Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Alex’s suggestions are italicized:

- Form a union and go on strike, first making sure that the school can’t just sack you all and replace you with another boatload of even cheaper teachers.

For my degree I majored in tourism management and consequently spent a lot of time looking at the hospitality and tourism industry, which shares a number of key characteristics with TEFL teaching, namely there are literally a plethora of small and not so small organizations operating in the sector in practically every country of the world; the pay is generally low; staff turnover is high compared to other industries; there is little if any trade union representation; there are many transient workers trying to pick up casual work literally wherever they can find it. If that paints an unkind picture of our profession, I think you’ll agree it’s not far from the truth. The problems of having low pay and no union representation coupled with a burgeoning workforce willing to take whatever work they can find leads to a catch 22: Why improve conditions if you don’t have to? If one teacher isn’t happy, get rid of them and hire another. What we have at the language school level of the industry (I like to separate the words industry and profession and will further make the distinction as I continue) is a proliferation of poor standards brought on as much by the teachers willing to take poorly paid jobs as those running schools who offer such rates of pay.

So, how to form a union and begin the end of this? Would this union operate in one country? Would it cross international barriers and somehow overcome the myriad differences in local employment laws across the world? Which government departments would be involved in fighting for the rights of a largely foreign group of workers, many of whom have been employed illegally with unenforceable contracts? How would you get the large, transient element, who are merely looking for a little pocket money while traveling from country to country with no intention of staying in TEFL in the long run, to adhere to the policies that would help solve the problem? As with the hospitality industry, there are many barriers to overcome before a union can even be envisaged.

- Embarrass or in other ways ruin the business of schools that pay badly.

In the same way that Tony Soprano and his mafia buddies wouldn’t have taken kindly to a group of strippers trying to mess with his strip club, the undesirables that own language schools will not take kindly to such behaviour. There is an incredible amount of money to be made from teaching English and where there’s an incredible amount of money to be made you’ll have characters who like making an incredible amount of money. If you intend to take this course of action, try to find out exactly who you’re dealing with and who they’re connected to. This can be an effective short-term strategy, but do not end up as part of a motorway overpass as a result of your actions, nor assume that the authorities will back you up. Where there’s an incredible amount of money to be made, there are also people being paid to look the other way by a bunch of evil bastards.

- Cut down on the supply of TEFL teachers going to private language schools, e.g. by using TEFL forums and articles in newspapers back home to persuade as many people as possible (especially underqualified ones who will really undercut us) to think again, by refusing to be a teacher trainer for new teachers, by setting up an organisation to help TEFL teachers find other jobs, or by all becoming freelance.

I heartily agree with this one. Word of mouth is the one weapon we have at our disposal that could truly make a difference. My loathing of the Dave’s ESL café job discussion forums is well documented and stems from the fact that the bugger had the golden opportunity to use his heavily trafficked forums for the greater good of the TEFL profession. He didn’t: he censored the forums beyond belief to the point that no one can share any useful information or offer advice. I’m not alone in trying to redress the balance. As far as freelancing goes, I’ve recently written on the subject and will address it again zoon as it is the preeminent way to make big money in this profession.

- Persuade TEFL course providers to think more carefully about pay when recommending jobs to their “graduates”.

This is a point that could be immediately resolved. I was flat out told that I would be living the life of a pauper when I did my CELTA. This is basically one small but complicit link in the chain. Is it wrong to hope that course providers could offer more support in this way?

- Set up schools based on the principle of well paid teachers being worth the investment (as a partnership, cooperative etc if you prefer) in the hope that it works and puts the badly paid schools out of business or makes them try to steal your business model.

What if it doesn’t work? Whose income, future and livelihood are we ruining here? If we’re talking about teachers setting up schools, it can work and I’ve seen some very successful examples. I’ve also seen people hounded out of business and been the recipients of death threats from the mafia who don’t want a better school cutting into the profits of their cowboy operation.

- Persuade our students and prospective students that well paid teachers (usually meaning more expensive lessons) are worth it and teach them how to find the right ones, e.g. by writing newspaper articles on the topic (probably in their L1).

A lot of students would really go for this and the lessons wouldn’t have to necessarily be more expensive. It would mean language school owners, I include the big guns like Berlitz and IT here, seeing the value of guaranteeing repeat custom from satisfaction gained from having a good, motivated teacher. What I’ve seen happen too often is the introduction of a pay scale based on experience and qualifications, followed by the non-renewal of contract / firing under flimsy pretences of the most experienced teachers. Believe me, I’ve worked in places where no one in the history of the organization has come anywhere near reaching the top of the pay scale. Bloody sneaky if you ask me.

- Persuade governments or accrediting agencies to set national minimum wages for teachers in private language schools.

This sounds great in theory, but if they aren’t even able to make sure that the people working in these schools have the proper work visas, resident permits, etc., how are they going to guarantee minimum wage?

I’m not finished yet and will be adding my two-penneth worth to the rest of Alex’s suggestions in the coming days, and explaining why there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Stay tuned.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Alex Case reviews the year over on the ever excellent TEFLTastic blog:

2007 was yet another year in which the world of TEFL made its way into the consciousness of the general public for all the wrong reasons (a crack down on teachers in Korea, English teaching sex offenders etc. etc), and Japan did its fair share of damage to our industry’s repuation too:

The biggest TEFL story of all was almost certainly the collapse of Nova, once by far the biggest chain of language schools in Japan. The good news is that G Com is planning to restart a good proportion of the schools and take on quite a few of the teachers, but of course that has not made it into the Australian, Canadian etc. newspapers that covered the collapse. The fact that their complete lack of a plan has already led to them going back on their promises on rehiring may yet do.

Read the full TEFLTastic article. 

Published with permission of the author

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

If you search “English lesson” on youtube, there are a couple of British Council lessons and stuff you could look at. Quite frankly though, televisual English lessons are something much better left to the Japanese:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS2GY8C_2sY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bySvfJ-SZBE

Reprinted with permission of the author. I highly recommend TEFLTastic with Alex Case, a great source of TEFL info.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Japanese cost of living

Many of us like to think about the cost of living when deciding to up and move to a foreign country. As we tend to do this a lot more than most of the human race, it’s an issue close to our hearts. However, as Alex Case notes on his TEFLTastic blog, the costs of living we’re told about can be confusing and misleading:

So, it has come to that time of year again when the survey says (if you don’t read it too closely) that Tokyo is nearly as expensive as London:

http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_1010356.shtml

Reading between the lines a bit, though, you can see that is a cost of living for people who must have Colgate, Fairy, Aerial, Krispy Kreme etc. etc. As the Japanese have companies that supply all these just as well as the multinationals (well, nearly as well, I’ve mentioned how bad some of the stuff in drugstores are before), it can be difficult and expensive to get hold of those (mainly American) goods.

Read about Alex’s thoughts on the cost of living here.

Picture courtesy of www.picturesfree.org

Best Ten Japan

After you’ve lived in a foreign country for a while, you tend to find that some words drift into your everyday vocabulary. Here in Turkey, I never refer to the cornershop as anything other than a bakkal, for example. For a while I was worried that there was something wrong with me. Alex has eased my fears, however, as it seems he has the same problem!

10 most popular Japanese words to sprinkle your English conversation with (not sure why it happens, but we all do it):

Keitai – mobile phone, or maybe so much more than a mobile phone and hence the fact that most gaijin use the Japanese word??

Konbini - it’s so much easier to use than ‘convenience store’, as well as the actual shop being a lot more convenient than back home too…

Eki - stations will be a major part of your life, not just going through them but often spending most of the day shopping/ drinking etc. without ever really leaving them

Gaijin - that’s the slightly rude expression for you, outsider. And as you are being slightly rude, if unintentionally, you’ll probably find it suits you well…

Un (or just n) – Means yes, in the totally Japanese meaning of yes- yes, I am listening politely to every detail of what you say, and am politely showing no disagreement

Sensei – In a similar way to San, this one makes me feel like the marshal arts instructor from Karate Kid rather than English teacher/ babysitter/ counsellor/ paid friend as per my job description

Read the full list and what Alex thinks of these words here.

Alex regularly updates his blog: TEFLTastic with Alex Case

Check out these other regular columns:

TEFL Daddy

This Guy is Teaching Abroad

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

When I said it was a quiet news day yesterday, of course I was forgetting the daily litany of stories about the Japanese ruling classes ripping off the general public for all they can while telling the average Jo Tanaka in the street to tighten their belts and do their best for their country. There’s one story about yet another embezzlement scandal in Shinzo Abe’s cabinet and one about bones of Japanese troops still lying on beaches in SE Asia while Japanese politicians score cheap political points by turning up as Yasukuni Jinja shrine to “honour our boys”.

The fact that the Japanese ruling classes are such an unmitigated bunch of scum suckers has helped me come up with one theory of how to cope with a symptom of culture shock. If you are not careful, there will be times when little frustrations in a country will make the words “bloody (Spanish), why can’t they just (do their jobs properly)?” or such like pop up in your head or even out of your mouth. It might be because you are having a bad day, it might be because you are just in the wrong country, but it is very unlikely that you have come out with a comment which is true for 100% of the people in said country.

Find out how Alex gets over this problem at his website, TEFLTastic with Alex Case.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Whatever the country, there seems little you can do as a humble English teacher to tackle feelings of national superiority/ paranoid feelings that other countries are looking down on them/ strange mixed up combination of the two- especially as the school you teach in is unlikely to give you the power to pick the history textbooks they use any time soon. So, is there anything we can do to make our students and other people in the country we live in react to the rest of the world without so much of an attitude?



Read the full article and Alex’s invaluable suggestions on how to combat this problem here.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.