How Long Should I be an English Teacher?

[Niko]

Deskilling of the English Teacher

Often I've heard comments from current English teachers that if they were to return to their own country, then it would be very hard to find work. These English teachers have been abroad for considerable years, hence their once previous skills in whatever they studied at Uni are no longer up to scratch.

Have they taught English for too long? Sure they can do a great job at teaching, but what if they return home and look for a non-English teaching job?

An IT guru I met recently has the same problem. He was programming in Sydney for 4 years, then decided to teach for a while in Japan. Well, 5 years later, he's still in Japan teaching. He would love to go back to Oz, but doesn't wanna start at the bottom of the food chain again. Perhaps he should have only taught for 1 year in Japan...

Who knows...

[troubled sole]

What you are speaking about is a serious problem.
It is great to come to Japan to work and enjoy the great culture here but unless you wish to stay in Japan for a long time, one or two years is enough.

I have known many friends that have returned home after 5 to 10 years in Japan. Many of them had married here and returned home because they were tied of the culture or having little rights and wanted to continue the work that they studied for at university.

All except one of my friends have returned after 2 years back home.
Unless the work or school you are teaching gives you credit as a teacher when you return home, I would return after a year or two at the most or it will be very difficult to return to work and continue or to start your career.

The one friend who returned home and did not return to Japan married back home and had a baby. She was not able to get a job and all the employers did not care that she worked as a teacher for 3 years in Japan.

So enjoy your time in Japan, travel and enjoy the people and the culture but then go home, work and be with your family and friends. Nothing can beat that.

[dranthony]

Hi everyone,

I imagine your friend enjoyed teaching for the past five years...why not continue on that path ?

[exported_kiwi]

I figure that you can be an ESL teacher for as long as your health holds out and your finances are viable.

Really, it all comes down to how much you enjoy it and what alternatives are available to you back in the "world". For retired people, it's a great way to spend a few years, for younger people, it's a great way to experience the world etc. For me, it's because I truly love it, and because my fiancee won't move to my country so I have no alternative but to remain in hers!

[waixingren]

It honestly depends on your future goals for when you return home. I've been climbing up the ESL ladder since arriving in China in the hopes that I will return home with an appropriate job. I also do some telecommuting side work that pays me in US$ that should help in the future job search. But then again, that search won't be for another year or two.

[Motivated]

Yeap, it is true that this is a serious question, just how long is too long before your other options become obsolete?

I've been teaching now for 2 1/2 years and just signed on for the next school year. I have no real plans to return home to Aus any time soon. So long as I'm happy in my work (and i do love it!) then I will continue teaching indefinitely.

There are some people who have, on average, spent four years of their life studying for a university degree. It's only natural that these people would tend to feel as if they may have wasted years studying something they've never quite got around to putting into practice. But the reality is that there are LOTS and LOTS of uni graduates who never actually enter their chosen field - because life gets in the way: other opportunities arise, people fall in love and things get crazy etc etc... Just something worth keeping in mind.

Let life take you where it will - for me that adds up to a couple hundred Mongol teenagers keen to do as little as possible yet often surprising me! I wouldn't have it any other way any time in the foreseeable future!

[kdavid]

I would think that most people doing TEFL for an extended period of time would more likely be interested in teaching once they get back home. An MA in Education + years of experience teaching abroad could open some good opportunities for teaching at public / private secondary schools back home.

[Ayla]

I recently returned home after teaching out of the country for 5 years and was fortunate and found an abundance of teaching positions and far too much work. The only thing was that they were Korean schools and were run by Koreans. They were lovely people as were the students but they brought with them their Korean laws.
The contract they wanted me to sign at one school was not in accordance to the labor laws of our country and you were not allowed to take time off for illness.
I felt as though I had never left Korea.

I have decided to stop teaching after this year and will attend university to work on a Masters program in Europe.

Hopefully, this will be a start in a new direction. There are many ESL jobs in Canada and America for people who might like to teach there.

[karlw66]

Good question,

For my part I found that most NZ employers looked over my CV and went kinda blank viz my offshore teaching.....i.e "So what/wtf/etc etc. Having said that, all depends on you, your major, personality and so on. ESOL teaching is all about communication so, at least in my case anyhows, I found that so long as I pitched it right I was able to secure a good job or two.

The kicker? I missed the whole offshore thing so much that I frankly didn't WANT the damn job/s! Long story short, got myself a job as a postie (read: postal worker) - got fit and am now searchin' about looking for another stint offshore.

Everyones an individual and everyones circ's/skill sets are different. Life's what you make it - bottom line. Besides which, yeesh, for my part anyhow, my job doesn't define me and please someone kill me if that ever changes!

Best of luck for anyone headin' back home after a while offshore. Don't be discouraged, a good employer/company will recognise talent/difference and some (egads) actually appreciate people with unusual, interesting backgrounds.

Cheers.....just my 2 cents

[exported_kiwi]

Kia ora and yeah, diversity and life experience can sometimes be recommendations on their own.