Anybody ever teach English in Asia?
I'm thinking of making a career change. Take some time off and enjoy other lands.
A friend suggested I check out Asia and keep myself employed as a teacher of English.
My question is whether or not you need a teaching certificate or degree. I don't have one.
Also, how would you rate the experience and how long did you stay for?
A friend suggested I check out Asia and keep myself employed as a teacher of English.
My question is whether or not you need a teaching certificate or degree. I don't have one.
Also, how would you rate the experience and how long did you stay for?
Comments
<strong>I'm thinking of making a career change. Take some time off and enjoy other lands.
A friend suggested I check out Asia and keep myself employed as a teacher of English.
My question is whether or not you need a teaching certificate or degree. I don't have one.
Also, how would you rate the experience and how long did you stay for?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I am from an Asian country - Singapore. Most of the English teachers that my country hire are professionals with degrees and need to possess certain education expereience requriements.
As far as i know, most Asian countries have rather strict requirements about hiring foreign teachers. And most countries would require u to sign a teaching bond for at least three years.
Its best for u to examine any contract before u sign on the dotted line. And of course, do check out the political situation in the country before signing.
Good luck
<strong>I know someone who taugh English in Tajikistan over the summer. I'm sure you're looking for more modern countries though... :eek: </strong><hr></blockquote>
Uhh...yeah quite a bit more modern. I said a career, not a lifestyle change!
I was thinking of Japan or Singapore.
If you're Asian, you're not wanted to teach English. If your something else, not white, your simply not wanted. And, if you're white you're wanted only to teach English or put a blonde blue-eyed face on the school. Not quite a round eyed slave, but close in a polite yet duplicitous kind of way.
It's very hard to know what you're getting into when you agree to work for a school. Titles are generously given, everything is licensed after a fashion, but it's all pretty much BS. Licenses granted for different types of vocational work, in Japan for instance, amount, maybe, to grade twelve in Canada. Never give your papers to anyone; don't believe any legal obligation stuff they may tell you, and don't sign anything. I had two teachers who had to leave in the middle of the night because their principal kept threatening them with legal action, yet refused to pay them. Students are nice, but again, duplicitous. Asia demands a different kind of professional courtesy, though its people are not so much at fault for this, they remain constrained, even victimized (IMHO) by the social strictures in place, especially around business.
I know quite a few people who've taught ESL in Canada and abroad, and basically it's a kind of carreer limbo (mostly for young students). You do it for a couple of years and you either realize it isn't going anywhere (but it pays tuition), or otherwise you're the type with nowhere to go. If you run into anyone teaching ESL who's over 40, something went wrong in their life.
I did this work here in Canada for half of my undergrad years, and while I finished my MA. I hired teachers, dealt with way too many Japanese and Korean agents and students, and I can tell you with abosolute certainty that you do not want to make this carreer change, not permanently at any rate.
Better to focus on the carreer you really want than waste your time on ESL.
<strong>This is going to sound a bit harsh, but it's true, so pay good heed.....Better to focus on the carreer you really want than waste your time on ESL.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Interesting. Well as sad as it sounds, I don't doubt the stereotyping and racism in hiring teachers.
For me, it's not about the money and I certainly feel I can succeed at my current profession. It's more of a break from the whole rat race and constant bombardment of consumerism.
I just want to slow down and enjoy life a bit more. Whether or not, teaching in a foreign land will bring peace of mind is debatable.
Perhaps all I need is a couple of weeks in the sunny Caribbean.
EDIT: One big thing worth mentioning is that he wouldn't have gotten to go to China at all if it weren't for his teaching degree. China was much more closed to outsiders back then than it is now. I bet there are more English speakers there too. At the time though, my parents (er, future parents, I wasn't born until about three years later) were aliens in the country. People miles away knew about them... people would point at them in the streets and say "Look, look, foreigners!" They have some interesting stories to tell about it.
[ 12-03-2002: Message edited by: Luca Rescigno ]</p>
Oh, yes. I have. I think it was in my past life, i don't know. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
<strong>
If you're Asian, you're not wanted to teach English. If your something else, not white, your simply not wanted. And, if you're white you're wanted only to teach English or put a blonde blue-eyed face on the school. Not quite a round eyed slave, but close in a polite yet duplicitous kind of way.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
So, so, so, so freaking true
(i see other asians besides myself has investigated this
Speaking of China, I hired one teacher who taught in China, over 10 years ago, in a northern rural area. She said people would follow her around on the street and point to her, they'd never seen a white person before!