Job Discussion Forums

[mehrlin26]

"The students here are so dull...they know little outside their own interests."

I am paraphrasing of course. But I understand what you mean. I had a four hours with a class like that this morning. They had just got back the day before for a week long vacation and didn t want to do anything but talk among themselves. ( No vacation for me though: I worked that whole week )

The funny thing is, I am in Europe right now and it sounds exactly what you describe in Asia. Sometimes it feels like I never left my high school back in Canada which is one of the reasons I started this thread. I am very happy to read that so many people on this board enjoy their work but the fact is not everybody does. Take me for example. I come from a family of career teachers who loved their work so much that I got to hear entirely too much about teaching and lesson planning and whatnot. So when crunch time came I picked this as a way of earning a living without having to enslave myself to the education system. I knew so much about educating already if only through osmosis that it seemed like a natural move in an emergency. Unfortunately the emergency has lasted for more than four years now and I am a little sick of it.

That is why I was soliciting examples of people who had made the jump from one job to another. I might not do it this year. In fact I probably won t do it this year. But I know, deep down in my gut, that someday I ll have to.

[scot47]

Well, I'll sson be 60 and I am still earning my daily bread and a bit more by TEFL-ing.

Little did I think in 1968 that this is what I would be doing for most of my working life.

And you can marry and raise kids in this line of work. Easy ? Who said life was suppposed to be easy ?

[Deborann]

We all want the best for bringing up our children, but the definition of 'best' is highly personal. Stability in a developed country, with employment opportunities etc, or gaining understanding of other cultures and languages in a variety of countries, living in countries that don't reflect our political views (even if you are American, Oz, or Brit) versus living in foreign countries that have more aligned politics/social policies? It's all relative - best is subjective, and therefore world travellers believe that they are doing the best for their children.

However, in my experience very few PEOPLE - adults or students - know little beyond their own interests, across the wrold. It seems we are all pretty egocentric and concentrate on our own interests. Forgive me - I know nothing about football, apart from the fact it exists. How much do others know about sports, fashions, politics, enviroment, cultures not their own etc.

I have been surprised at how little Americans know of the politics of other countries - even those who supported them in various military actions. The educated Americans I have met have been surprised to learn that Australia and Britian were part of the "Coalition of the Willing" in Iraq, others have asked if Australia was involved in the Vietnam/American War.

We concentrate in the main on what interests us - and at various times in our lives our interests will (thankfully) change and hopefully broaden.

[Gordon]

So many of you wouldn't raise children overseas? Oh my! What a shame for you and them. I am having a great time raising my family in Japan and I believe it is very beneficial to see how others live. When overseas, you can travel to countries that normally are more difficult to reach too. For instance, I am now enjoying a month in the Phillipines on the slowest internet connection on the planet. What am i doing on dave's? My daughter is having a blast playing on the beach with the local kids and I know it is a real eye opener for her. She is so sheltered in comparison.