The Arrogant One
- 2004-10-28
> This seems like a pretty serious crisis, so I'd better hurry, but I'm
> so old I can only hurry so fast. But it isn't easy for me, you know.
> Not as spry as I used to be, no sir. No spring chicken here. I drag
> my body around like a burden, all my strength is gone. Old age is
> such a pain! Bad business this old age thing. When it comes it brings
> all kinds of troubles. Let's see, first you've got your ... naw, I'd
> better not start counting them off. Makes my speech too long. But I'm
> pretty worried about this here crisis.
====================================================
Well, Bub, x duh 21 ...I dun REE-ceev'd yo' note 'bout yo' prob-lim o' "gittin' older." Now mahnd yuh, I ain't-a-laffin' at yo' DEE-clared incapacity tuh REE-tain yo' youthful prowess. NAW! NAW! Quite tuh duh con-TRAREE, dat's uh process 'o nature. B-U-T, when yuh git tuh talkin' 'bout duh struggle o' UDDAHS, yuh gotta be mo' curt-EE-uos! Sounds tuh me yo' dun learned yo'mannuhs 'round duh syde o' duh f&+#@! barn. Yung feller, ah nevah dun seen NO ONE befo' LYK YOU -- one big turkey jest a-cruisin' fer a bruisin'!
In other words, Man, let L'IL OL' MOI make the jokes about aging and ageism, as MY birth certificate serves as a more appropriate qualification for that sort of business! Let me "make that point perfectly clear."(with profoundest apologies to Richard Nixon)
The Arrogant One
x21
- 2004-10-27
This seems like a pretty serious crisis, so I'd better hurry, but I'm so old I can only hurry so fast. But it isn't easy for me, you know. Not as spry as I used to be, no sir. No spring chicken here. I drag my body around like a burden, all my strength is gone. Old age is such a pain! Bad business this old age thing. When it comes it brings all kinds of troubles. Let's see, first you've got your ... naw, I'd better not start counting them off. Makes my speech too long. But I'm pretty worried about this here crisis.
Stella
- 2004-10-27
Wow, I guess some of you would like to read the notes between me and the Arrogant One, but I don't want to dominate the space on this board.
I guess you may have thought I was a man, judging from what I was saying, however, I am a fat middle-aged woman, whose teaching nickname was "Just another fat white pig."
Lastly, I'm not out to seduce the Arrogant One, I'm just interested in people's experiences. I am the Arrongant Ones junior by several years too.
Stella. 
The Arrogant One
- 2004-10-27
Hey, Bro' ... 
You made my day! And I do most heartily thank you for your concern! Unfortunately, for those with visions of romance on the board, I have to disappoint you. I am 67, somewhat overweight, and worship the very ground my wife walks on!
But I am most interested in your ideas ... just the ideas! DO keep 'em a-comin'!
Love from,
The Arrogant One
Rocket Scientist
- 2004-10-27
Watch out, man. Last time I heard something like that, it was a guy.
Hope it works out for you.
The Arrogant One
- 2004-10-26
Stella, my dear,
OF COURSE you may write to me at my private email address. I'll look forward to any and all correspon-
dence from you. Perhaps we can ponder over -- and possibly resolve -- the long-standing problems of humanity ... or die in the effort! 
bientt,
The Arrogant One
Stella
- 2004-10-26
Dear Beloved Arrogant One,
If you can post on this board -in a reply -your email address, because I feel that my views on this topic is beyond the scope of this public board, and I can write at length on this topic from a particular view point. I'll reply later on when I finish work.
Hear from you soon,
Stella.
The Arrogant One
- 2004-10-26
Heartiest greetings once again, dear Stella ...
I liked that musical adage la TESOL, and trust you will hence forth rank l'il ole moi amongst your gold(en) variety of friends.
Of course, the employers will always crave that fresh meat on the scene, but to my mind, for two principal reasons: (1) a teacher who has been on the job for at least two years will most likely feel he/she is automatically entitled to a raise above the standard salary offered to the school's instructors; (b) the longer a teacher is permitted to remain, that individual will invariably feel he/she has the right to critique and/or interpret management policy and decision-making, not to mention the fact that the students eventually tend to depend solely on his/her opinions about not only the schoolwork and school policy, but virtually everything else under the sun. What I'm trying to say is that teacher longevity tends to create heroes, while in the eyes of management, such individuals will eventually create obstacles for its one-sided future objectives. Of course, that babe, Kristie, was a cool tool for the Japanese school to advertise. It was obviously a most practicable ploy designed to draw the attention of new students, i.e., fantasizing, masturbating teens ... frustrated failures at marriage ... and old farts, the majority of them probably having forgotten how to fantasize! All in all, ESL can be regarded as a strange business, but a business, nonetheless.
Once again, dear Stella, when dealing with the ESL world, the byword should be EPHEMERAL. With this wholly logical attitude in mind, one need not suffer the pains, anxieties, or pangs of conscience associated with sudden change -- whether it be inflicted by management or committed in the interests of self-preservation. I have always tried to play the good guy in my life. But when it comes to the business world, I fear this is usually a more than somewhat impractical mode of deportment. Nay! Nay! As my wise and sainted English grandfather, a former history professor, used to say: Life can be beautiful, but business? ... Business is merely business! So, tell me, Stella, WHY the hell am I so #@#!%* poor???
Hang in there, Kiddo. You're the best!
The Arrogant One
Stella
- 2004-10-25
Good feedback(no pun intended!)
Dear Arrogant one, let me tell you that in the TESOL field that they sing a song...
"Make new friends, but keep the old,
One is silver and the other gold."
Now substitute friends with teachers.....
Apparently they want new people all the time because it's interesting meeting new people. Imagine how people feel once they have known each other 7 years, married couples feel it. So it's not a dig at age issues as in ageism, but the need for "new meat".
A bit like your "fresh manna" concept. No one likes stale friendships, and they like new exciting ones.
The director I was telling you about told me that adults like new teachers because it promotes conversation, and did you know in one school in Japan they post a poster on the doors of the school to say this is your new teacher "Kristy is coming" and she looks so beautiful like a barbie doll, so everyone wants to come to talk to beautiful Kristy!
A real teen mentality. She's a babe.
So pick yourself back up my dear Arrogant One, with all that explained, well the world is your oyster.
Pecker up,
Stella.
The Arrogant One
- 2004-10-24
Hi there, Stella,
Before I make comment in response to your interesting post, please let me just get something out of my system: HEY, STEEEEEEEELA! HEY, STEEEEEEEEEELA! (Brando -- Streetcar Named Desire - 1951) Thanks for your kind consideration. Now it's much better.
As for your description of the variety of job discrimination to which we teachers are occasionally subjected, I can only say that it comes with the territory. Then, too, the behavior of the "lady" in question lends little dignity to either her husband's school or the plight of its foreign specialists and other employees. Then, too, placing the blame for anything and everything that goes wrong on the staff is the "traditional" methodology by which employers (investors) dodge responsibility. Heaven forbid they would ever attribute screw-ups to their own ineptitude. On second thought, this might be the case in Japan ... which could account for all the cases of hara-kiri...??? In any event, as ESL_IN_ASIA and I have attempted to emphasize, ESL is better viewed as a temporary form of activity, albeit one in which you stand to gain enough knowledge and experience to be later utilized in a more progressive and challenging line of professional activity. As I always tell my TOEFL students, a language -- any language -- is not Manna from Heaven, but rather a tool for
communication and entry into a world of specialized subject matter. Likewise, experience in the ESL business is merely a stepping stone to greater glory in your language-related career. As for those bloody side annoyances ... just try to grin and bear them. Things could be (and usually are) much worse in a different arena.
All the best to you, Stella,
The Arrogant One
ESL_IN_ASIA
- 2004-10-24
Bingo Stella. You summed it up right there. ESL teaching is like being one of the restaurant staff. in the kitchen.maybe the dishwasher.
Its not that this profession isnt filled with really good, qualified teachers or that teaching English isnt a teaching job. It isnt that this profession cant teach us a few important things to prepare us for other more stable jobs. Its just that we work for private, low-end companies with tight profit margins that struggle to survive.
Most school owners know little to nothing about education. Usually, they see this kind of business as an easy cash cow with little start-up costs.sort of like a restaurant, I imagine. If the school cant understand the depths of the education industry, how can they understand teachers????
NO, there simply cant be any job security in this profession. Is there security in restaurant work???? Ageism.??? Racism????
Lets just paint this field for what it is: an easy job to get if you want to get extra beer money whilst living and partying abroad. Retirees aren't welcome, well educated people with real teaching experience arent welcome. And lastly, you have to pass the Hollywood test. That is, good looks and correct height and hair colour.
These aren't traits that REAL educators in universities and public schools look for but the McSchools that are the bulk of the work sure do.
It's just foolish to expect any kind of security from this field and you would be advised to not belabour this field too long lest you be rudely awakened one day to unemployment with concomitant old age!!!!!!
Stella
- 2004-10-24
I'll tell you what I was told by my hogwan manager:
"If a restaurant doesn't make any money, we change the staff"
So everything gets blamed on the teachers, even when we were taken to a restaurant for a meal and the directors wife was drunk, saying "F this and F that, making a little D**k with her pinky and describing the S** life of her dog. She was asked to tone down by the restaurant manager, and we got lots of glares and I was very uncomfortable with the whole thing.
She went on to teach 5 year old girls to say tough things in English, like "Get lost" and used to steal the students pencils.
So shortly after this episode, some teachers lost their job when perhaps it should have been the other way round.
Stella
The Arrogant One
- 2004-10-24
Hello, once again, dear chap ...
Thanks much for your timely reply to my latest bitching on getting old(er).
ABSO-TIVELY! POSI-LUTELY! I agree with what you have to say about age discrimination being ever present in practically every phase of the employment marketplace, while there's relatively little one can do to change that unfair and regrettable fact of life. Job for life? HA! We musicians used to kid about that one by referring to an everlasting gig as the position of First Harpist with The Pearly Gates Philharmonic! As for TRUE advancement beyond that of ESL instructor in overseas locales, I fear that, too, is usually another pie in the sky. So, what is there for the younger ESL instructor to do, other than go back to college and learn something that represents a more productive employment yield than is the case with ESL?
As for your suggestions, dear fellow, Points #'s 1 through 4 ALL require significant venture capital, whereas, if an instructor (of any age) has no means of financing his/her desire to be self-employed, it's in the bloody soup he/she is doomed to remain! ... and, as I indicated earlier, time passes on while, one sad morning, you arise to find yourself in the same bloody predicament, having achieved little or no improvement. I cannot speak for others, but I can honestly admit that I never have been in a position to save quite enough to fulfill MY dream of independence through self-employment. As for your point #5, I came pretty close to fulfilling this ambition by way of my position as percussionist with a major orchestra in Austria. During my (roughly) 10 years there, I learned how to speak German fairly well, knew and very much appreciated the mentality of the Viennese population, and made pretty fair money for the times. The only hitch was that I was too bloody young to appreciate what I had, and indicative of ultra-restless world migrs of the early-'70s, I blindly acquiesced to that gyspsy-like call of the wild which ever raged in my heart and ever echoed in my cranium. Truly, I was a victim of the times, and in so being, I #!@*ed-up any opportunity of permanency in my professional life.
Please believe that my sole interest in relating all of this personal information is to help prevent younger folks from making similar mistakes in their professional careers. On the other hand, also be aware of the fact that I have truly managed to reap my fair share of benefits from ESL over the years. Truly, it's not the highest paid or best supported position around, but it still presents a new teacher the opportunity of a lifetime ... if teaching IS one's game. Stay in it and use it until you gain the confidence necessary to continue the same career, or something related to it, back in your native land (or elsewhere) ... one which demands an advanced level of responsibility for a significantly advanced rate of remuneration. Therein, you can raise your head high and take pride in the fact that you have progressed in your chosen pursuit and have attained the confidence to take your success to even greater heights in ESL or any allied area.
It goes without saying that my wishes are with you all. Take it slowly and, by all means, investigate each and every one of those dream jobs before making a final commitment. This board is now filled with enough honest people who, if called upon, will surely be happy to guide you in your decision-making.
Thank you for your attention.
Love from,
The Arrogant One
Dos
- 2004-10-23
Cool, redtext. Mmm.
Hi T.A.O. I think your concerns are quite quite genuine and real, but I also think that they are simply not limited to the ESL or any other profession these days. There is no such thing as a job for life anymore.
For smaller schools and universities an ESL career in another country (especially ones like China, Korea etc)there is likely no advancement possibilities.
Other choices?
1. Some people I know have got married and started their own businesses here (China), which is one way of doing it.
2. You could join a larger chain of schools as a senior teacher or head teacher and then try moving up into management from there.
3. Start your own school! (Okay, I guess this is the same as option 1 really!)
4. Save up some cash and start your own business back home. This may take some time!
5. Learn the language and then try to find a job with a western company but in the country you are in, with your local knowledge to back you up.
Good luck in whatever you do. No one can tell what will happen in this ride we call life, sometimes we can only hang on and hope we don't fall off going over a bump!
Blimey, I am waxing lyrical today. Too many classes, I better go and lie down.
Yes, yes ... believe me, Folks, I am quite pleased to note all the surprising (and apparently successful) esprit de corps spread about this board of late in an attempt to bring ESL instructors together in a common cause, job security, and the apparent resultant interest now being shown by some of the employers who just might feel somewhat intimidated by the mere presence of union-like brotherhood in their midst. A good cause, to be sure. But, let's now take the time to look a bit further into the future in a bold attempt to predict our lot as ESL instructors. Of course, l'il ole moi may already be too #@!&! old to anticipate much of a future in ANY bloody undertaking, professional or WHAT have you! But let's take a gander at you guys who are in the 40-50-year-old bracket, particularly those who have already served as an integral part of the ESL game for many moons. My inquiry:
Where the hell do you go from here?
Now, don't get me wrong ... I really LIKE teaching (any subject), but always with the stipulation that there be just a smidgen ... a mere iota ... an infinitesimal, paltry degree of (I'm sorry, employers -- I'll whisper it)
job security!
Actually, I've been led to believe this term serves as a kind of blight upon the dignity of the average ESL school owner, for so many of them seem to have difficulty meeting the stipulations of the contracts they, themselves, have concocted, while they are, no doubt, involved in the ESL business ONLY for the potential profit with the factors of student and employee satisfaction taking a relatively minor position in the great scheme of things. This is actually the opposite of what I was taught in the business segment of MY college education centuries ago! But, from the appearance of all the whining and legitimate complaints posted on the board, this IS an old story ... one with a #@#!@ beard! Consequently, the appalling reality is that conditions have not really changed much in the industry ... which brings me to the question of the very future of ESL instruction, be it here in the USA or abroad. Yes, my friends, there IS most certainly something quite rotten in the state of Denmark! Why can't an entity of such proven value as ESL be able to boast of permanency on the part of its all-important teaching workforce? Or is its absence an accepted factor dictated merely by the temporary presence of its learners? Yes, I do realize there are some teachers who have been fortunate enough to be regarded as permanent fixtures by their recognized universities and colleges. So, what has been transpiring in the private school scenario? I mean this to include all native-speaking instructors working abroad. Perhaps he/she cannot be considered a permanent fixture due to the stringent limitations imposed by passport visas and existing immigration laws. This fact, once accepted, a teacher will customarily return to his/her native country only to find an employment drought in progress, no doubt THE perfect inspiration for that often-cited Burger King Syndrome: to once again, with college degree in-hand, roam the lonely deserts of job procurement, only to wind up in another unsympathetic trap. Yeah, an even sadder reality is to suddenly awaken to the fact that, in light of all the job juggling to which we have submitted ourselves over the years, we have grown older and have become a less-desired entity in the marketplace. Yes, despite your admirable, long-lasting, rarin'-to-go temperament, age discrimination DOES very much exist. Traditionally, this is the part in the play where one shakes his fist to the heavens, and screeches (like Brando's classic "Stellll-la!"),
Good luck to all you whiners, moaners, and entirely legitimate complainers -- young and old. I know only too well where you stand.
The Arrogant One