Esl teacher career advice
July 9, 2013 10:58 AM Subscribe
I'm interested in possibly becoming an esl teacher. I know I can move to another country, but I might just end up staying in the states and teach to adults. Good idea? Is it in demand? Opportunity for growth? Other questions....
Is it hard work? Enough vacation time ( I was thinking more than 2 weeks)? How about opportunity for advancement ? Is it possible to parlay teaching skills to other careers if I decide to go in another field? How about if I decide to stay in a teacher or mentor role such as corporate training or career counselor at a college? Where do you think the salary would top out at?
I think I would like teaching adults a skill they can use and feel it could be rewarding. How is it different than teaching high school? I've heard a lot of people complain that teaching is very high stress and there is a lot of behind the scenes work that many do not appreciate. I would ideally want a job that I work 40 hours a week or even less, if possible, where I can have a life outside of work since I have a lot of things I want to do that are not work related. I like the idea of teaching and am trying to shadow someone. I am also getting started in tutoring to see if its right for me.
Also, I wouldn't mind spending a year or more teaching English abroad, but not sure I'd make it my primary career as I might get married one day ( no kids, though!) and don't want to count on that. I do have dual citizenship with the EU, could it be feasible one day to teach there if I felt so inclined? And I decided I did want to live there full-time? What about someplace else like South America?
Is it hard work? Enough vacation time ( I was thinking more than 2 weeks)? How about opportunity for advancement ? Is it possible to parlay teaching skills to other careers if I decide to go in another field? How about if I decide to stay in a teacher or mentor role such as corporate training or career counselor at a college? Where do you think the salary would top out at?
I think I would like teaching adults a skill they can use and feel it could be rewarding. How is it different than teaching high school? I've heard a lot of people complain that teaching is very high stress and there is a lot of behind the scenes work that many do not appreciate. I would ideally want a job that I work 40 hours a week or even less, if possible, where I can have a life outside of work since I have a lot of things I want to do that are not work related. I like the idea of teaching and am trying to shadow someone. I am also getting started in tutoring to see if its right for me.
Also, I wouldn't mind spending a year or more teaching English abroad, but not sure I'd make it my primary career as I might get married one day ( no kids, though!) and don't want to count on that. I do have dual citizenship with the EU, could it be feasible one day to teach there if I felt so inclined? And I decided I did want to live there full-time? What about someplace else like South America?
For my money the best place to earn serious cash doing it is in East Asia
In Japan or Korea, yes, but not in China. The money you get in China for teaching ESL is good for being in China, but it's usually not a high overall salary and it's hard to save.
OP- I taught ESL in China, where there are plenty of jobs. If you teach at a public school, the salary is not very high but the benefits, stability , and hours are good. If you teach at a private school you will be making more money but will have to work more hours. Generally speaking, in China being an ESL teacher is not a ton of work and you will have extra time to do other things. However, many people find Chinese culture and institutions very difficult to deal with for various reasons and there are many frustrated ESL teachers there.
posted by bearette at 11:50 AM on July 9, 2013
In Japan or Korea, yes, but not in China. The money you get in China for teaching ESL is good for being in China, but it's usually not a high overall salary and it's hard to save.
OP- I taught ESL in China, where there are plenty of jobs. If you teach at a public school, the salary is not very high but the benefits, stability , and hours are good. If you teach at a private school you will be making more money but will have to work more hours. Generally speaking, in China being an ESL teacher is not a ton of work and you will have extra time to do other things. However, many people find Chinese culture and institutions very difficult to deal with for various reasons and there are many frustrated ESL teachers there.
posted by bearette at 11:50 AM on July 9, 2013
One way you could get more information would be to visit your local community college and talk to teachers/administrators in the ESOL department. Between their experiences and their networking, they likely would give you a good understanding of what is possible and beneficial in your case.
(My wife teaches ELL (different acronym, same general meaning) at the middle school level, and has taught English in Eastern Europe and Asia in the past. She finds it a very rewarding career.)
posted by 1367 at 11:58 AM on July 9, 2013
(My wife teaches ELL (different acronym, same general meaning) at the middle school level, and has taught English in Eastern Europe and Asia in the past. She finds it a very rewarding career.)
posted by 1367 at 11:58 AM on July 9, 2013
Best answer: It is EXTREMELY difficult to get a full-time ESL-teaching job in the US. (Put it this way: It's easier to get a full-time job as a librarian.) It's generally just as time-consuming as other English teaching (essays, etc.), and many teachers are paid significantly less than other professional teachers. Most jobs require a Master's degree nonetheless. (Adult schools sometimes require only K-12-type certification, but in many parts of the country, they're dying off.)
Choose another field if you ever want to support yourself in the USA.
(I am an ESL teacher.)
posted by wintersweet at 4:12 PM on July 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
Choose another field if you ever want to support yourself in the USA.
(I am an ESL teacher.)
posted by wintersweet at 4:12 PM on July 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
Like your state, Texas has a lot of people whose primary language is not English -- a little over 16% of the students, or almost 800,000 kids, are in ESL or bilingual programs in Texas schools. It was 9.2% in 1992, to give you an idea of the increase over time. Over 90 languages are regularly used here, too.
So, the teachers here (and maybe in your state, or soon to be in your state) now all have ESL requirements. All elementary teachers and all English/Language Arts teachers in higher grades will have ESL certification. All other teachers will have ESL training. All of this will be complete by next year.
Not sure if you'd mark all this as a pro or a con in your career plan, but there it is.
posted by Houstonian at 6:22 PM on July 9, 2013
So, the teachers here (and maybe in your state, or soon to be in your state) now all have ESL requirements. All elementary teachers and all English/Language Arts teachers in higher grades will have ESL certification. All other teachers will have ESL training. All of this will be complete by next year.
Not sure if you'd mark all this as a pro or a con in your career plan, but there it is.
posted by Houstonian at 6:22 PM on July 9, 2013
(Disclaimer: gross generalizations ahead... )
The workload for teaching ESL varies significantly depending on the environment you are teaching in. Teaching ESL requires a ridiculous amount of prep time, as you have to prepare activities in four different areas: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The typical class changes activities every 20-30 minutes. (This, of course, over time gets easier - just the same way it does for a traditional teacher.)
There are generally three types of ESL students:
- Students with some to a lot of English experience who are coming to perfect their skills before going to college. These students tend to be more affluent, have had a lot of study skills and habits, and understand school culture. They dedicate all day to ESL classes, generally don't have families to care for, and are the "easiest" of adult ESL students to teach.
- Immigrants who are educated in their home countries and need to learn English. These students will learn the language more quickly than those with low literacy levels in their home language. They understand how to study. They are likely to seek vocational literacy in addition to generic ESL classes.
- Immigrants and refugees with little to no formal education. These students are the most challenging to teach, typically have families and complicated schedules, and the lack of formal education means that they also need to be socialized in how to study.
I'd highly recommend tutoring all types of students to see which you are most drawn to.
In terms of jobs, the highest-paid positions are those teaching future college students. The schedules can be rigorous, but there is ample vacation and lots of support. The students are paying a premium to take the classes, and you are, as the teacher, someone who benefits from that. Teaching typically requires a Master's degree.
The mid-level positions are often at community colleges or larger ESL organizations. They are likely to be a more typical work day (though you will likely teach an evening class here or there). These classes tend to be larger, the curriculum more consistent, and the rigor fairly strong. Teaching typically requires a Master's degree.
The final category are typically ESL classes offered by non-profits. These classes can be taught in formal classrooms or around a conference room table. The students often attend as part of a larger social system - friends go together. The pay typically sucks, the hours long, and the rewards for seeing a student finally understand that a letter is tied to a sound --- priceless. Teaching can require a Master's degree, but many smaller non-profits will take anyone who is willing.
In terms of your question about whether adults are different than high school students, the answer is ABSOLUTELY. Adult learners are far more self-directed and goal-oriented. They know what they are looking to accomplish, and they are seeking out your services. That said, life can still happen and that can make it tough for a student to attend class - intentions as good as they might be. Transportation, family, job, etc., can all be blocks. Adult learners also bring a wealth of experience and insight that high school students simply don't have. They have rich histories and it's great to draw on their assets while teaching.
Finally, the most successful ESL classes at the community college level are no longer generalized. There is a move toward funding more vocational literacy, that is, classes that move towards a goal of getting a particular kind of job. You'll find classes that are for GED prep, how to be a car mechanic, how to be a day care provider, etc.
I hope this helps!
posted by frizz at 10:09 PM on July 9, 2013
The workload for teaching ESL varies significantly depending on the environment you are teaching in. Teaching ESL requires a ridiculous amount of prep time, as you have to prepare activities in four different areas: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The typical class changes activities every 20-30 minutes. (This, of course, over time gets easier - just the same way it does for a traditional teacher.)
There are generally three types of ESL students:
- Students with some to a lot of English experience who are coming to perfect their skills before going to college. These students tend to be more affluent, have had a lot of study skills and habits, and understand school culture. They dedicate all day to ESL classes, generally don't have families to care for, and are the "easiest" of adult ESL students to teach.
- Immigrants who are educated in their home countries and need to learn English. These students will learn the language more quickly than those with low literacy levels in their home language. They understand how to study. They are likely to seek vocational literacy in addition to generic ESL classes.
- Immigrants and refugees with little to no formal education. These students are the most challenging to teach, typically have families and complicated schedules, and the lack of formal education means that they also need to be socialized in how to study.
I'd highly recommend tutoring all types of students to see which you are most drawn to.
In terms of jobs, the highest-paid positions are those teaching future college students. The schedules can be rigorous, but there is ample vacation and lots of support. The students are paying a premium to take the classes, and you are, as the teacher, someone who benefits from that. Teaching typically requires a Master's degree.
The mid-level positions are often at community colleges or larger ESL organizations. They are likely to be a more typical work day (though you will likely teach an evening class here or there). These classes tend to be larger, the curriculum more consistent, and the rigor fairly strong. Teaching typically requires a Master's degree.
The final category are typically ESL classes offered by non-profits. These classes can be taught in formal classrooms or around a conference room table. The students often attend as part of a larger social system - friends go together. The pay typically sucks, the hours long, and the rewards for seeing a student finally understand that a letter is tied to a sound --- priceless. Teaching can require a Master's degree, but many smaller non-profits will take anyone who is willing.
In terms of your question about whether adults are different than high school students, the answer is ABSOLUTELY. Adult learners are far more self-directed and goal-oriented. They know what they are looking to accomplish, and they are seeking out your services. That said, life can still happen and that can make it tough for a student to attend class - intentions as good as they might be. Transportation, family, job, etc., can all be blocks. Adult learners also bring a wealth of experience and insight that high school students simply don't have. They have rich histories and it's great to draw on their assets while teaching.
Finally, the most successful ESL classes at the community college level are no longer generalized. There is a move toward funding more vocational literacy, that is, classes that move towards a goal of getting a particular kind of job. You'll find classes that are for GED prep, how to be a car mechanic, how to be a day care provider, etc.
I hope this helps!
posted by frizz at 10:09 PM on July 9, 2013
ESL/EFL has been my career for the last fourteen odd years. I only really know Japan, so that's the advice I'll give you:
The market here is flooded with people who want to be paid to see the world. There are a ton of people here that have no natural inclination to teaching, and who don't care to learn more. Making things worse, the industry as a whole has undergone a massive shakeup following some deregulation and several bankruptcies. In terms of teaching in a elementary/JH/high school environment, very few schools will directly hire a foreign teacher anymore. Most hiring is done through "dispatch" companies who care more about their contract with the school than the teacher they send (who can be replaced at the whim of the school, and if a school doesn't want you for any reason, that company will not find you another job, and you have no recourse), and know/care nothing about education.
Adult learning largely takes place at eikaiwa (English conversation) schools, where the main goal is making sure the students feel good about giving the school their money. By and large, a job at an eikaiwa entails having the same student every week, and trying to find something new to talk about while, unfortunately, most of your students will follow the same routine week in and week out. Your goal will be to make them feel that, essentially, spending thirty or forty minutes a week, with no outside study, is more than enough to make serious progress. It isn't, but telling students that they have to do actual work is another good way to need to look for a new job.
As for the deregulation, when I first came here, by law you couldn't get a visa allowing you to teach unless your salary was ¥250,000 or higher. That was the floor, and any decent job looking for a decent teacher offered more. Now, "full-time" positions, where you'll be schedule just under the number of hours that would require any sort of benefits, those can start as low as ¥180,000 or less. Many high school positions (again, dispatch) that require you to travel to several different schools a month will pay ¥220,000 and act magnanimous about it, rather than the ¥280-300,000 that used to be standard to start.
English teaching in Japan is dying if not dead as a career choice, and to e blunt, one reason it's dying is all of the people who want to get paid for a year long vacation in Japan have essentially lowered expectations of what a proper EFL teacher can do, so much so that some companies prefer not to hire a teacher who knows anything about language education simply because they'll make waves about how much better things could and should be.
tl/dr: Japan isn't the best place to teach English, and hasn't been for a long time.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:14 AM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
The market here is flooded with people who want to be paid to see the world. There are a ton of people here that have no natural inclination to teaching, and who don't care to learn more. Making things worse, the industry as a whole has undergone a massive shakeup following some deregulation and several bankruptcies. In terms of teaching in a elementary/JH/high school environment, very few schools will directly hire a foreign teacher anymore. Most hiring is done through "dispatch" companies who care more about their contract with the school than the teacher they send (who can be replaced at the whim of the school, and if a school doesn't want you for any reason, that company will not find you another job, and you have no recourse), and know/care nothing about education.
Adult learning largely takes place at eikaiwa (English conversation) schools, where the main goal is making sure the students feel good about giving the school their money. By and large, a job at an eikaiwa entails having the same student every week, and trying to find something new to talk about while, unfortunately, most of your students will follow the same routine week in and week out. Your goal will be to make them feel that, essentially, spending thirty or forty minutes a week, with no outside study, is more than enough to make serious progress. It isn't, but telling students that they have to do actual work is another good way to need to look for a new job.
As for the deregulation, when I first came here, by law you couldn't get a visa allowing you to teach unless your salary was ¥250,000 or higher. That was the floor, and any decent job looking for a decent teacher offered more. Now, "full-time" positions, where you'll be schedule just under the number of hours that would require any sort of benefits, those can start as low as ¥180,000 or less. Many high school positions (again, dispatch) that require you to travel to several different schools a month will pay ¥220,000 and act magnanimous about it, rather than the ¥280-300,000 that used to be standard to start.
English teaching in Japan is dying if not dead as a career choice, and to e blunt, one reason it's dying is all of the people who want to get paid for a year long vacation in Japan have essentially lowered expectations of what a proper EFL teacher can do, so much so that some companies prefer not to hire a teacher who knows anything about language education simply because they'll make waves about how much better things could and should be.
tl/dr: Japan isn't the best place to teach English, and hasn't been for a long time.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:14 AM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
I began the coursework to become an ESL teacher because I wanted to live abroad -- ideally, in Japan. By the time I got my certificate, I realized the days of easy living there as an English teacher were long past. But I enjoyed teaching, so talked with local Adult Schools and before I knew it, I was working part time (20 hours a week, then) and I liked it and was making enough I quit my day job. Past couple of years, my school's operations were cut way back, so I've returned to the day job but still teach a class two nights a week 'cause it's so much fun!
Always in the back of my mind is the possibilty I could go abroad and teach, but making that leap gets more difficult the older you get. I did apply to Aeon, kinda glad they turned me down because it appears they work their teachers much to hard. They make you do 39.5 hrs/week [so you don't get full time benefits] with 5 days vacation a year [not Xmas]? Screw that!
Bottom line, investigate your local Adult Schools.
posted by Rash at 6:54 AM on July 10, 2013
Always in the back of my mind is the possibilty I could go abroad and teach, but making that leap gets more difficult the older you get. I did apply to Aeon, kinda glad they turned me down because it appears they work their teachers much to hard. They make you do 39.5 hrs/week [so you don't get full time benefits] with 5 days vacation a year [not Xmas]? Screw that!
Bottom line, investigate your local Adult Schools.
posted by Rash at 6:54 AM on July 10, 2013
Response by poster: SOO much good advice! Thanks! Keep it coming! For posterity, I will most likely pick another career :)
posted by eq21 at 11:07 AM on July 11, 2013
posted by eq21 at 11:07 AM on July 11, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
I think ESL workload is relatively light compared to being an English teacher, because the bulk of the work will take place in the classroom itself, but really in any teaching job you have lots of control over your own workload if you're careful. (You only have to grade the papers you yourself assign!) Also, if you teach in a high school (or an international school) you're likely to have to take part in extracurricular activities. Not so for a language center or an adult education course.
When I was researching ESL jobs the bulk of them in Europe seemed to be in Eastern Europe, but that was decades ago so things might have changed. For my money the best place to earn serious cash doing it is in East Asia.
posted by seemoreglass at 11:19 AM on July 9, 2013