TEFL Zorritos: May 2014

Friday 30 May 2014

TEFL Success Stories - Part 21

Sally - Galapagos Islands

When I told people I was going to work as an English teacher in the Galápagos Islands for 3 months I had varying reactions. To some it was a dream destination, but others had no idea where the islands were, or even that people actually lived there. To set the record straight, the Galápagos Islands belong to Ecuador and are located 600 miles from its coast. Of the 19 islands, only four are inhabited and for most tourists the spectacular wildlife is much more of a draw than the human population. Visitors usually dine and sleep on cruise boats, rarely coming into contact with the locals. However on Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal, the two most populated islands, there are large communities largely dependent on tourism or fishing. And typically for a place where tourism makes money, the ability to speak English is a desirable skill.

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The Galápagos are a popular destination for 'volun-tourism', and although most of this revolves around the wildlife, there is also a need for English teachers. A word of warning though, it is extremely uncommon to find paid teaching work here and, unfortunately, very common to find volunteers paying unreasonable sums of money for the privilege of working here. I came across more than a couple of unscrupulous-sounding companies who extracted lots of cash from potential volunteers with the promise of wonderful opportunities. On arriving, these volunteers had the frustrating discovery that there was actually nothing for them to do, the school they were supposed to be working in was closed for the summer, or the position simply didn't exist. That said, there are some excellent organisations that look after their volunteers very well and clearly value their skills. Some larger organisations may even pay for the flight from the mainland and provide accommodation and/or food. I was working for a smaller charity which couldn't afford to do this, but helped me to find excellent inexpensive accommodation and organised for the $100 National Park Entrance fee to be waived.

My position on San Cristóbal island was with a charity called New Era Galápagos which aims to empower the residents through education. They provide English classes so that locals can benefit from tourism and educate children about conservation to encourage them to protect their unique, and fragile, environment. I worked on a month-long summer camp for children of all ages (4-15!), and also taught adult evening classes. The kids were wildly undisciplined, in classrooms too small to accommodate them and in age groups too disparate to keep them all entertained – but these are common challenges of summer camps! Ultimately, the kids had great fun, learnt some English and gained confidence in using what they already knew.

The evening classes were more obviously rewarding. I was teaching fishermen, taxi drivers, full time mothers; busy people with busy lives who made the effort to attend an English class every day. Some inevitably dropped out, but of those who completed the course it was hugely satisfying to watch their progress. The final lesson was very memorable – the students transformed the classroom into a candlelit dining room and served up a meal caught by the fishermen in the class and cooked by the women.

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Aside from the teaching, daily life in the Galápagos is something special. You walk out of school and the streets are covered with sea lions lolling about on the road and the benches. There are exotic birds swooping around the bay. At the local beach, you can snorkel with turtles a few feet from the shore. You can dive with hammerhead sharks at nearby sites. And apparently, it's a surfer's paradise, but I never sampled this, as the waves looked terrifyingly big to a novice.

There are frustrations to island life too. There is a distinct difference in pace of life that often makes it seem impossible to get anything done. Fresh food is hard to come by and you find yourself longing for a large, well-stocked supermarket as opposed to dusty tins in a corner shop. Some of the locals were deeply suspicious of 'gringos'; others were just so used to the stream of volunteers passing through that they didn't see the point in temporary friendships. But I'm glad to say there were many exceptions to this and some 'Galapagueans' welcomed us into their homes and their hearts with great warmth. I feel lucky to have spent three months in such a beautiful place and the connection I have with the place will last a lifetime.

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Thursday 29 May 2014

TEFL Success Stories - Part 20

Sze - Hungary

I've worked in Budapest for two years in a private language school. When I first came here I thought I would stay for a year, but now have no plans to move. Budapest is a very easy city to live in, with lots to do, whether you like clubbing, classical music or going for walks in the hills. Though the money is far from lucrative, my salary and private teaching has been enough to live on comfortably, as well as fund a few long-haul trips since I've been here. It's not, however, enough to be anywhere close to buying a car or property.

In the beginning of this academic year, the teachers in my school were deeply unhappy, primarily because of the number of teaching hours, split shifts, and the unpredictability of their timetables from one week to the next. Previous places where I had worked had very stable timetables, like 9-month courses or very limited types of courses. Because the English teaching market has become extremely competitive in Budapest, schools are forced to offer a wide variety of courses at all levels, which results in some classes starting at 7.30am, and some ending at 8.00pm, with the possibility that a teacher might have a day that stretches out for that long, with pockets of free time in between. Inevitably, many teachers end up spending 10 to 12 hours a day at work, which is a drain, not only physically and mentally, but in terms of morale, because of the comparative pittance earned for the number of hours put in for preparation, teaching and marking. Now that hours are down, teachers have more breathing space, but on the flip side, the school isn't doing as well as it had hoped.

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When I joined this school, there were teachers from all the standard English-speaking countries and a couple of non-standard ones. Now, most of the teachers are British, because since Hungary joined the EU in May of 2004, the school hasn't wanted to risk hiring someone non-EU and finding out the paperwork will be difficult. This is a shame, not only because students get less of a variety of accents and cultures, but also because the staffroom and work culture is therefore more homogenous. Having worked in schools with a more mixed staff, I miss the diversity.

Most of the students are middle-class to affluent, and their reasons for studying English can generally be divided into three. The first is to pass a language exam: for secondary school students, in lieu of the English exam in their final year; for university students, as a compulsory part of their diploma. The second group study for work-related reasons, for example, having to communicate with non-Hungarian colleagues and customers, or to improve job prospects. The third general group learn English as a hobby, for travel purposes, or to prepare for an impending move to an English-speaking country, or one in which English will serve as the most probable lingua franca.

Hungarian students are communicative and active participants in class. Here in Budapest, they get a lot of exposure to English through films, music and contact with tourists, so there are very few absolute beginners. They tend to be quite opinionated, with wide-ranging interests (synchronized swimming, gallery shooting, astrology), so classrooms are usually lively, and a pleasure to teach after the reticence of students in Asia. I do, however, avoid two topics that bring about impassioned diatribes: Hungarian gypsies and Triannon, when Hungary was carved up. These discussions tend to dissolve into very long lectures or rants which take on a xenophobic tone, and I think are best to avoid in a classroom.

The school I work for advocates communicative learning and accommodating students' needs, which on the whole produces positive results, though some prefer to follow more traditional grammar-translation approaches. They generally expect and are even happy to be evaluated, coming from an education system that heavily features intensive testing. They are also quite disciplined in class: a colleague who taught kids in Portugal couldn't believe how well-behaved the Hungarian kids are in comparison. And while you may have an occasionally raucous class of personalities, classroom management is rarely a problem.

Having taught in China, it really struck me when I first came here that while in China, English is viewed as a prestige language pronounced to be useful and important, whether it features in the students' daily lives or not, here it is viewed primarily as a tool with which the business of everyday life is increasingly being conducted. Students therefore consider the acquisition of English as a serious investment of time and money, which in my opinion exposes the inexperienced or uninterested teacher much more easily than in places where the mere presence of a foreign teacher with an amiable personality is enough to please students. As a result, students may come across as quite demanding; when asked for feedback on the class they are quick to make specific lists of what they are getting or not out of the class.

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Occasionally, we get students of other nationalities, such as the Chinese and Libyans, and a smattering of non-English-speaking Europeans such as the French, Spanish and Russians. The two biggest groups are the Chinese and Libyans. The former tend to be younger, in their mid-teens to early-twenties, and are recent immigrants whose parents run fast food restaurants or wholesale outfits; while the Libyan students are Master's or PhD scholarship holders who need to acquire enough English to begin their course of study in Hungary. As there are usually no more than two non-Hungarians in any given class, there can be some initial discomfort in dynamics, but they are gradually integrated into the classroom.

Working freelance here has the usual pros and cons of higher hourly rates and freedom of choice versus the lack of holiday or sick pay and the vagaries of relying on private students who sometimes cancel simultaneously. In Hungary, anyone who works part-time for a school has to be able to provide an invoice, which you can only do if you form a company. This is achievable but complicated, especially considering the mountain of bureaucracy that is commonplace here. Without being able to invoice, it is difficult to get work at a school, though there are a couple of schools who can pay their non-Hungarian teachers in cash, thanks to deft accountants.

Most of my ex-colleagues loved teaching and living Budapest for all of the reasons I have mentioned, but almost all of them left because of the difficulty in saving any significant amount of money. I think it is possible, but requires a great deal of discipline because of the cost of living here is quite high. It is the nature of TEFL, I suppose, that continues to make it an underpaid profession for those who want to pursue it seriously in a non-corporate setting.

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Wednesday 28 May 2014

TEFL Success Stories - Part 19

Carmen - Peru

What a fantastic idea to share our experiences as ELT teachers in different parts of the world!!

I am a Peruvian national and have been involved in ELT for nearly 25 years. In fact, I hold a diploma as a graduated translator and interpreter, but since my first year university break (3 months vacation) have satisfactorily been teaching English in private institutes or universities here in my native city Lima, the capital of Peru.

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Unfortunately, I can't tell you much about teaching English in public schools for I have never had the opportunity to teach in one of them; though, the reason is rather obvious: very low pay and very little infrastructure. The latest idea to come out of the Ministry of Education is that students should only attend 1 hour of English in their weekly curricula!! Public teachers, I believe, are the heroes of our society, I must sadly admit that in Peru we do not respect teachers very much. This sector goes on strike quite often and the reason is fair: if they are badly paid, how can they feel motivated to teach? You may say their love and devotion to their vocation should be their only goal, but that is not enough! Their salaries might go from $130 or $200 a month.

So, you can predict that I am one of those very few privileged people who have the chance to work in institutions where teaching English is actually implemented with very comfortable highly-tech facilities.

The future seems to be rather blurry here in Peru nowadays, but I believe that in spite of all the problems that we have had to face in the last decades, people have started to have some sense of solidarity. My dream is to be able to eventually involve both systems and help public schools with the innovative ideas that private universities can share in seminars that are from time to time held in places like the university where I work: this university, San Ignacio de Loyola, is a very good example of this idea.

Every year the university holds an excellent seminar, usually in June for a very low price ($10) which teachers from all over the country can attend; so far these seminars have been a total success, we have foreign and native lecturers. Many publishers help us support them and, fortunately, we are helping the less privileged to improve their skills. I only wish there would be more institutions that will foster these types of seminars at very low cost.

At present I am doing a Virtual MBA and I would love to hear other colleagues' advice on the issues I have above mentioned..

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Tuesday 27 May 2014

TEFL Success Stories - Part 18

Jennifer - South Africa

When introduced to the world of TEFL in South Korea, I quickly decided that this was the career for me. A love of languages and a budding love of teaching made this a choice that outweighed the meagre salary.

So, once back in South Africa, I tried to get myself trained and ready to join a school and launch my newfound dream. Hmmm…not as easy as it would seem.

Back in 1998 when I wanted to do the TEFL, it wasn't even offered in Cape Town, where I live. In fact, the whole field of EFL was (and still is, in some respects) in its infancy in South Africa. I eventually did the TEFL in Durban, a city at the other end of South Africa. Things are changing, though. The school I work for in Cape Town now offers the TEFL, so local candidates have it much easier than I did.

So what is it like to work as an EFL teacher in a place like South Africa, where EFL is still something of a novelty? Not to mention the fact that we live at the bottom of the world…nobody goes 'via South Africa' anywhere, so we're kind of isolated way down here.

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That isolation crops up in many ways. One of them is the 'simple' matter of getting your hands on books and reference material. Easy, right? Just drop into the local English bookshop and get whatever you want. Wrong! There are no bookshops in South Africa that are dedicated to EFL materials, or even have a skeleton EFL section. All books have to be ordered from overseas, or from the local representatives of the publishing companies, which can take up to 8 weeks if the books are not stocked in the country. A pricey and frustrating venture, indeed!

Another frustration is teacher development. How can ambitious teachers, who really want to make EFL their career, further their training if it's not offered here? Travel overseas, like I did? That option is not always open to people. So many of the teachers here in South Africa either remain untrained or have limited training, like the TEFL. How can the field of EFL mature here if further training is not available?

It would also be great for teachers if we could have seminars and conferences like those offered elsewhere. Until now, that's been an impossibility. EFL schools here have worked in isolation, even from each other, and funding a conference is a huge undertaking even for well-established and sizeable organisations.

Attracting teachers from other countries with more than a year or two of experience is also difficult, considering the salary they might expect here in comparison with other countries. South Africans are notoriously underpaid, and teachers…well, we all know the salaries they get! People also worry about the crime, which has been highlighted in the media over and over again.

I can imagine what you're thinking right now…"What a difficult and unrewarding place to work!" Or perhaps "What a negative attitude!"

So, let me tell you what I like about being an EFL teacher here, before you give up on me or South Africa completely!

The first thing I enjoy, though it's certainly a challenge, is the excitement of being involved in pioneering EFL in South Africa. There's something to be said for being part of the foundation of a burgeoning market for EFL edu-tourists. Not that I'm doing anything remarkable, but just being here and seeing the changes taking place makes me feel part of something bigger.

In addition, because there are so few well-qualified people in EFL in South Africa, job opportunities are quite good. If you've decided to make EFL your career, and you've done basic training like the TEFL, then doors really open up for you. It's possible to reach positions here in a couple of years which would take much longer in other countries where the field of EFL is more developed, and the number of highly-trained staff much greater. It certainly means a lot of work, a lot of ground-breaking and reinventing the wheel because there are so few experienced people to learn from, but that in itself is part of what makes the opportunities for advancement so rewarding. You have to push yourself, and in doing so, may perhaps do yourself more good professionally and personally than if you were always able to depend on the experience of others.

The same can be said for teacher development within a school. Without a huge library to 'resort' to, teachers are forced to develop lessons and create their own materials. Yes, it's difficult and frustrating at times, but I know that it has deepened my awareness as a teacher, and has also helped me to avoid the boredom of always doing the same things in the same ways – a danger all EFL teachers face.

Teaching in an isolated field where resources and training are hard to come by, has made me grateful for whatever I can get. I have come to see small things as precious, and do not take what I have for granted. Anything new is exciting, whether it is a new book for the library, a new teacher or a magazine with new teaching ideas. Every new student is welcomed into our small, family-like school and we know them all by name.

South Africa attracts a wide range of students from many different countries. There's no chance to get blasé about teaching, when you might face a class consisting of Swiss, Colombian, Slovak, Korean and Italian students! Most schools here also run classes on a roll-on/roll-off basis, so every week means a chance for someone new to cross your path.

Of course, what really keeps a lot of us here is the country itself. Cape Town, where I live, is surrounded on three sides by ocean, and nestles at the foot of Table Mountain. The winelands are just a drive away, and in spring you can drive a few hours up the coast and see flowers carpet the desert in Namaqualand. Not to mention hiking, whale-watching, sunbathing…who wouldn't want to spend some time here? People complain about crime, but I've been living here for 7 years and have been perfectly fine. Yes, there's crime, but no more than what you'd expect in a large city.

Looking for lots of money? Don't come to South Africa. But if you want to experience a wonderful country and culture, and gain a lot of EFL experience in a short time, then this is the place to be.

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Monday 26 May 2014

TEFL Success Stories - Part 17

Switzerland - Vincent

Switzerland has always been known to be a haven of peace and neutrality.

The population of Switzerland is approximately 7.000.000 inhabitants with the capital being Bern. Bern is the German word for "bear". There is a bear pit not far from the heart of the city where you can see real bears and even feed the rascals - they seem to have taken a liking to it.

This is a small country with small cities but a very lively rural population. Most of the bigger towns and cities are easily accessible because of the proximity of the small villages, the world renowned train system and the world's most dense motorway (highway) system.

Zurich is the biggest city in Switzerland and is the most expensive city in the world just after Tokyo. Geneva, the city of Calvin's Protestant Reformation, is home to many NGO's (Non Government Organizations) such as the United Nations of which Switzerland has become the latest member http://www.ngo.org/

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The strength of Switzerland is the security, peace and discretion that can be found there. Vestiges of the past are the Vatican's Swiss guard, a neutral international policy - strong currency and an army which requires every able man to be armed, AT HOME!

It is a wealthy country and salaries are relatively high. There are many foreign investors as Switzerland is a tax haven. The prestige of the secret Swiss bank account has driven many honest AND dishonest people to store their money there. At present, however, there is a considerable amount of pressure on Swiss banks on the part of the European Community to do away with the whole notion of secret bank accounts.

However, there are also negative aspects : recent scandals concerning frozen Jewish bank accounts after WWII, and more recently a scandal uncovering Swiss financing of the South African Apartheid regime has put a damper on what has often been considered as an innocent and pristine nation. On a more personal level, foreigners find it difficult to integrate into this society which tends to be quite affluent and self-sufficient.

Stereotypes abound when one thinks of Switzerland: the Alps, fondue, (Toblerone) chocolate, cheese, yodelers, alp horns, Heidi, cow bells, etc. These are all anchored in Swiss culture but this country has produced and still produces many quality products and innovative ideas in the fields of architecture (Le Corbusier), food and beverage (Nestlé), watches (Swatch, etc.), pharmaceuticals (Novartis and Roche), to mention but a few of the most popular successes.

The education system in Switzerland is excellent. Class sizes tend to be smaller than in other countries and seeing that village life is still a priority, it is not uncommon to find a school in a small village of under 500 inhabitants. In the inner cities and even in smaller towns, violence is becoming a significant issue.

Much pedagogical research has come out of Switzerland thanks to people like Pestalozzi, Piaget, etc.

It is difficult for foreign teachers to find employment in Switzerland because of:

immigration restrictions, which are loosening up for Europeans
protectionism
the difficulties foreigners have in obtaining equivalencies for foreign diplomas/certificates.

Whereas public school teachers have comfortable salaries, most private school teachers have relatively low salaries and are often obliged to teach in several different schools in order to make ends meet. Usually this means a 30 hour working week.

The Cambridge examinations are quite popular among Adult students. Many take up English in order to obtain some type of certification. The diplomas that one obtains are very useful on CV's.

Many foreigners come to study at top-notch International schools where English has a prominent place. You can consult some of the best at this site: http://www.global-education.ch/

In general, the Swiss have a knack for languages given that they have 4 official languages, Swiss German, French, Italian and Romansch and a very popular international working knowledge of English. This makes for excellent international communicators and very eager students of English.

One of my favourite experiences was a one-on-one assignment to a young adolescent. He was the son of a foreign ambassador's bodyguard. I was supposed to teach him very basic English but when I first met him, it dawned upon me that he only spoke a North-African dialect of Arabic. Although being competent in several languages, I have no communicative knowledge of Arabic. That was a fun experience and one in which I was able to use innovative ideas to enhance the lessons.

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Sunday 25 May 2014

TEFL Success Stories - Part 16

Thailand - John

Teaching in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand

I came to Chiang Mai just after the millennium celebrations. Before I left, I was working in south London as a software developer and had had enough of the whole 9 to 5 job culture (it was more like 8 to 6 every day). Chiang Mai is Thailand's second city, in the north of the country, about a ten-hour bus ride from Bangkok. I had only planned to stay for a few months at the most and hadn't considered teaching English. My sister was a teacher in England and from what she told me, it really didn't seem like my kind of thing - lots of lesson planning, low pay and not much respect from the students. Four years and five months later, I'm still here and fully immersed in TEFL teaching.

The first class I observed was at the language school I'm still teaching at now. I'd gone in just to take a look around as I had decided to extend my stay and was unable to find any computer work. They really needed teachers then, which was good for me as I didn't have a TEFL qualification or any teaching experience. The class itself was a typical one of the school, about 20 students, aged between 15 to 19 and mostly female. I was amazed at how attentive and engaged in all the activities the students were. This was due to a couple of key factors. Firstly, Thai students love to play games and have fun in class, which is a stark contrast to how they are taught in school – by listening and drilling whilst sat in the same seat all class. Any teacher who can bring some entertainment into the class will be well-liked. The second reason is that teachers have to grade the students at the end of each six-week term and a student can fail, which means they have to pay again to repeat the level. As most of the students are sent by their parents to study, they don't want to let them or themselves down. This also means that teachers hardly ever experience any discipline problems in class and if they do, then a short talking to resolves the issue.

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One of the hardest things was remembering the students' nicknames. They are usually one syllable long and initially very amusing for new teachers. For example, a class might have a Ping, a Pong, a Porn, a Ball, a Wow, a Wee, a Pee, a Pooh, a Boy (who's a girl), an Apple, a Peach, a Nut, a Milk, a Beer, a Gay, a Thing, a Cat, a Bird, a Tom, a Tik and maybe an Organ. It takes a bit of getting used to and, as you can imagine, seating order can produce some interesting combinations.

During my first year in Thailand, I had to get my visa extended every month. This involved a four hour bus ride up to the Burmese border and although something of a drag, I used to make a weekend out of it by going with a couple of colleagues and stopping off for a night in Chiang Rai on the way up. This routine wasn't a problem until immigration started clamping down on people who had a large collection of stamps in their passport. The language school offered a working visa to anyone who signed a twelve-month contract, so that's what I did. All I needed was a copy of my degree certificate and the school took care of everything else – including the mountain of paperwork. Almost every school I know of offers the same to any teacher willing to sign up for a year.

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One of the biggest attractions of the language school I teach at are the working hours. I teach from 5 to 8.30 in the evenings, Tuesday to Friday and 9 to 4 on Saturdays, which is more than enough money to have a very comfortable life style. Teachers can expect to earn around 25,000 Baht a month (about 360 GBP) teaching part-time. On top of that, there are numerous opportunities to teach private classes or find some extra hours at another school. With so much free time during the day, I eventually decided to do just that myself. I found a morning job teaching at a business college for students aged between 13 and 18. I got the job without even stepping foot in the building - the fact that I taught at the private language school was a good enough reference for them. It felt like just a money making establishment rather than a place of education. The fees were very low, but the class sizes were very big – over 50 students per class – and their level of interest in learning English was almost zero. Most students spent the class either on the phone, reading comic books, putting on make-up or doing work for other subjects. They weren't loud or disruptive; they just had no motivation to study. I worked there for a year and taught about eight different classes of students, all of which had pretty much the same enthusiasm about learning English.

After leaving the business college, I took a term off from the language school and went to do a TEFL in Bangkok. It wasn't a necessity, more of an investment for the future should I want to work anywhere else. I really enjoyed the four weeks on the course and it filled in a lot of gaps in my teaching and gave me a better understanding of what I should be trying to achieve and how to achieve it in each class.

Armed with my TEFL, I decided to try one of Chiang Mai's universities. I was offered a job, and started teaching four mornings a week (along with the work I was doing at the language school). I'm still teaching there now and really enjoying it. The Thai staff in the English Department are great to work with. They are very keen to develop the various courses taught and are well aware of the need to move away from teacher-centered to student-oriented learning. The students themselves are great fun to teach and they really appreciate any fun activities that give them a break from their heavy workload.

My students often ask me why I live in Thailand, as do most of my friends back home whenever I talk to them. There are numerous reasons; most of which were things I wasn't happy with when working and living in England. Here in Chiang Mai, I have a job that I really enjoy and find very rewarding. Unlike working in London, I never wake up dreading going to work (unless I've been up until 3am watching an English Premiership football match which, unlike in England, are shown live on TV here). What's more, I have enough free time to be able to enjoy the money I earn and all the recreational pursuits that I followed back in England.

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Saturday 24 May 2014

TEFL Success Stories - Part 15

Oman - Fatma

I am an Omani teacher and I teach English to young children ages (6-9) years old. I took my teaching diploma over two years in a Teacher Training College after which I started my first teaching job in 1993.

The education system in Oman has been undergoing dramatic changes over the past four years. A new education system has been established which is the Basic Education System in which, amongst other things, children learn English from first year (6 years of age). Prior to the new system the youngest age at which English was taught was 9 years of age. I am fortunate to be involved in these changes as I am now teaching at one of the new Basic Education schools.

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These reforms have been a large undertaking for the Ministry of Education which had to train teachers all over the country to enable them to work with young learners. This was made even more challenging due to the fact that the principles behind the new English curriculum are very much founded on communicative teaching methodology. This constituted a large shift from the previous principles followed which were very traditional.

In addition to the training programme for the teachers, a new course book was designed and some very useful materials, such as visual aids, prepared to help the teachers to make learning English as enjoyable as possible.

In this new course children learn English through a variety of activities such as songs, games, stories and acting. On top of this there are many activities which take advantage of the children's natural instincts. Therefore it is not unusual to walk into an English lesson these days and see children cutting, building or pasting. This certainly makes their learning meaningful and generally provides a genuine purpose for the young children. Of course there were initial reservations from all quarters, as there often is when change is involved but I think it is safe to say most teachers and parents are satisfied with these new changes.

Being an English teacher is a great thing in Oman because it means that you know two languages and most people hold great respect for this; they feel that they can depend on you. Also it provides more chances to meet native speakers and to keep in touch with the changes in the educational world through the courses arranged by the Ministry and of course through being able to read educational literature which is usually in English.

However, teaching English as a foreign language is a hard job since it is completely different from the learners first language, which means we have to work hard to support their learning and to motivate them to learn and keep on learning. It should be remembered that we have to help the children learn a new script and to write in a new direction as well as all the other aspects usually found on the curriculum.

Finally, the future has great potential for our nation as more and more schools adopt the new system and the Ministry of Education adopts progressive ideas.

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Thursday 22 May 2014

TEFL Success Stories - Part 14

Bolivia-Chris

There appears to be a divide between the experiences of the other South American contributors to this section. On the one hand, native teachers having to contend with apathy in their public school classes due to poverty, and finding the need to instil motivation an integral part of teaching. On the other, TEFL teachers from overseas working in large private institutes where the only necessary motivation is results. My experiences in Bolivia come somewhere in the middle of this divide.

There is obviously a great deal of poverty in Bolivia, and for most, learning English is of minor importance. The poorest are the indigenous campesinos who number half the population and speak the native languages of Aymara and Quechua. When they come to the cities they settle on the outskirts and are generally employed in street trade. Learning Spanish is their main concern. English is of little use to the majority so they don't learn it. In fact, many of the poorer children forego education entirely to earn a living on the streets.

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Of the Spanish speaking population, most have a little money and a family home. Only those involved in government are truly rich. Although not troubled by poverty, even people in respected professions such as law or medicine earn comparatively little and can afford few luxuries. This, I soon learned, extends to English textbooks, which I could not afford either on my teacher's wages.

Few will get the opportunity to leave Bolivia, and out with the top Government jobs, or tourism or teaching, there is little requirement for English. Yet people do learn, mainly for reasons of self-improvement or prestige. English is studied only at very low levels, or not at all, in public schools, so they have to go to independent English schools.

As results are usually more for personal satisfaction than academic purposes, motivation is largely based on ones own determination to do well. Coupled with the Latino laid-back tendency, this manifests itself in students' behaviour. Most will wait until two weeks into the term to enrol, and when they have, will not think it strange to miss several classes or arrive up to half an hour into a lesson. I also soon found that many were not used to a class where they had to do some of the work themselves. They wanted to be told everything.

I travelled to Bolivia without a job lined up. I knew it was the poorest country in South America and that wages would be comparatively low, yet I assumed that jobs would be relatively easy to come by. In fact, there were fewer schools than I imagined. A handful of larger private institutes – and therefore the best employment and pay prospects - exist in the largest population centres of La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, especially the capital. I headed instead for the relative tranquillity and blissful climate of Sucre. Despite the grandeur of its colonial centre, the old capital is much poorer than its larger neighbours, with little industry and high unemployment. Even so, as the so-called student capital of Bolivia I was surprised to find only three potential places to teach, and no daytime hours.

One noble venture was specifically set up to teach the less well off for the purposes of tourism, such as taxi drivers. However it can only afford to pay $0.60 an hour - not nearly enough to live on as a foreigner, and I had to leave it to untrained volunteers. The place to try, they said, was the "rich kids' school" - the Centro Boliviano Americano.

There is a CBA in every major city so it's one of the best places to look for work, especially if you want to travel in-between, although wages may vary. Despite being termed rich, even here the students all use photocopies of the textbooks, as the originals are too expensive. It's mainly for children, whose parents send them to every conceivable after school class. After a long school day, with results largely unimportant to their academic record and using out of date books, motivation is unsurprisingly lacking. It is certainly a challenge holding the attention of children who are too young to appreciate the opportunities they have, and would rather be playing.

Finally, there are extension courses at the university. Open to all, teenagers, students or professionals, they charge only a token amount, as universities are largely state funded. There are limited teaching hours available, but by far the best wages in town. Although lower levels follow books, at more advanced levels there isn't a strict syllabus and you are free to create your own exams based on what you have done. I was lucky enough to become the first native speaker to teach there and it is a highly recommended institution, both for students and teachers.

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Wednesday 21 May 2014

TEFL Success Stories - Part 13

Indonesia - Andrew

Part 1 I started teaching here in 1996 at an English First school and I was very nervous because it was my first teaching job. I soon realised that my students were even more nervous than I was because Indonesians have a strange sort of respect for foreigners. The educational system here is rather old-fashioned and learning 'by rote' is still the accepted method. I found that all my students knew about the irregular verbs and what we know as the infinitive, past simple and past participle are know here as verbs 1,2 & 3. This actually helps a lot. School in Indonesia is still a privilege. It costs money to send your children to school and many kids don't make it beyond the elementary level. This doesn't have to be a disadvantage as the former President Suharto left school after completing just his elementary education and he went on to be one of the most corrupt dictators the world has ever known and made a huge fortune. I worked for just over four years in Jakarta and finished as a Director of Studies in a large school in West Jakarta. This sort of position is what prospective teachers should be aiming for, as the salaries can be very rewarding. $2,000 a month may not sound like much but in Indonesia, it is a lot of money and you will be regarded as a wealthy person. In a language school, you can expect many of your students to be from upper-middle class families and many of them will be Chinese Indonesians as these are the people with the money. Others will be the children of Government officials whose salaries are very small but, because of the rampant corruption, they are enormously wealthy. The education system in Indonesia is very old-fashioned and the official curriculum is much the same as it was in western countries in the 50's. As a teacher of English here, you will have to break through barriers but it is not difficult. After working in Jakarta for over 4 years, I felt I had had enough of the big dirty city so I moved to Bali. I had, by this time, formed my own company specialising in language services via the internet, so I was able to work from wherever I happened to be.

Fr the last two and a half years, I have been living in Bali and I make a living from a little 'in-house' teaching, writing articles for magazines, copyediting other peoples' articles and writing for CD Roms. I don't say that I have achieved everything I set out to achieve but I have done reasonably well so there is no reason for other people not being able to do the same thing. I am really quite lethargic and I don't push myself too much but I still make a good living. I have learned a lot in the past 8 years so if you want to ask me for advice on living and working in Indonesia, I will be happy to give it. Good luck to all of you.

Part 2 A few months ago, I wrote about teaching in Indonesia and I hope that what I said at that time was useful to some of you who are regular readers. I told you about my experiences in Jakarta as a newly recruited teacher and went on to talk about how I ended up as a Director of Studies and then moved to Bali to start my own business. Well, a lot has changed since 12 October when a couple of bombs stole the lives of over 200 young people in Kuta and I would now like to write about the prospects for teaching in Bali in the future . I am very fortunate in that none of my personal friends were killed or injured in the bomb blasts but, as a community, we all feel very sad about the useless loss of so many lives. As a result of this tragedy, the number of tourists coming to Bali has plummeted so any schools which depended upon 'in-house' training are really suffering losses of work. My own private teaching work was orientated to the tourist trade and it all stopped a couple of weeks ago. Despite dire warnings from many governments, I don't know of any ESL teachers who have left Bali. We are all hoping that there will be a recovery very soon and that the work will return. My writing work has actually increased since the atrocity occurred but that may be coincidental. It does accentuate the fact, however, that if you are thinking of living and working in a developing country, it pays to diversify. We expatriates in Bali, together with the local people, are very positive about Bali 's future so, if you are offered a job here, don't be too worried. It is a fabulous place to live and work in and no more dangerous than any other place in the world, I have recently been approached by some General Managers of hotels saying that maybe while their staff are not so busy, this could be a good time to start an English Language course. You see, there is still optimism here. If you would like any information or advice about working in Bali see below.

Part 3 I receive so many enquiries about living and working in Bali that I have decided to put some of my thoughts together in this document. The majority of questions I receive are about teaching English in Indonesia and I have to say that at the present time, this is a bit of a problem as very few schools are recruiting new teachers. The demand for jobs currently far exceeds the availability so schools are able to be very particular about whom they employ. To work as a teacher of English in Indonesia, the Government requires that you are a national of the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Australia, Canada or the U.S.A. No other nationalities are accepted so if you hold an Irish, Nigerian or Indian passport for example, there is no chance. If you qualify on nationality, you will also need to have a valid qualification as an English teacher and this means something such as a CELTA from the University of Cambridge and the Royal Society of Arts. Some schools accept a TESOL certificate but this is regarded as a very basic qualification. Experience is also a good point in your favour so if you can prove that you have been teaching for some time elsewhere and can provide good references, this will help you. For people particularly interested in Bali, I have to say that my comments may seem rather negative. The economy of Bali was very dependent upon tourism but the bombing last October, the war in Iraq and the current worry about SARS means that the number of tourists here has dropped significantly. Many language schools here depended on 'in house courses' in hotels etc. but, with so few guests, many of the hotels have cancelled their arrangements. Bali is a wonderful place to live in if you can afford the lifestyle but if you have no money, it can be a very bleak prospect. My advice to anyone wanting to come and work in Bali is to forget it at the present time. As the situation improves, hopefully soon, we will update our company website ~ www.fullproof.org. For information on what is happening in Indonesia and a host of useful links, please bookmark our site.

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Tuesday 20 May 2014

TEFL Success Stories - Part 12

France - Erin

I've spent the last year teaching English in France in two different areas: general English in a public high school and business English to company employees. Of all the countries in Europe, France unfortunately ranks as one of the worst in foreign language learning. The Ministry of Education has only recently awakened to the realization that speaking and listening skills are a necessary component of a foreign language, but they still play a secondary role to reading and writing. As a result, a French student studies English for 7 years without really being able to communicate in it.

I first served as a teaching assistant in the countryside, brought over by the French government to encourage the students to speak English and to make it fun. Basically, the teacher was responsible for the curriculum and grammar - and then I worked with individual groups of students every week to help them take the grammar and vocabulary that they'd been learning in class and make them use it orally. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the students did too because they got to relate English to their lives. Plus, they discovered that if they wanted to hear about the United States from a real American, they had to figure out a way to put a sentence together - it was a motivator.

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In general, the teaching style in France is fairly strict and rigid. Teachers scold their students if they get an answer wrong and most classes are conducted lecture-style where the teacher speaks and the students take notes. If a student speaks, it's usually to answer a question, give a summary of an article, or give a description of a picture - and topics remain intellectual. There are few roleplays, pairwork or games. So the students loved having a change of pace and the chance to do something 'non-intellectual' because they were after all high school kids. The problem really is the way teachers are trained to teach, which is influenced by a curriculum that places heavy emphasis on writing and reading.

The particular program that I did, the 'teaching assistantship' program. This is one that I highly recommend for people who want to live in France for seven months without the painful process of trying to find a job in France (which I'll get to later), or who want to get their feet wet in teaching. It requires no prior teaching experience and only a moderate level in French.

If you want to wing it on your own in France, you're in for a challenge. Unless you're an EU citizen, you'll face a very tough time getting a school or a company to sponsor you for a work permit. Currently France has something like a 10% unemployment rate, and it legally has to give priority for any job to an EU citizen. Basically, if the government sees any justifiable reason why an EU citizen can do the job you want, you'll probably be denied a work permit. That is, if you can find an organization to sponsor this permit, which costs them money. (As an EU citizen, you'll have your pick of private language schools or you can do freelance work without having to worry about residency issues.)

Having said that, it is possible to get a teaching job in France as a non-EU citizen, just very, very hard and it takes dedication. What I did to find my current job teaching in a financial consulting company was to convince the Chairman of the company that he needed in-house English instruction. This will obviously work better with companies that are international or planning to go international in the near future. The other alternative is to try to find a private language school to hire you (in which case they'll definitely require some kind of certification and/or experience). The third option, to work as a full-time teacher in a public school, generally takes years of education in the French system and is off-limits to non-EU citizens.

In terms of the differences between teaching high school students and employees in their 20s, I found it much easier to teach adults. There is a difference in level obviously, but the biggest difference is in motivation. Employees in a company generally realize that they need English in their jobs and so they make an effort to speak and ask questions and do their homework. Right now I'm teaching a range of employees, from financial consultants to salespeople, and even if they don't use English in their daily jobs, they recognize that being able to speak English will help them land future jobs.

I would recommend France as a place to spend a couple of months teaching, if you want to try it out through the assistantship program. Otherwise, you'll need a certification and/or experience (and some persistence if you're not European) to get something more permanent.

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