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oneirophreniaAt various times over the years, I've been told to consider--and, indeed, have considered--becoming an English teacher in some foreign, non-English-speaking country. There's always plenty of demand for native English-speakers to instruct foreigners in the Language of the Chosen People...and these positions usually pay really damned well--but, of course, come with a concommitant amount of anguish and headache. Trying to teach stupid fucking kids who've grown up speaking English their entire lives is difficult enough--now try teaching it to stupid fucking kids (and adults) who can barely spell "cat" let alone pronounce it or tell you what the word even means. Yeah. Not worth the money, huh?
You'd better believe it. That there link will lead you to the blog of a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) instructor in Thailand. One Night in Bangkok it definitely isn't....I wouldn't last twenty seconds dealing with the bureaucracy, the idiocy of the "educational" system, or the incredibly annoying habits of the students. Quite frankly, after having read a few of that guy's entries, I can now safely say I don't ever--EVER--want to even set foot in an Asian country. I can't speak or even vaguely comprehend those folks' moon-men languages (especially the writing), and I don't want to even ATTEMPT to teach them English. Thank the gods Cal U doesn't have a large population of Asian students as we used to back in the day, because I'd go certifiably crazy having to deal with all that engrish every day....Christ, I had enough of that when I was a peer-tutor down there.
Now, don't get me wrong, folks--I'm not trying to slam Asians in any way. I have nothing but the highest respect for most Asian countries' cultures and arts...but I will freely admit: I can't even vaguely comprehend any of those languages and cultural idiosyncracies. They're just too alien to me. But, then again, the same goes for the Finnish--whose so-called "language" is positively incomprehensible to anyone but a Laplander, and whose cultural and governmental conceptions are completely and utterly insane.
Quite frankly, the only countries I could EVER see myself teaching English to non-English-speakers would be Germany, Croatia, and Romania. At least I can understand how those people think. Their cultures and languages are different than what I'm familiar with, sure, but not so unimaginably different that I can't wrap my brain around them. But that'll never happen, because I doubt I will ever leave this country. And if I do, it'll just be to see Gary Numan live in England, and that's about it. Heh.
You'd better believe it. That there link will lead you to the blog of a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) instructor in Thailand. One Night in Bangkok it definitely isn't....I wouldn't last twenty seconds dealing with the bureaucracy, the idiocy of the "educational" system, or the incredibly annoying habits of the students. Quite frankly, after having read a few of that guy's entries, I can now safely say I don't ever--EVER--want to even set foot in an Asian country. I can't speak or even vaguely comprehend those folks' moon-men languages (especially the writing), and I don't want to even ATTEMPT to teach them English. Thank the gods Cal U doesn't have a large population of Asian students as we used to back in the day, because I'd go certifiably crazy having to deal with all that engrish every day....Christ, I had enough of that when I was a peer-tutor down there.
Now, don't get me wrong, folks--I'm not trying to slam Asians in any way. I have nothing but the highest respect for most Asian countries' cultures and arts...but I will freely admit: I can't even vaguely comprehend any of those languages and cultural idiosyncracies. They're just too alien to me. But, then again, the same goes for the Finnish--whose so-called "language" is positively incomprehensible to anyone but a Laplander, and whose cultural and governmental conceptions are completely and utterly insane.
Quite frankly, the only countries I could EVER see myself teaching English to non-English-speakers would be Germany, Croatia, and Romania. At least I can understand how those people think. Their cultures and languages are different than what I'm familiar with, sure, but not so unimaginably different that I can't wrap my brain around them. But that'll never happen, because I doubt I will ever leave this country. And if I do, it'll just be to see Gary Numan live in England, and that's about it. Heh.
