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Age

10/29/2015

,A friend of mine from Atlanta just called to get some advice. He is a wonderfully gifted teacher and has his own studio where he works with actors. He would make a wonderful drama teacher at any international school but he does not have a teacher certificate. He has about forty years of experience working in Hollywood, studied with all of the big names, and has appeared in many movies. Unfortunately, as I told him, that and a dollar will buy him a cup of coffee in Asia since he will probably not get a job in an international school.

As I told him, all an international school has to know is if you have a teacher accreditation. What that means is you have a university degree and a degree from a faculty of education which gets you accredited in your province or state. If you are entitled to teach in a North American school you can get your foot in the door. Otherwise, you will end up teaching in a state school in Asia or a language school that appear on every block. It is too bad but that is the reality.

In my friend's case, he is also over sixty and in many instances, you will not be accepted to teach unless you have spectacular qualifications because it is hard to get a visa for you because you are competing directly with a a teacher from the indigenous population.

If yo If you are an older person but do feel you have something to offer to students I would recommend going to http://www.tieonline.com/ because it has a place in their ad for age restrictions. Most of the ads will say up to age 60 but others say no age limit. I know China is getting very strict about older applicants and Thailand is going that way but places like Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia are probably still available.

If you are over 60 and do get a job somewhere, please comment on this blog and let us know where the best places to apply are. The other alternative , of course, is to volunteer. I will write about that next

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Ruth Frankel Graner

10/9/2015

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I taught with Ruth for years in a school just north of Toronto. She was an inspired artist and wonderful mentor to many needy students. Everyone loved her and as the rabbi said at her funeral yesterday, when she spoke to you you either thought she was crazy or absolutely inspired. Her latest venture was to interview as many people as possible about miracles that happened to them.

Unfortunately, she never got a chance to finish her book she she died suddenly just a few days ago, to all of our anguish and grief. In fact, we just had Ruth over for dinner about a month ago, and I proudly presented her with my novel: It All Started in Mandalay. She seemed delighted. A few days later I got an email from her saying she loved the first chapter and could not wait to finish the book. Since she did not write me after that, I assumed she did not finish the book, or worse, finished the book, but did not think very much of it and I did not want to embarrass her by asking how she liked the book.

When we went to the "shiva" today, I introduced myself to her sister. She said, so you are Michael Charles! What could I have possibly done to warrant such a response from her, I wondered. She told me her sister had given her the book and told her it was a must read ! I later spoke with her daughter who told me she had heard all about the book and could not wait to read it.

Myanmar

I was overwhelmed by the comments from Ruth's sister and daughter. You can imagine how I felt when I heard the comments thinking that Ruth never spoke to me about the book after her initial e mail. I guess my one word of advice to any of you reading this is to let people know when you really like something they have done, be it writing a book or cleaning the house. You just never know when you will get another chance.

To a very wonderful mother, teacher, artist and friend. May her name be forever a blessing.

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Serious Teaching

10/7/2015

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In the last blog, I talked about backpackers who just wanted to dabble in teaching but did not even know whether it was their passion or not. I advised them to teach English at some language school for a limited amount of time to see if they liked it. If they did, I then suggested they return to their home country and get certified as a teacher and then go and teach at a legitimate international school.

All international schools are not created equal. The really good ones are starting to advertise now for next year. Go to T.I.E online or TES ( Times Educational Supplement) and you will see that the British international schools are now starting to advertise for next September. I think if you are a certified teacher in your home country and you want to teach overseas, start to apply now for the next academic year. The advantages of being in one of these schools are manifold. First of all, you will be getting paid a good salary with all of the benefits I have referred to in previous blog posts. Secondly, the school will be well organized which is really important so you can just concentrate on being a great teacher and not have to worry about anything else.

Let me close with a few pictures to entice you to try working in Asia.

Can you picture yourself in any of these photos. Try it, you will like it!

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Teaching Light

10/1/2015

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A guy wrote and told me he was not sure he wanted to be a teacher, but would love to try it, if for no other reason that he would be able to discount it as a career if he did not like it. It made perfect sense to me. I asked him if he had a degree and teacher certification. He said he had a degree but no certification.

This is what I said to him. There are high status international schools which he cannot apply to without teaching credentials. There are also bilingual schools in each country that pick up English speaking teachers with credentials so it is unlikely he would get in there and then there are the "language schools" throughout south east Asia. Parents are crazy about giving their kids a "leg up" and many send their kids to English language school after their already vigorous day at school where they have probably studied from about 7 am until 5 pm.

These language schools are often taught by Filipinos who can speak English and by "backpackers" By backpackers I am talking about young adults who want to study and learn by travelling around the world and usually run out of money sooner or later. Often they stumble into one of these language schools, teach for a few months to make money and then quit and resume their journey of discover.

Some of these backpackers actually fall in love with teaching and simply stay on or come home to North America or Europe and study teaching formally before they try to get a job in their own country and begin teaching as a career.

Conversely, many discover that they hate it, which is also good, because then they can eliminate one thing from their potential list of careers when they are ready to work full time. But, by going to teach at a language school, they can teach "light." Try it out with very little risk and lots of potential gain. They may even find their passion in life, both metaphorically and literally.

Warning

You do not have to take a a Toefl course to get a job teaching. When you start to search for jobs you will see all kinds of come on ads trying to engage you in spending money to take a course with a guaranteed job at the end. If you want, spend your money but if you are just wanting to get a taste of teaching, don't bother. You will learn on the job. Just show up and prove that you are a native English speaker, can walk and chew gum at the same time, and are willing to learn. They will ask you to demonstrate a sample lesson and if you seem to be able to control the class you will be hired immediately. Don't worry about not knowing what to do....either do the other teachers.

It is in this kind of situation where you will learn about yourself and if you are cut out to be a teacher. Try it, you might like it. If you like, write me and ask me which countries are better to teach in and which websites you might find helpful. Good luck.

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Ruth Frankel Graner

Serious Teaching

Teaching Light

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Ruth Frankel Graner

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