Job Discussion Forums

[Guy Courchesne]

I'm 37. Not old, not young, somewhere in the middle. I've been in Mexico teaching 10 years now.

But man is it ever apparent that there is a big gap between where I am, where I was, where others were and where some people are now.

A lot of the people arriving in Mexico now to teach are in their early 20's and quite a number are in their 50's and even 60's. Still, it strikes me when I glance at someone's CV DOB being in the late 80's.

How do you keep up?

[johntpartee]

Keep up with what?

[Isla Guapa]

Keep up with what?, asks this 65-year old.

[denise]

It's all relative. In my current job, I'm one of the young 'uns, and you would be too, Guy.

As to how to keep up (with the students' generation, younger teachers, etc.), it's really all in one's mind, I think. The ones who don't keep up, I think, are the ones who, when you have a chat with them, just come across as bitter and jaded. Their classes suck, the country sucks, their home county sucks, etc. And that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with their age.

d

[Glenski]

I'm quite a bit older than you, Guy, and you would be considered someone in the middle ages crowd.

Younger ages are 20s to low 30s.
Middle ages (not medieval) are high 30s to mid 40s.
Anyone older than mid 40s is considered "old" here, and most have been here for many years.

Keep up? Well, the older you get, the fewer young kiddies one chooses to teach. So, I guess one way to keep up is to shift the type of students one teaches.

Keep up with literature searches and doing research? Just a part of the game. My problem is that I have so many interests: writing, reading, CLIL/ESP, presentations.

Keep up with lesson planning and curriculum changes? That's tough and should always be a part of people's professional development, but I know people who have gotten into a comfortable rut of teaching the same lessons day in and day out. They just put in their time and are comfy with that for whatever reason. Me, I have yet to use the same semester's curriculum twice since I got here! Sometimes it was not my choice, but I can always find a better way to teach something the next time around.

[naturegirl321]

I don't. I gave up and I'm pretty young, though mentally much older. I'm also shocked when I see DOBs in the late 80s and I'm only 28, going on 45

[Qaaolchoura]

Hey, wish I'd been born before the 80s. It's a terrible time to find a job without experience in any career, and I get the impression that generally English markets outside of East Asia have been getting progressively harder to break into. (I think this is a combination of the economy, the Schengen Area, and the fact that a whole lot of foreign language schools seem to be run by Brits. Were I an Englishman I might well be set for life.)

~Q (born July, 1988)

[Sashadroogie]

"To be born an Englishman is to win first prize in the lottery of life."

[Isla Guapa]

[spiral78]

Sasha's heavily into irony, my island friend:)

[Sashadroogie]

Can a good communist quote an imperialist piggie any other way?

[Isla Guapa]

[spiral78]

wink, wink

[Madame J]

In Indonesia it became all too easy to "place" expat in professions based on appearance. Young with motorbike, they're in ESL. Older (above 40) with car and personal driver, they're anything else. It was rare indeed to find a middle aged teacher-possibly because of Indonesia's average ESL salary, teaching there is sadly seen as being no more than a bit of fun.

[PattyFlipper]