Job Discussion Forums

beetlil · Joined: 20 Dec 2008 Posts: 53 Location: Hanoi

Hey Gordon,

Well from your last post I would now tend to lean on the 'just go for it' side. Prep is everything and with some good books to get your grammar back on track you should have a great experience. You certainly sound like a positive person and someone who wants to do well and that is really important.

I have been teaching for quite a few years but have just landed in Vietnam a few days ago to begin my next adventure. I had some offers before I left Oz, but decided to just take the jump and hit the pavement to see exactly what each school has to offer and what sort of conditions I am going to be working in.

So... if you are going to send off applications online before hand, getting the punctuation, sentence structure and grammar right will be vital to success. I'd be more than happy to check any for you, as you do seem to have a bit of trouble with that (no insult intended) Very Happy

So good luck and let us know what your decision is and how things are going Very Happy

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Hey, there, Gordon,
You most certainly have misconstrued my "tone". My post was directed at you and at what others wrote, so I ended up writing about you directly as well as in the third person. No offense was intended.

Ok, let's just get on with things.

You're a Scotsman with no bachelor's degree. You're opportunities to work as a teacher here and in most other countries is severely limited (not just "held back a bit") because of the lack of degree. Your first best bet is the working holiday visa (if you're qualified). Are you?
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/w_holiday/index.html

If not, then you must realize that unless you have 3 or more years of teaching experience, you're likely not going to get a work visa that way. You'll have to get a student visa or cultural activities visa and work part-time max (with special permission).

Please also realize that I rarely criticize people about their spelling and punctuation on forums. (I have frequented half a dozen for the past decade or more.) My remark about your inconsistency with apostrophes was indeed "constructive feedback", but you failed to recognize that. It was not a personal attack.

Wordy. Sorry, but your first post had its wordy moments. If you found my interpretation of that to be insulting or weirdly psychologically dissecting, I'm sorry.

Nationality. Sorry, I missed it the first time around. My question was not meant to hold any negative or sarcastic tone at all.

About a later post, you wrote:

santi84 · Joined: 14 Mar 2008 Posts: 1317 Location: under da sea

Gordon,

Glenski had no intention of insulting you (I did not perceive any insult or tone). People give you constructive criticism here and only wish the best. I wish I could say the same for your future students and parents. Some of them will hold you directly accountable for a student's failure. What can you do about that?

I suggest you read the following thread:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=70691

This is the sort of situation that can happen if you choose to disregard ESL Cafe advice, thinking that it was made out of spite.

nickpellatt · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 1522

I will say, Daves is a much nice place than it used to be. When I first posted here three years ago there were a few members who really were unpleasant. Things tend to be a lot friendly and generally constructive too!

Summarising some of the main points is going to worthwhile for you, on this thread and the other one.

Generally, I think you need to move on now, and contact some local colleges / charities / language schools that may be able to offer some volunteer experience or the chance to observe a lesson or two.

I think you also need to narrow down your search to a country. This choice will narrow quite quickly because of the lack of BA. I would check Glenski's link for Japan eligibility, and failing that ... China looks the best best IMO. (I think Thailand and Vietnam are out for non BA holders)

Then I would contact some schools and apply for some jobs advertised in the country of choice (there is a listing on this board for jobs). See what sort of feedback you get, what qualifications (if any) employers are requesting, and do some research on the area the schools are based in.

If things progress from there, try and contact people working at said schools, and get an idea for how things work at that particular place.

You have been given lots of advice and now is the time to take some of that advice and move on to the next stage ... many of the points raised and questions you have posed have been valid but the reality of the situation is things can vary differently for place to place anyway.

This can be illustrated by the question regarding lesson plans and prep. Yes it can help, and equally as suggested in one answer, it may not be something you are able to do anyway, depending upon the school and the situation.

You may be in a class of 8 learners, all of a similar ability level, with books to follow including a teachers book. You are just as likely to be in a class of 55 students, mixed ability from no skills to a fair level of fluency, with no manuals or books at all.

EFL can cover so many bases, and so not any one answer will ever be 100% right because each job/school/class can be wildly different. So now narrow down some of the choices, countries and other options ... and put some feelers out, see what sort of feedback you get.