Job Discussion Forums

[Niste]

The Economist has published its latest quality of life ratings for 111 of the world's countries. They are based on: material wellbeing, health, political stability & security, family life, community life, climate & geography, job security, political freedom and gender equality.

They juggled these around with a subjective life-satisfaction survey and a positive swarm of statistics and it turns out that IRELAND is top of the quality pops, with Switzerland pushing it all the way. Australia is about 6th, the US & Canada 13th and 14th respectively and the UK a lowly 29th. You can't beat a good league table, can you ?

Turkey was 50th, 11 places higher than its GDP rating. That's got to be good -in Turkey, people are over 20% happier than they are rich. Agreed ? As this quality of life issue is one of continuous contention between me (who's happyish to be in the uk for now) and my partner, (who would rather be back in Turkey), I found the survey quite convenient.

By the way, the bottom country was Zimbabwe.

[Niste]

No takers ? Ireland the most satisfactory country to live in in the world ? Turkey only 50th ? Whaddayareckon ? Anyway, here is the url. Scroll down for the full list. Contain your excitement.

http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf

[dmb]

Ireland the happiest? I'd be happy too if I could get Guiness on every corner. I prefer living here. For an EFL teacher it is better here than the UK. (Now, I wonder who will disagree )

[ghost]

For all ghost's criticisms of Turkey, etc., the ghost prefers Turkey (in retrospect) to Taiwan, where ghost works at present. Taiwan is hot/humid/crowded with a very difficult language to master (Chinese Mandarin). At least in Turkey, there were many decent people that you could have a chat with and friendships.

Not that the Taiwanese are bad, but just that the cultural divide between Westerners and Taiwanese is huge - and it is difficult to relate.

Most teachers in Taiwan confess that they are just here (in Taiwan) for the money, to pay off their students loans etc....and this is pretty easy to do, because average salaries are around $2000 U.S. per month, with many making much more, because they teach 'privates' on the side.

In Turkey teachers make about half the salary, but they (the teachers in Turkey) appear to enjoy the laid back lifestyle more. It is a choice between quality of life and money.

[saloma]

I am in Taiwan and going to make the jump to Turkey. Ghost is right, the money is good and easy, but there is something missing here, and that (for me) seems to be that huge gulf that cannot be bridged. Part of it is language, part of it is cultural, and part of it it racial - you can never blend in here.

At some point you have to ask yourself, what's more important, money or lifestyle? When I came here with a huge debt, it was money. Now I'm older and wiser, (and debt free) I am going somewhere where I'll make less money, but I can enjoy life a little fuller.

Usually people on message boards love to complain and gripe. For the most part though, there is not a lot of complaining and griping on this message board, (save one individual). Teachers in Turkey seem to be pretty content, and that speaks volumes.

[Albulbul]

People from an Anglo-american or European background have much more in common with the levantine/Turkish culture than with China.

It is much easier for us to function in Turkey than in Taiwan or China !

[dmb]

Ghost, with experience, 1000$ a month is the bottom end of the market. I'm sure others will agree.

[31]

[dmb]

[31]

As I am now in the fold will I have to host a TEFL houseparty?

[dmb]

I'm sure we all eagerly await invites.

[31]

The first rule of TEFL houseparties is of course to bring cans or bottles but to always drink more than you bring, so being economical and getting one over on your fellow TEFLers.

There must be no food EXCEPT if you are having a pot luck party.

We can talk about anything.

But we must talk about the Kurds.

We must all pretend to be having a good time tefling here.

We must not mention the real world too much and no house price talk.

[ghost]

The students in Taiwan are easier to handle than the Turkish ones, because respect for teachers is much more prevalent here (in Taiwan). Having said that, teaching in Taiwan can be VERY BORING because students here (in Taiwan) tend to lack imagination and curiosity. Their education system is based more on rote learning and memorization, and this works against natural curiosity and imagination. It is cultural, and ingrained.

Ghost also has the misfortune of working at a High School which accepts students who have either been expelled or could not keep up with the curriculum in the 'normal' Taiwanese mainstream schools. The result is that ghost has some classes of Taiwanese 'rejects' and or 'dullards.'

The first thing the new teachers were told when arriving here, was that many of the students sleep in class, because they are up all night playing on the computers (which appears to be the favourite Taiwanese pastime for the youth).

There is less money in Turkey, but as someone pointed out, we (as Brits/Canucks/Aussies/Kiwis/Springboks) have much more in common with the Turks in comparison with the Chinese/Taiwanese...even though, at times, many foreigners in Turkey complain about cultural differences and frustrations, and ghost did a lot of that too during its time in Turkey.

At the end of the day - the vast majority in Taiwan are in it for the money and savings, but in Turkey, for certain foreigners, the lifestyle and lack of stress brings them back year after year. Some foreigners have a 'love-hate' relationship with Turkey, but at least that is better, one assumes, than having a zero-indifferent relationship with Taiwan, where it is difficult to fit in.

[31]

You can change countries but TEFL is always the same.