Job Discussion Forums

[sharter]

Do you think teachers are like wine and get better with age?

My personal opinion is that most teachers peak at some point in their careers, (haha efl career=oxymoron), and that they then just kinda fizzle out ingloriously.

As a teacher yet to reach 40, I like to think I'm in my prime. I'm still energetic and creative, I know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it and there's still a wow factor when I'm in the classroom.

I've spent most of the last 8 years in the Middle East, where I've seen lots of brilliantly qualified, completely useless teachers. It must have something to do with age, the Middle East or both. I'm sure they were once good.

Rather than improving like wine, many teachers simply increase their intake of it.

Is that the future?

[Mike_2007]

Teacher like to whine more with age, that's for sure.

When you're starting out you know nothing and know you know nothing.
When you're a few years in you know something but think you know everything.
When you're a decade in you know a lot but realise there's much more you don't know.
When you're two decades in you know a lot, not everything, but it's enough and you don't really give a toss about the rest.
When you're three decades in you've forgotten what you knew and think you know too much to bother learning anything new.

[denise]

I've recently found myself in situations that would have completely frazzled me in the past, but now I am able to accept them without suffering too much stress. Prepping has become quite easy, my confidence has increased, my enthusiasm and interest haven't waned, etc.... I don't know if I've hit the peak yet but I have definitely noticed improvements.

And what's wrong with a nice glass of wine every now and then?

d

[thelmadatter]

Nothing wrong with an occasional glass of wine, beer or tequila... unfortunately too many of us forget the "occasional" part.. I think its part of teacher burnout on top of the fact that we are alien and many of us come into TEFL with a lot of baggage.

I aint much better ... my poison of choice is food.

[Teacher in Rome]

I've been teaching off and on for about 15 years (scary!) and I still get fazed by students. What threw me today was that out of a class of about 25, five to ten have their own blogs and all of them chat on their pcs. Not one of them has ever written a letter. That made me feel really old.

Today in Italy is the feast day of San Martino. To celebrate, the head master brought in special biscuits and wine for the teachers. Nobody thought it was particularly strange that there was a 2-litre bottle of wine in the staff room... Kind of sums up Italy and the attitude to drinking wine!

[gaijinalways]

[sweeney66]

Well, I'm 47 but have only been teaching 3 years. I credit teaching with keeping me young and flexible, mentally. Stagnation v. Generativity, ya'know.
And, yeah, I like wine!

[naturegirl321]

I think the key is to change it up, new jobs, students, etc to keep you on your toes.

[Marcoregano]

Teachers like both a good whine and, generally speaking, just about any wine.

An occasional glass of wine?? That sounds a bit like a recommendation from the vicar's wife! As has been substantially proven by the medical profession in recent years - and has been anecdotally evident to any unbiased observer of human habits for eons - a couple of glasses of wine or beer a day is good for you.

Unfortunately, as someone pointed out, we often err on the side of indulgence. Oh well, of the many vices available it's far from the worst. Anyone for a smoke?

[ESL Hobo]

I recently saw a documentary on Teacher Burn-out. Primary and secondary teachers. It said that 1 out of 3 teachers burn out and stop teaching before they reach retirement age, usually around the age of 50.

Perhaps this holds true with long term ESL teachers as well.
Personally, I am burned out on teaching kids unless it's a private class.
Also, I am burned out on teaching adults unless it's a private class unrelated to ESL.

For the younger teflers who plan to stay in this line of employment, my advice (take or leave it) is to start planning for a career change in your 30's or early 40's. You need not change from the field of Linguistics but getting 'Out of the classroom' by the time you are 50 is a good idea, unless you are doing Uni's or Teacher Training.

[gaijinalways]

I think the idea of teacher training might be a nice change, or something in management where you're teaching less classes.

[Stephen Jones]

[SueH]

[denise]

[ESL Hobo]