Job Discussion Forums

[alffy]

Hi all! This is my first post here at Dave's, though I've been "lurking" through the boards for quite awhile.

I'm seriously considering taking the leap into EFL come the end of the summer and have fairly high hopes of getting a job in the field (looking in Asia) despite my age (37) and my stunningly average looks (damn photos)!

While I can't look to start until after I finish up my MS (assuming they actually let me have it!) at my US university and complete my obligation lecturing an introductory class over the summer, I have been thinking about my motivations for going.

What I'm wondering is what were your motivations? Money, adventure, travel, escape...? And do you feel like you found what you were looking for?

So, why'd ya do it? And knowing what you know now, would you do it again?

Thanks for all your past (and, without doubt, future) comments I've found so helpful and insightful!

alffy

[tedkarma]

I spent a couple years in the Peace Corps and woke up to what a stunning and exciting world is out there.

Have also done better financially in TEFL than I was doing at home - in addition to getting to visit about 20+ countries since I started.

Would I do it again? Yes, but would have started about 15 years earlier!

Did the Peace Corps at 37 in 89-91 and have been in the TEFL world since 1992.

[alffy]

Wow ted, you just about summed up my thinking pretty succinctly!

I joined the military earlier in life to see the exciting world and got to go to some wonderful places. A few years back I left to finish my schooling, but can't shake the wanderlust.

I read a few of your other posts about the PC (didn't know you did it so late in life) and had considered it, but had a friend go through the recruiting process a couple years back and was reminded too much of the whole government knows best crap I couldn't stand, so decided to go it on my own this time.

I think you're right, I should have started 15 years ago myself!

[tedkarma]

Good comments about the PC.

It changed my life - but I did NOT like the organization. But, it does teach you a lot of patience and how to deal with foreign cultures.

While the PC used to advertise "The hardest job you'll ever love", we used to joke it was "The easiest job you'll ever hate"!

It is/was a big difficult organization. But - the cultural training you'll get is world class - and probably can't be beat even in the best most expensive training rooms of the world's biggest corporations. I attribute a big part of my success to that training.

I see foreigners constantly shoot themselves in the foot with cultural gaffs and seriously hurt their careers.

You will find many people that will say the PC changed their lives - but did not particularly like the organization. Two different issues!

PC does make the application process difficult and time consuming - purposefully so I think - so as to weed out the people who will not be able to handle the much greater frustrations (cultural, admininistrative, etc) of service in the PC.

[Chris_Crossley]

My reason for going abroad to do the TEFL thing is quite simple: I couldn't get started on the bottom rung of the proverbial career ladder back in my own country, even if I was a qualified secondary school teacher! I therefore did a Trinity Certificate in TESOL course several years after qualifying, taught at a summer school in England, then another, and then came to China 4 1/2 years ago.

When I was back home, I didn't have a "career" and certainly no wife, no child and no mortgage. After 4 1/2 years in China, I have all four of these, so I can hardly complain about the choice I made!

Sure, TEFL has its ups and downs, its joys and frustrations, but it has proven to be the right choice for me, and I intend to continue with it into the foreseeable future. I'll probably come home for good when my little one is old enough to start primary school, by which time I ought to have accumulated 8-9 years of overseas teaching experience, not to mention the MA in Education which I am undertaking presently through distance learning.

I hope that all of this experience, plus the advanced degree, will put me into a much better position to pursue a decent career in teaching back home if and when I do come with the family, although I know perfectly well that there is no guarantee of that happening whatsoever. In that sense, I am still realistic, but maybe a little bit cynical.

[alffy]

Chris, thanks for your comments. I find the two of you guys as interesting counterpoints in my own thinking.

Ted, you left for TEFL later in life and have clearly made it a life-long career with your continued education and movement into the education (of other educators) side of the profession in Thailand (did I mention I've read a few of your other posts?).

Chris, you represent the other side of my thinking-go to Asia for a few years (already done the wife and kids thing back in the states, so I'll try to avoid that there!) work on continuing education in the TEFL field, and after a significant time away, head back home to try the profession there.

Clearly you guys don't regret the path you've chosen, but I wonder how others feel. I know there is a lot of gripeing on the Korean boards (I'm thinking of starting out in the Hermit Kingdom, myself), so if you are reading this and have some overall negative experiences, I'd be just as interested in hearing those as well.

alffy

[grwit]

I came to china purely for the cultural experience. Did the background checks and knew that I was not going to make millions in china but have wanted to come here for a long time and knew that a 2week holiday just wasn't going to be enough to see (and experience) all that I wanted to see.

Originally planned to come here for 1-2 years basically as a working holiday. I know that sounds cheesey as I really am dedicated to my job too. Now (in my second year) I have a chinese girlfriend and am probably going to stay for a lot longer than I originally planned.

I will try to save up enough to make a fresh start as a teacher back home in Australia but that could be many years away yet. I agree with Chris - if all goes well with this girl I might be here for the long haul.
Life is just too good in China. No financial pressure, no taxes, no living expenses - except for food. Clothes Shoes and Electronic goods are all so cheap. As my boss keeps telling me... In china I am someone special but back in Australia I'm just another average guy trying to make ends meet.

[denise]

The Peace Corps discussion was really fascinating! I am applying right now, but have put it on hold because getting all of the bureaucracy taken care of from abroad is a HUGE headache! I actually met a couple of former PC volunteers in my town here in Peru a few weeks ago, and they warned me that after 7 independent years in the TEFL world, I might find the PC organization a bit stifling.

As to why I got into EFL, and whether I would do it again... The second question first. Yes, yes, yes!!! I have never regretted it. Even now, when I am in debt up to my eyeballs (thank grad school for that...) and have no stable home anywhere!

I got into EFL because my undergraduate field, Peace and Conflict Studies, ironically seemed too negative. Teaching seemed a more positive way to help out. (Despite the whole "linguistic imperialism" aspect...) During my last semester as an undergrad, I saw a flyer in my local laundromat advertising a TEFL training course in San Francisco. It took me a couple of years to get the money saved up and get up the nerve to do it (I was terribly shy and scared of public speaking... Toastmasters International turned me around!), and I ended up doing the training course in Prague, not San Francisco, but it was the beginning of a wonderful life and career. I went back for an MA and have taught on four continents. I love it!

d

[tedkarma]

Denise,

I would tend to agree with your friends. If you have suceeded out in the TEFL world for seven years - you are beyond the PC anyway. When I returned from the PC my best friend wanted to try it and I suggested the follow me to Korea - he did so - and has been there since 1992!

But, if your intention is service - then the PC is a good option. I felt that I owed my country some service (I never, luckily, had to go to VietNam when I was young).

You are obviously an intelligent and skilled professional - PC btw also has some administrative paths that might be worth checking out. But you do usually have to do the volunteer thing first.

BTW, I am a big ToastMasters fan too!

[travelingirl68]

Here I go again, following Ted on another thread! I too did the PC (at age 32), and while I had always had a wanderlust spirit, that was a fantastic introduction to the international scene. (And age does not matter when it comes to PC, we had at least 10 people in my group over age 48!)

Since then, my interests have developed more into cross-cultural communications and training, a field that I only hope will grow as international business expands. The thing I think is great about TEFL and closely related fields is that there is so much variety - who you teach, where you teach, even what you teach - as well as curriculum development, etc. I think the field is what you make of it, and the possibilities are endless. (I am sure plenty of people will disagree with me, but I have already seen a decent range in my short career in TEFL!)

[Gregor]

Hard to remember why exactly I went into it in the first place.
I remember my sister sending me an ad from a magazine for a TEFL certificate program in Mexico, and I wanted to learn Spanish, and I had never been happy in my American life, so I went for the school. I guess that's enough, right?
I do remember thinking that it sounded like an ideal job, so who wouldn't want it? It must be impossible to get a job! I wouldn't have a prayer! But I had the money for the course, so I went down and did the thing.
God hates a coward. That was about the long and short of it.

Turned out, I was right about it being an ideal job. I was wrong about how hard it would be to find work. Like falling off a log - it's difficult NOT to, once you're in a position to do one or the other (i.e. my brother would never get an ESL job, but he's an X-ray tech in Sacramento).
I also found out that a lot of people wouldn't want the job, and this is what newbies need to be aware of.
TEFL-as-a-career has been bashed into the ground on this forum, but I'm going to have another go - it's a great fit for me. I went into it relatively later in life (I was 31 at the time, back in 1996). I already knew that I wasn't gong to be a doctor or lawyer or anything else that was going to make me a boxcar full of cash. I was always going to be middle to lower-middle class, economically speaking, and likely blue-collar, and I was always going to struggle to make ends meet. That's no shame and not a horrible life, if you can be more or less contented more days than not.

I wasn't content, in the US, doing any jobs I had done (musician, printer, hospital porter, gas jockey, short order cook, etc.). Compared to those things, TEFL is a perfectly legitimate and rewarding way to make a pretty good living. Even at the entry level, which I kept myself in for four or five years, just taking different one-year contracts here and there, it's a decent living and a happy lifestyle (for me).
And I have since decided that this is just what I do and who I am, and further, not to change job types again, thus making it a career, more or less. So I have been a DoS for the past three years. An experienced teacher can also be a Senior teacher, or an assistant DoS, and other things, if desired.

Why doesn't everyone want a job like this? Well, insecurity for one. They want to plan years ahead, and it's impossible to do so accurately in this field. (That's impossible in ANY field, in any country, but at home, you might have the illusion of security, and that's enough for most people.) Also, a lot of people go into it with full expectations of going "home" to get a "real job" sometime. A lot of those (particularly people who go into it when they're younger) stay in the field longer than the original one year they meant to do as a lark, because it's just such an easy and fun lifestyle. But then they realize that they've been in ESL for so long and it's time to go home, but when they do they find themselves in menial jobs and struggling financial situatons, and in some cases even curse ESL for making them unemployable.
We're older, though, and you have more education than these people anyway, so maybe that's not such a worry. Still, it's something to be aware of. But if you are locked into going back home some day, I'd suggest that you go into TEFL for a set amount of time, and don't change that time limit without consciously being aware of the possibility that you won't end up going home. If you can go into it with a let's see attitude and be happy with your decisions, then you should be alright.

One other thing to be aware of. Are you the kind of person who likes to have a retirement plan in place? Do you feel scared at the idea of growing old and alone and un-cared-for? I don't think about these things. I never did. And now, I have an idea of at least a worst-case scenario FOR ME - I have a Chinese wife and a very supportive family-in-law. I can work as a teacher almost until I'm bed-ridden, and after that, I have a meager retirement insurance scheme there, and a home paid off and so on. I'll be taken care of. But that only works for me and me alone. You can't plan stuff like that. Can you go into something like this without a plan, and trust your future self to take care of things? A lot of people don't trust their future selves, and even think that I am dangerously reckless with my own future because of it.
I'm not, in my view. I've trusted that I could take care of things as I need to. And so far, I've been right.
Are you this kind of person? If so, you'll be FINE in ESL.
By the way, even though I have this connection to family in China, I'm still gong to work in VietNam in the very near future; my exploring and travel isn't finished yet.
But there you go. More than you asked, but it's a forum, and that's what I had to say. Good luck.

[Jetgirly]

I started because I finished university early and there weren't a lot of job opportunities for new graduates in my area. I figured that since all my friends would spend the next 1-2 years studying, I may as well spend some time overseas (and put my dual citizenship to good use).

I would definitely do it again, but I would approach it as a short-term learning experience, not a career path. I found that I loved teaching but that EFL schools were just too business-minded for me, and the one I worked at (plus the ones I interviewed at), didn't seem to have the students' best interests at heart.

The positive side of my story is that I've now been accepted into a post-degree B.Ed program and I'll be specializing in Language Arts Education. I start in September and will be finished in April, 2008. I won't be teaching EFL/ESL, but I will be back in the classroom in a place where money isn't always the top priority!

[kerrilee]

Hmmmm. Well, I was a nurse for a few years after I left school, then i took 2 years 'out' and became an air hostess......Then back to nursing but this time in New Zealand and Canada - had a great experience in Canada but decided after 4 1/2 years away to return to the UK to nurse. Then I realised how bad nursing is there and I had been thinking about a photography degree, so I started that and nursed part time. At the end of the first semester I realised a TEFL course was a great addition for a photographer as I want to travel but also need a job in case I can't sell pictures.....Then I worked in the UK at summer school, and then got offered a job in Thailand and my school allowed me to do the second semester of my degree online. Then, out of the blue, I had enquired about an MA in photography in China and thought I would have to wait until after my degree but as I am a mature student I got in AND most of it is paid for via a grant as it's a UK based course! So, I am here working 16 hours a week for enough to live on and I am able to study at the same time!!!!!!! I return to the Uk to be a freelance photographer in December!

[sheeba]

[sheeba]

As for me . I left Uni expecting to get a good job , money , house etc . I soon realised this wasn't going to happen and I had a kind of breakdown . I never really worked out why I had problems but I was labelled with drug induced psychosis . I think that the pressure and difficulty in finding a good job brought me down a lot but all the drugs I took in the 90's didn't help !!

Anyway I eventually got better and was able to hold down a job at around 25 years of age . I'd missed a few years due to my problems so I knew that I wasn't going to get the best of jobs . I managed to get into a respectable firm and hold down a quite responsible office job in accounts . a few years later I was offered better positions with study packages and everything I had dreamed of when I left University . It was there staring me in the face but when my boss offered it to me I turned it down ! She thought I was mad .' You are making a mistake 'she said . I had decided to do a CELTA course at this stage . I disagreed with her and I still think I have made the right decision .

I chose China because I have a passion for Asia . Also it was a very easy beginning with paid flights , accommodation , easy living etc . I was 29 and had always said that I didn't want to wake up on my 30th birthday thinking I was in the wrong place . China was amazing the first year . I loved it . I still do even though some days things don't seem right . I don't know where my future lies but I am confident that it will work out just fine . I couldn't really care where I go . I'll just move on where life takes me . I've learnt that there are billions of people in this world in a worse situation than me . I've learnt that health is the single most important gift that we all have and I possess it . The business world and making money was never my cup of tea . Relationships in my experience were often destroyed by money but I really hope that my current one has the quality and depth to overcome the obstacles that I will face due to my chosen career .I can face the fact that my career is not well paid and I won't be rich but that doesn�t bother me . Just dealing with life as it throws its cards is rule number one in my book .