Job Discussion Forums

[Glenski]

zorro wrote:

[furiousmilksheikali]

[sallycat]

[zorro (3)]

Sorry OP. I didn't think about the lack of classroom hours. You are right Glenski. You have to have had experience in the classroom to work for Westgate.

I'm not going to question them on whether they have a license. I'm pretty sure they would have though.

[G Cthulhu]

[Glenski]

sallycat wrote:

[BS.Dos.]

Glenski
May I ask why you seem to be focused on Asia?

Well, I've been toying with the romantic notion of Chile, but I'm not really the romantic type. I like to think that I could just jet off to somewhere like that, but the reality is I don't know if I've got the balls to jump in at the deep end so to speak, whereas I think I could manage Japan.

I think Japan came to mind initially for a number of reasons: a few friends know people who are out there, I imagine that it'd probably be an easier cultural transition in terms of retaining a few creature comforts etc, seems to have the most developed EFL infrastructure etc and it's pretty stable politically. I've obviously got Europe on my doorstep but it doesn't really have the same pull as the Far East.

I'm gonna give it some thought over the weekend as I want to get something done over the Easter break.

I'll trawl through some more of the threads as you've suggested.

furiousmilksheikali
Sorry, I can't work out from your post if you're being sarcastic or not.

No, not at all. Someone made a reference to being flamed.

[furiousmilksheikali]

[BS.Dos.]

^ It's ok, I found it earlier on.

Any idea why Korea is kept seperate from the other forums?

[furiousmilksheikali]

[Glenski]

[BS.Dos.]

Deep end as in Japan having 'the most developed EFL infrastructure ' From some of the literature I've read, I get the impression that Chile would be a more demanding, exacting starting point for the unintiated.

I think you misunderstood my reference to 'deep end' I think it goes without saying that Japan is probably in a lot of would-be EFL teachers top 3 of good places to start teaching in terms of global destinations whereas, and this is coming from a personal perspective, somewhere like Chile would be somewhere I'd choose to teach after I'd gained some experience, experience that I think would be best served in a country which is widely recognized as being the most adept at serving the needs of an inexperienced EFL teacher.

Friends here. I dont have any friends in Japan. I have friends who know people who are currently out there or who have taught out there.

Easier cultural transition as in 'Westernised'. If I was looking to escape that then I'd probably explore the voluntary sector and think about Africa or somewhere. However, I'm not. Working, let alone teaching, in a foreign country is challenge enough for starters.

What is it that attracts me to the Far East? Well, it'd be difficult to get any further away from the UK. Simply stepping across to somewhere in Europe is not challenging enough. Immersing oneself in an alien culture, far from home is.

May I ask why? Your initial thoughts of Chile Pan pipes and knitwear really. Seriously? It's a beautiful country but too impractical for me at this time, maybe at a later date.

I would think simple communication would be on most people's minds as an initial consideration for surviving in any foreign land. I think that goes without saying. I've just finished profiling a L1 Japanese girl who's a qualified Japanese teacher here in the UK. We're going to trade lessons in our respective languages with one another over the coming weeks. Hopefully, this might give me a grasp of the language should I choose to apply (and get offered) for a job in Japan.

[shuize]

[Glenski]

Thanks, BS.Dos, for that nice explanation. Makes things a lot clearer to me.

You might want to be careful about those feelings of "westernized" Japan. Yes, it has great public transportation, running water, lots of high tech gadgets in the home, etc. Yes, it has McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Mr. Donut, etc. You can get coffee, ice cream, decent toilet paper, a few English magazines and books, etc.

But a lot of those things are superficial. That is, you may see them on the surface, but how the Japanese use them or integrate them into their society may sometimes surprise you. I'm not saying this to scare you (or anyone else) away, despite what some readers here may think. Just giving you a heads-up alert. You will only discover a lot of these things through experience.

Example 1.
Good public transportation. Yup, trains run on time despite most bad weather, and generally the platforms are very clean and orderly, and you may even find a significant part of the signs in English. Very well organized.
Some down sides:
1. "crush hour" crowds in big cities, packing trains to 4 times capacity, and sometimes needing train station staff to push them on.
2. getting elbowed out of the way by older women as you try to board even though you've both stood in line properly
3. little to no heating in some of the more rural stations

Example 2.
My attempt at humor by mentioning running water. Yes, Japan has wonderful plumbing and flush toilets (sometimes with incredible control panels for various functions).
Some down sides:
1. Your apartment may have the squat style toilet. These often take westerners quite a bit of doing to get used to.
2. Public toilets usually have no toilet paper or towels to dry your hands.
3. Public toilets can often be very unclean places.

[zorro (3)]