teaching English abroad

[ita13]

Hi All,

I'm Ita. I'm new in the group. :) I'm from Indonesia and I'm studying TESOL now at University of Northern Iowa.
I wonder if anyone have had experiences teaching in foreign countries or info about teaching opportunities in any Asian countries, such as China, Japan, Korea etc.

I'd love to learn from your experiences. :)

Ita.

[Tdol]

There's a thread here on teachingin japan that has some views from people with experience there that might help:
http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/te...ish-japan.html

[ita13]

Thank you very much! I really appreciate it. :D

May I know where you are teaching now?

[I'm With Stupid]

I think it's important to warn you about some of the difficulties you might face in these areas of the world. These countries aren't like America or Western Europe, and there is absolutely nothing to stop blatant discrimination based on things that you cannot change. The first obstacle you're going to face in any Asian country is the native speaker obstacle. Many schools simply won't even give you an interview if they find out you're not a native speaker, so even if you're completely fluent, with no "foreign" accent, you'll never get a chance to show it. Being taught by a native speaker is a big selling point for a lot of these for-profit schools, so they can't then hire non-native speakers.

And the second issue is one of race. Put simply, enough parents are racist that it affects the hiring policy of many schools in Asia. Parents will assume that an Asian will not be able to teach English as well as a white person, even if said person is a native speaker from the UK or America. I've only taught in Vietnam, and it's definitely a big issue here, but from what I've read, it's a big issue across the continent. I do know both non-native speakers and Asian Americans who have been able to get jobs at decent schools (including schools that officially only hire natives). What I've never seen is a non-native Asian working in a decent school.

Good luck anyway.

[kimfuji]

Hi. I taught in Japan for 6 years. There is a great newsletter that is free called Ohayosensei. It is for people who want to find teaching jobs in Japan. It has been used by schools in Japan for quite a long time and has a great reputation. There are jobs on there. You can google it.
Ohayo means good morning and sensei means teacher in Japanese.
Kim

[5jj]

And the second issue is one of race. Put simply, enough parents are racist that it affects the hiring policy of many schools in Asia. Parents will assume that an Asian will not be able to teach English as well as a white person, even if said person is a native speaker from the UK or America. I've only taught in Vietnam, and it's definitely a big issue here, but from what I've read, it's a big issue across the continent. I do know both non-native speakers and Asian Americans who have been able to get jobs at decent schools (including schools that officially only hire natives). What I've never seen is a non-native Asian working in a decent school.

Good luck anyway.

Good point. In a school I taught in in China, one of the teachers left because of the problems she was facing as a result of her Chinese appearance (Her grandparents on both sides came from Hong Kong originally). She was British born and brought up, as were her parents, but that made no difference to the parents of our pupils.