Uncle Dan’s Musings – English Teaching | TCKID 2.0

For New Version Of TCKID 2.0 Please go to http://www.tckid.com and sign up. But feel free to browse this site for the huge archive of valuable information. Read the Latest news

Uncle Dan’s Musings – English Teaching

I’ve mentioned before that I’m currently working in Hospitality. It’s true, it’s not a bad industry for a TCK. Easy to travel, easy to meet people from a variety of countries, makes use of our linguistic and adaptable talents…

Another is international teaching. I’ve considered this for some time because there are negatives to Hospitality, but mostly because my interests tend elsewhere. There’s an idealism to diving into a new culture to teach English to thos willing to travel that’s just… engaging. Hospitality, for all its fancy concepts about customer service and satisfaction, still greatly exercises the fact that it is a business that sniffs a bit of arse for money.

So I have, somewhat often, thought of at least experimenting with the idea of English teaching. I think my English is good, I have people’s skills, and a decent personal understanding of different linguistic structures. Besidse, I like the idea of teaching, and I think it’s something I would be good at.

So why is it that NOW, after I leave Switzerland, I discover that I could have taken a certification course right there in Zurich? Well, that’s life. I didn’t investigate it properly for myself.

Regardless, I have the story of one TCK friend who spent a year in the US floundering around different jobs until he signed on for English teaching, got sent to Serbia (where he’d never been before) and has now been having a blast for the last 2-ish years. That’s a pretty attractive idea.

Frankly speaking, this is probably the easiest means to travel at a young age, post-bachelor’s. Otherwise travelling with a work permit requires experience and loyalty with a big MNC, to the point they consider you a worthy addition to some overseas subsidiary or branch. Which probably has its benefits as it’d be an expatriate lifestyle, but again, takes time.

Funny Quote from a hotel from this evening. My friend, colleague and roommate is Lebanese. One slightly drunk guest asked “Hey, where are you from?” He told her. And she said:

“Lebanon… That’s in Italy isn’t it? I love Italians! You know, I’m so happy I took geography so that I’d know that Lebanon is in Italy.”

Popularity: 4% [?]

Posted by Uncle Dan at 1:34 am on May 11th, 2009. Comments
Categories: Ask Uncle, Blog, General Forum.

  • Joy
    Taught English 4 years in China (2 different schools), 6 months in Thailand a year in Alaska - now in Japan. If you don't like to be tied down are young and want to do it for the ease of traveling its great! I love it - thought about going into acting, but teaching allows you to do that and travel and experience a lot. I have an MA in ESL however, so I can go just about anywhere - I'm looking into international relations now, thinking that might actually be a career that has a upward future to it. I don't really want to go Stateside and get a Prof job (though I could). It just doesn't have enough mobility. Anyway - from someone who has been doing it for six years - if you just have a really bad case of wanderlust in your early 20's (though its late 20's now....uh oh) it's a great way to go.
  • Daniel! I love the endless possibilities with what you described: English-teaching. I do think you are good with people and I think you are talented at explaining concepts and definitions (I noted this when you tried to help me understand what you meant).

    Here is a website to the JET program. It's an english-teaching program in Japan. I thought you may find it interesting.

    http://www.jetprogramme.org/index.html
  • Uncle Dan
    See, here's the curse of being both Asian and somewhat forward-thinking: What about settling down? About future family?

    That's the whole purpose of a secure career. So that by the time you want to settle down with a spouse and children, you're financially able to support them.

    Doesn't do well with country-hopping when you're starting to have to think about it.
  • mairabay
    Lebabon is in Italiy! ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Now more seriously.... I'm trying something similar to one of the options you've discarded.
    But then, I already have some work experience.
    I have now worked for 4 years at MNCs and I'm applying for a (sort of) work permit for Canada (it's actually permenent residence for skilled worker).

    I'm not going to have a job with the permit, nor do I plan on asking to be expatriated through my company (that, like you said, takes a loooong time of career-building inside a company). But with the permit, I can be employed there and with my 4-years MNC experience I'm hoping it will be easer to find a job (versus 4 years experience in a "small company from Brazil that they've never heard of").
    Anyway, that's just an idea and my reality (in the IT industry).

    Actually, one of the reasons why I chose IT was because I was told there were job opportunities everywhere in the world (of course, at that time, nobody told me about the hassle of work permits and the like).

    Ok, I can't see if my story will help you or not, but I just wanted to share and show you yet another path.

    I think teaching English is an excelent idea, travel-wise, but like it has been said, I'm not sure how good it is career-wise.
    But then again we're back to what we talked in an old post a loooon time ago: do you want to live for work, or work to live?
    If you want to work to live, I don't think it's that bad to not have "a career", you can just live one day at a time. As long as the money keeps on coming, I think it's fine.
    But if you want to live for work, ie. make you work your life, then I think it's interesting to think of a career.

    Arg...this comment is huge already...ok, just wante to share some thoughts. I hope they help. =)
  • Uncle Dan
    I agree, it's not a job with a future, but it's something one can do while still young and not tied down. I think that makes all the difference, especially when you're just out of university. It's an easy way to move around while you're young.

    WHen you have more work experience, that's another thing.
  • Doreen
    Yeah...teaching English is all right as long as you're fine doing a job that really has no future. I mean, I'm doing it now but it's a means to an end. There's no mobility in my job. I know there is at some places, but definitely not at my school and I have absolutely no interest in an English teaching career. Or one in education at all.

    @ USA Finn-not quite. You can teach without certification in certain places in China as long as you are white. If you're not, they don't care if you're a native speaker, you still have to prove it to them. Stupid, really since both of my co-workers are white "native speakers" but have terrible grammar and can't spell at all...
  • I've been considering the idea of English Teaching too. I'm (relatively) close to graduating, and I'm a bit freaking out about what to do. I always figured I could go back to China and teach English (a lot of the places don't require a certification, so long as you're a native English speaker)...though my university's graduate school offers the TOEFL (English as a foreign language) certification for graduate students. *shrug*

    There's also an English language summer camp (and about 15 other languages) in northern Minnesota (as well as a few in other places around the US, and one in Europe) if you're interested to see what it would be like short term. See http://www.concordialanguagevillages.com I worked there (and went there as a kid) a few years ago and it was a really rewarding experience in teaching Finnish. :)

    Good luck with whatever you do!
  • Brice
    "Lebanon... That's in Italy isn't it? I love Italians! You know, I'm so happy I took geography so that I'd know that Lebanon is in Italy."


    LOL.

    OOOOOOH Dan. I missed you.
blog comments powered by Disqus