Job Discussion Forums

[CheekyL]

I'm the process of finishing my bachelor degree and I'll be 24 when I'm done. I'm doing a professional mentorship program and would like to be employed in my chosen field by the summer. However, I've decided to go for a plan B if that doesn't work out, plan B being teaching abroad.

I'm an avid traveller and have already lived abroad twice, once as a student and another time when I was 19 on a work exchange program. I am genuinely interested in the teaching profession and see doing ESL work abroad as a good opportunity of combinding both of my interests

However, I also know that I need to work in a good workplace environment. I suppose like everyone that means that I am treated with respect and descency by my employer. I'm in the process of researching places and schools to work for. I'm wondering if anyone here can give me some suggestions or recommendations. I don't know if I'm being too vague. So sorry if that's the case.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

[PAULH]

[Tracye]

I didn't gather that CheekyL was talking about being treated as a seasoned professional...just with basic respect.

I will also be an inexperienced, only marginally qualified teacher when I make the leap overseas, and I don't mind certain infringements on my teaching autonomy. If the school has a particular lesson plan it wants me to follow, or wants me to change something about my own, I am not going to start screaming about academic freedom. I do, however, insist - in all countries and at all times - upon being spoken to in a respectful manner. I will always return the favor. Perhaps this is what CheekyL meant? (Regardless, I certainly didn't think there was any underlying message about being treated respectfully because of race or nationality; to imply this is quite a serious accusation.)

[PAULH]

Tracye,


I can only speak from my own experience (only one country, Japan, 19 years this year) but I have a pretty good feel for how I think foreigners in general and English teachers in particular are treated here.


In Japan, and China and some other Asian countries you get the 'rock star' treatment by people and I have found on the whole people are kind hospitable and polite to you and treat you with respect. You are treated as a person, and i think in general people from English speaking countries and whites in particular are looked up to here, I think a lot having to do with losing the war and because of American culture and the huge English language teaching industry.

that said, English teaching here is a BUSINESS, and foreign teachers are simply a source of labor. In the eyes of employers you are simply a cheap labor resource hired for your English skills. There are currently plenty of problems now in Japan and Asian countries where young foreign teachers are hired and put to work working long hours, travelling long distances and getting paid little in local currency. I know jobs in japan where university graduates are getting paid less than you can earn in a fast food restaurant back home, and the cost of living is twice as much. Add to that living far away from home in a foreign country speaking a foreign language. Young language teachers here are now no more than economic migrants who come to work for low wages in Asian countries to pay off loans, to travel and earn money. the migration has now gone in the other direction from 50-100 years ago.


I have a friend in Shanghai who tells me about teachers working in language schools being paid $500 or $600 a month to teach English and the Chinese treat the teachers like paid servants as you have 'white' people living off Chinese salaries and students tuition fees. The teachers earn about the same as what taxi drivers do and its a low wage by Chinese standards. people simply look down on them. If you are in a university or a professional teaching position things are much better i think.

On the one hand you are looked up to here as a westerner, a European, and English speaker which they strive for, and at the same time get exploited and abused by local staff, employers, language schools and officialdom. In 19 years in japan i have never really had too many problems being treated with respect because of my position, but there is an undercurrent of racism in asian countries towards foreigners, white people in particular, and though people are nice to your face, sometimes they will stab you in the back with discriminatory comments etc.

Depending on where you want to live in the world, the idealism and rose-tinted spectacles come off pretty fast when you have to deal with unscrupulous and dishonest local employers who simply want to wring as much work as they can out of you for the cheapest cost possible. Being treated with respect is fine in principle but it doesnt always happen in practice, when you are in a commercial business setting and you are the one selling your English skills to the locals and demanding a wage for your services. English is a commodity here which is bought and sold on the open market. You have to know what side your bread is buttered on, and look out for yourself at all times.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[Justin Trullinger]

Hear Hear. Not all things that seem rude were intended that way. The English language is pretty complicated, especially where nuances and manners are concerned. I had a boss in Italy who, although seemingly fluent in English, used "you have to" for all requests and suggestions. Seemed a bit pushy, but I'm sure that wasn't the intent.

Also, standards of "rudeness/politeness" can be very cultural. One thing I've had to get used to in Latin America is the way physical descriptions are used without any sense of being perjorative. I'm frequently referred to as "el pelado," which means the bald guy. My predecessor was "la gordita," which basically means "fatty." It's not really rude, but it's different.

Justin