Job Discussion Forums

[dmb]

Istanbul has changed loads. Especially in the private sector.!0 years ago there were lots of independent schools. Now however, they are all being bought up by two large groups. If you were a newbie 10 years ago you could have a good standard of living and save. Now, these two large companies have driven down salaries so it is more difficult. There has also been a huge growth in the number of private universities. Getting a work visa was easier 10 years ago. It took a day. Now you have to go back to your home country and it can easily take up to 6 months

[zaneth]

I haven't been here ten years. And I'm not in the thick of things in Moscow. But the biggest change I've noticed that affects the industry is the tightening up of government controls on visas and registration. Last round I had to stay longer in the country where I got my visa because one day service has been cancelled. Had to get an AIDS test and on returning, was fingerprinted. If I'd come ten years ago (or even five) I'd have a Russian passport now.

That and the dollar falling, of course.

[ntropy]

Market is way down in Canada. Schools closing and even uni dept's hurting.

This despite the US clampdown on visas. A big disadvantage for Cdn schools is foreign students are prohibited from working with student visas.

I believe the trend will be for foreign institutions to have Native Language institutions set up branch campuses in the target countries, sending over staff and curriculum directly from the Native Language uni.

So there will be fewer jobs "at home" in future.

[zaneth]

I am curious about this idea of international university branches. Anybody know more about this? I recently heard of a university in St Petersburg that was connected to Bard College in New York. They're starting to offer Liberal Arts degrees. Apparently very prestigious. Maybe in a few years I won't have to explain my degree to people.

How will international branches affect TEFL?

[31]

[Gordon]

Where do some of you figure the best places to live and work are for people with masters degrees? The obvious is the middle east, but I think that lifestyle is certainly not for everyone. There is also Japan, but getting hired abroad for university work here is a rarity. Where else?

[Roger]

The changes I have observed in the Chinese English language market:

Ten years ago, only the very dedicated would commit to putting in a stint here; 1989 was still fresh in the minds of most westerners.
There were very few independent schools; and few publicly-owned schools hired FTs. Distrust of foreign nationals was deeply ingrained, and still is.

But, perversely, probably because of 1989 private business really started to take off in the wake of that brutal massacre. Towards the middle of the 1990s Chinese were beginning to forget about the bloodshed on Tian'anmen Square and concentrating on making money; in addition the central authorities exhorted its subjects to "learn English" because the mainland was going to take over bilingual English/Cantonese Hong Kong. Mainlanders thought Hong Kong's lifestyle was going to flood back northward, and with it the English language. In Shenzhen, you would be hired by individuals, companies and training centres "to brush up our English". You made money - but no lasting impact on their English, and in the aftermath of the 1997 return of HK to its "mother land" people's enthusiasm for English has markedly plummeted.
These days, mainland Chinese all over China - not just in Shenzhen - are focused on the Olympics in 2008 and the Worlde Exposition 2010 in Shanghai, two notable goals that galvanise the people and that reinforce the view that "English is important".
Yes, it is important, but people don't really realise how and why. Adults no longer pay for their own English lessons; you get roped in to train them in-house of some company that foots the bill for its staff; the students lack genuine interest and enthusiasm and can be extremely supercilious and lazy in class. This is my oipinion after teaching so many company classes in the years since 1996.

Training centres that proliferated at the turn of the century, are now reaching the saturation point; good ones - relativelyspeaking! - are doing fine, and cowboy outfits come by day and leave by night en masse.
Their customers these days are public schools that officially are banned from hiring NETs. The law gets circumvented with the help of private business; few of these training centres give you the benefit of legal employment though most promise you high rewards. That may be true, but the working conditions have changed for the worse. You have to commute, submit to unfair comments from lazy middle-school students, and you are easily replaceable. What's worse, your timetable is never set in stone. Your life can be a mess because you cannot plan your private life.

In universities and colleges, very little has changed, and newbies tend to be attracted by private businesses. Thus, universities can now be more choosey in who they hire, and hire at pre-turn-of-the-century conditions.
Recently, I came upon a Briton's advertisement in a Guangzhou publication in which he offered his service for RMB 50 an hour.
You can guess where we are headed for!

[Brooks]

maybe Hong Kong, but not everyone would like to live there since it must be busy and crowded.
But work at international schools would be good in many places.

[dmb]

[nomadder]

Today on BBC News it said that Japan was officially in a recession. Don't think it ever got back up to pre 97 levels but then maybe it was overextended. In the future India and China may be taking bigger pieces of the economic pie as well.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

I think the job scene for TEFLers has gotten a little more competitive in the city where I am during the past 10 years. When I first moved here (about 10 years ago,) it was pretty easy for any native English speaker to find something, even if it meant part-time jobs at two different schools, because there weren't all that many foreigners here looking for jobs. Then the city sort of "got discovered" by the backpacker set, so there were quite a few untrained, inexperienced people looking for and finding TEFL jobs. Now it seems that there are more people with TEFL training and experience checking out the job scene in this city. However, many of them that I've met don't stay and take jobs because of the low pay compared to the cost of living. One thing that hasn't changed much is that most schools tend to wait until the last minute to hire new teachers, so being in the right place at the right time plays a big part in finding a job.