Job Discussion Forums

[Lanza-Armonia]

Does anyone else have the problem?

I'm 18, and very few Asian people respect me because of said age. Even though I am fully qualified and a mildly experienced teacher, I still have a problem.

[leeroy]

18. Wow. I thought I was young (23).

Well I don't live in China, but from what I understand most Asian cultures place a large amount of respect on age - often above character, intelligence and ability.

In Indonesia, I lied. I said I was 28. Could you get away with saying you are in your twenties?

[dmb]

I first got into teaching when I was 22. I can't remember how others felt about my age as it was too long ago. I think the feeling about age is international. I hate to say it LA but teaching is about experience. Even if you have the the right qualifications most of your learning will happen in the classroom. So the longer you are a teacher the more you will learn.

Of course it depends on your frame of mind and how you look at yourself as a teacher.

When I get a new class I was always ask them 'how many students are there in this class?' They usually get the question wrong. They forget to include me as a learner

[Capergirl]

I'm approximately the same age as most of my students, which doesn't appear to be a huge problem except for the fact that they want me to hang out with them on evenings and weekends. My Russian students are older, and that has been a bit of a problem (for them, not for me). It has taken me a while to gain their respect and I still don't think I'm 100% there yet. Last fall, I talked with the teacher trainer who had come here to check out our program about this very issue and he later told my supervisor to tell the Russian guys, "She might look like she's 12, but she knows her stuff."

[Lynn]

You should work in Japan as an JHS ALT. They'll love you. When I was on the JET program I was 22. In a neighboring city the ALT was a 19 or 20 year old Australian girl. I can't remember her exact age, I just remember she was under 21. Everyone loved her. The students thought it was so cool that she was so young. And her Jpes co-workers also liked seeing a "fresh, young" face. In Japan youth is king.

[Stephen Jones]

[khmerhit]

I started in Business when I was three. I had a lemonade stand that i expanded into a shoeshine franchise. At ten, I sold the franchise concept to an American outfit and went into penny minig stocks, becoming a millionaire by the age of twelve. That's when I decided there must be more to life, so i started a degree in adult education, completed that, and was training professionals in business whan i was sixteen. Eventually, i became disillusioned with business and decided to became and ESL professional. At 17 i was on the road, travelling hither and yon with my backpack on my back. I started an ashram in Nepal when I was 18 and a half, but religion and yoga were not for me, so i took up stand up comedy and worked the bar circuit in LA for a couple years. i got noticed when I was about twenty and was invited to appear on David Letterman. You may know me as the Kid Who Cracks Em Up, the Eddie Haskell lookalike. it worked for a while, and I made a tidy fortune. Hey, it's a living. But i got bored and went back into ESL. It doesnt pay as much but it's honest work.

[johnslat]

Dear khmerhit,
Well, you had me believing it all - until I got to this part:

"ESL . . . . it's honest work."

Regards,
John

[jud]

We have problems with some of our corporate clients when we send teachers who are under 25 years old. In Italy most people stay at university until they're 25 or 26, so they're pretty suspect of young teachers.

After a few lessons they usually calm down about it. If a teacher's good and well-prepped, they're good and well-prepped.

[tammy]

I was 20 when I started teaching and most, if not all, of my students were younger than me. It wasn't really a problem with the students who were in their early twenties as they thought it was pretty cool to have a teacher who was just about the same age as them. It was mainly the students who were in their thirties and older who thought that I was completely clueless and why should they show a lil twenty year old gal any respect in the classroom. The situation got better with time, though - they just needed time to be able to trust that I knew what I was talking about (or at least looked and sounded as though I did!).

[woza17]

Quote "Spit in their chinky faces" sound very mature to me. Maybe it's the person's character that is at isue not their age.

[nik_knack0828]

Well, I'm nineteen, and yeah, the age thing can be a major pain.
For the first several weeks all I ever heard was "you're so young." And telling me I'm so brave, because I left the family and moved to China. But after a while of hearing, "You are a beautiful girl, good girl, pretty girl, clever girl, young girl," fifty million times, I went off the deep end a little. I sorta, kinda, let them know that I am not a girl, I'M A WOMAN.
And that got them to back off a little. Before it was, "you're like a daughter to us." And now they mostly leave me alone. I have no problem with the students, except the youngest ones are my age and hit on me (which is really weird). But there's such a maturity difference between Canadian nineteen and Chinese nineteen. They're still considered children. They can't drink or smoke till they graduate at 22/23. I'm not a big smoker, but I do love to dance at the clubs back home. I was hoping that the crazy, college party life could be a good subject to talk about when they come over to visit (outside of class). But, no, all they do is study.
The other teachers are always telling me to put on more clothes (they must think I'm too young to dress myself so I'm warm) and not to go out at night (they think I'll get kidnapped). I've gone out once with two of the other expats in town, but that ended badly (the one wants to be REALLY, REALLY good friends and calls me all the time).
So, I've pretty much figured I'll be a home body for six months and then go back to Canada, where I'm allowed to go out at night and get treated my age.
But, yeah, just stress the fact that there is a huge maturity difference between China and wherever you're from.
And tell them you're not at girl, but a WOMAN!
Good luck!

[Kurochan]

Well, it's definitely international. When I taught at a midwestern US university as a grad student, those of us who were female did have some trouble with this. A student said to me, "Why should I listen to you. You're just some girl."

One way to deal with this is to dress more formally -- wear more "power" clothes, particularly at the beginning of the semester. The course head in my department recommended that all of us shorter, younger women should wear a black suit on the first day, if we had one. For young guys, I'd say a suit and tie would be good the first day, and stay rather formal during the semester. Don't dress like your students.

Another thing is to know your stuff. I don't want to be petty, L-A, but you do seem to make a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. Those are the things that kids like to catch you at, and things they'll use to justify their bad attitude toward you. Make sure your spelling and knowledge of grammar rules are up to snuff. This is especially important in China, where even people who can't speak decent oral English know all about English grammar, since it's been hammered into their heads since middle school.

[Lanza-Armonia]

Thanks for all the constructive comments guys.

@Stephen Jones (troll) - I finished high school when I was 14 tyvm!!! I was advanced for my age and then, when I was 16, enroled into a TEFL course. At 17 years old, I was in China teaching, like many of you. What's your problem? huh?

@Kurochan - I have received many PMs over my spelling and grammar mistakes; so you are not the first one. A lot of it is the fact that I'm lazy and expect you guys to figure it out and the rest is that I hate English grammar. It's so bloody complicated, and I feel, in many cases, unnecessary. But, for you sweetpea, I will try my hardest to correct it. TY!!

@niknack - I thought I was the only one who got 'You are like my son/daughter and I would like to be your mother'. I say 'hey lass, you ain't me mum and never will be. She was a PhD language Grad and very beautiful. You ain't shi-te!' Well, I feel like saying that but I do also know that it would never get me anywhere.

Like you, I was recommened the suit and tie approach. Although I do like to play 'dress up' (highly questionable phrase there!), I do feel extremely uncomfortable with it. I mean, a 10 year old could wear a suit and s/he couldn't pass for an adult, so why the difference? I dress casual all the time. Smart trousers, shirt (no tie), maybe sunglasses to set things off, and that feels great! But I've never been told to put more clothes on. In fact it's normally in the opposite direction

[gingermeggs]