Job Discussion Forums

[Norman Bethune]

[merlin]

[Cleopatra]

I don't think it's at all a matter of chance that this - very interesting - thread was started by a fellow "Gulfie". Certainly this particular part of the world attracts more than its fair share of "characters", to put it politely. Such people can be found in all spheres of work here, not just EFL. The reasons for this have been mentioned by other posters - the boredom, "difficult" culture, segregation - but there's more.

Many "Westerners" come here with what Norman referred to as a "colonial mentality": they expect the "rag heads" to be eternally grateful that the White Man has deigned to come and live among them. Trouble is, they get here and find that it isn't like that at all: these are rich countries and although the "locals" need foreign expertise and labour, they are very well aware of their position in the hierarach, which is to say, top of the scale, certainly well above even "white" expats. It is the "ragheads" for whom such ex-pats (not all expats of course) have so much contempt, who call the shots, who have the power to decide if and when your wife gets a visa, and who can have you deported on a whim. Obviously, expats of this ilk resent this, but because the money and living conditions are good - certainly much better than they'd ever have in their home countries - they grudgingly stay on, taking their resentment out in all sorts of weird ways. As I've said, this sort of behaviour is common to Gulf expats in all "professions", not just EFL.


[/quote]I think some enter the field because we have issues at home that we feel we can escape by going overseas. We won't admit the problem is within and we bring it with us; that we can't run away

[doltex]

i have been working at the same university in oaxaca mexico for 8 years and the entire situation here has been like a kafa novel, but not even a very good one because the same thing happens over and over again. i have seen every type of character come through here. some have even been head of dept. i was for a while too but i resigned and now i am a regular teacher.

there was young eric who chewed on his hand when he became angry. after becoming angry, he' start kicking things around in the classroom. he was my first boss. once he dropped his bank card into the slot where you put your deposit envelopes in the cash machine. he pulled out the longest screwdriver from who knows where, maybe his bung, and started clubbing the machine with it. i bolted out the door when the guard pulled his gun.

there was mr. G from canada who disappeared completely one day and hasn't been seen since. in his room we fond several letters from his psychotherapist saying that he was not stable enough to work. he left me a personal note though, saying that i could have his rusted piece of poo bicylce.

there was mr. R who would wear the same clothes day in day out, sleep in the streets, show up half drunk, say nasty things to the students in English because they couldn't understand.

there was R.S. who smelled like old underwear. he'd bark at the students, hung a 'beware of dog' sign on his office door. he'd get in arguments with everyone in town. he lived in 8 places in six months. i helped him move each time. helpless little feller too. couldn't hook up his gas tank by himself or even tie a knot to hang his hammock. didn't know how to make a sandwich.

there was ms. G, bosslady. she thought that the students could do all sorts of superhero things, like pass the TOEFL in two years from absolute nothing. she created a program with the most rediculous requirements such as, if you fail one semester, you can't graduate from the University.

my oh my, i could go on and on. but why bother. silly silly, this carrer. . .

and yet i have an incredible vested interest in staying put where i am. like i said, i have been here for 8 years. i have a house here, a wife, a child, lots of friends, but i have pretty much decided to abandon ship for my own well-being. at times i do babble to myself. my once-eloquent english and prowess as a conversationalist has withered to nothingness. i can't form a complete thought half the time. and i come up with odd schemes and theories too. i drink a lot. this entire situation here has caused me serious depression and i think it would be best to figure a way out of this.

[31]

Agree with you completely doltex.

Be prepared for all the replies from the ''efl is great'' merchants.

[mskana]

I think we should show a little more understanding and empathy.Mental illness is serious and should be treated as such .Calling people "bonkers" or referring to mental institutions as "loony bins" shows some level of prejudice. If the person had any knowledge or understanding about mental illness they would know that it is rife all over the world , in any profession, race, colour sex. So they happened to see it whilst pursuing a career in tef?l:newsflash its everywhere!Hang out with a few doctors or lawyers you are bound to see people with mental health problems, or in any social class for that matter. These peolel need support.When are we ever going to stop with all this discrimination?Against ethnic minorites,cultures,people with mental health problems etc? I suppose some things will never change.

[slaqdog]

Well done Mr Biff a great thread you started.
Yes TEFL does attract the off-beats, the party animals, the back-packers, the deranged, the mentally unstable,the lazy and the ****wits
It also attracts some searching inquisitive souls with a thirst for knowledge, and that rare and wonderous beast the people who, inspired by a character from their youth, believe teaching to be a noble and enlightening profession.
BUT Tefl by its irregularity; the shoddy treatment received, the lack of professional respect dished out by so many schools and the laughably low wages grinds people down. Alienation turns to self hate, and this leads to extreme and bizarre behaviour. Post traumatic stress disorder does not only affect people involved in an accident it can also be brought on by the long term abuse inflicted upon teachers. (oops got a bit too dramatic there)
Myself--I stopped--but it was maybe to late
Peace be with you all and may your gods go with you

[Boy Wonder]

Slaqdog..you stopped!
So what are you doing now?

[guty]

[merlin]

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[delacosta]

Hiring standards?
We don't need no pinche hiring standards...
Benround, you live in the Republic of Yucutan, right? Well this is the Republic of Oaxaca, and let me tell you it's another world...
The turnover here is massive, and not just in the English department, across the board. This despite some of the highest salaries being offered at the university level in all of Mexico, and full 'definitividad' (tenure) being offered after one year of employment.
Obviously something isn't right in the hen-house, wouldn't you say?
Despite this there are , I believe, around 10 more universities being opened across the state that all follow the same system that both doltex and I work in. There are also quite a few other posters on the Mexico board who work or have worked in said system. I wouldn't feel comfortble posting a crytical analysis of this system on this public forum, but if you would like to compare systems just pm me for details.
It's a difficult gig down here on the savage coast of Oaxaca and not just for foreigners.

[moonraven]

Speaking from the standpoint of an "escapee" from that Oaxacan system, I can say that one of the reasons the campuses are revolving doors for professors reminds me of the cardinal rule in retail: LOCATION.

I spent just under a year at the same campus as doltex and delacosta. I am definitely not a beach person--I lived right above one of the main bays and I never once put even my toe in the water. Now the raw sewage running down the street into the bay in the rainy season may have had a little bit to do with that....

The campus itself was okay. The job was fine. Only one of the nuts that doltex mentioned was there when I was--I hired him and fired him. Professors in other departments regularly disappeared from night to morning--many because they were living in crummy rooms with ticks crawling up the walls....

For me the problem was being so far away from any "culture" that we didn't create. And the librer�a gandhi's absolutely worthless website. I thought I would be bailed out by being able to order and receive books. They sent the wrong books, mixed up the orders, took a month to get the books to me--you name it, they screwed it up.

When I went back to my home base in Morelos for one of the vacations a friend came by whom I hadn't seen for awhile and asked where I was teaching. When I told him, his response was: "That place seems like paradise for 2 or 3 days. After that it seems like a life sentence." I thought that was to the point. He ended up in the hospital in Pochutla while he was there. And he died shortly after our conversation. I can't really prove a connection, though.

I can't say that I lost my marbles there, but I did learn how to sing like the thousand and one Ravens that visited my garden.

I also spent five months at one of the other universities in the same system. Again, the university was okay and the job was fine--except for a hostile skeletal blithering basket case who briefly shared my office. But the location was even worse than where doltex and delacosta still are. It was a weather-inversion bowl of intense heat and intense humidity. Eighteen year old students had problems with high BP and kidney disease. It was 7 hours to Mexico City by bus--less time than going from the coast, but still inconvenient. When I told my landlady I was leaving, she said: "You're smart; a lot of people just die from this place".

Almost of the other campuses in the same system are located in "challenging" spots with few or no services and completely inadequate housing. The two that aren't are still just as isolated from anything resembling culture--and are expensive tourist traps.

Does that mean you will eventually go nuts in places like that? Can't say--didn't really want to stay long enough to find out....

[Norman Bethune]

Maybe teachers are just crazy everywhere.

[Veritas_Aequitas]