy banning octogenarians. HA

Best regards,
PS

johnslat · Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 8:26 pm Post subject:

I probably would (start out in ESL today), even though I suspect that I was very fortunate to have started when I did (1978) and was in Saudi Arabia in the 80s and 90s - with a good employer - when the situation there was seemingly better than it is now.

I probably wouldn't be as lucky today, but I'd still get to see much of the world mostly on someone else's dime, and to me, that's enough to take the chance.

One attitude I've never been able to fathom is not caring to explore this planet as much as possible. I mean, as far as I know, we get only one chance, and to pass it up seems, to me, to be very strange.

Regards,
John

plumpy nut · Joined: 12 Mar 2011 Posts: 1652

The Asians seem to look at Westerners as an easy way to make money now, and they do not care about ethics or starting schools with serious acreditation (Western style).
I wouldn't recommend pursuing a teaching career in Asia period. Salaries are dropping, because Asians know that there will always be a handful of Westerners wishing to make a little bit of quick money. Notice how I said quick money? Westerners are now viewed as easy pickings with individuals that are in any way compromised by circumstances (a lot of times propagated by Asian systems lacking in any decency at all) being offered ridiculously low salaries. Saudi Arabia is a real good example. In Saudi Arabia, I have been offered salaries as low as US $1300 to US $1500, because someone in the school felt that they could get away with it. Of course their haughty attitude which most people know is, "if you don't like it then don't come". In reality a person shouldn't go, and Wester leaders shouldn't go either. It is not just the Gulf countries either, it's very similar in other places. The difference is in South East Asia is it's worth going just to be there in of itself. While a person is working in the West, the system provides all kinds of things that individuals need. Asian proprietors could care a less about those things.

esl_prof

spanglish · Joined: 21 May 2009 Posts: 742 Location: working on that

Short answer: no.

Longer answer: rich are getting richer and squeezing everybody, so TEFL teachers aren't the only ones getting much rawer deals than before. What an entry level sales job and high school diploma got one in 1952 is equivalent to what you now can get with a (very expensive and marketable) master's degree, 3-5 years relevant experience; and luck, grit, and persistence. Lesson for me was to get as educated as I could and try to learn how to take greater advantage of this more dystopian market. I've still got the adventure bug and expect to see a lot more of this world, but it'd be nice to also be able to buy a house someday in my home country and know I can afford health care. TEFL wasn't going to do that for me, as much as I enjoyed the magic of the classroom and my (mostly) great students. One problem I saw with teaching is you are forever a provider of a service and thus subject to the whims and machinations of the market and the boss. Apart from taking positions in truly hardship posts, it was difficult to see how to differentiate oneself and stem the marked and steady decline in pay and benefits.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 11:13 am Post subject:

So, the Piggie market isn't to the liking of everyone? Then, declare a soviet, and nationalise all the private language schools in your territory. Don't let the Piggies 'incentivise' you. Collectivise instead!!!

mitsui · Joined: 10 Jun 2007 Posts: 1562 Location: Kawasaki

PS what state are you working in?
At least at public schools teachers can get a state pension, which is more than I get in Japan.

malynn · Joined: 10 Aug 2015 Posts: 1

I've been in the ESL/EFL field for more than 20 years. I got into it because I needed to pay off student loans. I stayed with it when I returned home because I liked the students and I thought I liked teaching.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have gone to Japan exactly as I did to pay off my loans and get a bit ahead. Then I would have come home and gone right back to school to get a trade under my belt - plumbing, electrician...

I'm fairly settled in my life now and where I am the ESL jobs have changed...I was teaching ESL at a public institute, but due to changes in the field, markets. etc, I lost my job three years ago. ESL is no longer a profession.

I'm now re-training in the field of bookkeeping/accounting.

Oh well I had a great run and met a lot of great people...but certainly would choose a different path were I 23 years old again.