Job Discussion Forums

[scot47]

You are dead right ! When people talk about "the communicative appoach to language acquisition" I squirm. Analysis of language is necessary for any intelligent acquisition. Of course if you only want robots then send them to Berlitz.

[richard ame]

Hi folks
Just thought I'd get everybody back to where we started,namely why are we here?For myself personally the simple answer is I wanted a life,I had all the trappings back home in merry England where the sun never shines and people's general dispositions made me puke ,the resentment ,the green eyed monster of envy, the stabbing behind your back,running hard just to stand still ,trying to keep up with the bills,petty bureaucracy, petty neighbours,not to mention the taxes,so I sold up everything and went to Turkey and have never looked back the teaching was just a way to get here earn a living and hopefully stay and retire in relatve comfort,after working an average of an 80 hour week just to survive the storm of bullshit in the U.K life is just great ,thanks to the teaching industry I have a life and I really enjoy teaching which is a bonus,why do I do it? The only mistake I made was I didn't do it sooner!!!

[gerard]

".....I leave my country without regret and will return without pleasure. I am like Adam the first convict sentenced to transportation but I have no Eve and tasted no apple but what was sour as a crab....."

Byron.

[khmerhit]

On the road again!!!! why do we do it indeed?

[guest of Japan]

What a great thread you've unearthed Khmerhit!

Why do we do it indeed. I personally do it because I love teaching and I hate being bored. When you face culture and language problems and differences everyday you are never really bored. There is always something deserving of thought or study to occupy my time. The love of teaching can be satisfied both at home and abroad if I may use scot47's most detested word. Perhaps my satisfaction in teaching can be better garnered at home. This is something I often think about, and I'm not sure of the answer yet. But certainly life is more interesting living in another country.

As many long time posters know, I had a very bad go of things for the last year. I was hating everything about the choice I had made. Recently, I've begun working in a new high school in Japan. The students are much more pleasurable to teach. The atmosphere at the school is very positive. And I am living in a city which I am quite fond of. Japan is once again giving me pleasure. It's still not perfect. I have to team teach with Japanese teachers. This can be enjoyable, but usually it's a very frustrating style of teaching. I'm also tired of battling the effects of the Japanese education system on students. Although I am married to a Japanese woman I am certain that I will never become an old man in Japan. Wanderlust is setting in.

As for the teaching methods and approaches argument I also would have to favor applied ecclecticism. I don't think such a word exists, but I like the sound. Ideas on what exactly the communicative approach is are so varied that you can pretty much call any method or approach which uses only the L2 in class communicative. The arguments become more mute when you consider that most texts are still grammar based even when they call themselves my another name.

I can't speak for countries other than Japan, but in Japan we're very limited in the ways in which we can teach. In high schools and universities the foreign teachers are often given very large oral communication classes. These classes are at the bottom of the priority list for both the schools and the students. We need to get quantifiable results in oral proficiency which are closely akin to robotic reactions. The Japanese teachers use the grammar translation method for reading, writing and general English classes.

If you work for a conversation school you teach using a method designed by the company you work for. Some schools have more latitude than others in how to present, but deviation from the method is taboo since the method is the company product and the teachers are there to present the product.

If I am to stay in this field long term I will need to find situations where greater autonomy is given and where the foreign teacher is a valued professional.

[shmooj]

Why? Quite simply I find the whole idea of learning language and communicating in another tongue absolutely fascinating... what it does to your brain... what can influence it... how children do it so effortlessly at times... the whole scene blows me away.

[khmerhit]

Guest said

[guest of Japan]

I wish I could say that it is only in Japan, but in my readings I've found that the majority of methods invented in the past 100 years were designed to make language learning teacher proof. There simply isn't a lot of trust in the competency of teachers as a whole.

What makes the large conversation schools in Japan completely ironic is that they don't necessarily want good teachers. Their theory is that if they have a great teacher, eventually that teacher will leave and will be replaced by a teacher of lesser skills. This will cause students to quit. They want to keep lessons standardized so that a student can go to any given school in the country on any given day and receive and a service of equal quality.

I personally was very fortunate during my time working for one of the large schools. My manager was an outstanding guy who really valued English language learning and genuinely wanted the students to get the best lessons possible. Because my students were very happy to have me as a teacher he overlooked my corporate transgressions. By him doing so I was given a greater deal of autonomy and in turn helped to make the school a whole lot of money. My final falling out with the company occured when I wanted a salary in relation to the revenue I produced. This would have made me an exception to company policy. The company would not make an exception.