Job Discussion Forums

[PanamaTeacher]

HELP! I have a concern and I would like some opinions, negative or positive, it doesn't matter. I am a 45 year-old man and I have been teaching esl/efl in Panama for 7 years. I had some teaching experience in the US as well as 9 years of college (over-educated). I started doing it out of a need to make money temporarily, but I found it to be the best way to make a living.

What worries me now is that unlike other types of work, teaching esl/efl has not given me any sense of stability, at least in terms of having an income. In other words, I live from student to student and/or short-term job to short-term job. I sometimes go for several months with little money, but then things pick up again. Working in my field is not an option because my written spanish is only so-so, so I'm better off teaching.

The problem is that every month or so new people drop into the country, and they are willing to work for survival wages while they trek in the jungles for a few months. I am all for youth having its fling, so I don't resent them. Yet, this keeps salaries low at most schools, because school owners know that someone will take that job making $3.00-7.00 an hour at a language school or $300-700 a month if it is a private elem/high school. Usually these folks work illegally for 3 months on a tourist visa (but not at better schools). At most schools the semesters or levels last 8 weeks and owners don't care about a high turnover rate since money not education is the primary motivation. In fact, I sense the owners are predators living of the new arrivals.

I want to "settle down," mentally at least, but I am worried that because there seems to be a preference (at least here in Panama) for hiring younger teachers with less experience, I may find myself unemployable at 50 or 60, if I try to make a career out of teaching esl/efl. I have read many postings in this forum, and I know that most of you agree that experience is a plus. However, teaching seems to be sort of like acting and there are fewer roles for older "stars." (Mr. de Mille, I'm ready for my close-up now--Norma Desmond)

What I want to know is this: Can a person teach esl/efl forever, or is there a point where age is such a handicap that one becomes unemployable. Does anyone know of someone that has prospered as an esl/efl teacher after 55 or 60. Or is it stupid for me to yearn for stability, should I just enjoy it while it lasts? If anyone wants to be harsh, that's OK because I would be happy to know that my secret fears are nothing but humbug.

Thanks for any help.

[bnix]

Teaching TESOL is not a stable career.The only exception is if you are lucky enough to find a very stable position where they treat you well,etc.These are distressingly rare in this field.The bad news is that ,if you are yearning for stability,you are definitely in the wrong field.Some people actually like the instability,the excitement.
However,as people get older,many want to "settle down" as you do....difficult to do in this field.That is why you should always have a non-TESOL option.

Yes,it is an unfortunate fact, that as you get older,you will probably have more difficulty getting jobs.A big problem,especially considering the fact the overwhelming majority of the contracts in this business are one year contracts.So you never know from year to year whether they will rehire you or you will have to get out and scrounge around for another job next year.As you get older,this becomes more difficult and distasteful for most people.

I personally know people who are in their mid sixties and still teaching TESOL(a few,not a lot).Prospering?Well,they are surviving.I would not use the word "prospering".How many teachers of TESOL(at any age)"prosper"?

[PanamaTeacher]

By survival do you mean verge of starvation or living on very little?
When I started out I had to live on very little; starving is what worries me.

[bnix]

I meant living on very little...not starving.Despite its drawbacks,if you are knowledgeable in this field,and willing to move wherever the job is,you can probably get some kind of job(at least enough to stave off starvation) as LONG AS YOUR HEALTH HOLDS UP.If you get sick and cannot work at all,that is a big problem, obviously.
In your younger years,if you really intend to make TESOL a career(a somewhat debatable choice),you should make the financial moves to sock away enough for your old age and if you become sick.If you don't ,you will almost certainly have problems.

In addition to being unstable,this "profession" is really for single people,not people with families.There may be some people out there( I am almost certain we will hear from a few) who have mangaged to do the TESOL thing and still have a family.Sure,it is possible.But not easy, to put it mildly.
Again, I strongly suggest you think about one ono-TESOL option.I believe the profession( ),if anything is becoming more unstable due to the continuing influx of unqualified people.

[bnix]

"non", not "ono". Just a typo.

[PanamaTeacher]

Thanks for your response bnix. I think that I should be able to at least survive. The problem is that I mostly teach private classes and with the economy down and the proliferation of new schools here in Panama my business has been cut in half over the last 2 years.

I am basically committed to working independently for the rest of my life as much as possible. What I do now is concentrate on high-end classes--tutoring for the SAT, TOEFL, GMAT exams and helping kids with literature, science, history, economics homework after school.

For your info, I was a substitute teacher in the US for 5 years to pay my way through school, but I never took any education courses. Luckily, no one in Panama has ever asked to see my credentials (not even a HS diploma) and they don't seem to care about TEFL or CELTA certificates. I do know that working at a university or top private school is out of the question for me.

I want to stay in Panama, it is like a foreign country and the US combined. I love being here. I am not married and my income is so unstable that I don't think I can afford having a wife. That makes me sad.

I guess you are saying that many older teachers feel financially insecure. I don't have a non-teaching option in mind. I don't want to go back to the grind of a "real" 9-to-5 job in some office with a boss. I could easily work in a local school when I'm older, but that only pays a few hundred bucks a month. I guess I'll never starve, but I'm doomed to poverty. I better start preparing some options for the future.