Are you a ESL teacher? Currently? In the past?

[Finder]

The cost of living is too high in Japan to make/ save any money--too bad because it would be my 1st choice.

That is funny. I made money and saved it too. I know lots who did. How long where you in Japan?

 

[ikiru]

I think Jon's method may be the best way to get teaching work outside of the main Asian centers(Japan,Korea,Taiwan,China).

For me,on the other hand, it would fail to meet one of my main objectives of ESL teaching, which is to obtain a good reference as to my abilities to interact with and teach youth.

What would all of you recommend to find the best reference material type job?
Potentially Korea as many of the jobs are in the public school system? I'm sure JET is good, but I'm looking at August/September of this year so I'm too late for that...

 

[mwooten]

...
What would all of you recommend to find the best reference material type job?
Potentially Korea as many of the jobs are in the public school system? I'm sure JET is good, but I'm looking at August/September of this year so I'm too late for that...

In your original post you wrote that you spoke Spanish. You didn't state what level you wanted to teach (Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle, High School), but what about doing volunteer work for your local school as a translator?

In many school districts there has been a large increase in the Hispanic population, and schools are in need of reliable translators. Hospitals also hire translators.

Take care,
Michael

 

[dreilly]

[SIZE=-1]www.eslcafe.com/

Dave's ESL cafe. Check out the job postings, the boards, the want-ads. A tremendous resource. The best thing, in my mind, is all the reviews of various schools, like some of the posts above, but thousands of them. Good luck!
doug
[/SIZE]

 

[oftheherd]

Yeah--the funny thing (among many) is that the "one blood" stuff is just B.S. they were invaded (and colonized by Japan from 1910-1945) so many times over history, that it's impossible.

Their mercurial economic success after The Korean War (1953) was due to American investment in many cheap- labor factories, not any genius on their part. Now that investment has gone to China and the economy is flatter than a pancake.

The worst things are that: they believe anything they are told by the gov't, tradition, and media; they have practically no penchant for quality; they have zero sense of national or community cohesiveness/ loyalty (only family counts); they are the only people who still practice confucianism at home and in the OFFICE (the oldest--not the most competant gets promoted, no teamwork, etc.); their government is crooked as a dog's hind leg; and their whole education system is a joke (for example, practically 100% of the wealthy send their kids out abroad for a real education). All of these things seriously stymie their competitiveness in a modern world. I doubt they have a bright future.

Quite true but only one blood in their minds. They were indeed colonized by the Japanese, and the US has made its own contributions to the gene pool. There was also a Portugese ship wrecked on Chejudo (Qaelpart) island and I think it was the navigator who was accepted into the Korean court and eventually took the family name Pak.

The Koreans took to Confucianism more than the Chinese ever did, but have modified it for themselves. They also still practice animism, and you can still see shamen (actually almost exclusively women) performing cermonies called Kut, to placate the spirits when misfortune falls, or to call on the good spirits. Bill58, do the still have the big Kut in Inchon in the early spring for good luck for the fishermen?
Their economy actually wasn't doing that badly under Pak Chong Hi, but after he was assassinated, Chon Du Won wasn't doing so well and began to blame everything on the Americans rather than admit his own part in the problems. He then removed all caps on growth and after a small boom, things started going down hill. Part of that was a changing world economy and part not understanding the changes. But they survive.