Job Discussion Forums

[Genki_Dama]

Hi,
This is my first post here, so please forgive any newbie mistakes.
I've taught ESL a little in both Korea and Thailand, my fiance and I have recently returned to Canada. We're thinking about going back to teach ESL and maybe make a long term career of it.
My question is this, is ESL teaching overseas a legitamit career path? Will there still exist a market for it in 10, 20, or 30 years?
All feedback is appreciated, thanks.

[Guy Courchesne]

I wonder sometimes if learning Mandarin or Cantonese as a foriegn language is where we will all be in 20 years!

There's a revealing thread about ESL/EFL careers right here...

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=19595

[stevenabroad]

I firmly believe that there is definitely a temporary window for westerners teaching ESL. The main reasons being the market becomes more and more saturated with job searchers every day ... equally qualified and non qualified westerners. This is driving the job requirements way up and causing salaries to stagnate or actually decrease in many cases.

Secondly, these countries will eventually become self sufficient once a large enough portion of the population is bilingual. Look at Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and even Hong Kong to some extent...not much if any demand for your run of the mill ESL teacher. So it's all just a matter of time before Daves ESL cafe becomes extinct.

Lastly, your working against the clock looking 20 to 30 years down the road since age discrimination exists, so even if there is a market you may not be wanted

I wasn't in the ESL market 10 years ago but all I ever hear was how much better it was for teachers

Legitimate ? What really is or isn't. If your looking at it from a financial perspective it would be relative to what type of salary you could earn back home, as well as cost of living factors, retirement savings potential etc etc

[Gordon]

That's an interesting point that has been raised. In Japan, although I wasn't here 10 years ago, I can safely say Japan was a better place 10 years ago than it is now to teach English. A big reason is that the economic bubble has burst here and money is not falling down like leaves in autumn. If you do not get the right credentials (masters, TEFL), TEFL is not a career or at least you will never have any sense of job security.

[Genki_Dama]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I really enjoyed living abroad and still have several more places I want to visit, but I need to get a career underway as well, I'm not getting any younger and I still need to get a masters in my field to make it worth while.

[donfan]

There is no future in ESL teaching. I did it for ten years and enjoyed it but feel that I am ten years behind all my friends at home in terms of savings, careers, family etc. I am now teaching primary school in Australia. The job benefits are so much better here teaching in Australia. I don't plan on ever going back overseas, unless it was to an international school where the benefits were comparable to what I get here. Forget ESL teaching. It's a dead-end road

[basiltherat]

I think its like many jobs. If you take a real interest in it, i think you can make a 'career' out of it. Its one of the lower paid 'careers', I agree, but there are many such 'careers'; their are people on 5-6 quid an hour in the uk who have spent years in the Care field. They enjoy it and feel that they are in some way contributing to society. So it can be in TEFL. Attitude and interest are the keys, i think. Some people have called it a farce (earlier thread) and to some extent, it can be, i suppose, but as i mentioned in that thread, most jobs and careers can be a farce at one time or another. Take politics for example !
basil

[Deconstructor]

Being a TEFLer is great if you are young, want to travel and make some money at the same time. How many careers will let you do that at 20? However, we all need to come home at the end of the day and get a bit of security, which you will not find in the crook laden and totally incompetent world of TEFL. Furthermore, traveling becomes a lonely adventure after a while.

You can't get a CELTA and pretend you have a career. That just won't cut it. I love teaching and will be a teacher always, but if I only had a CELTA, I would've been in the deepest sh*t when I got back home.

Listen to everyone's opinion before you make a decision. Once you do make that decision never have ears for what anyone has to say.

F. Nietzsche

[Guy Courchesne]

TEFL or CELTA on their own don't constitue a career. Neither does a degree in whichever field you choose. People make careers.

Life is a winding path that takes you to many places, always of your choosing. TEFL or CELTA might take you into something new, unrelated or directly related. I really don't see much of a point in a post that asks if this is the end when it hasn't yet begun.

How many of us here have come to TEFL, or left TEFL (or CELTA or teaching or whatever term you like best) from or towards something else? I'm a journalist. Then I became an English teacher in Mexico. Then I became some kind of human resources creature. Now I'm a teacher again, as well as a student. Who is to say what's next? Geez, I even thought about politics at one time, thinking about running for mayor of Penticton, BC.

You know, I will rekindle that idea and officially announce, right here, my candidacy for mayor of Penticton, BC for some future date.

[High Plains Drifter]

If you plan to stay young, single and childless forever, then yes, ESL is a great career. If you think you might get older, get married and have children, CHANGE CAREERS BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. See this thread:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=13054

[Gordon]

[Guy Courchesne]

Same here Gordon, down south in Mexico with a wife and working on having some of those children things...oh! I don't have cable TV, but wait, that's by choice. Nevermind.

Too many factors to adequately answrer the OP...depends on the person and less the place/field.

[Gordon]

[Deconstructor]

Ultimately, dear OP, it is a choice that you may make and then its vices and virtues will become clear to you in a way uncommon to anyone else. This is why listening to others' opinions is confusing.

As Crashen said: Those who believeth in me shalleth entereth the kingdometh of grammareth.

May thee find the answers to thine profound questions such as:

�What is a classroom?� and �Shall I use L1 in the holy place called the Classroom?�

�What is the difference between an adverb and an adjective, if any?�


May thee be blessed by the good book: Headway.

Or the new testament: Headway: Second Addition.

Remember: God speaks English ONLY and wants all his TEFLers to spread his words.

AMEN

[Gordon]