Job Discussion Forums

[7atetan]

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

[johnslat]

Dear 7atetan,

"Well, do consider the fact that quite a number of people here have been posting an average of three messages per day, EVERY day, for more than a half decade. Need one say more?"

And yet, search though my posts (when you have a spare year) to see how many of them are ""gripes."

Not that I'm griping about your post, of course.

Regards,
John

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

Yeah...dat I didn't get as well!

NCTBA

[mindloop]

[scot47]

3 times a day ? Is that all ?

[lazycomputerkids]

[johnslat]

Dear scot47,

". . . an average of three messages per day . . ."

"3 times a day ? Is that all ?"

But that's an average, scot - and I'm sure no one's ever accused you of being just "average."

Regards,
John

[teflerlifer]

The OP has a valid point, that many of the old sages on this board do wag their fingers at lowly teachers with no Masters, no experience and many complaints about their hard times and horror stories, or is that WAR stories ?

I have never worked in Saudi, but I am looking at opportunities there as of now. Korea has quite lost its lustre. However, I am only looking there now because I do have 10 years in the game and a CELTA and recently gained an MA TESOL.

That being said, I feel no sympathy for any teacher who accepts a lowly paid (less than $4000 a month ) job in Saudi and who accepts a job at a university without direct hire.

I think hundreds of people have said this time and time again - if people stand up for their rights, then management has no choice but to listen. That is why this forum is so important, it acts as a 'union' of sort for us lowly TEFL teachers.

And if only all prospective teachers came here first there wouldn't be so much cannon fodder for the big recruiting guns of the Gulf.

John - I was brought up to say the Persian Gulf (British thing you know) but Arabian Gulf seems nice and neutral. Please though do not expect me to budge on calling The English Channel = The Northern European Joint Waterway !!

[scot47]

just call it "The Gulf" and all of us are happy - even the Ayatollahs

Incidentally one of my former bosses had a standard procedure for dealing with all CV's that indicated the teacher had Korean experience. He threw them away.

Teaching English in Korea and teaching English in KSA are very different activities !

[johnslat]

Dear teflerlifer,

"The OP has a valid point, that many of the old sages on this board do wag their fingers at lowly teachers with no Masters, no experience and many complaints about their hard times and horror stories, or is that WAR stories ? "

Would you mind pointing out those "many" instances of finger-wagging? What I recall is different: posters, often with a lot of experience in Saudi trying to warn prospective teachers with few or no qualifications /experience that any job they might be able to land in the Kingdom will almost certainly be one that they will regret having been hired for.

It's not the posters who regard such teachers as "lowly;" we have probably all known teachers with BAs, no Masters and no overseas experience who could teach rings around Ph.Ds with oodles of so-called "experience."

No, it's the potential EMPLOYERS of such teachers in Saudi who consider them to be "lowly" and who will treat them accordingly.

Regards,
John

[Cleopatra]

[veiledsentiments]

[Cleopatra]

[gibon]