Job Discussion Forums

[Viracocha]

Hi Newbies,

I�m a veteran ESL teacher, having taught in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and the USA. Here�s the best advice I can give to anyone starting out in this field: CHANGE CAREERS BEFORE IT�S TOO LATE. And by too late, I mean before you�re married, have children and other responsibilities, and cannot afford the disruption in your life and income that a career change entails. Don�t get me wrong; I love teaching, and I love teaching English. Teaching is (sometimes) very satisfying, and teaching ESL has allowed me to travel the world, but I can�t go home again.

When you�re young, you don�t think of the future�I certainly didn�t. Teaching ESL seems like a really cool way to travel and get paid for it, and it is for a few years, but what about 25 or 30 years? Someday you�ll get married, and then someday you�ll have a child, and maybe another, and maybe another. That may not be part of your plan, but it has a way of just happening (especially the children part). After a few years abroad, you�ll want to return to your country. Maybe because you�ve satisfied your wanderlust, maybe because you don�t want you children to be strangers in their own country, maybe because you want to be close to your parents in their final years, and guess what�you won�t be able to. You won�t have a prayer of finding a job in your own country that will give you anything like the lifestyle you�ve become accustomed to. In fact, you won�t have a prayer of finding a full-time job at all. To support your family you�ll have to patch together two or three part-time jobs. You�ll be working day and night, and your office will be your car. And forget about health insurance for you, your wife, and your children. Your employer (if you have one) won�t provide it, and there�s no way you�ll be able to afford it.

Am I bitter? No. Am I blaming anyone? No. This is the life I have made for myself, and it isn�t that bad. I�m making pretty good money, but I�ve had enough of living abroad, and I�d like to go home, but there�s no way. So my earnest advice to anyone considering a career as an ESL teacher is DON�T DO IT. If you're smart, literate, and articulate enough to be an ESL teacher, there are plenty of other things you�d be good at too. If you are determined to go abroad, at least get a teaching certificate before you go. Not only will it open some doors abroad, it�ll help you get a decent teaching job when you return.

Viracocha

[TEAM_PAPUA]

Great post! I totally understand what you are saying here. And I agree with everything you say. Also, no health insurance benefits, national health cover (UK) etc. But for me it's perfect. I was married 2 times in the UK, returned to education late (A-Levels, BA, CELTA), travelled the world(before teaching) & now love a life of no responsibility. I do not intend to get married again, just want an easy life away from the rat race & the constant chasing up of bill payment - in the last 3 years (since teaching) I have seen the most incredible places, slept with the most incredible women, bought anything & everything I could ever want, lived a care free - bill free life and chilled out! (lonely at times of course but not tied down to a 25 year house loan!). I am fortunate that I am an only child so my future is fairly secure - but whatever I get I will blow no doubt on big bikes & little beach houses in paradise! As the movie 'Trainspotting' says, I chose LIFE & for me this is living - 9-5 in a sh*tend job, waking up to the same miserable daily grind for 40 years is NOT life - IMO. It's not all bikes, beaches, beer & women - sometimes it's damn awful, BUT, it's better than being a slave to the grind.

I must admit that I was a little pissed off when I returned to the UK last year to see my beautiful blonde ex-wife driving around in a Toyota Landcruiser on the way back to her $300.000 house (not mine I should add, all her own hard work) I did, briefly, think what life could've been like, but as long as I have a decent laptop, a few Nikons & bike I really couldn't give a damn.

I've always dreamed of being irresponsible & care free, this is as close as I can get!

Thanks mate Your post is much needed reading, but doesn't apply to everyone.

Good luck buddy wherever you are.


T_P

[ls650]

[Viracocha]

[Glenski]

[denise]

Good wake-up call, full of issues that I think I will be grappling with in a couple of years (minus the kids). Still, as others have pointed out, things don't have to be so bleak. One alternative that I will probably pursue (if those cushy, full-time, salary + benefits university jobs in the States continue to be out of reach) is to get a teaching credential in the public K-12 system and teach high school ESL, for which there is quite a demand in some places. There are always options.

Still, you raise some serious issues. If I had given serious thought to my future when I got into EFL five years ago, I don't know if I would still be here. So far I am convinced that I made the right decision, but who knows what will happen?!?!?

d

[mesmerod]

the only lesson i learned from the original post is to WEAR A CONDOM!




...and dont give out my real name.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

But you could actually say the same thing about a lot of careers. There is an assumption here that if you have a BA and do not go overseas to teach that you could have a much better life in your home country. It's just not true. A lot of people get BAs and work retail jobs or waiting tables for years and years.

Teaching overseas doesn't close doors, it just may not open them. So if you go overseas and teach for a decade or whatever, and then come back and try to get into another line of work, you are starting over. The only big problem is the lack of jobs teaching ESL in English speaking countries. How many jobs are there for someone with a degree in English Literature or History or Philosophy with no further training?

[Billy Chaka]

I agree with Denise - things don't have to be so bleak. Are things hard when you come back from teaching EFL abroad? Absolutely. Are things hopeless? Absolutely not. Changing careers is hard, but this just doesn't apply to former EFL teachers - it applies to everyone who changes careers. I'm not sure what country Viracocha is from, but in the U.S.A., people are getting laid off and downsized all the time. Things have changed. NOTHING is a sure thing anymore. A lot of people have to change careers. They have mortgage payments, they have debt to pay off, and they still manage to do it. It very difficult sometimes, but they do it. In the U.S.A. there are these wonderful little things called community colleges. They're relatively cheap, and within 1-2 years, you can get career training if that's what you want to do and be off and running. And my advice would be to not think that you're too good to go to a community college. A lot of smart and ambitious people go there.

When I first came back from teaching EFL abroad my views were quite similar to those of Viracocha, and I thought my situation was unique to returning EFL teachers, but it really wasn't at all. I quickly learned that in today's economy changing careers is totally normal - in fact, hardly anybody stays in the same career their whole life anymore. In fact, I think it would be so boring to do the same thing (whether it be EFL teaching or anything else) for my whole life.

So my advice to newbies would be to absolutely do EFL if that is what you want to do, and do it for as long as you want to do it, whether it's 1 year or 20 years. And then when you don't want to do it anymore (if ever), go do something else. Just realize that when you decide to go do something else that it's going to be hard. But it's not just hard for former EFL teachers, but it's hard for everybody that changes careers, but still nowadays almost everybody does it.

[Ariadne]

There are really quite a lot of jobs for ESL teachers in the public schools, universities, and community colleges in the US. Almost every grade school, middle school and high school has some kind of ESL or ELL program. Lots of folks need to learn English. Many foreign students have discovered that community colleges are less expensive than 4 year institutions, so the community colleges are doing a bang up business. Reqirements vary, but getting an additional teaching certification in ESL can really open doors.

The US government hires teachers for dependent schools on military bases around the world. Certification is required of course. Teach and travel with all the benefits.

People who don't have a teaching certificate can work as aides in the public schools in the US. The pay is lower than for a teacher, but there would be benefits. ESL/ELL programs always need aides or para educators.

I'm sure there are programs in other English speaking countries as well.

Seems to me that there are plenty of options.

[surfingyogini]

You guys make me stoked to be an Australian! So, I travel around the world doing something I love and if I decide to return home, married with kids, not only do I have national health cover but child allowance and the dole to tide me over until i can get a job! God bless Australia![/b]

[ls650]

[dagi]

but... this opinion could be applied to many other jobs as well! I've been trained in mechanics and I would strongly advise people not to chose the proffession I've chosen when I left school? Why? All the company outplace the interesting work to companies in 3rd world countries where production costs are low. More and more companies are leaving Western Europe and it is damn hard to find a really interesting and well paid job in mechanics nowadays. My proffesion is not very broad and there is no way to work yourself up. Once in a toolshop always in a toolshop.
Concerning teaching, you just have to get prepared. People who think 'oh, I speak English, so I can teach' and just hop off to some far away country might have a problem when they return home. But if you have a degree/certificate and are serious in teaching you can make it. All you have to accept is that in Western countries your employer won't pay all the extras you are used to.
And when it come to getting married and have kids, who says that the guy needs to earn the money? Women can work, too!! And yes I am a woman and would be willing to support the family if my husband couldn't find a job or wants/needs to make a career change!!!

[High Plains Drifter]

Maybe Viracocha should have titled his post �Attention Newbies who have any hope of someday having a family and living in your own country, owning even a modest house in a safe neighborhood and not being in debt up to your eyeballs: CHANGE CAREERS BEFORE IT�S TOO LATE.�

Of course not everyone in this biz wants to or ever will have a family, look for a job back home, or buy a house back home. But I think Viracocha�s point was that if you do, then it�s going to be pretty darned hard to do as an ESL teacher. I wonder how many of you who scoff at Viracocha are single 20 somethings who haven�t got a clue what it costs to raise children or buy a house. Yes, it sounds hopelessly corny and uncool, but it just might happen to you. And I laugh at the rosy picture some of you paint as to the availability of good jobs in the USA. What do you suppose even the full time jobs pay? Could you support a family on that? Ask Mommy and Daddy what it costs to feed and clothe children or what the mortgage payment is on the house you moved out of a couple of years ago. Could you afford that? And even if there are full time jobs, where are they? Anywhere you could afford to live? They�re in big cities where the only affordable housing would either be a rented closet in town or a house 75 miles away, beyond suburbia, in the countryside. Either that or live in a gang-infested neighborhood where you�ll be afraid to go out at night. Is that where you want your kids to grow up? And for every full-time job, how many people apply for them? I know a guy with a pretty good resume who applied a few years ago for a full-time position with a community college outside of Seattle. He heard nothing so after a while he decided to be proactive and called them to see if he could drop by for an interview. They told that he was welcome to come but his chances weren�t good�they�d received 4,900 applications for the position.

Sure, go into ESL, but at least know what you�re getting into, and give some thought to how you�ll get out.

[ls650]