Common sense is needed!

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English as a Second Language Chatboard

Common sense is needed!

by Kelly Horgan

Aug 24, 2017

I hace taught abroad multiple times and I am so fed with the "discussions" on job advice boards! Many start with "My name is Marie from Sierra Leone. I speak English very well, like a native. I have 3 of teaching math here but my country is not good now is too dangerous. Where is a good job?". Anyone saying that you would have issues hired or getting a visa is called a racist. Anyone claiming jobs in Latin America pay poorly is called a liar because "I am paid very well!!" but I dare you..find ONE post from someone who gets over 1000 a month in Latin America (working at a job a typical ESL teacher could reasonably qualify for..not teaching science in a university in English) who names an actual school that they actually have worked at. People insist that jobs paying 95 000 US dollars in America can be found because "I saw an ad for one.." and Americans wanting to work in Europe are told "you got this!! Just be persistent..". People ask how they can get a work visa to teach English in t...See MoreI hace taught abroad multiple times and I am so fed with the "discussions" on job advice boards! Many start with "My name is Marie from Sierra Leone. I speak English very well, like a native. I have 3 of teaching math here but my country is not good now is too dangerous. Where is a good job?". Anyone saying that you would have issues hired or getting a visa is called a racist. Anyone claiming jobs in Latin America pay poorly is called a liar because "I am paid very well!!" but I dare you..find ONE post from someone who gets over 1000 a month in Latin America (working at a job a typical ESL teacher could reasonably qualify for..not teaching science in a university in English) who names an actual school that they actually have worked at. People insist that jobs paying 95 000 US dollars in America can be found because "I saw an ad for one.." and Americans wanting to work in Europe are told "you got this!! Just be persistent..". People ask how they can get a work visa to teach English in the USA, and when I replied "you can't get a visa.." someone said "the job should get you a visa". A big debate topic is whether Middle Eastern countries are really sexist; another is "is there any benefit to knowing the local language?". And on the other side..people who expect to get actual help getting a visa and to get paid on time are called culturally insensitive or even paranoid, and moving to job hunt is just "how things work in the Latin American culture..".

Here are common sense guidelines for looking for work abroad:

Don't try to job hunt if you aren't qualified enough to get a decent job

Don't first move and then get online and say "I am in Santiago! Where can I stay? Who knows a good school?" and don't accept a job that won't explain the visa process to you.

Don't move to a country with strict Muslim laws dicating behavior without fully understanding how those laws will effect your life in your new country,

Don't assume you will get a job offer for 5000 a month or more because "people online say professional ESL teaching is a lucrative field..and I am a professional".

A job that pays 8 dollars an hour, keeps you part time for a trial period of 3 months, and makes you teach at 7 am, noon and 7 pm daily (and commute to each class) is not offering you decent working conditions.. don't accept jobs like this.

If you enter this field with no sense of realism, you are guaranteed to either never find any job that "meets my needs as a professional" or (far worse!!) get scammed.

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