Job Discussion Forums

[mandalayroad]

Considering how status-conscious Koreans are, I don't see most Korean parents accepting their kids being taught by Filipino teachers, rather than Western ones.

English will be the international language for the foreseeable future and there's no way Mandarin Chinese (which I speak) is going to supplant it in our lifetimes. If you plan to do this long term then the best way to make money is to marry a local and start your own school someplace. Americans who I knew who did that in Taiwan made money hand over fist, and then eventually sell off the business to a local for a big payday. Of course, if you go to China to teach you're not going to make much money; China has never been good for the money. If you want a salaried position, making good money, then head to the Middle East. There are still plenty of opportunities to make good money if you open your eyes and see the possibilities. Adapt or die as someone else said.

[rusmeister]

Don't forget to factor in how technology can, to a degree, replace some of our functions. With the advent of DVDs with subtitles and interactive programs, there are some aspects of language learning where having a live native speaker that you have to pay gobs of money to on a regular basis is not so critical.

[throwdownyourcrutches]

The problem with wages in the TEFL industry is the oversupply of teachers because of the very low barriers to entry. Anyone with a few thousand dollars in the bank and a passport can embark on a wonderful adventure. The internet is a wonderful resource to research all the various options and I suspect that western demographic trends will conspire to keep wages low for the next half century! Soon you will have a glut of retiring baby boomers looking for new and interesting things to do that will be able to live very well in the developing world on their assets, pensions and social security type payments. They will not have to earn a large wage and may be more welcomed by their communities than someone perceived as just passing through. And then there is the issue of substitution brought on by technology. Poor little Somchai in rural Isann or Jose in rural Oaxaca have the internet at their fingers for pennies and can access learning sites unavailable a generation ago. The number of people learning English now is probably larger than it has ever been but the sources for getting that education are also very plentiful now. The only way to really succeed in this industry, if you measure success in money, is to make yourself better than the competition and there are many ways to do that but it is hard work and takes a long time.

[phantombedwetter]

[rusmeister]

In the end, Microsoft, having replaced us completely with robots, will have to issue the robots credit cards. Citibank will cheerfully comply, as they won't know how else to squeeze blood from a rock.

[JZer]

[william wallace]

Dear Phantom,
I'm back teaching with the "backpackers"(???) after 11 years away from them. In this group we have MBAs, PGCEs,PhD,M.TESOL...etc. Now most seem not to recognize this teaching bit as a career,but they are conscientious about the customers under their charge. The only thing that is different than the university and colleges I had taught at during this interim was that the serious teachers were not fun/jovial - the qualifications were the same..scattered in all directions.

The fellow who had been in ESL since 1952 is about 78 years old, and the last I had heard(3 years ago) was that he still worked for the British Council- The only one remaining out of about 20 originals,save for an Aussie gal.

[rusmeister]

[rusmeister]

[JZer]

[JZer]

I might add that there are too many people at ever level in Asia directing English programs who don't have any formal training in regards to teaching a foreign language. Even at some universities a literature professor is put in charge of the program to teach basic English. Not to mention that most of their literature class is being conducted in the local language.

[zeke0606]

I'd like to add my two cents worth to this thread.

I whole heartedly agree with rusmeister! I have residence in Russia and have been there for eight years. However, I thought a change might be in order - I took a teaching position in KSA at $4243/month plus more benefits that I ever heard of ----- BUT after a month and a half, I prefer Russia and Russian students! At the end of July, I am going back to Russia and a smaller salary and quite a lot fewer benefits and my sanity!!

thanks for listening

Zeke

[ls650]

As with any other job, if you're competent you have little to worry about.

[william wallace]

"As with any other job, if you're competent you have little to worry about."


That's it! ESL is unlike any other field.Four years ago I worked in a dodgy Weekend kiddie school with a young Italian lawyer(Band 5 English) working for the UN.She was doing this gig for fun -As I asked her; Could I also work for fun as a lawyer?
I tried to teach "computer English" in a university here in China(ranked #5), and everyone above me in management hadn't a clue as what to do.
In every position I've held or inquired about here in China over the past 14 years, I've never seen a native English speaker in anything other than a token management/key position, and I hear it is quite similar in Korea and Japan.
University of California Riverside came to China all prim and proper like...They started with stateside certified EFL teachers,but in the end they had to set aside the pedagogy and don the clown outfit to maintain student attendance.In the end the partnership with Jiaotong University was suspended,and Riverside moved on.Riverside had won out over the previous contestant winner - An (proper?) Australian university.

Not only do I see ESL per se as an odd ball,but quite distinct from mainstream academia.Possibly China's command of market share is so large that legit and established western education thinks that any compromise to enter this rich market will pay off in the long run.
I have seen it even with K-12 education. There's a Sino-Canadian high school here in Beijing where the Chinese students can't fail; they have dual teachers, one instructs in English(50% of mark), the other in Chinese(50%), yet the student only needs 50% to graduate.So, you end up with the student getting 50% from the Chinese teacher,a token percentage from the Canadian teacher, and the kid has a certified Canadian high school diploma.The teachers can't complain as the university that issue their B.Ed to the newly graduated is the partner of this mess,and the new teacher NEEDS this experience to gain employment after returning to Canada.
No, ESL/EFL is unlike any other

[JZer]