9 Responses to “Clueless about TEFL quote of the day”

1. Alex Case Says:
   February 17th, 2009 at 11:44 am

   And here’s something to really put that claim into perspective:

   “Last year, the highest paid grade school teacher in the Twin Cities was at Sheridan Elementary School, according to the annual salary study. A teacher for 44 years with a master’s degree, she earned $96,713. She has since retired, and was in the final year of a three-year retirement plan that increased her salary by 6 percent each of those years.”

   From here:

   http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2009/02/16/news/doc4997021b1e44d424837612.txt

2. jim Says:
   February 17th, 2009 at 1:05 pm

   Yup. TEFL is crap.

3. David V. Says:
   February 17th, 2009 at 1:06 pm

   There is some pretty good math on display, though: ‘Mankato has 10 ELL teachers and about 275 ELL students, a ratio of nearly 28 to 1.’

   The quote is definitely that of someone who’s never had a passport, it must be said.

4. Andy Mallory Says:
   February 17th, 2009 at 2:17 pm

   Well – some people do make quite a bit of money teaching EFL overseas. Certainly more than they can make teaching EFL in the UK etc.

   How much is ‘a lot’? Given that many people who would be working in a call centre in the UK can make 2000USD* a month or more working in Korea and get free housing, free flights and pay very low taxes… That effectively doubles their income in real terms…

   So – depending on your point of view, the quote could be true. Of course, only partially true. Many people teaching EFL abroad make relatively little money. It depends on their skills, motivation and mainly the local market place. One of the reasons EFL pays well in the middle east is because few people actually want to live there and they have plenty of oil money to pay teachers.

   And, Jim – TEFL is not crap, IMO. It has it’s ups and downs. If you hate it so much, make plans to get out. Or maybe it’s too late? Sorry if that’s true.

   As I said on a previous post and most people doing this work already know – TEFL is not a big money, conventional career. It is rewarding in other ways though. I really enjoy the freedom TEFL brings. Working in an insurance company or state education were never realistic options for me. As for serious professions like medicine or law – well they were closed doors to me. TEFL is an ‘open’ career. Pretty much anybody can get started somewhere. And, while this lets in some oddballs and even some dangerous people, it’s generally good that people with marginal academic qualifications and less privileged/conventional backgrounds can find work. Some of these turn out to be the best teachers. For those with the motivation, serious qualifications like Diplomas are affordable and can be done part time by distance. The more of the ‘other rewards’ you are willing to give up, the more money you can make.

   I admit I didn’t read the original article the quote was from – just skimmed/scanned it. Maybe an occupational hazard? I just lack the attention span to really read anything longer than 2-3 paragraphs!

   * the recent KRW/USD exchange rate reduces this a bit, of course, but in principle it is still true.

5. Sandy Says:
   February 17th, 2009 at 3:53 pm

   A colleague of mine here in the Gulf has 20+ years of experience teaching EFL and an MA. He earns just on 4,500 quid a month tax free, plus gets free accommodation worth another 1500 a month. His son’s schools fees are also covered (10,000 quid a year), and he rents out his home in the UK for another 750 per month. Oh, and his wife works part time too, for another 1500 a month. Now do the Maths and tell me he’s wasting his time.

   The teaching itself might well be akin to baby-sitting or going through the motions, but financially he’s sound, and he’s been in this position for several years now. Now tell me TEFL don’t pay!

   In the UK, in Europe, it don’t pay, correct. But here there’s real money to be earned (not made) here, and it’s hardly tough graft!

6. jim Says:
   February 17th, 2009 at 4:01 pm

   Since when had a diploma been a serious qualification?

7. Alex Case Says:
   February 17th, 2009 at 10:11 pm

   In proving you can actually teach, a DELTA or Trinity Dip is much more serious than almost all MAs.

   I haven’t exactly taken the highest paid jobs even in TEFL and most of my mates at university studied physics (same as me) and so easily got jobs in computers or accountancy, but I am easily the worst paid despite being in Korea- said to be the best place to save outside the Middle East. Having said that, I couldn’t do their jobs and don’t regret any of my choices. Rien rieeeeeeen, non, je…

8. jim Says:
   February 18th, 2009 at 2:33 pm

   I have never seen any correlation between actually being able to teach and well paid job.

9. Alex Case Says:
   February 18th, 2009 at 11:42 pm

   If job satisfaction means nothing to you, might explain at least some of your present unhappiness

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