Teaching English in Medellin

Strobers says on Dec 20, 2007, 14:16:

No offense man, but you aren't a teacher. You are a guy who can speak English. Don't confuse the two. Advertising yourself as a teacher is like me advertising myself as a surgeon. You are doing a disservice to yourself and anyone you come in contact with to "teach" because you don't have the education or qualifications to do so. If you want to find a job, find one within your skill set.

"Life is too serious to be taken seriously"

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yummyj says on Dec 20, 2007, 17:31:

Advice? Get a TESOL certificate.

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john_stark says on Dec 20, 2007, 22:38:

You may be right, Strobers, but most of the English teachers in Colombia can't speak English.

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Brians says on Dec 21, 2007, 04:57:

I think car1 would be a good teacher.

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jorgegdiaz says on Dec 21, 2007, 05:20:

Get the yellow pages and start calling high schools or language schools.
Many foreigners in (at least the US ) make an extra buck giving private language lessons.

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.

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bogotabrian says on Dec 21, 2007, 06:20:

Well do you want to tutor or teach at a secondary school?

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bogotabrian says on Dec 21, 2007, 06:23:

By the way, my doctor friend taught me how to give an IV so I could give an IV to him. We were 30 somethings working for a spreak break company our friend owned in South Padre. Fun times, the IV sure cures a hang-over and gets funny looks at the pool too.

Point is, being a doctor isn't all that hard ;-).

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tejasmarcos says on Dec 21, 2007, 11:17:

bb - how does an iv cure a hangover. what would one be injecting?

trying to walk a straight line on sour mash and cheap wine...

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coffee beaner says on Dec 21, 2007, 11:47:

We used to do the same in the Marines, we get drunk and then the docs would hook us up with an IV for the hangover so we wouldn't be to hung over at formation the next morning. tejasmarcos, its basically electrolytes and fluids that they inject you with... I don't remember the exact name though.

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Strobers says on Dec 21, 2007, 12:20:

Sorry GIB, I can't agree with you there. "Following along" someones curriculum isn't teaching. I crack up at how ignorant people are about the teaching profession. They see somone in the front of a classroom teaching and it looks so easy they think they can take a four week TESOL program and mimic their expertise.

A good teacher makes it look easy, but it is hard work to teach, especially teaching a second language. There are a lot of foundational skills that have to be mastered and follow-up lessons need to taught sequentially. Information has to be chunked and presented using multiple teaching/learning strategies. Most classes tend to have a mixture of levels so as a teacher you have to teach to the middle making sure you are challenging the more advanced students and at the same time pulling up the laggers. It's exceptionally challenging.

I've seen the damage NASPAT's (Native American Speakers Posing as Teachers) do to the students they are working with and when these students finally work with a real teacher they have to be re-taught everything they had previously learned. Most NASPAT's can't tell the difference between a subject and a predicate, but they think they can teach English.

And yes, I do hold myself in high regard. With a Masters and three credentials, I've earned the right to do so. I'm very proud of what I do and how well I do it.

I am so looking forward to the day when I open up my own school. I'm just counting the days. It's going to be small, but my students are going to thrive there and they will graduate with real language skills. And if it the school grows and any NASPAT's show up with their four week teaching credential asking for a job, I'll point my finger outside, hold the door open for them and tell them too look me up when they have the proper degree/credential/experience to earn the right to be called a teacher.

"Life is too serious to be taken seriously"

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bogotabrian says on Dec 21, 2007, 12:37:

I am sorry Strobers, I respectively disagree. I started teaching Math in Medellin with no prior experience and only a TEFL. I have an engineering degree and did a lot of presentations with my old profession which helped and some lesson planning training with the TEFL. I think you either have it or you don't.

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mranderson says on Dec 21, 2007, 12:48:

I agree that teaching is challenging but I don't think a degree makes a good teacher. Strobers, would you hire someone that doesn't have a degree but has experience and good referrals?

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Strobers says on Dec 21, 2007, 13:37:

mranderson,

The degree in itself isn't what is important, it's what's behind it. The degree itself is just something that represents what you learned. You have to have a foundation from which to draw from. I have six years plus of university level education and in those six years I learned all the requisite theories about learning, language and teaching. I can work with a student for five minutes and know what I need to do in order to maximize their learning ability.

I wouldn't hire someone with just experience or referrals because I don't know anything about their experience. If you knew a carpenter who had been working as a carpenter for ten years, but every job he took he screwed up in some way, would you consider him experienced? Probably not. A NASAP might have ten years of experience, but what kind of experience? What are the qualifying factors that make him a good teacher? Because he can BS his way through a lesson? I don't think so.

I love Colombia and it sickens me that people show up there looking for a way to generate money to pay for their rent, booze and girlfriends and they turn to "teaching" to generate their funds.

Just so you know, I'm very passionate about this subject because my wife had the misfortune to attend an English class taught by a NASAP. She was spending well over $250.00 U.S. a month, which is a huge sum when you are making the amount of money she was making then. She didn't learn anything because the "teacher" didn't know what he was doing, she finished the class not knowing even the most basic phonetic concepts of English. He was just a hack trying to make some extra cash and the losers were the students in his class who got screwed out of real learning and knowledge.

Regarding referrals, it would have a lot to do with who the person was and what they did, but referrals mean nothing if there isn't the education or experience to back them up. Hope this clarified my position a little bit.

"Life is too serious to be taken seriously"

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Strobers says on Dec 21, 2007, 13:49:

Bogotabrian,

We are talking apples and oranges here. If you were an engineer, you have the foundation to teach math. Math is a requisite skill in engineering.

A guy who speaks English just speaks English. That's it. He can enunciate sounds to create words that have a meaning. The ability to do that is something that most of us in the U.S. and the U.K. can do. However, the ability to do this has nothing to do with the ability to teach the language of English to people whose first language is not English. Speaking English is not a qualifier to teach English.

One thing I will say, and I concur with you, is that a teacher either has it or they don't. I know some very knowledgeable teachers who can run circles around me from the standpoint of pure textbook knowledge, but put them in front of a class and they are boring enough to put a lawn to sleep. They have no passion. They don't know how to connect with their students. They look like they are out of their element. Consequently, their students get discouraged and bored, don't bother paying attention and wind up not learning anything. And the sad thing is that it turns them off from learning in general.

"Life is too serious to be taken seriously"

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bogotabrian says on Dec 21, 2007, 13:57:

Strobers, you do seem passionate and I appreciate that. The problem with the langauge schools is they hire Colombians who barely know English or back backers to teach English. Colombian business practice is to maximize profits without quality at most places so they get the teachers cheap cheap. The good schools pay more and hire good well-qualified teachers. I was an engineer and I certainly knew good engineers in my day who never cracked a book.

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tomtom33 says on Dec 21, 2007, 14:12:

When I was in graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, I was given two 3-credit courses to teach to undergraduates. I had no education or experience in teaching.

I don't mean to denigrate the profession, but your original response to the OP was a bit over the top. I don't believe that any high school dropout who can speak some English would try to teach it.

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Strobers says on Dec 21, 2007, 15:28:

You'd be surprised tomtom.

"Life is too serious to be taken seriously"

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john_stark says on Dec 22, 2007, 17:09:

My wife has no teaching credentials whatsoever but she is a native Spanish speaker. I learned Spanish just from listening to her and repeating what she said and how she said it and asking her questions when necessary.

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JChrisusa says on Dec 23, 2007, 14:08:

I don't believe the degree makes the teacher... through my University years, the most "educated" teachers have hardly been my best teachers. I have studied under many Phd professors who were not good at teaching and I have had many professors who were underqualified (BS) to teach in a University and who were excellent. Being a teacher is not just having a Education degree, is a lot of interpersonal skills and knowledge... and that can not be shown on a diploma.

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Chelesupercono says on Dec 24, 2007, 07:08:

Good Luck finding a teaching job but be aware that the pay is really slave labor wages.....

never go to bed with someone crazier then you are, you will do it and you will regret it.......

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Strobers says on Dec 31, 2007, 10:14:

QUOTE: "I have respect for the profession but that degree in no way makes you a good teacher. I have completed my University degree where there were no professors with less than a PHD. So their knowledge was appreciated. However we are talking English here. Yes it is nice that you are able to evaluate your students and then just how does that change your curriculum?" END OF QUOTE

I think GIB you are reading what you want to read. I never stated that a degree makes you a good teacher. However, it does demonstrate (most of the time) that the person who was conferred the degree has reached a level of expertise that demonstrates the foundational knowedge base needed to teach. In other words, they know the foundational skills inherent in the acquistion of language. How does evaluating my students change my curriculum? If I have a student who is having problems grasping a concept, it does not mean the student can't learn, it's because I'm not using the correct teaching strategy. In this case I approach things a different way. It may be that I use some type of manipulative or graphic organizer or an interactive software program. It depends on the student. Everybody learns differently. Although I have learned the majority of my skills on the job, the basic foundational skills I learned at school.

When you make a comment like, "We are talking English here" you make it sound that teaching English is similar to teaching someone how to play dominoes. Teaching and learning English is labor intensive and is a skill that is constantly practiced. It's developed over a span of weeks, months and years and entails the understanding of countless language skills that together form the language in all it's forms. It's not a hack pointing at words on a chalkboard and saying repeat the word bathtub three times.


QUOTE: "Learning a language is something babies do, it is a natural inherent ability we all have. So sorry but an English teacher that goes around patting themselves on the back for having a degree is to me nothing more than an attempt to justify a higher salary. The absolute basis and from my psych major I can tell you that learning and in particular memorization which really is all the English classes are anyway. The lesson needs to be meaningful, interesting and thus easier for the student to retrieve what he learned. A degree does not give you this."QUOTE

Patting myself on the back for having a degree? For one thing you can't teach without at least an undergraduate degree anywhere in the U.S. Real teachers don't really have any choice in the matter. Regarding salaries, teachers have been underpaid for decades. The amount of work that goes into teaching can't be measured during the course of the day. When you are really invested in your students, teaching becomes a big part of your life. You aren't a teacher so you can never understand this concept, try as you will. I know someone will reply and say that they know a teacher who makes an excellent salary and it's true, if you are willing to stay in the profession 25 or 30 years. The average teacher leaves the profession within 5 years because they can't cope with the pressure.


QUOTE: "If you have it then I applaud you for it. But they did not teach it to you. You have it or you don't like many things in life. Being a salesman for example, you can read books and study courses go through training programs but it is an art, just like teaching. If you don't have it all the training in the world is not going to make you a salesperson no more than a degree makes you a teacher. Next to my degree teaching probably has the most people working outside their degree than any other. Why? Because that education is a very small part of what it takes to be a teacher."QUOTE

I agree with you GIB. A teacher either has it or they don't. Even if I didn't have a Masters in Education, I still would be a great teacher. It's something I was born to do. However, my Masters demonstrates to students attending my class that I have the education to back up my teaching skills and experience, just as my credentials do. I think you will agree that a prospective student in Colombia who truly wants to learn the language, who is serious about learning and works hard for their money, would prefer to have a teacher that is as skilled as possible. The education component of a teacher's overall experience helps to demonstrate that.

"Life is too serious to be taken seriously"

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