ESL Teacher Job - English As a Second Language Teaching Jobs Abroad

Teacher

For many people traveling abroad and seeing the world is a dream. Most people put off achieving that dream because they feel it will be too expensive, and that they cannot possibly take the necessary time off of work to do what they desire. However, you can achieve this dream and earn money at the same time. There are many opportunities to teach English as a second language or ESL as it is commonly referred to overseas.
The English speaking countries in the world dominate the economy. Because of this, many countries require students to take English lessons. Schools will often seek native English speakers to teach English courses to their students. After all, many times the best person to teach English is a person who speaks it as his or her native language? If you wish to take advantage of opportunities offered in teaching ESL, you should consider a number of factors.
Consider your educational experience: If you hold a teaching degree, securing an ESL job will be relatively easy, but if you don't, there is no need to despair. As long as you have earned at least a bachelor's degree at a college or university, you will likely be a desirable ESL teacher candidate.
Look at the different types of schools: There are a number of school types that may wish to hire ESL teachers.
* Regular schools: These make up the majority of schools internationally, and are frequently looking to hire ESL teachers. These schools are sometimes referred to as government schools and are traditionally funded by the state or local government.
* Private schools: These are schools that charge a fee to attendees and receive a smaller subsidy from the government.
* Less traditional schools: Frequently, schools that use less traditional means of educating their students are particularly interested in hiring a native English speaking ESL teacher. These include Bilingual Schools, International Schools, Montessori Schools and Language Schools. Each of these schools pride them self by providing students with a unique and specialized educational experience.
* Colleges and Universities: Many post secondary institutions in other countries make learning English a required course, which means they may be hiring ESL teachers.
Check the laws on obtaining a visa and passport: Sometimes a special permit is required for you to stay in the country past a certain length of time.
Once you have weighed the pros and cons of teaching English as a second language, it is time to get the job -- doing so doesn't have to be difficult. To optimize your success, be sure to do these three things:
* Become TESOL Certified: TESOL stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Most schools require their ESL teacher to be TESOL certified. Adding this certification to your resume can be stress free. Some programs allow you to earn the certification in as little as one week. More extensive programs require a 100-120 hour course. Whichever program you select, becoming TESOL certified will greatly increase your chances of acquiring an ESL job, so it is worth your time.
* Select a destination: What country have you always dreamed of calling your home away from home? You can teach ESL in almost any English speaking country, so don't be too hasty in making your decision. Carefully consider which country you would like to teach in and contact the embassy or consulate in the country you select. They will have information about teaching in that country. They may even have information on jobs available for an ESL teacher.
* Spread the word! If you are serious about getting a job teaching ESL, post your resume on ESL job sites and try to attract potential employers by highlighting your credentials and unique skills. By performing a simple Internet search, you can come up with many ESL sites which you can post your resume. Some schools will have websites where you can apply. You may also want to check recruiter sites for available ESL teaching positions in other countries.

Candace Davies, Owner of A+ Resumes for Teachers is a Global Career Management Professional dedicated to assisting educators worldwide leverage their strengths, accomplishments, and unique selling points to capture their dream career. Her team has successfully assisted 3500+ education professionals by transforming their talents into concise documents that secure numerous interviews. Please visit her at http://resumes-for-teachers.com or send an email to candoco@telus.net

25 tips for language learning

I summarized 25 tips for language learning from Teach Yourself a Foreign Language Podcast episode six. I hope you like it!
1. When first starting out, try to just listen to your target language as much as possible without attempting to speak it. This helps you acquiring an ear for the language.
2. Develop a deep desire to learn the language. Without a desire you won’t get far.
3. Use time for you language learning which is ordinarily wasted. Standing on line, waiting for an elevator, etc., are all opportunities not to be missed.
4. Think in terms of phrases and not individual words. It’s easy to remember a phrase like “a breakfast of bread and butter” than it is to remember each word in isolation.
5. Use your imagination. Visual images can help you remember words.
6. Invent stories using as much of your new vocabulary as possible. Any words you can’t think off in your target language use your native language and then look up those words later.
7. Listen to internet radio broadcasts and podcasts as much as possible.
8. Likewise, watch videos. (http://youtube.com/)
9. Utilize the BBC for news broadcast and lessons in your target language. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/aprenda_ingles/)
10. Utilize flashcards or small notebooks to review vocabulary words and phrases.
11. Invent funny or silly mnemonic phrases to help you remember new words or concepts.
12. Use a bilingual dictionary often, not just to look up specific words, but browse through it.
13. Draw columns on paper, words in your native language on the right and target language on the left. This allows your eye to easily scan to one column to the next and it helps your brain absorbs that word.
14. Write a simple children’s book in your target language. Make it silly and utilize simple concepts as though a child was actually going to read the book.
15. Learn the past tense before learning the present tense, and save the future tense for last.
16. Practice unfamiliar sounds in your target language in the shower or in the car. Example: the English “th” sound. Say it over and over.
17. Use computer programs and free online dictionaries. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/, http://dictionary.cambridge.org/, http://www.merriam-webster.com/)
18. When reading, read more slowly and deliberately than you do in your target language. Later, as you progress, your speed will increase to normal levels.
19. Read bilingual books or books in the target language that you are already familiar in your native language.
20. Read comics and cartons in your target language
21. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake.
22. Read your grammar books.
23. Think in your target language
24. Put stickers in everyday life items until you’ve learned their names.
25. Take an occasional break or a day or two off to let your mind sort out your new vocabulary words.

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Language Learning Quotations

On the right sidebar of this blog there is a quotation by Stu Jay Raj, which says “When I get really stuck into a language though, I eat, drink, sleep, breathe the language“. Lately, I have been saving these cool quotations in a txt file,  now I think it’s time to share it with you guys. Hope like it!
“Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill.” Stephen Krashen
And the thing, as I have said once or twice before, about a language ? in fact, any advanced skill ? the real key is that you don’t need to get “good” at it; you just need to get “used” to it. It needs to just become a habit, a reflex for you. Let it get inside the muscles of your hands, face and mouth. And it’s the biggest no-brainer ever, because all you have to do is expose yourself. Expose yourself to “language radiation” until you not only get temporary radiation sickness, but actually develop the “cancer” of fluency in a language. Katz
“Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language – natural communication – in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding.” Stephen Krashen
My dictionary became an extension of my skin, just as my headphones were of my ears. Katz
“The best methods are therefore those that supply ‘comprehensible input’ in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are ‘ready’, recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production.” Stephen Krashen
“In the real world, conversations with sympathetic native speakers who are willing to help the acquirer understand are very helpful.” Stephen Krashen
My goal for this blog is to apart from infect some people out there with my enthusiasm for language, take a peek behind the curtain of language, communication, learning, history and political thought to see what’s really going on there behind the scenes when we speak – and even more importantly, when we’re not speaking! Stu Jay Raj
My grandfather used to tell me “When you’re learning a language, you want to try your best to avoid having speakers of that language complimenting you. If people are complimenting you on how well you’re speaking ‘their’ language, it means that you still haven’t arrived”. Stu Jay Raj
Perhaps it’s thanks to my grandfather’s advice that I’ve mentioned in other posts of never allowing “words to limit my thoughts ? always think LOUD”. That ‘LOUD’ for me wasn’t just loud colours, but it was anything that would stand out in my mind and have an emotional effect on me.  Stu Jay Raj
I am interested in what enables a lot of people to learn languages, not in linguistic pedantry. Steve Kaufmann
If discipline is what it takes to turn dreams into goals into realities, and discipline is remembering what you want, then pretty much all you have to do to get from here to there, is remember what you want. Not remember where you are [this’ll just make you sad], not remember where you’re not [another recipe for sadness], but remember what you want. Katz
Congratulations, You just graduated the lesson. You are on your way to being a typing legend! My typing program (perhaps this isn’t direct related to language learning, but it’s still so cool)
Want to get good at reading and writing in any language? Then read more. A lot more. A lot.  Katz
See you all guys,
Mairo Vergara

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The pros and cons of working as an English teacher

I have been working as an English teacher for about 2 months now. I really like my job. It’s amazing to see how the students are pleased with their progress. Students start with no knowledge whatsoever and in just one month they can follow the English-only classes without many problems. Working with a group, teaching them how to understand and using this strange language is just awesome. I really like the classes and my students. I am working like crazy, learning a lot and doing what I have always wanted to do.
But of course there are some problems. We are really, REALLY poorly paid. I get paid 6,44 reais (”reais” is the Brazilian currency) per hour (”class hour”, which is 50 minutes). It means I get 12 reais for each class (the classes have duration of an hour and a half). Working 21 hours inside the classroom (plus 10 or more hours preparing classes, correcting tests, and so on) I end up with a salary of 680 reais (around 280 dolars). Just to let you know, a cheap rent here in Brazil is about 550 reais…
Besides being absolutely poorly paid, another thing bugs me a lot. The school treats the teachers like robots that areinto the students head. It’s all about the money! If there are fewer students in a class, they just move the students to a different class, hindering both the students’ progress and the teachers’ work. It’s funny how the classes/students’ organization is made by non-teachers, who absolutely don’t understand what happens inside a classroom.
I dream about a school made by teachers for teachers, a place where they care first about the students, second about the teachers and after that about the money. Finally, I understood what people mean by “transforming education in marketing” able to magically insert the English language

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Do language classes work?

Some language learner bloggers have been discussing Tim Ferriss “Why language classes don’t work” article. Street-Smart Language Learning, Aspiring Polyglot and Confessions of a Language Addict gave their opinions on the matter, so I think now it’s my turn.
I recently started teaching English here in Brazil. The school I work for has an 18 months program which aims atin the method, to be responsible for our students and to give shows instead of simple classes. Excessive grammar and translations are not allowed at all. The students should like you, like the class, like the language, and have fun! If you can do it, you’re in, if you can’t, you’re out. The school and its method (fluency in 18 months) are relatively new here. English courses usually take four or more years and aim at “language proficiency”, which I assume is much more than fluency. Without going too deep into my school’s methodology and its effectiveness, let me throw out this question: Is it possible to achieve basic fluency inside a classroom? fluency. You’re not allowed to use Portuguese inside the classroom, everything should be taught and explained in English. Sometimes it’s really difficult to explain certain words or expressions, but you just have to find a way to do it. At the initial meeting with other teachers and the school manager, we were told to believe
I would say, yes, you can achieve basic fluency inside a classroom. By basic fluency, I mean being able to understand native English and communicate at least at a daily conversational level. When students come to my school, they are amazed by the idea that in a year and a half they are going to be understanding and speaking English. “Hey dude, in June 2010 I’ll know English! Awesome!” is what mainly motivates them. I partly disagree with Tim Ferris. Classes tend not to work, because students are lazy and teachers neither know how to teach nor how to learn a language. But it does not mean classes can’t work at all. There are many people that have learned languages inside classrooms, so in some way classes must work.
In order to work, I think some requirements have to be met inside and outside the classroom…
Perhaps that’s why most classes don’t work. A good teacher isn’t easy to find. Universities don’t prepare students to be good teachers. University teachers themselves usually aren’t good teachers. They are good researchers and thinkers. But teaching is a practical, not a theoretical skill. You don’t learn how to teach by reading books or simulating classes. You learn how to teach by teaching real classes over and over again. If classrooms can work, it absolutely requires very very good teachers, who know their subject and know how to teach it properly. Remember AJATT and Outliersto teaching. 10000 hours thing? The same applies
Good material really can help. However, I think good materials are those materials that the students can use outside the classroom. Inside the classrooms, the focus should be on the teacher. Even though I just started teaching, I often find myself asking the students to close their books and pay attention to me. I want them to look at me, listen to me. I want them to understand what I am trying to say verbally and non-verbally. The good materials are going to be used at home, for self study. Perhaps a combination of motivating/fun classes with a set of very good materials for self-study could work very well!
This depends on students and teachers. Every teacher wants motivated students of course. But what to do with the unmotivated ones? Stimulate them! You can’t motivate someone else, since motivation comes from within yourself, but you can stimulate them so that they get motivated. It is easy to blame students for being unmotivated, but teachers should remember that their role is much more than simply throwing their course material at the students and expecting them to learn it. As I said before, teaching is practical and entails many different abilities.
In conclusion, I believe classrooms can work in the same way that self-study methods can work. At the same time, classrooms will fail for the same reasons that self-study methods will fail. Every one has his own manner of learning, although certain principles are universal. The hard task is to find and apply these principles, be it inside or outside the classroom.

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