Job Discussion Forums

[superturbo]

Hi

There is a thread on here 'Life after ESL' and it gave me the impression that employers aren't too bothered about a person being an ELT and there aren't many transferable skills you can bring to other jobs.

One reason I've told myself ELT is good is that it would give me experience of teaching, training, and leading a group of people in a particular area. It would prove my ability to organise and prioritise and manage. And consequently, future employers would be able to see this as skills I possess.

So how correct am I in this thinking? What other traits/skills does being an ELT provide and can I use them later in life to show a prospective employer my diverse talents?

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

You may be entirely correct in your thinking. Or, you may be entirely incorrect. 'ELT' is a very broad term, encompassing many different jobs. If you just work at an eikaiwa school and execute premade lessons over and over, then that's not going to count for much. If you have a lot more responsibilities than that, and do a lot of things for your school / company as a favour outside of your actual teaching job, then it will count for more than that.

It also depends on the reality of 'transferable skills' in your home country. Canada, and Ontario in particular, TALKS about them, but the reality is that you basically need to do yet another Post-Graduate Certificate if you want to get into another work area (other than store level retail). And so 'transferable skills' really indicates how easy the next Post Graduate Certificate will be, or if it may be possible for you to get transfer credit from previous Post-Graduate Certiticates (but you basically CAN'T get it from work experience, only from prior study, so I'm really only talking about those ELT who did a university / college qualification in teaching English).

But, you could actually say the same thing about MOST career areas. Get yourself a copy of 'What Color is your Parachute' if you are thinking of going into another work area, especially if you happen to be from an area where crendentialism doesn't equal pidgeon-hole-ing.

Teaching English is basically a language job as much as a teaching job. Transferable skills you MAY get from doing it (depending on what you actually DO) can include any of the other language jobs (look up 'What can I do with a degree in English' online) or teaching jobs (look up 'what can I do with a degree in Education'). For some ESL teachers (in countries where people speak English) their actual job turns out to be helping immigrants with their lives as much as it does teaching (immigrants need help navigating bureaucracy and understanding the meaning of things because of the way [stupid] people who feel they are in charge talk [or write] down to them to intimidate them, like when they get an overly formal letter demanding they not hang their laundry to dry outside, and they think they are getting evicted), and so a non-language job area they may get into is helping people to immigrate (like an immigration lawyer).

Basically, I've heard of a lot of people trading in their language school business suit for a golf shirt and name tag and working as a retail manager trainee in a big box store, though (nothing wrong with that, BTW, and if you aren't going to get qualifications in teaching English from a university, like an MA, then probably it will end up paying more down the line).

[jdl]

If one is a certificated teacher recognized by a provincial or state certification body one is in the realm of employability as a teacher. Work at a university requires a doctorate or enrollment in the doctoral program. Employment at a community or junior college may be more accessible on a part time or sessional basis with a post grad degree in a particular discipline. The publishing business is always looking for 'reps' but then again the teacher certification is an issue with a minimum expectation being a B.Ed.

A career change always requires a certain amount of retraining and a network of helpful colleagues one has cultivated over the years.

The degree to which transferable skills, of which there are many, are recognized depends almost entirely upon the individual presenting them for acceptance.

[superturbo]

Interesting replies. I don't think the situation in the UK is the same as in Canada (not in my experience anyway)..

I'm not talking about certification/qualification. I'm talking about the actual experience gained through the job of teaching English and living in a foreign country. I would have thought prospective employers would see this as showing certain skills and traits.

Of course not all will see or need this (which I think you touch on above) but certainly I would think there are some key competencies shown by doing this line of work?

Or - would any employer look at this on my CV and think 'oh anyone can do that'...

[Nabby Adams]

Language teaching at a conversation school is little more than providing a language learner with a converstaion partner, i.e yourself. Anyone can and does do it.
Do it for 6 months or a year and you can spin it to show that you "learnt to adapt to a foreign culture, communicated with people from different backgrounds, blah blah blah"
Do it for any more and it's a fart on your cv.

Until your developing curriculi, testing and taking responsibilty for the advancement of students who are learning for other reasons than a hobby then most of EFL is a paid holiday.

Bloody nice one mind.

[spiral78]

As the OP is from the UK, and teaching abroad is a pretty common thing to do for Brits, I'm not sure that the experience at newbie level will be considered particularly highly by most employers.

Mind you, it would depend on what field you want to get into in future, but I think Nabby's essentially correct - until you've moved up a bit, the basic-level skills needed to do the job aren't likely to be particularly impressive to potential employers.

[Marcoregano]

Some employers see the mere fact of your going overseas to find work a sign of initiative and flexibility. Then again, some see it as a sign of itchy feet...

[superturbo]

Thanks for the comments. I don't think anything at a 'newbie' level will be particularly amazing to any employer unless it is directly in their field. However, as you've mentioned above, once you've moved up past that stage and have a more hands-on approach in running the school or department then this must surely display some good qualities.