Archive for the ‘Working conditions’ Category

Seems that there is an interesting TEFL strike story going on right on my doorstep that I hadn’t even heard about, including loads of juicy controversy. You can see the recent open letter by the leader of the Berlitz strike here, and the article in Metropolis she was replying to here.

Hat tip to the David English House newsletter for teachers, part of the ETJ (English Teachers in Japan) empire of niceness (in endless opposition to the JALT empire of evil). If you are in Japan, don’t miss the upcoming ETJ Expos in October and November.

Doesn’t last of course, especially the initial thrill of being in the chaos of a third world city or in the chaos left for you by the last person who had that DoS job, but if having some kind of career plan gets you out of the bed in the morning with more motivation than I had six months ago, wth- got to be a good thing!

Whether your next plan is/ will be how to become a teacher trainer, an ELT author, a better teacher or just someone who is making an active effort to fight the boredom, we at TEFLtastic have the article for you on our totally updated page right here.

70. ”If you want to chatter away in your own language, what the hell- you’re paying!”
71. ”We’ve found the dead rat under classroom 7B”
72. ”We will keep your teacher’s passport until you pass the FCE”
73. ”You just never know what will happen in the next class!” (more…)

What elements of your dreams tell you about your TEFLing future:

Suddenly realising you have no clothes on - you will realise halfway through your next improvised grammar explanation that it doesn’t make any sense
 
Water - You will desperately need to go for a pee halfway through your first lesson the next day
 
Falling and falling then waking up - you will be rescued from a difficult question by the end of lesson bell
 
Doing the same thing over and over - your school will again refuse to switch to New Headway next year, even though the rest of the world is on the Third Edition
 
A cold wind - you will walk into class with your flies open

Being chased - one of your housewife students (more…)

45. ”Our incompetent teachers will make you feel better about yourself”
46. ”Certificate of achievement for all students who are actually still around at the end of the course”
47. ”Guaranteed students who are a much higher level in each class to explain anything the teacher can’t”
48. ”To guarantee an English-only class, we only employ teachers who have been here for years without learning a word of the language”
49. ”Guaranteed smaller class sizes by the end of term 1″ (more…)

1. “Officially the blondest teachers of any school in Japan/ China/ Taiwan etc”
2. “We’ve never changed because we are perfect”
3. “Come and see the new batch of teachers, fresh off the plane”
4. “The youth of our teachers makes up for the age of our building/ methodology/ technology/ wallpaper/ receptionists etc” (more…)

…from the Analects’ very opening lines:

“Isn’t it a pleasure when you can make practical use of the things you have studied? Isn’t it a pleasure to have an old friend visit from afar? Isn’t it the sure sign of a gentleman, that he does not take offense when others fail to recognize his ability?” 

Whoever would’ve thought that the average TEFL teacher had already achieved at least two of the first three things mentioned in the Analects of Kung the Master? We confucianally rock!

If you haven’t managed two out of three yet or would like help reaching all three, luckily the Sage’s disciple Te-fu Ta-tsutik wrote up some more practical advice based on the Master’s words:

Practical use of what you have studied

Few of us have TESOL as a first degree, and even English Lit rarely comes up in the average TEFL class. One solution is to study so much TEFL stuff that it outranks your degree as what you have studied. If you’ve done a TEFL Certificate and aren’t ready for a Diploma or MA yet, there are short courses on teaching Business English, young learners and one to one classes available. Alternatively, set yourself a personal study schedule of books to read. You can add to your motivation by aiming to read all the books in your school or local library by the end of the year in case you decide to leave then, or by volunteering to review for TEFL.net reviews.

The other approach is to change your classes to include whatever your first degree or other studies were about. Getting into ESP or EAP can be a good way of doing this. Even if it as very general class like Business English or IELTS, there should be some connection to your chosen specialist subject. For me, the best thing has been moving into Technical English by using parts of or all the whole of Tech Talk with my engineering students.  

Friends visiting

Move to Rome. Well, worked for me… Seriously though, choosing somewhere with good and cheap flight connections is something always worth bearing in mind.

Not taking offense

Two things have helped me in my usually successful quest for this one. One was climbing the slippery slope early on in my career, so that when I gave up ELT management etc I knew it was my choice rather than a lack of ambition or being left out for promotion. Another is to have a sideline that is at least as important as your teaching.

I must be the least likely blogger of all time, being neither technically savvy nor generally interested in online content- I’d never read a blog before I started this one, and I still reckon most of the best stuff is still in books. Anything from Zoltan available on the web? I thought not.

Once in a while though, I do stumble upon some good stuff. As that gives me even more stuff I want to read, I usually don’t find time to even mention it here, so here goes while I still feel a little recharged from my summer hols:

The Linguist Blogger

Some very thought provoking stuff, and perhaps a lesson to me that blogging less frequently produces greater quality… Two recent ones that particularly took my fancy:

Building Nations with the Cunning Use of Foreign Languages

Language Learning and Weight Lifting

Back in the world of TEFL, the other Dave is going through some highlights from his articles and he has chosen well, particularly:

In Search of a Word: Can Ambition Survive in TEFL?

When is it too late to get out of TEFL?

If like me you were stimulated by the ELT World articles but irritated by having to have a Google ID to comment, feel free to leave your comments here instead:

While I’m on the subject and have to make the most of Favourites on this PC (it’s staying in Japan when I go to Korea), here is a list of TEFL, linguistics and Japan related sites I most often end up at, in approximate order:

1. Dave’s ESL Cafe international job forums (the pointless bitching makes it more memorable somehow, maybe it’s the Dynasty of TEFL sites)

2. The TESall.com TEFL news ticker (including links to the forum discussions that are actually worthwhile)

3. The TEFL tradesman (as foul-mouthed and crusading as we’d all like to be)

4. The TEFL Blacklist (does exactly what it says in the title)

5. EL Gazette digital (a real TEFL newspaper. Click on the link on the main page to subscribe for free)

6. An Englishman in Osaka (just very funny, and so beats all the much more informative Japan blogs, of which there are many, in competing for my online time…)

7. Guardian TEFL (some real journalism would be nice- see EL Gazette for that- but a good way of keeping up with TEFL press releases anyway)

8. The Life of Mike (some odd changes of direction, but some thought provoking and entertaining posts)

9. Notes from the TEFL graveyard (hits the funny yet practical, cynical yet enjoying the life balance that I struggle with on my blog)

10. Teacher in Development (would probably be around number 2 if there were more posts)

11. Metatesol (pithy, to the point and almost inactive- this one would also be higher if this little bit of prompting results in more posts)

If I was a better person the list would probably be different, and Rave’s ESL Au Lait wouldn’t even be in the list let alone at the top and Insights into TEFL , Humanising Language Teaching  and Developing Teachers would be in there, but like my irrational desire to eat cheap gyudon, that is where I really end up. End of confession- how many Hail Mario’s for absolution?

Yup, according to the EL Gazette (which everyone now has the opportunity to sign up to read for free here), some TEFL teaching jobs in the UK are now under the official British poverty line. There is some hope, though- if from the other side of the world- as teachers for Kaplan in New Zealand got a pay rise after striking for just one day.

Other news of interest from this month’s edition:

- The wives of footballers to be forced to take an English test in the UK (lucky Posh and Becks went to the US then)

- Some schools in Saudi pay less than Italy

- Atlantic S.E.A.L in Cork aims to be the first school to specialize in students over 50

“Our profession is notorious for exploiting its most valuable asset – language teachers – for financial gain. I remember a teacher recalling taking a summer job where he and his fellow teachers struggled to teach competently in a school with sub-standard facilities and scant resources. He had a vivid memory of the owner arriving in a Rolls Royce and announcing that further cost-cutting measures were necessary. I think that says it all.”

Sounds like TEFLtrade is back on the case… (more…)