ESL Lesson Plan

First of all the crux of the matter is salary but in Pakistan we are paid least salary.

Director should know the pain of teachers.

Many teachers belong to foreign countries even they are unable to pay their expenses of trip.

Every teacher tempts to get more salary that is why they apply in different kind of schools.

Imran Mureed

Michelle,

Absolutely don't accept the first offer at the first school interested in hiring you !! Check around. Often, schools need teachers badly.

Do a little research about the region you are in, and the demand for English instructors. Big demand for teachers can launch your salary. Check out the valuable web sites and on-line resources available for ESL instructors. Remember there are thousands out there just like you with tons of helpful advice and experience to share.

Three years ago, when I began teaching ESL in Istanbul, I accepted what I thought was a decent salary. 3 years the wiser now, and obviously tremendously familiar with the ESL biz in this town ... I am making more than two times as much.

Because I learned to ask for it, and walk away if it wasn't good enough. However, experience does count. If your resume and work history is nice and puffy, you'll certainly have more leverage to negotiate. Don't be the nice guy. Be firm and confident during your job interviews abroad.

Chris

Michelle,

If you're teaching in Taiwan, and you're willing to stay for a few years there are very good opportunities.

I'm talking $2K USD/month during training, over $3K after finishing training, and over $5k/month starting in the third year. There are even managerial and/or franchising opportunities at these kinds of schools.

All of this is with extremely low tax rates.

Mark

Michelle,

Another very relative article to my personal experience. I see too many ESL jobs in great locations being given to 'volunteers' who don't need any qualifications or experience other than being a native English speaker.

We all know most of their students probably won't learn much, other than how to listen to & hopefully understand this one character. They'll probably be applauded for managing to communicate, albeit with flawed sentence structure & a strong native accent.

And as far as negotiating for more salary, once the institute sees how good you are, and realizes how much money you will help them to make, for sure you should be at the bargaining table !

Paul

Could ESL Teachers Be Earning More?

Michelle,

Michelle,

I for one have mixed feelings about this topic.

I majored in Russian in college, during which time I spent seven months in Russia. A few years ago, when I began to consider teaching ESL abroad for a second time (my intitial ESL venture being a rather miserable hogwan experience in South Korea), I was interested in returning to Russia. Before accepting my current position, I did a lot of research on ESL schools in Russia. The school I chose pays only a subsistance wage here in Russia, plus free room and board and free individual, intensive Russian lessons with a university professor.

Let me mention that my main objective in returning to Russia was not to make money, but to continue my studies of Russian language and culture. My experiences in Russia thus far (I've been here since August) have been some of the best of my life... in contrast to my ESL job in Korea, which frankly was one of the worst.

My school in Korea was strictly for profit, thus enabling them to pay me a high salary. Meanwhile, my current place of employment endeavors to keep prices low so that the average Russian can afford to attend. As a result, my pay is low. However, as my current school is less concerned with making money, and more concerned with providing a service to the community,thus providing a far better environment for both teachers and students.

Of course, I've already accepted a position in South Korea (to begin as soon as I finish my contract here) mainly because I'm rather running out of funds...

Jane

Hi,

A decent director of studies should bend over backwards to keep a good teacher - especially if they've been committed to a particular school for a period of time. In the fluid, ever-flowing world of ESL employment, such a teacher is worth their weight in gold. If you're a good teacher and dedicated to your job, you shouldn't be afraid to ask for what you think you're worth (within reason of course!). Yes, they might say no and recruit an inexperienced teacher just off the CELTA merry-go-round, but then you'd have to ask yourself - do you really want to work for someone like that anyway?

Cheers,

Chris

Michelle,

Excellent encouragement to practice what we preach - Communicate! (with our employer about what we want and why). I noted that Jane (in Russia apparrently...we'll chat later Jane) commented that her school is more concerned with quality education than making money.

If only that were the guiding principle at universities in Japan where I teach. Sadly, the educational affairs folk at one of my schools have taken to calling their young minds not "students", but "customers".

Oh puh-leez!

Anyhow, that's a conundrum isn't it? Do we teach for the salary (which let's face it, is important) or for the experience of serving those who truly want (and need) to learn?

Marlen

ESL teachers making more money??

This may sound strange, but please bear with me. I speak from experience. A large number of ESL teachers are not native English speakers. As far as ESL teachers earning more money, I think many non-native ESL teachers suffer the illusion that as long as you are not a native speaker of English, you are not worth the negotiation. Let us face it. ESL employers after all want their business to grow, and eventually make money. Ok  fine! They also want to help ESL students improve their English language skills. This illusion, to be honest, rests on a fairly logical line of reasoning. You can’t teach students something you do not know well. ESL teachers, especially those from a non-English linguistic background, “do not know English well.” Of course, I disagree. But, “who knows English well?” And if someone did, what form of English are we talking about here? Are we talking about British English? American English? Canadian English? New Zealand English? Chinese English??

In all fairness, the majority of ESL teachers, whether native speakers of English or non-native speakers, do a decent job wherever they are. Instead of looking at non-native ESL teachers as a knock off version of their native counterparts, NNESL teachers should be credited for many reasons. First of all, NNESL teachers know ‘well’ what it means to learn English well. Their “been there, done that” should enable them to understand the difficulties ESL learners face, and answer the questions they bring. This does not necessarily mean that ESL teachers’ own experiences should count as their most important credential, but it absolutely should help them get the upper hand in any negation deal. Second, ESL teachers have not become ESL teachers over a night. They went through academic as well as practical training. They participated in training sessions, met with ESL students, shared experiences with fellow ESL teachers, and above all, chose to be ESL teachers. NNESL teachers, moreover, have a rich linguistic capital they draw from. Being competent in two linguistic and cultural systems, they bring a lot to the classroom.

But again, in the world of business, one thing is inevitably true. The more ESL students there are, the more ESL teachers will be needed.

Hello,

I wish I could say the ESL market is about facilitating the students' learning experience. I really wish that was true. I taught in South Korea for six months (had a wonderful enriching experience, personally) however, there, "teachers" seemed to be a dime-a-dozen. Trying to negotiate for a higher salary would just get you rushed out the director's door...although reputable hagwons do sometimes have difficulty finding good teachers. However, good hagwons are also very rare.

It's hard to take this "industry" seriously.

Ian