Anyone Teaching English Abroad?

[Smiley]

So, a person who speaks English as his mother tongue but get's F- from every English exam, is qualified to teach the language?

That's not the point, it doesn't have anything to do with getting qualified to do...

Not having a education in teaching, doesn't mean you can't teach others your language. My mother teached me croatian while I was learning danish, heck if I know how to read and write the language, but I communicate just fine.

I think the difference is the time it takes to learn people...
As a teacher you have a schedule, but in the fray you have all the time you need. No pressure, because people attending you class more than probably, are there willing to learn, and don't have any other classes to attend.

My theory anyway...

[Jeff]

well if you suck at english you could teach in a kindergarten or something

[Franz Schubert]

From what I here though, people in like Japan, South Korea and even China go nuts over westerners, specially ones who teach.

I know this couple who taught in China for 6 years. The people there had never seen a white person before, and everyone treated them like gods.

[iohkus]

That's a load of crap.

Most people (of any nation) dislike foreigners for a variety of reasons and people these days are getting real sick of the whole "foreigners are cool! lets shower them with flowers and respect because they are rich and can travel!" bullshit because let's face it, we live in a globalised world. This isn't the 60s-70s anymore when Americans or English could just visit any country and be treated like kings while poor people starve on the streets (e.g. Phillipines, Vietnam, Burma)

You might meet some stupid young asian girls who are enamored in the presence of a tall white man with a long white dick but I ask you seriously: would that be fulfilling? If you're in it for all the wrong reasons you shouldn't get into it at all because you won't have much to reflect upon when people ask you why you teach or if you ever ask yourself that question.

As for SARS? WTF.

P.S. Teaching is a fool's errand.

lmao, mebe i'll get a maple leaf tattooed to my forehead so I don't get mistaken for an American? chillax exitium, chillax?

and where would you be if you never had teachers?

people teach one another all the time, whether you're showing a friend how to play guitar, drive a car, install a soundcard etc...

Teachers who get paid however just apply that same skill for a living.

as I see it, anyone relatively educated who can speak english and understands the language entirely can teach it onto others, with time.

it's all about demonstration, practice and explanation, and it's not like you won't have text books and written material to help guide you while you teach.

i'm not worried about pay as long as it covers shelter, food, and recreation and i think i generally like to help people around me.

right now i'm just looking for alternatives because i don't know know where i'm headed in life, and teaching is becoming fairly appealing right now

I know this couple who taught in China for 6 years. The people there had never seen a white person before, and everyone treated them like gods.

kewl, were they Canadian? I know there might be a demand for ESL teachers in Canada but you'd still need to have gone through teacher's college I do believe

[Kashluk]

Well my point was that you need to handle your language well in order to teach it to others. Some "homey from da neighbahoo wazzaap'" can only be bad influence to non-English speakers :-/

[iohkus]

^ In more ways than one.

I don't want to see 2 billion Chinese people talking in ebonics and walking with limps, that would uber suck... hopefully as they become more developed they'll be able to differentiate between good taste and bad taste, but now that they've got Friends airing in that country i'm not so sure....