Job Discussion Forums

[leeroy]

When I first started teaching...

I didn't have a clue what I was doing. This was just as well, as my students were spoilt teenagers who couldn't care less about learning English anyway. My role was that of an entertainer - we did a token amount of language focus every class just to give some kind of integrity to the "lessons" - but things basically revolved around having fun.

At that point I learnt the very basics of classroom management, grammar (though not how to teach it I might add!), and a host of games. I learnt how to have fun first.

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After a few months some guilt set it - and I decided that things should be taken a bit more seriously. My students were shocked. I (and another teacher) started downloading articles on ELT theory, talked about Krashen, what communicative teaching entailed, and how lessons should be staged. Here was where I learnt the basics of teaching. I dipped my toe into the water of student-centered classes - and then decided to dive straight in...

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to.... "dogme" - an idea by the venerable Scott Thornbury. This (in short) instructs us to throw away materials, coursebooks and lesson plans and do everything "au natural". Suffice to say my teaching suffered immensely. My poor implementation of what (I suppose) could be a very good approach created some of the worst lessons of all time. So, I tentatively moved back towards

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following structured curricula. My dogme days weren't completely wasted - I had learnt how to teach with a minimal amount of materials - and had (more importantly) learnt how to value the materials I had.

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It was about this time that I came to London, where my teaching hours became much longer, and my class sizes and durations grew to a similar proportion. While previously I had been able to do the same lesson again and again (because I had 5/6 different classes going simultaneously) now I had 2 classes going, every day, for 3 hours, for 3 months. This meant a massive expansion in my repertoire of ideas and activities. Students from different cultures in the same class requires a lot more cultural understanding (and, to an extent, social engineering) than in an EFL environment. Once again - I was learning things new.

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Then came the DELTA, which was An Immensely Stressful Experience. I started learning words like "cataphoric referencing" - could argue at length the difference between "strong" and "weak" forms of Task Based Learning and could easily compare the virtues of Prabhu, Willis, Krashen, Lewis, Ellis, etc..

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Now I am tired. Although there might be much more to learn, the depressing reality of the industry I'm in has hit home. I am a full time student (Open University, like a distance learning thing) as well as a full-time English teacher - whose job opportunities amount to little more than a machine in an English teaching factory - endlessly stamping and moulding the students that roll by on the conveyor belt of continuous enrolment within this insincere context of "student visas" and "language schools". What more is there to learn in an environment such as this? Nothing. It will be 3 more years till I finish my degree, and I need a new challenge.

Last week, to coincide with my resignation, I found out that the receptionists at my school got paid more than the teachers. Such is ELT in London, I suppose. Here, at least, for the teachers who don't give a s***, life is much better. So what directions are there now? I'm frantically looking - because soon I will have to return to "the machine"...

[SueH]

Leeroy,

If I write 'become a receptionist' I'm sure you'll appreciate the sympathetically ironic tone that lies behind the statement. You might then also like to consider what you'll do with all the prep time you no longer need...

Hope you enjoyed your resignation - were they surprised or offer you more money, or do they expect to 'promote' one of the receptionists?
Job seeking teachers - solidarity - do not accept �11 an hour in London!

[khmerhit]

That is truly truly bleeping outrageous. I know what it is lke to live in London on a low salary, but to have that humiliation added to the mix is just too much. I hope you get a chance to tell them what you think of them, Leeroy. Unbelievable. Now I understand why the receptionists at my local ESL schools are many of them so confident-- they sell the business.
Makes some sense, perhaps, but it's still outrageious.

Try Cambodia. You can study long-distance and live a fulfilling and interesting life. No Northern Line, either.

[FGT]

Leeroy - You have my respect and sympathy (the former for the intellect behind all your posts on this forum, the latter for this current post).

Where to go from here? How about back to squares one, two and subsequent? Now that you've got all the grammar knowledge (and some theory), why not try to make entertaining AND effective lessons? Just because it's fun, doesn't mean it's not useful. You say the pay was cr*p but how were your lessons? I bet they were worth your weight in gold. This industry doesn't suit people who look for the proverbial pot of gold but if you enjoy teaching, stick at it, money isn't everything. Think about the lives you've changed and can continue to change.

Maybe think about moving to a less expensive country for work. The pay couldn't be much worse but may well go further. Does OU travel? We get a lot of the TV programmes here (in Turkey) on BBC Prime late at night. Invest in a video recorder and Bob's your uncle.

Good luck and well done. You CAN find a solution, I'm sure.

[Gordon]

Leeroy, I suggest trying your hand at teaching overseas. I'm not sure if you have done that or not. I think English teaching was meant to be done overseas, it just seems more natural and it has been more enjoyable for me anyways. The world is your oyster and you're still young and single.

[Dr.J]

I have a very idealistic set of goals, while at the same time being content with my daily life. This is easier said than done. In short I have several ideas of things I would like to accomplish, and work on them alternately as my motivation and time allows.

I think it helps to have a broad range of goals and interests, not just 'becoming a good teacher' but, say, learning another language or an instrument, or writing a novel, starting your own business, raising a family etc. There is more than enough challenge if you add all these things up...try 'brainstorming' all the ideas that float into your head, then evaluate them later. You probably already know what you want to do but just don't realise it.

[Roger]

Leeroy,
my re3spect and sympathy too! I have always enjoyed your intellectually stimulating input here! What's going to happen now?

On another plane: Those buzzwords and names you mentioned that crawl in the minds of all modern ESL/EFL specialists make me shudder! Do I have to learn to teach all over? Does my accumulated experience in a foreign culture matter zero when it comes to passing another DELTA or similar test? Do I stand no chances in a Western country of being employed in my current capacity?

If that is so, woe! No wonder, Western-managed schools in some parts here - the ESF in Hong Kong for example - are crumbling. They abandoned the GCSE in favour of the Baccalaureate, (not a bad idea), and they are swamping their teachers with administrative homework on top of cutting their pay. Then you get the quality control visits, and the barrel starts overflowing...