Job Discussion Forums

[farrello]

Please excuse my ignorance or naivety in advance, but I've been considering teaching English abroad for a while now and what is holding me back is that anyone I have heard of who has done it has never done it for very long.

It seems they've done it it for a few months or a year and then either done something else or moved home.

It sounds like a very interesting job... but is it just that... a short term job with no prospects.

I gather that there are people who do it for more than just a couple of years judging by the threads and posts elsewhere. Is the difference that these are Education Professionals with teaching credentials and/or Masters etc. who just happen to want to work abroad?

[ls650]

Everyone's different. I've been teaching about 3.5 years now and plan to be at it for a while yet.
A couple of the teachers I work with now have been TEFLing for 14 or 15 years now.

Oh, and when a poster named 'thrifty' comes into this thread... just ignore him.

[tedkarma]

I've been at it since 1992 - and there are many that I am sure you will hear from, who have been at it even longer.

What you will notice though, IMO/IME, is that most long-term TEFLers have graduate degrees and tend to work in university or corporate settings. This is not always true, but consider it the idea if you wish to stay in the field for a long time.

Language schools tend to really burn people out. Great fun for a year or two - but not for a career.

[Jetgirly]

I went into it thinking that it would be like many other industries where you can "work your way up" (my previous two jobs had been with the government where they mainly promoted from within). However, I found that I couldn't move upwards without serious further qualifications. A BA and CELTA gets you in the door, but it doesn't get you up the stairs.

That being said, in the world of private language schools there weren't many opportunities for professional growth (that I saw). There isn't much difference between being a new teacher and being a "senior" teacher. I wasn't going to stick around for five years in hopes of getting an extra two euros an hour or more in-school classes. Also, I'd never met a bigger bunch of horrific, surly, rude pessimists as the "senior" teachers at my school. After more than a year of teaching up to nine hours a day (on a regular basis) and traveling all over the place for in-company classes I could feel myself burning out. I was afraid I would turn into my miserable co-workers and made a run for Canada!

I would definitely go back overseas, but I would never, ever go back to teaching in any kind of private language school. It's K-12 or post-secondary ONLY from here on!

[rusmeister]

[sidjameson]

Ive heard a few times that 75% of people last less than 2 years teaching ESL and to be honest I am not surprised. Language schools can get boring very fast. I also think that a certain status anxiety pops into the equation. Anything much over 30 and a lot of people dont want to admit that language school teacher is all they managed to be. Hence your experience.
But joining an educational institution is a different thing. The work may or may not be any better, but the salary usually is and the status for sure.
For many people though it is still far from what they would have honestly dreamed for themselves. But for others its what they want. Only your experience can answer that.
IMO TEFL (in the long term) is either a crappy or rather cushy semi skilled job. Your happiness will depend on how high up the food chain you are, how much you like living in the foreign countries that offer the better salaries, and how content you are to be rather less than fully challenged in your workplace.

After 9 years in TEFL in Japan I can say that coming here was the best decision in my life so far. I have saved more than I could have ever imagined. I can now do a competent/good job with very little real effort. I have worked my way into a VERY cushy well paid position. YET I wonder if , at 40 I would really be doing the best thing to just sit here and let the money rain down for the next 20 years. I did once want to be a clinical psychologist. I DEFINITELY took the easier/lazier path.

[Otterman Ollie]

Most of the people I've met outside the language schools are in it for the long term and have at least a decade under their belt . Although most of them focus on the negative side of the job they also see that a long term situation is not a bad thing .As someone has already said your position on the food chain is significant ,but generally its a good idea to keep a low profile and try to go about day to day business unnoticed that way you don't get too much work for your monthly crust .

[denise]

I've been in the EFL field since 1999, and I love it. I agree with what the others have said about qualifications, status, private language school burn-out, etc. I don't think I could take myself or the profession seriously if I were still doing private language school work, a lot of which involves business English. I definitely prefer universities, and I've made sure that I've got the right qualifications to apply for those jobs.

I tend to move around a bit, doing roughly two years in a country. I don't always intend to move on so quickly, but circumstances beyond my control kick in... A change of locations is a good way to keep yourself refreshed, though, especially if the jobs themselves keep getting better and better too. You need to be careful not to just hop on another plane for another entry-level job, though. I imagine you could burn out that way.

d

[Justin Trullinger]

Been at it since '99...

Is it a short term job- well, I guess that depends how long you do it for.

But in most fields, including EFL, if you start with the most minimal qualifications, you'll peak soon.

If you continue to better yourself as a teacher, the sky can be the limit.


Best,
Justin

[Jyulee]

I did language academies for 4 years. That was more than enough. This was with a BA, CELTA, and later a DELTA.

Then, simply for the change, and for the thrill of wearing smart clothes, I did business English (going to companies) for a year.

Now, here I am in a high school, doing an M.Ed, on my way to being a high school teacher. After that, world domination.

For me, being a language academy English teacher was never going to be a very long-term thing. Most school teachers I work with here have been in it 10 years plus, I met very few language academy people who had been in it for more than 5.

[farrello]

Wow...thank you all for taking time out to discuss this, its very enlightening.

That quote about the titanic cracked me up..... you gotta laugh!

[gaijinalways]

I too have been doing ESL since 1992 in three locations; Hong Kong, Taiwan, and now Japan. It definately can be a long term career, but as already noted, most private language schools will burn you out.

[John Hall]

Been at it since 1995. Have a house, a wife, and stepdaughters. Started out in conversation schools. Then got into Business English. Still do that, but am now full-time at a university as well. The English teaching industry just keeps growing and growing in Costa Rica, and every two or three years or so, better jobs and opportunities arise for me. I will see where it takes me.

[JZer]

tedkarma wrote:

[tedkarma]

Some do, some don't.

The college I worked for in Saudi, the university I worked for in Korea - both paid increments for years of experience at the time of hire. And, additionally, paid annual increases that were not insignificant.

You probably need to shop for more serious programs.