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spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

How long do you think one needs to be in a country before that experience is really useful in an EFL context?

How long would one have to spend in a country to offer credible advice to newbies who would like to live and teach in that country?

I think one contract period (usually) is required before one really knows enough about living and working in a country to give advice to others.

For example, I was sent to Moscow for a three-month project once. I was living and working in the city, BUT my accomodation and paperwork and contracts and etc were all arranged by the university that sent me. Three months is an extended visit, but I was never responsible for all the details of daily living. Neither would I presume to say that I know much about Russian culture based on three months of exposure.

Another typical scenario is teachers who lived for a few months and worked (usually with just a few private students) while on student programmes arranged by their universities. I don't think this resembles real living/working conditions to the degree that would allow them to realistically advise others on the country or region.

What do you think?

johnslat · Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 2:54 pm Post subject:

Dear spiral78,

My initial reaction to your question is that I think you may have made it difficult to choose one answer for what is a double-pronged question.

For example, while I might want to say that 6 months is OK for number 1, I'd hesitate to say that it's also OK for number 2.

Regards,
John

GuestBob · Joined: 18 Jun 2011 Posts: 270

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

1. A resume will always have value if work experience is on it. I'd say if the work experience was less than a month, mention it in a cover letter, but keep it off the resume. Depends on what type of work experience, too!

2. As for being "extensive enough" to offer advice to would-be teachers, I'd say that 3 months is sufficient, but it depends again on what that experience is, and what the would-be teachers are looking for. Even 1 month could be enough depending on what advice is being solicited.

This should really be 2 surveys, not 1, and a bit more clarification is needed, as I have indicated. One can assume that "time spent" means "time spent teaching full-time", but that's not made clear, either.

johnslat · Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:17 pm Post subject:

Another problem I've noticed is that some posters seem to think that their experience is valid for everyone else.

e.g. Don't ever go to this country. You'll hate it; it's a really terrible place.

or the opposite

e.g. You'll never regret coming here. It's the best place in the world.

For those posters, I suspect that they could spend many years in a country but I believe their "advice" might often be misleading.

So, of course, it's again a case of reading posts with a large supply of salt handy.

Regards,
John

hollysuel · Joined: 07 Oct 2007 Posts: 225 Location: Connecticut, USA

The longer I've stayed in a country, the better a teacher I was. I'm not sure you can really put a number on it as it depends on each person. Say, for example, a person has studied Spanish since middle school, majors in Spanish at university and then heads to Mexico--he/she would be more effective from the beginning than a person like myself who goes to a country with very little knowledge of the language/culture.