Job Discussion Forums

gaijinalways · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 2279

Some people are still under the impression that many areas are still desperate for teachers. Very Happy

That or some people are still living in a time warp Shocked

. Wait a minute, I am maybe one of those people! Cool

John Hall · Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 6:28 pm Post subject:

90% of non-native English teachers in Costa Rica came here with a backpack, will be leaving within six or nine months, have just graduated from university, and are more interested in seeing the country than teaching English. The term "backpacker" is used--and justifiably so, I believe--to differentiate between these temporary teachers and the ones who are really dedicated to their profession and are in it for the long run.

william wallace · Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 2869 Location: in between

Dear Mr. Hall,
I'm amazed that they still exist! Laughing

John Hall · Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 6:44 pm Post subject:

Costa Rica is probably inundated with them because C.R. is a popular tourist destination, and also because of its proximity to the U.S.

By the way, I do not mean to imply that all backpacker teachers are bad. Some of them do quite a good job. I know because a long time ago I used to be one of them myself! Wink

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

shuize · Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 1270

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

[quote="shuize"]

william wallace · Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 2869 Location: in between

I see the backpacker as the canary in the coal mine.
Example:

1969- backpack around India to"find yourself".Then go home and go to college/(Viet Nam for Americans) ESL is small.

1975- The Wheelers introduce McLonely Planet for ABC backpacking.ESL is starting to grow widely in Japan, M.E., Taiwan

1983- Asia continues to grow, manufacturing and it's dependents are starting to leave 1st World countries. This wild manufacturing growth in Japan and Taiwan(HK too) lead to fat salaries for ESL workers.More and more 1st World children are going past grade 12/13.

1992- The fat salary period has since peaked, and ESL gets advertised as the dream job "make 2,000(USD)a month,and travel the world".More and more down-sizing...(always a vacancy)

1998- Now the internet has blown open ESL to all and any corner of the world.Any previous demand for ESL workers can now be met.Manufacturing continues to leave- this time into one primary locale- China.

2003- China is the largest ESL market........I'll stop there.

So, salaries have fallen, yet more and more people are coming into this field....qualifications are going up, yet they come - Why ?

* Too many 1st World people have undergraduate degrees- at least
* We 1st World folk are less protected by the old colonial-style of wealth's distribution.
* University tuitions have been going up sufficiently to be on the stock market.
* The mid section of employment has almost vanished; now your choice is an anesthesiologist(always a vacancy)or 2 part-time jobs at Wal-Mart and McDonald's(examples of non-livable wages)

It's detailed(much more than my wee example),but I think the growth in ESL has gone from peaceniks with wanderlust, through to those who can get a comparable salary,but with the adage of exoticism.Today the visibility of ESL jobs certainly has added to the number of youth coming into ESL; I strongly suspect that it is from less choice rather than in days of old- more choices

shuize · Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 1270

tedkarma · Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 2:03 am Post subject:

william wallace · Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 2869 Location: in between

Where I'm from in Canada, there are lots of working poor; it's not just perception,it's fact. Speaking of fact, the year I lived in London had lots of working poor too. In the USA,while it has heaps of billion/millionaires,there are lots of poor folk that might get hidden in statistics-Ask someone in Detroit,for example.

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

shuize · Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 1270

soapdodger · Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 203

The shimmering mirage-like beast that hides behind any EFL gathering rises again with inevitability....but don't worry, you can overcome it with the mantra "It's not a profession, it's not a profession". The problem is not that people in EFL don't realise the whole trade is of very little intrinsic value, they simply have grave difficulties admitting it to themselves. This isn't an EFL problem alone...we have evolved in the West into a society where people's perception of their own importance, intelligence and self-value are at extreme conflict with reality. "I'm not stupid: I've been to uni and I've got a degree"...a statement all too easy to test to destruction. "I deserve a well-paid job." Why? Because mummy and daddy had ones; because I'm middle-class and it is my birthright; because I have proved by hard work, results, natural or developed skills and talent that I am able to do one and am worth a high reward?.

Expat, backpacker, real teacher, there is an abundance of words and phrases within EFL which are really concerned with establishing some esteem in connection with a job devoid of any. Most EFL providers in the world are small, private and concerned only with generating maximum profits with minimum outlay and are almost invariably run by people for whom this is the pinnacle of business achievement. Any contrived moral arguments to try and make it look any nicer are just that. People who work for McDonalds are under no illusions about their status, importance or replacability....why do those in EFL cause themselves so much anxiety by trying to perpetuate untenable fantasies? Possibly because, as touched upon above, it tends to attract a particular type of middle-class misfit who has been conditioned, by no fault of their own other than failing to develop a rational mind, that they have a God-given right to an enormous swathe of goodies, based on an endless list of what they are not, rather than what they are.

One of the most tiresome things about EFL is the amount f time given over to giving it credibility. You can't make shit shine.

yaramaz · Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 12:13 pm Post subject:

Do other language teachers have this credibility problem too or is it just EFL/ESL teachers who are seen as backpackers with no other skills and a string of failed careers behind them? If I take a Turkish course taught by a teacher with a degree in Turkish plus the short add-on teaching certificate that is all that Turkish teachers need to be qualified to teach in the state and private school systems (my TEFL was longer and had more practicum time) am I allowed to assume that they are doing this because they were too useless to get a real job? Or if I take a Chinese course in Vancouver...is my Fujian born teacher equally as pathetic as his/her EFL equivalent?

I've taught in k-12s, universities, and now I'm doing corporate in-company teaching for a major mobile phone company's training department. I own a backpack, but have really only used it for my holidays over the past 6 years. Teaching is a realand serious job for me and I really enjoy it. I'd rather be teaching than be stuck in the 3 1/2 walls of cubicle hell back home. That lifestyle (house, car, 9-5) never appealed to me. I think we all must makejob choices that make us happy and which suit our individual needs and temperaments.