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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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 Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:08 am Post subject: |
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| If I were a student, I'd feel pretty uncomfortable being asked what topics were taboo (and I don't think I could think of everything off the top of my head |
No, the point is that when one is teaching private lessons, the first step normally is to ask the STUDENT what s/he is interested, in, wants to work on, and what s/he would like to chat about, if the lesson is about chat. It's student driven, not driven by the teacher. |
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Nicky_McG
Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:20 am Post subject: |
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| spiral78 wrote: |
| Quote: |
| If I were a student, I'd feel pretty uncomfortable being asked what topics were taboo (and I don't think I could think of everything off the top of my head |
No, the point is that when one is teaching private lessons, the first step normally is to ask the STUDENT what s/he is interested, in, wants to work on, and what s/he would like to chat about, if the lesson is about chat. It's student driven, not driven by the teacher. |
Spiral, I obviously didn't mean it that way. Asking a student what his/her intrests are is obviously very different from asking what he he/she doesn't want to talk about (or more specifically what is taboo to talk about). Everybody does (or should do) the former but the latter has never been an issue for me. I can't think of a single occassion when a problem has arisen because I use my common sense when doing classes and choosing topics. |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:31 am Post subject: |
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| Asking a student what his/her intrests are is obviously very different from asking what he he/she doesn't want to talk about (or more specifically what is taboo to talk about). |
My point is that if you open a lesson (or series of lessons) by asking the student what s/he wants to work on and then focus on that, there is no need to try to find out what s/he DOESN'T want to talk about.  |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 11:38 am Post subject: |
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| spiral78 wrote: |
| Nicky_McG wrote: |
| Asking a student what his/her intrests are is obviously very different from asking what he he/she doesn't want to talk about (or more specifically what is taboo to talk about). |
My point is that if you open a lesson (or series of lessons) by asking the student what s/he wants to work on and then focus on that, there is no need to try to find out what s/he DOESN'T want to talk about. |
Here's what I posted:
| nomad soul wrote: |
| I suggest that he start conversation sessions with new clients by asking if there are any topics they don't want to talk about as well as those they're interested in (even if that means idioms). |
Q: Are there any topics you don't want to talk about?
A: I hate sports, or
A: My country, or
A: Grammar, or
A: No.
Q: That's okay. What topics are you interested in talking about?
A: Idioms, or
A; Preparing for the IELTS, or
A: Everything.
Obviously, asking about interests is key in student-centered learning. However, I included inquiring about "not interested in" or "off limits" topics mostly because of the extremely volatile environments I've taught in. I never want to touch on any part of a subject a student is sensitive about or just not thrilled about, regardless of their nationality and background.
Anyway, it would good to hear from the OP, especially if he incorporated at least one of the suggestions mentioned throughout this thread. |
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thunder_god
Joined: 22 Jul 2015
Posts: 65
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| Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
| spiral78 wrote: |
| Nicky_McG wrote: |
| Asking a student what his/her intrests are is obviously very different from asking what he he/she doesn't want to talk about (or more specifically what is taboo to talk about). |
My point is that if you open a lesson (or series of lessons) by asking the student what s/he wants to work on and then focus on that, there is no need to try to find out what s/he DOESN'T want to talk about. |
Here's what I posted:
| nomad soul wrote: |
| I suggest that he start conversation sessions with new clients by asking if there are any topics they don't want to talk about as well as those they're interested in (even if that means idioms). |
Q: Are there any topics you don't want to talk about?
A: I hate sports, or
A: My country, or
A: Grammar, or
A: No.
Q: That's okay. What topics are you interested in talking about?
A: Idioms, or
A; Preparing for the IELTS, or
A: Everything.
Obviously, asking about interests is key in student-centered learning. However, I included inquiring about "not interested in" or "off limits" topics mostly because of the extremely volatile environments I've taught in. I never want to touch on any part of a subject a student is sensitive about or just not thrilled about, regardless of their nationality and background.
Anyway, it would good to hear from the OP, especially if he incorporated at least one of the suggestions mentioned throughout this thread. |
This was an isolated incident with this student. I've taught well over 12 students from Saudi Arabia and never had any issues before, in fact I've had students tell me I was doing a very good job from the same country. This student in particular didn't give me much of a chance to move things forward, he abruptly ended the conversation before I even got a chance to tell him an idiom. He said he didn't understand and then when I tried to switch topics and ask him something else he asks me to teach him idioms, and I'm like "idoms?" and then he ends the call a few seconds later. I have employed your strategy in the pass where I asked the student what the wanted to talk about but I usually got " I don't know, whatever you want to talk about response" back from the student especially the beginners which this guy clearly was. Now I usually ask the students open ended questions and lead from there, and if the student seems interested in a particular topic I would work on that with them. Also I had no more then 5 minutes to chat with this guy. It took him like a good 3 minutes to even introduce himself during which he mentioned he was in the military. I asked him a simple military follow up question and he didn't understand so I tried to switch topics and then he asked for idioms and then got pissed like a few seconds later and ended the call. Sure I could have told him that I could prepare idioms for next time, but he ended the chat before I got a chance to do anything.
Just 2 days ago, I had another student from Brazil and he mentioned he was preparing for an English test so I told him that if he let me know what specific topics and areas he was interested in working on, I could prepare it ahead of time for him and we could work on it during our next session.
And just for the record, I don't care what country or religion your from, just because your in a pissed off mood right off the bat doesn't give you the right to act like an ass to people. I'm not a mind reader who can tell right off the bat how your feeling especially if your webcam is turned off and I can't even see you and its the first time we have talked. I'll try to switch topics if I sense that you don't want to talk about a particular topic or if you have trouble understanding it, and will even ask you what you want to work on if I sense that your not happy with what we're doing at the moment. I'm already depressed as it is in my inability to land a teaching job in China due to racism and discrimination and this poor attitude is the last thing I need from a student. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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| thunder_god wrote: |
This was an isolated incident with this student. I've taught well over 12 students from Saudi Arabia and never had any issues before, in fact I've had students tell me I was doing a very good job from the same country.
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I'm already depressed as it is in my inability to land a teaching job in China due to racism and discrimination and this poor attitude is the last thing I need from a student. |
That incident may have been isolated, yet you found it so bothersome that you wrote about it in this thread. Anyway, it's done. Move on so that it doesn't continue to fester. Try not to personalize minor, funky situations.
I recall from the China forum that you're set on teaching in China but are hitting a wall of racism because of your Asian ethnicity. Unfortunately, that's the reality. (I'm multiracial --- I empathize with you.) But China isn't the only country in the world for TEFL. Perhaps you should seriously consider other locations that won't spike your blood pressure. |
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thunder_god
Joined: 22 Jul 2015
Posts: 65
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| Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
| thunder_god wrote: |
This was an isolated incident with this student. I've taught well over 12 students from Saudi Arabia and never had any issues before, in fact I've had students tell me I was doing a very good job from the same country.
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I'm already depressed as it is in my inability to land a teaching job in China due to racism and discrimination and this poor attitude is the last thing I need from a student. |
That incident may have been isolated, yet you found it so bothersome that you wrote about it in this thread. Anyway, it's done. Move on so that it doesn't continue to fester. Try not to personalize minor, funky situations.
I recall from the China forum that you're set on teaching in China but are hitting a wall of racism because of your Asian ethnicity. Unfortunately, that's the reality. (I'm multiracial --- I empathize with you.) But China isn't the only country in the world for TEFL. Perhaps you should seriously consider other locations that won't spike your blood pressure. |
Right now I'm considering Vietnam as well, but the salary is way too low. I've been trying to get a local job here in Toronto but not getting anywhere. I'm even applying for minimum wage jobs working at a sushi shop and hitting a brick wall.
Right now I'm looking at doing some freelance work from fiverr but the pay is extremely low ( $2.5 after the company fiverr takes their cut) for the amount of work you need to put in like write a 400-500 word researched article that will take you at least a few hours to do. I'm thinking maybe I should just suck it up and do 3-5 of these articles for next to nothing so that I can get a few samples for my portfolio and then next week when I get paid from Cambly which is like peanuts as well, use half of my earnings to purchase a web domain and host and create a professional wordpress website that I can then use to market my services.
If I can get this to take off where I'm earning at least 1-2k a month then I can just hop on a plane to China and do my Celta there and once that's done just walk into any school and look for work. I'll probably need to fly to Hong Kong or something get a work permit I assume? This option beats sitting on my ass here. Who know's, if I make enough money from the freelance gig I can potentially teach anywhere in the world because I have a side income to supply my school income and then bob's your uncle.
The biggest obstacle I have right now is I have no copywriting experience and I'm facing a wall of competition and I don't know how to market my services. The only thing I have is my personal blog which isn't anything special. |
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santi84
Joined: 14 Mar 2008
Posts: 1317
Location: under da sea
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| Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm in Edmonton and the market is quite decent. If you think you might stay in Canada, I would suggest looking into opportunities out here. Wages are decent (range is around $20-50, $20 being minimal qualifications, $50 being with an MA TESL - I make $30, personally). We have a huge influx of new immigrants and not enough people to teach them. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:29 pm Post subject: |
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| thunder_god wrote: |
| The biggest obstacle I have right now is I have no copywriting experience and I'm facing a wall of competition and I don't know how to market my services. The only thing I have is my personal blog which isn't anything special. |
What are your specific degree majors? |
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thunder_god
Joined: 22 Jul 2015
Posts: 65
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| Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
| thunder_god wrote: |
| The biggest obstacle I have right now is I have no copywriting experience and I'm facing a wall of competition and I don't know how to market my services. The only thing I have is my personal blog which isn't anything special. |
What are your specific degree majors? |
Kinesiology and IT management. I've gotten a hold of a few copywriting books and also following 1-2 threads from a entrepreneur forum. |
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thunder_god
Joined: 22 Jul 2015
Posts: 65
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| Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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| santi84 wrote: |
| I'm in Edmonton and the market is quite decent. If you think you might stay in Canada, I would suggest looking into opportunities out here. Wages are decent (range is around $20-50, $20 being minimal qualifications, $50 being with an MA TESL - I make $30, personally). We have a huge influx of new immigrants and not enough people to teach them. |
Do you need a degree in teaching or something or can anyone with a bachelor's degree do it? If its the lather, then I'm going to pack my things and head out west. What's the cost of living like in Edmonton? |
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santi84
Joined: 14 Mar 2008
Posts: 1317
Location: under da sea
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| Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:52 pm Post subject: |
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| thunder_god wrote: |
| santi84 wrote: |
| I'm in Edmonton and the market is quite decent. If you think you might stay in Canada, I would suggest looking into opportunities out here. Wages are decent (range is around $20-50, $20 being minimal qualifications, $50 being with an MA TESL - I make $30, personally). We have a huge influx of new immigrants and not enough people to teach them. |
Do you need a degree in teaching or something or can anyone with a bachelor's degree do it? If its the lather, then I'm going to pack my things and head out west. What's the cost of living like in Edmonton? |
I'm not sure what most non-MEd applicants have. I have a Bachelor of General Studies in TESL and a full year TESL cert (both from a BC university). No BEd here. I've seen degrees in English Lit and also Anthropogy. TESL Canada credentials are non-negotiable. Cost is a bit high, but nothing like Toronto. Calgary is worse than here, but Calgary has more TESL jobs. I have a house with my spouse, but singles are probably $800-1200 or so. We use kijiji here for renting. |
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thunder_god
Joined: 22 Jul 2015
Posts: 65
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| Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 3:58 am Post subject: |
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| santi84 wrote: |
| thunder_god wrote: |
| santi84 wrote: |
| I'm in Edmonton and the market is quite decent. If you think you might stay in Canada, I would suggest looking into opportunities out here. Wages are decent (range is around $20-50, $20 being minimal qualifications, $50 being with an MA TESL - I make $30, personally). We have a huge influx of new immigrants and not enough people to teach them. |
Do you need a degree in teaching or something or can anyone with a bachelor's degree do it? If its the lather, then I'm going to pack my things and head out west. What's the cost of living like in Edmonton? |
I'm not sure what most non-MEd applicants have. I have a Bachelor of General Studies in TESL and a full year TESL cert (both from a BC university). No BEd here. I've seen degrees in English Lit and also Anthropogy. TESL Canada credentials are non-negotiable. Cost is a bit high, but nothing like Toronto. Calgary is worse than here, but Calgary has more TESL jobs. I have a house with my spouse, but singles are probably $800-1200 or so. We use kijiji here for renting. |
It's a worthwhile option to consider but at the moment I don't have any money to do a TESL course. I'm barely scrapping by trying to even get a job at all here. My folks are thinking about going to Vietnam in November and were asking me if I was on holiday during that time to go with them ( I got kicked out of grad school recently and haven't told them yet) but it would be nice to just get away for a while and if I went to Vietnam I could probably approach some schools and ask them if they are hiring esl teachers. |
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santi84
Joined: 14 Mar 2008
Posts: 1317
Location: under da sea
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| Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:09 pm Post subject: |
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| I see. I don't think it is worth your time to attempt applying to TESL work in Canada without any credentials. I can't imagine any Canadian employer considering an applicant without a basic certificate. Documented in-class teaching hours is also a typical requirement. You are correct, heading to Asia is your best bet. |
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thunder_god
Joined: 22 Jul 2015
Posts: 65
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