November 9, 2009

Bank holiday/Back to work A.G.A.I.N.

vanda.jpg

Two weeks I ago I taught my class before the one-and-a-half week Toussaint holiday. This terminale (the final year of high school) class was the first class I ever taught. It consists of mostly boys who told me about the virtues of pimp rap during our first session together. They were opinionated, funny and pretty good at English so for the next two weeks I looked forward to the vacation and teaching them again. To reward them for being the most animated class, I took printed out the lyrics to “Gangsterz,” a song by English rapper Wiley, blasted it several times and had them play fill-in-the-blanks. This activity meant I got to explain what it meant to “squash the beef” or when “the shells start spraying.” It was an amusing way to end the day, the first two weeks and to send me off on my holiday to London.

My last stop on my backpacking tour last summer was two weeks in London and I absolutely fell in love. After a month and a half traveling nonstop, it was a relief and luxury to have such a long time to spend in one place (especially since I had one friend kind enough to let me stay with her for the entire trip.) This time coming from Strasbourg to London, I felt a culture shock that I never anticipated.

While I’m frequently clueless in France because of a language barrier or the French way of doing things, London makes sense to me but is so big it becomes a mess of logic. The quintessential London experience for me is going through a series of false starts before I finally head down the right road I meant to follow. Londoners are pretty useless when it comes to giving directions. The city is so big even people who have lived there their entire lives plead clueless when asked how to go somewhere. The sheer number of people constantly milling around made me feel claustrophobic. I remember feeling the same way last year but somehow this trip, the feeling was much more intense. Somehow it felt like I had come from the countryside and was being overwhelmed by the city. I had obstained from buying winter clothes in France because I knew I was going to London. When I worked in flagship stores in downtown Toronto, we got people driving from small towns in Ontario and even from Ottawa to do shopping. I had always looked at those customers with amusement and a little pity; travelling so far to Toronto, all just for a shopping trip. And now, here I was, one of those people.

Both times in London I’ve been pumped full of stories by the people who live here about the dangers of the city. Last time it was my friend’s roommate who was off-work during my visit because he was recovering from having his jaw bashed in a pipe in a random act of violence. What happened to him was scary but seeing how much he enjoyed telling the story and watching him smoke weed to cure the pain lessened the impact of his story a little. This time most of my trip with my friend Mark’s apartment in Walthamstow, a borough in northeast London. There I faced foxes running through the streets and in our backyard at night. Bulletholes in windows in windows of stores were pointed out to me during our hurried walks through the streets. I earned the respect and awe of Mark and his roommate when I returned home at 2 a.m. after taking the night bus alone.

Maybe the most bewildering part of my trip was the culture of poverty that exists in London when you look past tourist hotspots of Zone 1. Houses aren’t billed for their gas consumption but instead you top-up your gas credit like a mobile phone. This is why during the first morning of my stay in Walthamstow I had an icy shower and couldn’t turn on the stove to cook. As spoiled and naive as it sounds, the concept of not having credit automatically extended to me is strange. When people here forget or have no money, they just have to do without. Something so basic and essential, like gas, for me, was just always, by some mysterious force, just there.

I regret now not taking any pictures of Walthamstow. It’s the kind of place no one would take a picture of for aesthetic purposes, which is why I forgot. (Apparently, it’s also not unheard of to get jumped for your expensive technology there.) The only reason anyone would is to document what normal London is outside of the glamourous bits. It’s unremarkable, dirty and even ugly. I’ve been told by teachers that my neighbourhood in is dodgy but Strasbourg wouldn’t know dodgy if it got bit in the face by it.

What people will give up and put up with to live in London is both sad and admirable. Surprisingly, living in Strasbourg is slightly cheaper than Toronto. While I don’t earn much or live in luxury, I can live comfortably. People in London pay twice as much as I do for half (or less) of what I have here. After leaving, I could feel already how more culturally alive I felt there. I found myself in an old factory on a Wednesday at what may or may not have been “a dubstep rave.” On a lazy Sunday I sat in on an afternoon of children’s activities at the Victoria & Albert museum. I made my own bejewelled Indian headpiece and followed barefoot women  in saris in a parade around Hellenic sculptures. When I flipped through a copy of Time Out and saw both Morrissey and Brett Anderson (of Suede) were playing on the same night, I really felt like I was at the centre of the universe. I didn’t go to either, but I could have and that felt amazing.

* posted by vicky at 8:36 pm under England, Europe, France, Teaching English
* 1 Comment

October 21, 2009

And it’s no movie, there’s no Michelle Pfeiffer

sisyphus.jpg

Since I arrived I’ve been avoiding the question about what I think about France. Each time I answer, ” I’ve only been here for (such and such time.) It’s too early to tell. Ask me later.” Then one week grew into two, two grew into three and now I’ve been here a full month and I still have no idea. My hesitance isn’t out of politeness, so I don’t have to utter secret grievances. One month has gone by in France and I have no idea where it went.

I’ve spent the last month not having much of a life while I tried to get my life set up. Going to Ikea, making appointments at the bank, buying a bicycle: these were the building blocks I decided were absolutely crucial for the life I was trying to construct. Indeed, I am grateful for my dish rack and being able to bike the library. Now comes the hard part: making friends (foreign and local), learning the language and mustering up the courage to teach a room full of teenagers English 12 times a week.

For the first time in months I’m waking up at 7 a.m. regularly and I’m back to the commuter life. This time, instead of waking up early to catch the bus and subway from Markham to Toronto, I take the train from Strasbourg to Sélestat.The 20 minute train ride is a little deceiving since it’s about 10 minute walk each way to the station (from my apartment to the Strasbourg station and from the Sélestat station to the school), plus buffer time to catch the train. Although I can’t deny that staring out the window at the Alsatian countryside is a little more enjoyable than taking the TTC at rush hour.

I feel completely wiped after a few hours teaching at school, even though I only teach for a few hours a day. I work with nine teachers this semester (which runs until mid-January), teaching 12 classes. About half of the classes are oral examination classes where students read an article or look at a picture and then make a 10-minute presentation about it to me. Usually I’m lucky if they last three minutes. To get them to the 10-minute mark usually takes a lot of prompting on my part. I have ask countless questions about the same boring articles about the economy or the workplace. This is all in an attempt to get more than one sentence at a time out of them so I can fill out an evaluation form.

In the other half of the classses, I actually teach. Teachers send me one-half of their students (usually from 10 to 15 pupils) to my classroom. The following week, I teach the other half of the class the same lesson. This means I see the kids twice a month and really have no idea about their names. I’m not sure what’s worse: being given boring course material (oral exams) or having to come up with my own for these classes. The class I dread the most is the one where the teacher asked me to teach about journalism (since it’s my “area of expertise.”) Being asked to condense four years of university into lessons for French teenagers made me I feel like I was in over my head and slightly insulted at the same time.

Coming up with my own lesson plans is probably one of the worst homework assignments I’ve ever had. Finding things with educational value, a cultural exchange aspect and engaging for myself and the students is difficult but possible. Even if I am lucky enough to have a 17-year-old who does want to speak, usually, inevitably you will hit a language wall. Every day I will meet this expression–the one where the initial excitement to having something to say turns frustration and then to embarrassment while they struggle to find the words. I can only look on and try to coax it out of them by wearing my most encouraging and patient face and offering a selection of my words as to what I think they’re saying. Sitting on this side of the teacher’s desk, being looked at in this way, makes me feel like a fraud. Every time I come see this look, I think to myself in English, I know exactly how you feel.

* posted by vicky at 10:14 pm under Europe, France, Learning French, Sélestat, Teaching English
* 3 Comments

April 5, 2009

Teaching English abroad during an economic crisis

It took Ken Ferguson four and a half years to follow up on a high school whim. One week after writing his final exam at McMaster University, and three days after Christmas, Ferguson flew to Japan to find a job teaching English.

“I loved the geological processes—earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes—that went on in the country,” says the 24-year-old, who has a degree in geography and earth studies. “But the thing that pulled me to Japan was a boyfriend.” Ferguson left Canada in December 2007 to live with his English-teacher boyfriend in Kannami while he searched for a job to repay his student loans.

Teaching English abroad is practically a rite of passage, like prom or frosh week for the post-university crowd. David Roberts, a placement co-ordinator at Oxford Seminars, one of the largest Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) training centres in Canada, says the company’s biggest client are graduated students that do not want to enter the regular workforce yet. The company has no records of the number of certifications it has given out but there has been a “constant steady increase” and “tens of thousands” of graduates over the last 15 years.

Graduate schools are experiencing a spike in applications as the first graduating class of the recession avoids starting a job search. The interest in teaching abroad could get even bigger this year with addition of graduates who couldn’t find a job in their field.

Will Butler, 23, is graduating in May with a degree in international relations from Queens University of Charlotte, in North Carolina. “I did spend several months looking for a regular job in (the travel) industry but started to consider other options as the economic conditions in the U.S. worsened,” says Butler, who found work in Korea through Dave’s ESL Café, a popular TESL website.

If you’re thinking about taking the plunge, here are the main things you need to consider:

The Countries:

These days, the words “teaching English abroad” are synonymous with Asia. “Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan dominate the market for now,” says Roberts.  “Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam are smaller (markets) but still viable.”

Roberts says jobs are available to a lesser extent in Eastern Europe and Latin America. There are also some opportunities in northern Africa, whereas it’s mostly volunteer positions in the southern part of the continent. India recruits native speakers to instruct in call centre English.

The Certification:

The general consensus is that schools will hire people without TESL certification so the usefulness of getting certified is up for debate. At Oxford, students pay $1,095 for 60 hours of class and a job placement service. Roberts says the service lets students to skip the legwork of weeding out employment scams and go straight to trusted schools.

Both Ferguson and Butler, however, found jobs without it. “For me, it was largely a waste of money,” says Ferguson. “I got offered job positions at three of four places that I applied to. This was also because I was in the country and not overseas, so I could go to job interviews at the companies.”

Mark Quan, 24, took the “cheap and online” route to get certified. Quan, who has a criminology degree from York University, found a job in Shanghai through his university professor. Quan says he only got certified to get the foreign expert permit China requires from workers without years of experience. The 40-hour online course Quan took through i-to-i, a UK-based company, cost $168 and took him 20 hours to complete.

The Money:

Like any job, money isn’t the bottom line. Roberts says teaching isn’t for people who want to earn a lot of money. “There can be a good living made out of teaching (abroad), but the living wouldn’t be the money you make, but what you learn about yourself and the world you live in. That’s invaluable; that, you can’t purchase.”

However, if you have student debt to pay back, it’s important to know what you’re getting into. Salaries vary greatly depending on experience, credentials and location. Roberts, at the height of his own teaching career, made $4,000 monthly teaching in Dubai. On the low end, there are jobs in Costa Rica that pay by hour where teachers may make $800 a month.

Don’t be deceived by sticker shock when converting into Canadian dollars. Salaries are always relative to the country’s cost of living. Ferguson says his monthly salary of 250,000 yen, about $3,200 is average for Japan. What he didn’t count on was the high cost of food. “I’ve seen 10 strawberries in winter (priced at) $38,” he says.

Quan earns 11,000 yuan, about $2,000, a month. It doesn’t sound like a lot compared to Ferguson’s salary. However, the numbers stack up differently when you consider the average working-class person in Shanghai survives on less than 2,000 yuan monthly. “Which means I have a lot of money to play around with…or save,” he says. Despite that, Quan wishes he knew his contract was negotiable before he signed it. “Everything in China is negotiable. Don’t be afraid to say you want something ridiculously high because that’s how things work here.”

Generally, Roberts says jobs in Taiwan and South Korea offer the most in terms of money and benefits like airfare, paid accommodation, vacation time and health insurance.

The Life:

With the excitement of moving across the world, it’s easy to forget about the work itself. Quan has taught community centre programs since he was 16 but Shanghai was his first chance to teach public school. “Most people who come to China are hired by private schools or international schools,” he says. “I find it very rewarding to work with these kids who generally aren’t spoiled and are excited you’re there.”

Where you live can make a big difference in your social life. Rural and urban mean completely different things outside Canada. Ferguson describes rural Japan as “tall apartment buildings beside rice fields.” If you don’t live in an urban area, meeting people could be difficult. “It’s still pretty easy to get isolated when you don’t know the language or any other English speakers in the area.” Living in a bigger city with an expatriate community can be comforting but can make it harder to learn the language and immerse in the culture.

Civic service

Some governments hire citizens from countries where English is the primary language to help teach in public schools. Going through the government has perks like employer credibility and a guaranteed support system, abroad and at home.

The Ministry of Education of Spain will hire approximately 1,200 students from Canada and the U.S. to be language and cultural assistants in 2009. Applicants should have completed at least two years of university and possess a functional knowledge of Spanish.

The International Centre of Pedagogical Study hires native English speakers to teach in France and its overseas regions. Applicants should be between the ages of 20 and 30, have completed two years of university and able to speak French well.

Teach and Learn in Korea is a government scholarship for those interested in both teaching English and learning Korean. Applicants should have completed at least two years at university or college. Quebec applicants should have attended an English-language school from junior high school through university.

The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme is one of the world’s biggest exchange programmes, boasting more than 46,000 alumni. Participants are hired for teachers and positions at local government offices. Applicants should have completed a Bachelor’s degree by the time they arrive in Japan.

* posted by vicky at 7:22 pm under Teaching English
No Comments