So, I've been experiencing a lot of restlessness lately. I think most of it can be attributed to a growing wanderlust and and another great part of it to a feeling of being so young and reckless. I just want to see so much more of the world, to be able to explore different kinds of lifestyles and ways of being, to say that I've followed my passions over the safety and security of the expected. BUT I don't want to travel simply for a selfish inclination to travel. I want to be doing something useful and appreciated by others at the same time. I've heard a lot about programs where you teach English abroad (I'm especially interested in places where natives speak mandarin, since I've always wanted to learn) and was wondering if any of you have more information about this, have done this, or know of reputable programs. I would much appreciate it! Please share, Thank you
What's wrong with selfish inclination to travel? Teaching takes away from the time to selfishly visit foreign places and actually appreciate the value of "seeing more of the world".
I'd be hoping to travel without work for a bit, but also to teach for most of it. From what I understand you teach for nine to ten months out of the year and then you have two to three months for travel or whatever else you'd like to do. I think working allows me to be integrated into the experience or place that I'm staying at in a more immersive way. So I definitely want that to be a large part of my experience. I don't just want to be a perpetual tourist, but I'd like to actually find some grounding in another place and get to know it and its people at a somewhat deeper level (if that is possible).
I think kdot is getting his TESOL, so he can give his input also. I think you should go for it. It's a great experience, especially if you want to be able to travel, as you've mentioned. Everyone I know has gone to teach overseas, love it. You're young, you should take advantage of this time and travel around. Settle when you're ready.
Although, I have not experienced this...a lot of people said it is fun. I think you should go for it if you're young and single. Depending where you live (ie country), you may want to check out your government website about some of the things you should be aware of when teaching abroad. Such things includes, housing terms in the contract, currency & banking, teaching hours and number of months, compensations, insurance / benefits, taxes etc... Also, the government website may give you an idea to some of the legal issues before signing a contract...and perhaps some leads to where you can find a company that hire teaching abroad. Good luck!
that's kinda naive bro... teaching in a foreign country allows you to actually stay in said country for atleast 6 months allowing one to actually learn about the culture and immerse themself in it... "seeing more of the world" by visiting is useless... you don't really gain anything except being able to say that you've been there... and back on topic, my friend went to thailand to take her TESOL in Thailand just so she can stay there for a couple of months... then she went to China and found a job teaching there on contract for 1.5yrs... she makes enough for a 2bd apartment in Suzhou + good spending money... like ur not gonna be rich, but definitely comfortable... the only thing is... she got the job quick and ez mainly cuz she's white... heh... that's the only thing bout teaching english in China... u get put ahead of the line + more pay if ur white...
I'm worried about that part. I heard it can be difficult getting a job if you aren't white. I also visited China for a bit after high school and got the whole "you can't be American, you're not white" response from a lot of Chinese.
lol yea ok bro, come talk to me when you actually travel. You learn about culture by living it, fine. I wasn't clear. I was strictly referring to historical sites and the likes. I don't need to tell you, these historic places actually teach you about how the current culture came to be. But aside from weekends you don't have time to visit interesting places. Tell me, do you have time to visit historical places around where you live? Anyways back on topic, LG clarify what you're actually looking for: seeing the world, or getting the teaching experience?
Thanks everyone for the responses and feedback. I'm getting more excited about the possibility of this. And to answer Dan: both if that's possible.
bro... I was in Cali for most of my life, I'm in HK nao... I was in Paris and Berlin for a combined month 3.5 weeks ago, I'm going back to Europe at the end of April till end of May... don't assume shit, u don't know me... Historical places don't teach you anything besides history/art/architecture... you don't learn about cultural dynamics whatsover... how the hell is a statue supposed to teach you how to flirt with a German girl? Do business with a Russian? Eat cheese properly in France? Sights are great, but you can see sights in a book or online... you don't learn about culture unless you LIVE IT... Seriously, I never understood people that spend most of their time looking at historical monuments/art galleries... I'd much rather spend my vacation time getting lost walking around, going to a local pub watching a game, chatting up women at a cafe or hitting up a club and dancing till the I have to leave before the metros close... Granted, yes, I completely agree, monuments + art + architecture are fantastic... they are sights to behold and hold great significance... but spend a week doing that in Paris, then go home, what can u say u did in Paris? Have you watched Eurotrip? jeebus...
Regarding that... what is primarily going to happen is, you can still get the job, but you will be paid like a local... which isn't fun tbh... Hong Kong on the other hand is a little more lax on the racial front... In general you apply for the job and get whatever was posted, there's a ton of positions open heh... Plus, there's a lot of chances for you to speak mandarin in HK now... it's seriously flooded by mainlanders... you can hear them when they're crossing the border from sz... they talk so flippin' loud EVERYWHERE...
I can say the same to you too. Don't assume shit, you don't know me. If I were to log all my travels, a book the thickness of the Bible wouldn't even be enough to list every place I've been. And that includes Paris, but not just the city of Paris, but about the other 75% of France as well. You think historical places is just about monuments + art + architecture? Haven't you considered why and how those monuments/art/architecture came to be? The thought process behind the design? The culture at the time that inspired the design? Shit I can go on. Maybe you don't see the correlation between monuments + art + architecture and culture, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Furthermore, don't assume that culture is solely defined by "teach you how to flirt with a German girl", "Do business with a Russian", "Eat cheese properly in France". Let me be a nerd and pull up the definition on you: Culture is defined as "The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively." It's not just about the present day culture, if you want to go see the world and travel, at least make an attempt at understanding how the current day culture came to be. Anyways lay off bro. I don't know why you've been attacking my posts lately.
I never assumed anything about you... never once did I aim my post at you specifically besides saying that it's naive to say by visiting places w/o living there/immersing urself with the culture equates to you learning about a culture... and the troll about Eurotrip... You, your personal body, does not NEED to be in a certain place to learn about the significance of historical sights... the arc de triomphe is still the arc de triomphe whether you see it in person, learn about it while u stand next to it, or read it from a book... sure the feeling will be different, but it's still info you can get out of a book/online.... I'm not slighting the significance of these great monuments or their historical/architectural greatness... what I'm trying to get at is, visiting a foreign country is NOT the same as living in it... if all you did in a foreign country was hit up all the sights, you're just a tourist and nothing more... it's the same as going to a foreign country to study, but all you did was hang out with other study abroad students...
Do you know anything about these kind of dynamics in Taiwan? I know that Mandarin is spoken pretty predominantly there and I think that learning mandarin would be more useful to me over learning other Chinese dialects.
Going to drop this, because I'm not going to waste my time digging up posts. That's my point though, there are several factors in the way an individual learns. 1) I am a tactile individual, I need to learn by personally experiencing things for myself. Yea, it's online, yea I can find it in print, but the amount of information you get from personally experiencing it is much larger than what you can learn in print. 2) Motivation: the feeling of being there per se motivates me (I can only speak for myself) to learn more, while I'm there. The interests accumulate, when I'm personally there, experiencing it. The sense of adventure and exploring kicks in to discover more. I can't say the same for remote information. So having said that, many people NEED to be in a certain place to learn about things. And that's not because they're incompetent or cannot do research, that's because it's how they learn. And what I'm saying is that you're confusing culture and way of life. You can live in a place, follow their way of life and social etiquette, however that does not mean you have the time to learn the culture. Culture is more than just the way people live. Culture includes the way people live, history, arts and everything that makes up civilization. You're looking at one aspect of culture, but due to focusing on work, you limit your exposure to other aspects of culture. Vacation time may limit the TIME you are exposed to culture, however you have the ability to learn at a high level a portion of all aspects of culture. I will be honest, if it wasn't for vacation time, I would not have discovered what Canadian culture is all about. I would not have had the time to actually visit villages and districts in my city that have been around since the late 1800s. Living/working/studying in an environment exposes you to one portion of the CURRENT day culture. There is no time to see the rest. So I think we're on the wrong page as to what our definition of culture really is.
I think you got sidetracked for whatever reason... my main point and I'll reiterate it again, bold it and underline it even is that Visiting a foreign country, without living/immersing urself in the culture(call it way of life if you like) and telling people you've "seen the world" is naive and pointless... I'm not arguing what culture is, I'm not even arguing that sights are great, I completely agree with you 100%... I agree that there's more to culture than just way of life, no doubt(granted it's one of the biggest parts of it)... I'm not saying you shouldn't go see the sights, learn about the arts and the histories of a country... I encourage it... I am however saying the "way of life part" is more important than learning about sights while you're in a foreign country because you can learn about the sights back home... there's no need for one to travel across the world to see something you can now see online in 10secs... having said that, again that's not to say that visiting sights are not encouraged, it just shouldn't be the main focal point of going to another country, it should be an addition to immersing urself with the locals... Serious question, you don't find it ridiculous to pay thousands for a trip to Europe, only to be sitting on a bus for 2weeks going from sight to sight with 50 other tourists? Always on a schedule, always with the same people? Please... It's embarrassing... While I was in Berlin meeting up with a couple of my German buddies, sure they took me around to see the sights, but they'd much rather me actually spend time with other Germans and learn what living in Germany is really about... Seriously, that's also why so many Americans think French people are rude and vice versa, cuz when Americans go to France, they generally only go to Paris, and they stay in the tourist zones, take the tour buses to all the sights, don't ever mingle and learn about how things are done in France and only try to speak English... And to put things into further perspective, anyone with the funds can visit a sight and say they've been there... but how many people can say they actually LIVED there...
Unfortunately I'm not too sure about Taiwan... I can ask for you though... If you really want to go to say Beijing and work at a summer camp to teach kids, I can try to hook you up... a colleague of mine is currently I believe(he works there for sure, just don't remember the title exactly) the head of the Summer Program for this School: http://www.bestlearning.cn/index.action?language=en This is a job post for one of their positions: http://teachingandjobs.com/job/14931/teacher-at-best-learning-english-company/ If ur really interested, I can ask to see if he can help...
