Anyone teach English abroad? - Page 3

**Lubaolong** · 04-30-2008, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt

I don't know about that. But my mom just volunteers to teach in Vietnam because she enjoys it and enjoys teaching and learning. As I said, she's retired and taught in Los Angeles for 30 + years. So I don't think she's a scumbag who couldn't find employment.

I wasn't talking about your mom or anyone in this thread. I was just saying there are a lot of young, scummy ESL teachers running around, and they give the legitimate ESL teacher a bad reputation.

I saw this mock commercial in Taiwan where these two American hoodlums were talking. One says something like, "Hey, we are poor, have no skills, no job, and no one likes us. What should we do?" And then the other says, "Let's go teach English in Taiwan!" This seems true for a lot of them.

WARserra · 04-30-2008, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

I wasn't talking about your mom or anyone in this thread. I was just saying there are a lot of young, scummy ESL teachers running around, and they give the legitimate ESL teacher a bad reputation.

I saw this mock commercial in Taiwan where these two American hoodlums were talking. One says something like, "Hey, we are poor, have no skills, no job, and no one likes us. What should we do?" And then the other says, "Let's go teach English in Taiwan!" This seems true for a lot of them.

That's pretty harsh.

You have to know both Taiwanese and English to teach English in Taiwan I presume?

**Lubaolong** · 04-30-2008, 04:39 PM

Just English.

muerteverde · 04-30-2008, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

It seems a large majority of ESL teachers are losers that have no skills and can't find employment in their home countries, so they move overseas to teach English. And all these scumbags can be found posting on Dave's ESL Cafe. Man, I hate that place.

Well, I don't know the posters at Dave's Café personally, I just know that I have read a lot of good info off there and it is the largest and most active ESL site on the internet. There is that stereotype of the bumbling American or Brit who thinks that his high school diploma qualifies him to be a distinguished professor of English in some far flung locale and is really just interested in the night life, but not everyone fits that model.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guardaian

South Korea is a very unpleasant place to live and teach.

You'll likely end up in a cookie cutter McDonalds type school. If you just want money its decent but, if you care about the kids or you are even vaguely professional about your teaching you will likely despise it. When I was there the average stay for native speaking English teachers was around 20 days

I have heard that there are many many shady characters in charge of schools down there.
A black list:
Korean Black List
A green list:
Korean Green List

There are other similar sites out there. Some have very good experiences and some have very bad experiences in Korea, from what I have been able to learn.

thaifighter541 · 04-30-2008, 07:12 PM

I have been teaching and living in Taiwan off and on for a few years now. There are indeed some weirdo's here as well as people who have no skills back home and can't get a job. However, there are PLENTY of highly qualified people here teaching and in my experience of living here all over the island-the qualified people far outweigh the unqualified (not to say though they are not weird). I guess though I don't check davesesl so can't vouch for those fellas, but also check Forumosa :: Index.

Personally speaking though I'll admit it--I don't think I could get a good job back in the US. I have no relevant work experience, I only have a double major degree in philosophy and East asian studies with a chinese proficiency certificate--with these qualifications I have no F---- clue what I would do in US other than work at a coffee shop or just simply go to grad school which I wouldn't be able to afford.

So I came to Taiwan, I work hard and make certain all of my students succeed. I save money and travel to Thailand and whoop ass fighting muay thai, TW girls are great! Life is comfortable and I probably will be opening up my own English school here soon. Additionally, healthcare here is awesome. I know back in US, unfortunately, my prospects would be pretty dire especially now.

As for teaching here though, I wouldn't recommend it right now. It's a pretty saturated market and it's only getting more saturated.

Jimmy Key v.1.4 · 04-30-2008, 07:28 PM

you can have my job teaching english, i'm quitting at the end of june and we haven't hired anyone yet.

i'll dig up my boss' email address and post it up here for you guys to send resumes to.

other than that though, i'm not going to help much, so don't bother asking me for details. too much of a pain in the ass from tire-kickers.

**Lubaolong** · 04-30-2008, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thaifighter541

I have been teaching and living in Taiwan off and on for a few years now. There are indeed some weirdo's here as well as people who have no skills back home and can't get a job. However, there are PLENTY of highly qualified people here teaching and in my experience of living here all over the island-the qualified people far outweigh the unqualified (not to say though they are not weird). I guess though I don't check davesesl so can't vouch for those fellas, but also check Forumosa :: Index.

Personally speaking though I'll admit it--I don't think I could get a good job back in the US. I have no relevant work experience, I only have a double major degree in philosophy and East asian studies with a chinese proficiency certificate--with these qualifications I have no F---- clue what I would do in US other than work at a coffee shop or just simply go to grad school which I wouldn't be able to afford.

So I came to Taiwan, I work hard and make certain all of my students succeed. I save money and travel to Thailand and whoop ass fighting muay thai, TW girls are great! Life is comfortable and I probably will be opening up my own English school here soon. Additionally, healthcare here is awesome. I know back in US, unfortunately, my prospects would be pretty dire especially now.

As for teaching here though, I wouldn't recommend it right now. It's a pretty saturated market and it's only getting more saturated.

What kind of certificate do you have? Like a TOP or something else? I'm just curious.

Jimmy Key v.1.4 · 05-01-2008, 01:14 AM

ELT News: Teaching English in Japan - Jobs

here is the link.

if interested, you should probably get on it asap.

by `up to 250,000` it means `exactly 250,000`

company car is possibly included, nobody drives it right now and it might be broken down - no big deal...cars are super, super cheap. as in, less than $1000 for something decent.

good luck to anyone.

Jimmy Key v.1.4 · 05-01-2008, 01:14 AM

ELT News: Teaching English in Japan - Jobs

here is the link.

if interested, you should probably get on it asap.

by `up to 250,000` it means `exactly 250,000`

company car is possibly included, nobody drives it right now and it might be broken down - no big deal...cars are super, super cheap. as in, less than $1000 for something decent.

good luck to anyone.

thaifighter541 · 05-01-2008, 01:19 AM

My proficiency certificate is back in US and I am not quite certain of who certifies it. Basically, I did 3 years of Chinese in college back in USA and they gave me a certificate.

On a sidenote, word of advice to folks. DO NOT even attempt to learn chinese unless you are living in an area where Chinese is the native tongue (those 3 years were absolutely worthless and I wish I never wasted my time on it)