02/26/2008
This post could be for just about anyone, but in particular, I have a feeling that it will connect with those of you out there who may be in the ESL ‘language-dome’ already. “Teaching arena” sounds a bit cliché, and maybe I’d only be reaching out to a splintered North American audience. But I digress.
The real point of this is to share personal experience that may somehow be parallel to your very own. For those of you reading this who hasn’t taken the overseas teaching plunge yet, contemplating it is actually 50% of getting there…or…here?
Many different types of language institutions exist out there as you may have already been told by some school directors, friends, or just a strange man on the bus dressed in a hound’s tooth jacket. Well, they all have a point.
Some schools may be more of what you’re looking for and some possibly less. As with any job, what you wish to take home with you will reflect the type of school that will suit you.
In my first year, I worked for a school that provided a co-teacher who instructs the majority of the curriculum. As a first year gig, it certainly eased the nerves. As two months gave way to eight and so on, I felt as though the job was not as fulfilling as I would have wished it to be. There was a definite distance that was present between the foreign teachers and the local students; and not just the obvious cultural issues and a myriad of other superficialities. (The unmentionables)
Before working with EF Central Jakarta, I didn’t feel the personal connection that should come with teaching. For those of you in the same situation, the next part may sound all too true. 19 classes in one week…all different classes…all 20 or more students per class. “Okay, so you’re Steven #3 and that’s Lily #8. Got it.”
With that type of teaching experience, the class time is in fact advantageous, and the pay is nice, but at the end of the day…then week….then month….what does it all add up to in terms of personal and professional fulfillment? NAHofAL. Honestly speaking, the school director couldn’t have been more accommodating and generous, but, there was a reason for it. After seeing 240 or so students each week, trying desperately to remember all of their names (which is vital [and effortless for cyborgs]), there was a sense that you didn’t feel responsible for their success ‘or’ their failure. Whether they did well or not depended largely on the 3 of 4 sessions each week conducted by the local teacher. 4 of 20 or ¼ of the student’s monthly classes didn’t feel as rewarding as the salary.
Heck, I could be wrong and perhaps scientists have been working out a formula that proves that this is the best strategy to learn languages and to please teachers traveling to a foreign land, but I think those scientists may have been sitting in a small room with uncapped permanent markers very close to their hypotheses. I know, we shouldn’t get all heavy with the scientists, and that’s why I’d recommend nominating a local scientist as a ‘municipal hero’ in your town or city this year. A thankless job really.
Allow me to put the needle back on the record.
As the last remaining days with the school passed, they did so in a bittersweet fashion. I felt torn to leave a place whose staff treated me so kindly and with such hospitality and friendship. In the same notion, I knew that I would be joining a new company where the potential to feel fulfilled was very real…and is!
As opposed to a 50 minute class duration, the classes at EF range from 80-120 minutes. And, under normal circumstances, you’re the same teacher that they’re going to meet with the next time and successively this way until they write their final test for that level.
The benefits of feeling that you’re an active partner in their successes and that you risk disappointing them and yourself for their potential failures are, I believe, two of the keys to feeling fulfilled at work as a teacher: consistent frequent connection with the students and on-going contribution to their skills and understanding of a given subject.
If you’re going through a similar dilemma at the moment, give the thought of trying a new institution some serious consideration. You may discover that the fulfillment you’re looking for is just another flight away. Moving to EF Central Jakarta has been the positive and refreshing change that I had been looking for.
All things considered, check out some other links at this website and see if this place feels right for you. It could be what you’ve been looking for as well!
Johan Pitkanen - Teacher
