Job Discussion Forums

[gaijinalways]

Okay, I need to ask, what is a life experience teacher?
I have seen this exhibted by most teachers; does a teacher who looks down on sharing world knowledge think that this information is irrelevant?
That, and I don't see this 'model' of only doing that, teaching /sharing 'experience', being practiced anywhere.


I admit, smells like a grammar fetish to me !

[MotherF]

I've only heard the term "life experience" applied to degree mill type of places. You know, teach EFL for ten years with no degree and you hit a ceiling where you can't get better jobs because you don't have a degree--no problem, we will caculate your life experience and issue you a "degree" for that. For a couple of hundred dollars or more.

[Denizen]

Life experience teaching is just that - substitute teaching for a school, training employees how to stack clothing/scoop ice cream/restock shelves, teaching people how to use software, etc.

[gaijinalways]

Wow , use a big enough net, and you may get lots of junk (but not what you were fishing for).

No, what I was referring to was claims by some teachers that they meet teachers who only teach using their life experiences; i.e mo grammar, no lesson plan, etc. I have never met these teachers, even in so called converation where a text is used and any free conversation usually has to be noted as requested by the student.

So my question remains, where are these 'experience' teachers?
And should we just forget what we know even if it will help the student?

[Sashadroogie]

'Life experience' is what untrained people, with no explicit knowledge of language, its grammar, how to teach it, or teach generally, usually offer language schools as a reason for hiring them. That and 'teaching culture' or critical thinking skills. 'Personality teacher' is a closely related phenomenon.

Sadly I have met many of these specimens, in interview and outside. They exist in Russia, but don't usually last too long if they don't have something concrete to offer the learners. They usually drift out again, though presumably with even more 'experience' to impart on unsuspecting learners elsewhere. I am surprised, not to say a little envious, that you have not met any such types in Japan. From what I'd heard there were plenty there and the Far East generally.

[naturegirl321]

I taught with a guy with life experience and only a HS education. Wonderful teacher actually. He had four kids, very patient, came to China is his late 30s. He and his wife were from NZ. He had worked a variety of jobs, always happy, always smilling. All the teachers, kids, parents and admin loved him.

[fladude]

Life Experience can run the gauntlet. For the most part, it means someone without a degree who is trying to get a job that they aren't qualified for on paper, but which they claim to be able to teach by virtue of having worked in the field. In most cases this claim is not valid. In a few cases, it can be valid.

Lets look at some examples.

Example 1 (probably the most common), you have someone who has no degree but has backpacked/partied around the world for 10 years. This dude or chick is probably clueless as to anything but bong smoke, but they have "life experience" (like escaping town ahead of the cops), so now they believe this qualifies them to teach your kids.... I've run into these people even in the USA.

Example 2: Someone who runs a successful business for 10 years, but who has no degree in business. Yet this person could teach a small business class based purely on "life experience" and could probably teach a better class than someone with an MBA but no business experience. After all this person actually knows how to run a business, as opposed to the theory behind it.

Example 3: a backpacker/teacher similar to the person in Example 1, but who is actually good at teaching, but just never had the time/money/patience to finish a college degree. This person probably can teach kids as well as someone with a degree, at least in conversational English.

Extreme example 4. Bill Gates has no college degree, but could teach computer programing based on "life experience." This one is tossed out there just as an extreme example. Obviously you probably won't encounter someone like this, but there are geniuses who do things and could teach things even though they don't have a degree. A surprisingly large number of inventors have no degree, for example. They like to "do" and not study.

[JZer]

[JZer]

[sistercream]

"Life experience" runs the full gamut, from the person mentioned who knows how to escape from towns and countries one step ahead of the law to the person who starts off as the baggage boy/girl in an NGO or charity, just does whatever is needed while observing more qualified/ experienced colleagues in action, and after a decade or two is a competent health educator or barefoot doctor, bookkeeper or translator, mechanic or literacy teacher - and maybe more than one of the above.

As for teaching, I have come to the conclusion that there are some "born" teachers who just need to know subject content in order to be able to communicate it effectively to others (although training can hone that ability), but that there are others who can become competent and even enthusiastic teachers if they receive good training.
It's unfair but true that many excellent teachers with only a high school diploma but years of experience get passed over because youngsters with no experience but a with a two-bit M.A. "fulfill the requirements".

[JZer]

[santi84]

I don't think "life experience" counts for much when describing an "unqualified" teacher (ie. no education or direct experience). I think some people do have a natural talent for it, but that's probably more in the genes and personality rather than their past life as a cocktail waitress or plumber

[Zero]

The problem is that ESL/EFL theory is hocus pocus. There, I said it. No one has yet figured out the science of teaching a language to another human being. What you learn in an MA program is pseudoscience. All the talk of L1 and L2, discourse analysis, systemic-functional perspectives and so on should be a red flag. It is one of quite a few extremely fluffy fields trying to project an image of rigor.

[sistercream]

[JZer]