Job, Thanksgiving

Hi all,

Just got back from Timmins for Thanksgiving, which was amazing. We got to see all of my wife's family (well, almost all, some of them were in Toronto this weekend), and it was nice to keep reconnecting. This has become somewhat of a theme for me this month, as it's what we've been doing, getting back in touch with old friends, and colleagues.

I've been trying, for example, to set up a coffee date with two old friends from Waterloo, but we're all so damned busy it's like herding cats. I'm confident we'll bump into 'em sooner than later. It's just funny how socially active people have such trouble making time for anything.

Jen's been busy, with two jobs, and so am I--I just got another part-time gig working in the morning at another ESL college. This is great--it supplements my income, doesn't interfere with my afternoon tutoring, and has room to expand. And it's actual teaching experience in front of a class in Canada.

It's something that I've noticed some former expats like me go through--we hit our stride in Korea or Japan or wherever, and then come back... only to find out we're not fitting in. So we either go back abroad, or we try to find similar work here, which can be a challenge.

Finding a job based on ESL in Canada requires certifications which a lot of us don't have when we leave for our Korean or overseas adventures--I got mine while abroad, thank heaven. Furthermore, as much experience as we might or might not have after our time abroad, finding work in the field back home runs into one of two roadblocks: we have *foreign* experience, but no experience teaching ESL in a *Canadian* classroom. Fortunately, this is not a common problem, but it still comes up. More importantly, if you taught kids, you're going to have to get some adult/late teenage teaching experience first, since that's what most ESL colleges here in Canada do, and want. If you can find a way to teach Business or similar English classes, that'll help, too--there's lots of similar work here! In the end, most colleges in Canada teach adults, and want similar experience. If you are doing adult ESL abroad, you've got a great head-start.

It's a bit of a Catch-22. We go abroad to get experience, only to find out that we cannot use that experience back home. It's not impossible, of course--some schools don't mind if you teach children more than adults in Korea, as long as you have some experience in the ESL field in general, and/or TESL Canada Certification, since that requires a Practicum and provides actual adult teaching experience. That can be a big 'as long as,' however. It can be expensive to get the training, and the certification itself costs.

Perhaps TESL Canada should offer a discount to students with experience, or perhaps it could be provisional--come work for us, so long as you take some extra classes at home/on the side, and get your Certification by a set end-point. However, these are both options that we, as teachers, cannot control. What you can do is this:

If you want to do this as a career when you return from overseas, make sure you take some classes while abroad, get your TESL Canada Certification mostly done, and that way you can just do the Practicum (sample classes, to prove you can do it) immediately. If you want to do things like LINC (Language Instruction for New Canadians), which pays well, you need TESL Ontario Certification (in Ontario), and I'm sure similar programs elsewhere in Canada and the States requires similar training. All of which takes more time.

So: Use your time abroad to get started on it--many of the courses can be done online, or by distance, and there may even be some that will offer in class training in your country--you never know. If you save up lots of money abroad, you could even schedule your classes for when you get home, so that you get the training, get your Certification, and can move right into job hunt mode in the field.

It's not impossible, but it is a challenge. If you love this work, and I do, and I'm sure others do as well, it's worth it. The outcome, seeing students become amazing English speakers, and get successful jobs because of their fluency in another language, is amazing. Seeing kids become bi-, tri-, or multi-lingual is equally awesome, and it's one of the reasons I loved my job in Korea.

Make sure you know what you're getting into, and plan ahead. Get your training, and get the qualifications you need to do this work back home. It even helps abroad--some countries require a TESL Certificate before you even apply to ESL jobs in those countries to begin with!

All the best,

Chris

Reconnecting

Hi all,

My apologies for the drought of posts lately. I've been job hunting, and managed to get some work this week with an ESL tutoring job. It's decent pay, and I like both of my students. I teach them both for one hour, and help them with either A) stuff they're working on in their classes; or B) stuff they feel they want to improve.

So for my first student, that's a combination of the grammar and vocab from class, and some idioms, which is what he likes to work on.

For the later one, it's pure pronunciation practice, since she's highly advanced, and wants to break through that 'wall' that students seem to reach when they understand the mechanics of English, but still freeze up when they're looking for words, or when they hear native English spoken at a fast clip.

This is something I've noticed with ESL students--the committed ones learn the language fast, and well, but 'street speak' throws them right off. I don't mean slang, of course, or idioms, although that's part of it. What I'm talking about is something that's called assimilation in phonetics: when we squish sounds together as we speak. For example, her least favorite one is "Didn't you do..." which becomes "didnchadu," and worse. And unfortunately, I'm not sure how much I can do to help her--it's largely a matter of speaking with native speakers and getting used to the way we speak at a full clip. This is something with which I help her, but the best way remains to talk to people outside the class, who are native English speakers. A daunting prospect, for sure, but the best way forward, nonetheless.

It's rewarding, although it's not yet full time. I've been getting used to Toronto, seeing old friends, and missing those from Korea. That said, it's been good, and I am coming to like this strange, sprawled out and English speaking city. Seriously, however, the sprawl is terrible. I suspect they'd have to put another dozen apartment buildings up above each subway before I feel comfortable, after Korea, where everybody's packed tightly close together. It's one thing I do miss--Torontonians have an over-developed sense of personal space, due to the size of the city and the relatively low population density. A word that I have come to loathe after returning from Korea is "sorry," which, of course, I am now saying constantly. I'm not sorry, I'm just trying to move around you.

It's the little things that trip you up, I suspect.

Chris

Kindergarten

Hi all,

Started teaching, on a voluntary basis, Kindergartners on Saturday morning. The tykes are exceptionally cute, and I've got a trio of little geniuses in the class. All three speak very well in English, so it's almost like teaching English Kindergarten back home. 

We started out by playing Sit Down, Stand Up. Basically, the idea is to have the kids learn basic English words, most of which they already know, and to warm them up. It's also important, since it keeps the kids happy. Jen's mother said, and I think she's right, that teaching kids that age requires almost twice as much work as other classes: its like having 20 mini-two-minute lessons, so that you can keep their attention. 

We then went to finish the book, do some drawing, and at one point, I had them hopping around the room (saying the word 'hop' as they did so), to teach them the word, and because we were reading about a frog. The little ones were exceptionally cute.

I noticed that as well: we're using a basic readers book, which, while good, is a bit dry--it's lots of reading.

That said, it's a great idea: it's a pilot program to see if we can start teaching younger children at the Hagwon. This'd be a great strategy if it can work: the younger ones are more interested, and are exceptionally fun to teach. Plus, while it's great to have older kids, the younger ones, if they stay, are a more lucrative source of revenue--they stay longer.

I admit, I've come to enjoy teaching my young classes a great deal. They often get me laughing along with them, and I really and truly genuinely like my students. It's good to know that I can handle kids, especially if Jen and I ever decide to have children of our own.

I don't talk much about teaching on this website, if only because, well, there are a dozen other blogs and websites out there that already do--one of the best is Dave's ESL Cafe, which is expat central online in Korea. That said, if you're going to do this, it's worth trying. It's not easy--there are a host of things that can go wrong, Korean and North American work habits and organizational styles are different, and sometimes, no matter how good your school might be, you might have a bad day or have trouble connecting with a student. All that said, if you go in to a school with an open-mind, and a bit of determination, it can turn out brilliantly.

Like with my little kids, for example.

If I can, I'll try to take a picture with some of them, and post them online. I'm a bit no-nonsense in my class, and forgetful to boot, so I might not have time or might forget, but I will endeavor to do so and have some pictures online by the time I leave this country, since my kids are either: A) very cute; B) fun; C)funny as all get out; or D) just plain neat to be around.

We can probably all tell stories, those of us doing this mad tour in Asia. Some of 'em good, some of 'em bad. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to say that, so far, at least, things are going well.

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Went in to Yongsan in Seoul. The electronics capital of this tech-crazy country, Yongsan has anything and everything of a tech nature a geek like me could want. The only problem is money, and that some hardware (say, a Wii, or PS3), is wired for Hangeul, and I don't trust my computing skills to reconfigure it/care to pay the kind of money it costs to buy one. They're cheaper, here, but that doesn't change the fact that they're still pricey.

Or that I have a ton of stuff to do, as is!

Also, if you want to find cheap films, Yongsan is also the place to go. Holy smokes.

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On a sad note, we're trying to find someone to babysit poor Amy, our cat. She's a sweetheart, but the trouble is she A) needs attention, and B) needs to be the only cat in the house. Pete, a friend of mine from back home, has been able to take care of her up 'till now, but, well, she's started having dominance issues with his own cat, Penny. Not the cats' fault, really, and I'm sorry that Pete's gotten stuck having to clean up after Amy since she's upset.

I'm hopeful we can find a solution, since we don't want to lose our cat. 

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Later,

Chris