Job Discussion Forums

[thrifty]

Towards the end of my DELTA course the trainer was going through some paperwork and there was a form from Cambridge asking us if we would let ourselves be tracked by Cambridge. He threw the form away but I wonder if it was some attempt by Cambridge to get stats on things like who stays in TEFL.

[SueH]

Hmm, well, I did my Celta at a Home Counties FE college where of the original 12 back in 2001 there probably aren't any full timers. A youngster went on to do a PGCE and a few of the nice middle class married women I believe teach (very) part time, as does your correspondent (who is single and educationally middle class, if definitely not economically or by background), dear reader.

Apropos of nothing, apart from the fact that my butterfly mind has just remembered; has anyone read 'The Castle of Otranto' by Horace Walpole?
Nobody will have read it for pleasure, but with all the academics here... it's just a thought... as I happened to visit said castle last week.

The late night bar calls... obviously!

[Justin Trullinger]

Strangely, yes, though not recently. What was the castle like?

And why would nobody have read it for pleasure? Doesn't anybody like Horace Walpole?



Justin

[kuberkat]

Poignant post.

What I want from ELT is:

Time to have a life
Fulfilling work
A chance to live in other cultures
A chance to learn new languages
An opportunity to live comfortably and invest royally

Thanks for the reminder.

[Gordon]

What I want from EFL:
a 5 bed house
private jet at my disposal
private pool
maid
2 day work week
40 weeks holidays/yr
motivated students
Any suggestions where I should apply?

[kuberkat]

Gordon, while you're at it, why settle for anything less than perfection. Could we throw some groupies into the bargain? And a personal stylist with unlimited wardrobe budget? Yacht for educational outings? Personal spa? UN goodwill ambassador status? That's the spirit.

[Gordon]

[william wallace]

nil

[Will.]

Day off so a quick looksie to the UK forum
Main point of satisfaction among teachers is from achieving objectives set out before embarking upon the EFL career, note career, main point of disatisfaction from unhappy teflers..not getting a decent enough situation due mainly to not having expectations of what to get from a job, note job.

Point 1:
Is professional development something we overlook when training our teachers, whichever course we teach, because WE know what they will find. Do you feel you received enough input on your training course to help you plan a future

Point 2:
Do you think that more attention should be paid to a career structure and pushing the idea of a career within the EFL world starting with CELTA/CTESOL/Intro certs type training courses as opposed to the short term "travel and see the world" aspect? or should we encourage the marketing of EFL as a quick return teaching course for organisations to sell and profit from a high turnover of teachers that guaratees they keep trainng low level, one off, short term, teachers to replace those who 'move on'

I wonder what the numbers are for initial training (Celta type) trainees for first language speakers of English versus advanced (Delta/MA Tefl type) trainees. Anyone know? Not just from one organisation but from the lot, . I have a feeling we would be shocked. but it would give us a better idea of turnover in the industry, note I do note use 'profession', a distinction some of you may find unjustifiably harsh. I have a hunch that the majority of low level is NS and the higher NNS

[JZer]

I want to see another country and make enough to invest so that I can retire by 40.

[Will.]

It is a bit late for me to do that I passed that mark a while ago.
The more I think about it I do believe Gordon has the right idea. I think all EFL employers should offer a free maid service with their accommodation just to guarantee our shirts are freshly washed and nicely ironed to kep up the image of the company. A small investment on their part to help us poor struggling teachers.
I think expecting for motivated students is pushing your luck a bit though, you have more chance of getting the personal jet

[Chancellor]

As one of those who is new to TEFL, it's been interesting to read many of the posts in these forums from those of you who have been doing this stuff for a while.

What do I want out of TEFL? If it was about money, I'd just stick to what I'm doing now (earning almost $70K/year writing judges' decisions). I would, however, like to earn enough to at least have a comfortable apartment and to be able to do more than merely subsist. I want the employer to provide reasonably consistent working hours and the opportunity for further professional development.

I recently spent a month at a national plus school in Indonesia and enjoyed it. Would I want to work in such a school long term? I'm not sure teaching children would be my first choice but I would certainly consider it.

[Will.]

Hi Chancellor,

Would it not be easier and cheaper, not to mention more effective, for you to continue at your current job and teach as a hobby, once a year as a vacation, then you could get what you want fron both worlds and once a year you would be able to review your opinion and situation and then let us all know the result.
I ccan see it now.

The Chancellor Report
TEFL is definitely better than report writing this year.

Headlines worldwide,

CHANCELLOR TAKES UP TEFL FULL TIME

'following this announcement there was a surge of new trainees fighting for a place on a tefl course. The black market price of a TEFL course has tripled in one month

Well we can dream....
Unfortunately, that was what got most of us into this scrape in the first place

[Gregor]

Will, you call TEFL "this scrape" that we get ourselves into.
I don't really see it like that.
What do ESL teachers want? Well, I guess what someone wants out of TEFL is going to depend a great deal on what his or her options might be otherwise.

I'm not a newbie. I've been in TEFL for more than nine years. I like the job. So when I get into a new one (usually as a DoS these days), pay is an issue, but it's compared with an entry level teacher. I want to make more than THAT (though I always found even entry level to be well enough paid to support me comfortably, especially in Asia). I want a boss to allow me (once I've proven myself) the freedom to do the job as I see fit. I want to have a nice place to live and be able to put some money in the bank.
That's pretty much it.

I like being a foreigner. I'm comfortable in that (sometimes lonely) role.
I'd like to be able to find a place where I can play music live occasionally. I've been content in places where I couldn't, but once the contract is up, I generally leave.
And there we go. My requirements are not hard to find and so I don't really see this as a scrape or an unfortunate decision (that is, to go into TEFL).
It's a good idea for newbies to ask others what they wanted when they went into it. Also ask how those goals have changed over the years. And then to ask themselves what THEY want out of it.
If you are ambitious to make and save a lot of money and be rich in retirement age (by their countries' standards), then by all means avoid TEFL except for a lark and then get OUT after a year. NO LONGER!
But when I went into it, I was just desperate to find a place in the world where I could be respected and in a position where I could support myself without relying on the kindnesses of others (in my youth my life was rather short of those sorts of kindnesses, as is often - maybe usually - the case in the United States).
I have not forgotten what kind of life I was able to take myself away from when I went into TEFL and I am still happy with what this career - and it IS my career - has allowed me to achieve.
Mind you, I was older than many when I got into TEFL in the first place (or a lot younger - some use it as a retirement option, and it's GREAT for that, too). Now that I'm in my 40s, I like to have a job where I can also have some benefits, like insurance and vacations and bonuses and so on. But that hasn't been a problem, either.
Right now I'm facing trying to choose between going back to my own country, getting a different job and staying here, and taking another job I'm being offered in another country. I left my last contract four months ago, and my last teaching job (in San Francisco) two months ago. I still don't want to live in the U.S. I still want to get back out into the field. And I see no reason not to do that.
I LIKE my job. If you don't like your job, get out of it. Do something else, by any means possible. Life isn't long enough to live with disappointing career choices. That's just absurd. It takes a lot of courage to make a change if you don't like where you are. But try reminding yourself that this is ALL YOU GET. If you stay in a career you hate for your whole life, then your whole life is going to suck, and then you'll die, and there's just no point to that.
I made that step when I went into TEFL. It's not a perfect career. It DOESN'T pay a whole hell of a lot. But you have to have the courage to decide what you want to do, and if it's not THIS, then find something you DO want to do.

It's better to regret something you did than something you didn't do.

[TheLongWayHome]

I just want to know if any of my students managed to stop saying, 'I have 23 years'.