Job Discussion Forums

Gregor · Joined: 06 Jan 2005 Posts: 842 Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

Hi everyone.
Remember me? I went back to the US recently, and promised that I'd let everyone know how it went.
So far, it's OK. Not great, but I have a perfectly good teaching job at St. Giles Language Center in downtown San Francisco.
The job is good. It's pretty much what I'm used to - low salary, typical EFL/ESL school with the same kinds of things I did at language mills in other countries. They like me and they already want to put me into a position of authority, and I can eventually work my way into teacher training, because they do Celta courses here.
But I recently gave my notice. I'm leaving the job.
Why? Because San Francisco is exorbitantly expensive. Also, I have decided to live near my family up in Oregon. But I have SOME work lined up there - I have a class that I have promised to teach, and that will pay pretty much whatever I want it to.
I plan to try to work in one of a couple language schools I know in Eugene, but I have higher hopes of getting a job in a charter school (a relatively inexpensive alternative to the crap public schools they have), or else see if I can't teach ESL in, or maybe somehow connected to, the public schools. The demand for ESL there is HIGH. The opportunities for learning it and/or teaching it is another matter, BUT! In that I smell opportunity. perhaps I can get my own thing going. We shall see.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I do NOT want to live here and I miss being an expat. This life does not suit me. I want to go home (which, for me, means pretty much anywhere in the world BUT the English speaking world). But this is my wife's gig. She won the battle, and I promised to give it a year. So there we go.
The upshot - whatever problems I may have, finding teaching work doesn't seem to be among them.
I'll do another update in a few weeks, let you know how Oregon goes. But the point in all of this is that there IS teaching work. You just need to be experienced and qualified. And you can get that experience and qualification as an ESL teacher abroad. I am proof of that. So you CAN go home again. It's just...would you WANT to?

mlomker · Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 378

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

Oh no! I'm sorry that SF hasn't worked out for you. I was really encouraged by your other post. I typically like to have jobs lined up well in advance with all of the details taken care of (not remotely spontaneous!), but the lure of San Francisco is pretty strong. I've also got family up in Oregon, so I will be choosing between SF and Oregon when I am done with my current job. Looks like I'll be following in your footsteps!

d

QatarChic · Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 445 Location: Qatar

Great to see you still sticking at it Gregor! Smile

- a year is enough to test the water and decide whether or not it's for you. I went back to the UK a few years back for a year, but once I was there and saw how expensive things were, tax, council tax, etc etc missed the lifestyle of an expat and came back out again. I guess we're lucky in that for the time being there will always be plenty of jobs overseas. Who knows, I may go back eventually but not for now....

Super Mario · Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 12:49 am Post subject:

Hi Gregor
I thought you were unnecessarily gloomy re: your job prospects before leaving China. All of the major English speaking nations are taking in migrants and refugees, not to mention students, at a reasonable rate, so people to teach them will always be in demand. On my return,I shopped around and tried a few different places, finally settling on the international student scene as it had tenure and better pay.
I actually prefered working with adult migrants and refugeees, but ongoing 10 week contracts didn't offer the security a family needs.
I'd still rather be back in Zhong Guo though!

jr1965 · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 175

Hi Gregor,

I followed your last post with interest as well since I'm from SF and was glad to hear that someone was able to move back there and make it as an ESL teacher. It's such a wonderful city! I returned to it after living in Asia for a number of years, and like you� immediately wanted to leave. At that point, the dotcom thing was just taking off and prices were on the rise, though nothing like they are now.

You said