Job Discussion Forums

[James Hetfield]

Let's say you own an EFL school. Why stop at EFL? You don't care what is taught: What counts is the number of students paying you tuition, regardless of curriculum. So you expand to include anything students might pay for: Art, Cooking, Karate, Musical Instruments, Cinematography, Bodybuilding, Gym, Sports, etc.... In USA we have many non-accredited colleges offering Personal Growth, such as Learning Annex. Many community colleges offer everything from Ceramics to Auto Repair, open to the general public.... In USA I am a licensed public school teacher and have taught subjects other than English. I would love to teach other subjects overseas.

Barriers:
LANGUAGE: Other subjects may require local language. BUT: I can teach the above subjects through Direct Learning without much talking.
MARKETING: Your EFL school may market itself solely as a language school and it may be risky to start advertising other subjects. BUT: In USA Learning Annex and other Personal Growth Colleges are thriving, and they would never dare limit themselves only to EFL.
EMPLOYER REIMBURSEMENT: Many students have their EFL tuition reimbursed by employer as a perk, and employer may not pay for other personal growth subjects. BUT: In USA many employers subsidize company sports teams, gyms, etc.
WORK VISA: Many work permits are limited to EFL. Other subjects cannot secure a visa for foreign worker. BUT: As long as we teach EFL a certain amount of hours to stay legal, we would have time to teach other subjects. I already did this, even as I taught EFL.

Don't give me: "I'm only qualified to teach English." Many of us have Master's Degrees in Education and are expert in many subjects. We would love to teach these subjects if there was a market.
What do you think? Would you like to teach other subjects? Are there such personal growth colleges in your city? Has your school tried such an expansion?

[cspitzig]

I just interviewed with a (primarily, anyway) English school in Tainan that teaches things other than English. I don't remember what exactly(long interview), but I recall several subjects being mentioned, science among them.

[Glenski]

Places in Japan that teach more than language lessons are often called culture centers. I used to work at one. It taught 3 or 4 languages, ballet and yoga, and a bunch of other courses.

The main issue was a language barrier for the language lessons. Everything else was taught with a Japanese teacher in Japanese. I think you are overestimating the success of Direct Learning.

[spiral78]

Not just the success, in fact, but acceptabilty on the part of students. Why study some unrelated subject in English when you can easily attend a class in your L1?

[James Hetfield]

Great responses. Let's keep it up. I'm not suggesting teaching courses heavy on L1 text, ie, Science.... Direct Learning has its limits, but that depends on the amount of Content versus Technique... I think many EFL teachers would make great teachers in the Arts. I once did a survey: Students attend EFL for 4 big reasons:
1. They want to meet people, especially for social network.
2. Their parents or employers pay tuition and force them to attend.
3. They MUST learn English for college or career.
4. They are curious about the world and foreign culture.

Biggest reason to attend was to make friends. Sure they must learn English for college, or because their parents pay tuition. But if they aren't having fun, they ditch class. And some really are curious about foreign cultures. So there is room to teach other subjects especially in the Arts. Such Arts are more fun than EFL and a great way to meet friends.... Art, Music, Bodybuilding, Sports, these are based on Direct Learning Production and Technique. It is easy for an EFL teacher to master enough local language to teach such Arts.... I'm a pretty good heavy metal guitarist, but I had some problems with my bassist.... I can teach EFL, but it seems a waste not to also teach stuff I'm really skilled at, like guitar.... How bout you?

[SueH]

Have a look at the latest developments in CLIL for the use of language for teaching other subjects. Up and coming in Europe (although not particularly here in Italy). Too late to add links but DYOR..

'night

[fluffyhamster]

I once knew a school owner in Japan who kept dreaming up these sorts of fusions - 'Cooking in English' and the like. The problem was that he knew even less about cooking than he did English, and his teachers had enough on their plate (excuse the pun) planning how to teach present perfect let alone nouvelle cuisine.

But let's assume that there's a school owner who is e.g. a 100th dan in Play-doh. He sorts out any insurance issues and starts a class in basic Play-doh, only to be told in so many words that foreigners know hardly anything about their own language and culture, let alone the other, and how dare he be wasting everyone's time. English is English badly taught no matter who the teacher is, whilst Play-doh is something with which to kick the foreigner's head in in order to demonstrate the superiority of the host nation. Then there is the issue of the content (mainly physical sport rather than lecture subject) being described in terms of at least technique in the original language rather than English (unless you really do want to take it in LA "dojos" LOL).

I am obviously talking about a genuine EFL rather than ESL/ESOL environment here, and those students in the latter would presumably see even less need to take additional classes (in addition to the specific ESL ones) under the one roof.

[naturegirl321]

That's pretty easy to do in schools or universities. I just thrown into teaching Social Studies because the teacher quit. Problem was I hadn't studied SS since I was a kid. I've taught Business.

Lots of places have Math, Science, Art, Drama, Business in English as well.
They usually require that you pass the English courses BEFORE taking these speical courses.

For visas, you still get one, you're special double time, for teching in English and for teaching a specialised course.

Here in Peru, the uni where I worked is now the first bilingual one in all of Peru, the catch is that they won't get you a visa, you have to have one before you can work for them.

[arioch36]

[ecocks]

Business. Management, in particular, along with specialized Human Resources Management, Marketing, Technology and Hospitality. Equally obvious (for certain European countries) is Military English. NATO communications forces ESP for their members so there is a market for those areas.

If the student is interested in the topic, teaching in L2 forces greater cognitive activity and strengthens the learning and retention. That seems obvious. The key though is student interest. I have good results with music (helps pronunciation and accent when you select the right songs) and specialized reading material as the students are overwhelmingly uninterested in doing the next 2 exercises in the Student Workbook for Headway or Market Leader.

[fluffyhamster]

ESP is a bit different to "English for Hobbies" (EH? ). But obviously, if students (especially 1-to-1) have interests, it helps to cater (pander?) somewhat to them.

[ecocks]

but my point is that the ESP subjects give an indication as to where their interests lie. I have students who want me to actually teach mangement in English using real college textbooks rather than just the vocabulary of management from some Oxford Press title. The same has happened with the HR specialization. They first learn about what a job description is, then they want to be trained to write one. Teaching how to write job descriptions and the design of a performance appraisal system is significantly different from an ESP Business class module on HR.

It stengthens their learning of English far more than simple vocabulary drilling of sentences like, "I am here for my performance appraisal Miss Martin," or "I heard that poor Jonathan is being fired because of his latest performance review."

[James Hetfield]

Let me reframe: I'm not suggesting teaching other subjects in English. I am suggesting the teacher teach in local L1, in skills in which he is expert: COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE: You are westerner in foreign nation. What skills can you teach besides EFL? Students would have no reason to learn from a foreigner a skill they could learn from a local.... But my education and skills in Western Arts could give me a COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE in nations where my skills are rare.
I may work just enough hours at EFL to keep the visa legal, then locally advertise my skills as some kind of private tutor, if my host school aint interested.... How bout yall?
I would never dare teach the Chinese how to waterpaint koi carp floating under lilies, or the Spanish how to play Flamenco guitar, or the Argentines how to tango.... But I can show the Chinese how to paint acrylics in a western post-modern realist style.... I can show them how to bodybuild using the Weider Principles of Progressive Resistance.... I can show them how to make indy films like Kubrick or Scorsese.... I'm talking about building an Art Commune, and getting paid for it.
In China the biggest western music is Air Supply and Celine Dion. My subversive agenda is to bring metal to China.... Show my students how to play Creeping Death.... Replace Air Supply and Celine Dion with Motorhead and Lamb of God.... I'm talking another Cultural Revolution.... Yall with me???

[Glenski]

One's advantage is truly comparative only if you can teach it in L1. For some non-English course topics, especially those with lots of specific jargon and terminology, that's very, very difficult.

ecocks wrote:

[Stephen Jones]

How on earth is being a foreigner who doesn't speak the language a comparative advantage?