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Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

You might find, Colt, that while many may well pooh-pooh the presentations at TESOL Arabia, not so many would argue that an MA TESOL is as worthless ...

stoth1972 · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:13 pm Post subject:

Miss Boo · Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 14

stoth1972 · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 8:35 pm Post subject:

colt · Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 86 Location: Milky Way

I never said that an MA TEFL is worthless, just that I would do something else, (which I have, geosciences). I do have close to 50 ed. credits, which I find to be an adequate pedagogical preparation for teaching of any sort, TEFL, as well as other subjects

"That's pretty much all types of professional conferences".

I have to disagree with that. While largely this true, presentations on arid land resource sciences (my specialty), global warming, quarks, (subatomic particles), were spellbinding to me, but probably not for most people. What I am saying is that in some fields there are daily advances that practitioners must be aware of. In TEFL, has that much really changed? Is there some radical new development that will make a huge difference in student�s ability to learn? If there is, I have not heard about it yet. Maybe I will at this years TESOL Arabia.

No offense meant to anyone. TEFL has been very good to me.

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

Miss Boo · Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 14

[quote="stoth1972"][quote] The reasons for teaching ESL are varied, but for those who've spent years in the field, enjoy what they do, and need to move to the top of their pay scale, the MA/ME TESOL is a smart move. quote]

The main reason is to live in a nice countr, right?

Then reality hits home and most release they have no money, so they up roots and transfer themselves to the armpit.

I don't think any of us care about the kudos of the ladder, it's purely financial. EFL is the bottom of the bunch

stoth1972 · Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:06 am Post subject:

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

running dog · Joined: 20 Oct 2005 Posts: 37

An interesting question raised by this thread, and indeed others on the board, seems to be "Is self-hatred endemic in the tefl. profession?" (I was nearly going to put that last word in parentheses, a telling point in itself). When you meet a pretty girl at a party do you hesitate before telling her what you do and then substitute something less off-putting like, "Well, actually, I'm an undertaker, sewage plant manager, rag and bone man" etc. Do members of your family back home either never refer to you at all in conversation with their friends or mutter something vague like, "Tommy? Oh,yes .... he's abroad. Doing something in ... uh, education, isn't it, dear?" before quickly changing the subject. Depictions of teflers in books and movies are rare but are nearly all disparaging. In one of Michael Dibden's thrillers the main character (and eventual murderer!) is an EFL teacher who arrives for a dinner party one night on his bicycle only to hear a guest sneer "Oh, the eternal student!" In "Good Morning, Vietnam" Robin Williams, a DJ!!!, walks into the middle of an EFL class and takes over from the regular teacher for some reason I can't remember and no one bats an eyelid ( Any halfwit can do this job!).
The last example is from Bob Geldof's autobiography in which he devotes precisely one half paragraph to his time in Spain as an English teacher and finishes it by saying something like "the job was a waste of time and besides my colleagues, who were basically bottom dollar skivvies, insisted on swanning around like they were Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald re-born"
Any other examples, or musings on why this might be so?

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

Miss Boo · Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 14