Job Discussion Forums

[bulgogiboy]

[mimi_intheworld]

I think all TEFLers are rootless drifters and wastrels, with either too much training or not enough, just in it for a laugh and a way to spend a few years somewhere "exotic" before they go home to spend the rest of their productive years shuffling paper in a cubicle farm.

There. Is that the generalisation everyone's tiptoeing around?

Don't get all up in arms, guys. We're all in the same boat. We needn't prove the value or propriety of our chosen profession here - we're all doing the same (on some level) job. Some of us for a year or two or five, some of us For-Eh-Ver. (Off and on, anyway.) Your parents, your family, your friends who wonder "when are you ever going to settle down?" aren't here. We've nothing to prove.

That said, I fall into the traveller/drifter/professional teacher category. I kind of like to spend a few years in each place before I move on to new and exciting challenges. Not sure if I'll ever settle down, so I'm glad to have identified TEFLing as a still-viable career choice!

I think the majority of TEFLers have at least a sense of adventure. Or, more than that, a sense that "adventure" is and should be a normal part of life. The better teachers also like to teach.

[artemisia]

[Guerciotti]

Do the "here for an easy job so I can drink and ho 2 to 4 nights a week not to mention I probably have a criminal record at home" teachers qualify as "rootless drifters and wastrels?"

[Trifaro]

How can I join the party? Sign me up.

I'm from HHI,SC.

[Guerciotti]

[VietCanada]

I'd be less inclined to comment on these categorisation threads over the years if the OP would include judgemental as one of the types who do this job.

I love this job and feel very lucky to have discovered my niche in this life. Some people haven't and may never. That's the only classification you need for any job on this earth. Found their niche or still looking. And judgemental.

[Guerciotti]

[mimi_intheworld]

Goodness. I hope it was clear that the rootless drifter & wastrel comment was, you know, satirical. (Or else self-condemning. Perhaps both? Well, whatever.)

[johnslat]

Dear VisitCanada,

As the OP, if I am to judge, I wouldn't include judgmental. EFLers who travel to work and live in distant lands where the culture is often very different from their own would, I'd say, be less judgmental than the norm.

But then, I don't see spiral78's post as being at all judgmental, just descriptive, an attempt at classification. Is it complete? Probably not - but spiral78 was, it seems to me, simply attempting to answer the question posed.

I was an EFLer for over twenty years (and an ESLer for ten, so far,) and I certainly took no umbrage at what spiral78 posted.

But maybe the categories "thick-skinned" and "thin-skinned" should be included, as well. My belief would be that most EFLers are likely more thick-skinned than average - but clearly there are exceptions.

Regards,
John

[spiral78]

For heaven's sake, I've been in EFL myself for 12+ years, beginning at a newbie level and moving up the scale to higher quals. Why would I be derogatory about my own profession?

I won't pretend that all the teachers I've known and worked with over the years were great or even good teachers. They've been all over the scale, (even including a few rootless wasters and drifters ) But of course there are many good teachers at every level from newbie to pro - as I said in an earlier post.

[artemisia]

[VietCanada]

[johnslat]

Dear VisitCanada,

As you are judging many of us. If you don't think there are any differences between teachers who remain in ESL and never leave home and those who stay in EFL and travel about the world, well, that's fine.

As I mentioned, I was an EFLer for over twenty years, and I haven't taken any of the more negative descriptions personally. I have to wonder why you seem to be doing so.

Why not just ignore this thread if it bothers you so much? No, I don't know you, and to tell you the truth, I doubt I'd want to. I'm sure you feel the same about me. And that's OK.

"Speak for yourself"

And that's what everyone is doing, speaking for him/herself, based on his/her experience.

[VietCanada]