Job Discussion Forums

[Spaceghost2]

It seems to be that nearly every country or region's forum I click is full of negativity. Granted I am mostly interested in teaching in Asia but it seems every country has it's problems. The complaints seem to always outweigh the positive comments.

I'm sure this is down to people being more vocal when there is a problem and the ones having a good time have better things to do than post on a forum. I find it quite difficult to decide on a country because of this. Is the state of EFL really not that great around the world or is it limited to certain areas? Sometimes I feel as if I am trying to navigate through a minefield.

I have not been too interested in teaching in Europe as I am from the UK and would ideally like to go somewhere further afield but maybe employment conditions are better there. South America is another possibility but I have many friends from all over the region and most of them don't paint a positive image, which is probably why they are over here.

Every country seems to have it's share of shady schools, trying to sucker naive teachers. I want to stay positive and I know there are good schools out there that treat their staff with respect, but the impression I get from the forum is that these places are rare and the rest are like the Wild West.

Please let me know how you feel about this.

[denise]

It's not all doom and gloom. If you're properly qualified and present yourself well in interviews, jobs are easy to come by, and if you do a bit of research (including contacting current teachers), you can sort of weed out the bad ones. And after that, a lot of your experiences, and whether they are positive or negative, will depend on your personality and outlook. I have more or less enjoyed every place that I've been, but I am also realistic and I know that there will be annoyances--it's just a matter of finding things to balance them.

And yes, I do think it's far more common for people to post their complaints than their praise. I think it's part of the human psyche: we feel smarter or more competent or more... whatever... if we can point out flaws.

d

[Glenski]

You've answered your own questions.

Not every country is perfect.
The complainers write more than people who are satisfied.

I would disagree a bit with denise, though, on what success you might have with good credentials. Even with some good research, you may land in a bad position. It's not always easy to tell.

Best advice is choose a country/region you find most interesting, and post specific questions about contracts or specific employers on this board, and hope that someone knows the answers to help you decide.

Few people IMO find themselves in a great job at the start. Keep that in mind.

[johntpartee]

[Justin Trullinger]

Ever been anywhere, foreign or your own country, where people didn't gripe?

I've lived overseas for most of my adult life. If I didn't want to, I wouldn't. But sometimes I, and I think this is typical, need to vent.

A lot of what you see on these boards isn't in response to a generalized negativity- if people felt generally negative about life overseas, they'd go home. But sometimes they need to vent, and it's easiest to that where others can relate. This board is a place where a lot of people can relate to the struggles of life overseas, so people vent here.


Best,
Justin


PS- teaching overseas for a decade,a nd having a terrific time!

[scooby doo]

Culture shock. It hits almost everybody. This is a real condition and people don't realize how seriously it can affect them. Maybe that's a source of the negativity?

[naturegirl321]

It's because the honeymoon phase ends and reality sets it. Speaking the language, blending in, getting accepted into the culture, moving up jobwise, etc, all take its toll.

People go with their rose coloured glasses on, but they come off fast. It can be tough living in a country for years, but never moving up because you were hired in-country, are white and not Asian, have a foreign ID number, so can't do half the stuff the locals can, or because you don't speak a language fluently.

[naturegirl321]

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

If you've ever been in the room with someone who is really very, very positive almost all the time, you've seen how a positive outlook on things is contagious. People naturally want to be happy around happy people.

The same is true of negativity. People come here to vent, and that's fine. But sometimes it can begin to get too much. In that case you need a break- a little pause from discussion boards. And this board is generally pretty good. The discussion board for JETs is really, really full of negativity and vitriolic attacks on other posters, their countries, and especially Japan. And yet JETs are commonly thought of as having the best jobs for newbies in Japan. It's not always true- there's a lot more to a job than just how much you're paid, and because workload isn't an issue (although lack of anything to do is a big issue), it starts with workplace relations (usually JETs are the only foreigner at their school) which in Japan can range from great to the type of thing that would cause massive 'warnings', 'written warnings', 'sensitivity training sessions' and finally 'terminations' in Canada. But still, if you are made to sit quietly in a room all day and nobody talks to you, so you study the language and discover that they do talk ABOUT you all the time (very often not in a good way) and you spend that time sitting quietly reading negative things all day, then that's going to rub off.

[denise]

Glenski--I tried to cover myself by saying "sort of"... Yeah, you're right--you can do all the things you're supposed to do and still end up in a bad situation.

Justin--regarding people griping everywhere--so true! I'm quite suspicious of people who absolutely love EVERYTHING about their new country. I do like to see optimism and people enjoying themselves, but to say that everything is perfect is, well, delusional. I wonder if the most vocal gripers are those who initially thought everything was perfect.

10 years on, I still love this job, although I'd like to be able to go home in a couple of years.

d

[mr tree]

just my two cents' worth... the industry is ROTTEN, lots of unscrupulous employers and lackadaisical employees. and there's a global financial crisis, so conditions have invariably worsened.

i wouldn't have thought it's a problem though.. whenever i buy a new product, i look at the reviews, especially the negative reviews... and i decide whether the "problems" are problems that i could live with or not... couldn't you take a similar approach to the countries you're thinking of visiting?

[Sashadroogie]

The industry is in quite an advanced state of rottenness, true - much more so than the state of Denmark.

But also a lot of the negativity stems from more than a few posters clearly believing that all the world is decidedly inferior to their home country. But at least their ambassadorial missions will raise the local cultural standards somewhat. It's all about critical thinking skills, and EFLers are well-endowed with the ability of being critical.

In another age they'd be passing out holy books instead of Headway and forcing females to wear brassieres instead of trying to relieve female students of 'em.

[Chancellor]

[Sadebugo]

[overnight1]

Its really more about WHY these schools are in operation in the first place, most of these schools pop up with out much hassle from the government and they set up shop quickly to make a fast buck, but anything like that is going to have a bunch of huge operational issues.

Many are not qualified in business at all but they know there is a big demand for teachers and teachers from overseas (you) who want to travel and make a living at the same time. So because of the supply and demand no one really questions the motives, but greed leads to slack and many unscrupulous practices.


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