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Teaching in foreign nations

 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery Post Reply
Magnum
Bilingual Triglot
Retired Moderator
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United States
Joined 6876 days ago

359 posts - 353 votes 
Speaks: English*, Serbian*, French
Studies: German
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 Message 1 of 3
27 October 2007 at 10:27pm | IP Logged 
Dr. Arguelles,

I am very interested to know how difficult it was to secure a teaching position outside of the USA. I've found dozens of offers posted in the internet from foreign universities looking for Americans to come and teach English in Asia. By nature I am suspicious of these offers-- they will not pay for air travel upfront but rather after the completion of teaching six months or a year.

I've read many stories about Americans who wish to gain immersion so they travel and find a position teaching English. I've also read it is much harder to do this today than it was 10 or 20 years ago.

What have your experiences been teaching in foreign countries?



Edited by Magnum on 27 October 2007 at 10:31pm

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ProfArguelles
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United States
foreignlanguageexper
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 Message 2 of 3
28 October 2007 at 6:08pm | IP Logged 
You are probably wise to be somewhat suspicious, for although I myself was never unfortunate in this respect, I have indeed heard no end of stories of unfulfilled promises made by Asian universities to their foreign native English speaking teachers. In many institutes there is a factory-like atmosphere in this kind of teaching, and the turnover of teachers is high. Even if your intention is to immerse yourself in the language of the land, this can be next to impossible if it is your job to teach English all day every day, and while I did indeed meet some other foreigners in Korean who had learned that language respectably, most people I knew swiftly abandoned any pretence they might have had to learning it.

All that said, it is certainly worth your while exploring this possibility. My own overall experience of teaching abroad has been excellent. I am very glad I did it, and in fact I certainly never intended to stop. I do currently find myself in my homeland with roots sprouting out of me, but I rather certainly hope to soon continue my program of living for a substantial period of time in each of the living major civilizations.

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