Comments on: Getting a job teaching English is easier than you might think

By: Lauren of Spanish Sabores

Lauren of Spanish Sabores — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:02:46 +0000

I think that native speakers, whether or not trained teachers, can definitely make a difference in many countries. I don’t think that they should expect to earn as much as a qualified and experienced teacher, but for their accent alone they are extremely valuable in helping students with pronunciation and error correction.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:18:58 +0000

In reply to Brent.

Brent, you make a good point and on principles I agree with you. I’m generally quite against things like “voluntourism” where rich tourists pay to often do blue-collar labor in a foreign land to make themselves feel good, but in this case it doesn’t seem like the “serious teacher” numbers are anywhere near enough for the real demand of English teachers in Asia and Latin America. Hopefully the serious teachers are getting all the best and highest-paying jobs, but at least (most) travelers are doing quite a bit of good by teaching for 6 to 12 months in places that can’t afford anything better.

As I mentioned in the article, I really think that native-English accent makes an enormous difference compared to locals learning from someone who can barely be understood themselves. A tough situation with no easy answer, I think.
-Tom

By: Brent

Brent — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:13:54 +0000

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, having lived the expat life for 13 years in Asia, I cannot recommend teaching English, unless you are a professional teacher. If you want to travel, travel. If you want to teach, get a license, learn the language/culture, and then make a real difference. Otherwise you are nothing more than an opportunist in my opinion.