So when you teach ESL, it happens quite often that you need to draw a picture of what you are trying to explain. Last week our class was talking about different types of “trends” – trendsetters, economic trends, etc. I was struggling to explain the term “bucking the trend”. I had used words like “resisting”, “reversing”, but the students couldn’t wrap their minds around where the “bucking” part came from. I decided to use an illustration to show them:

It was SO bad, I had to photograph it. I’m an English teacher, not an Art Teacher!

November 20th marks a holiday that we don’t officially celebrate in Canada…Teacher’s Day.  This is a very significant occasion where all students show their gratitude to their teachers by bringing them gifts.   It’s a seriously big deal in Vietnam.  And although I had only been a teacher for a total of one week at that point, my students still made me feel special by presenting me with a card and ice cream (they know me so well already!).  The school put on a dinner and social as well. I got flowers too but that was from one of the other teachers…a story for another time. But it was nice to be recognized for my efforts all the same.

My GE5 class!

In less than two weeks of our arrival, I found myself standing in front of Vietnamese students in a well-respected Saigon language centre. My job hunt had been fairly straightforward – a combination of luck, skill, preparation and networking landed me at the very school that the Jet Set boys taught at one year ago (an amazing coincidence if you consider how many schools there are here).

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No, there is no hidden lolcat.

Instructions:

1. Stare at the center of this window as long as you can (at least 30 seconds)
2. Click the ‘Continue Reading’ link below

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Yesterday I started my new job here in Istanbul, working as private ESL tutor to the owner of a textile and clothing manufacturing company. It’s by far the strangest and least structured job I’ve ever had, but has the potential to be very very interesting…

The Interview

I was introduced to my ’student’ on Friday afternoon and spoke with him for about 2 minutes before he decided I was hired. No CV, no credentials, no discussion of the specifics of the job… just hired. Normally that would throw up a red flag, but since I’d been told that he rejected the previous candidate after 2 minutes, on the grounds that ‘he was a crook’, I was already expecting it to be a strange interview process. It seems that this guy has already tried every method possible to learn English: classes, computer programs, flash cards, living in London, etc., and hiring a full time private tutor is his last resort. Rob described it best as being an ESL version of Mr. Smithers from the Simpsons. My job is to follow him around all day and work on his English at every available moment. If he takes a drive to a client, I take a drive to a client, if he has to fly to Germany on business, I fly to Germany on business. He even went so far as to mention that ‘if I drink Ayran, you drink Ayran’, which may be my least favorite part of the job description. (For those of you who don’t know, Ayran is a really popular drink here in Turkey made from watered down yogurt and salt… yum!) Still, it’s a job, and I won’t complain if I get a free trip to Germany out of it!
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You may have read about some of our teaching experiences in the past, but recently we’ve been silent about it.  The reason for this was that we had to leave the school about a month and a half ago and have been battling with them ever since to receive payment.  Simply put, this has been the most negative employment experience I have ever had anywhere in the world. 

After almost two months of long days, a terrible commute, and a constantly changing schedule we called it quits.  In our time brief time there we became the second most veteran teachers, and saw 9 others quit with some staying in the school for less than 24 hours. 

All of this is a side note to the simple fact that I have still not been paid for an entire month of work.  We owe the school nothing as they never compensated us for travel, provided us our visas, or even returned our diplomas.  However, due to our old manager’s anger they have decided I don’t deserve to be paid.  This is plain and simple theft.

Instead of payment I have received a constant barrage of insulting and threatening text messages from the old manager. Never have I been in a employment situation where there was such a blatant and total lack of respect.

I hope that if you are considering a job there you do so carefully, and knowing the attitudes and practices of the school.  We heard so many stories, and experienced so many things I wish I had known before we accepted the job I wanted to give others a warning before making the same mistake that we did. 

Teaching in Korea can be an amazing experience, but the right school can make all the difference in the world.  Do your research and avoid places like, or you’re end up paying for it.

The teachers at my school seem to think that the purpose of Arts & Crafts class is to make kids mass produce enough decorations to cover the walls of our classrooms thrice over. They pass out two or sometimes three copies of the same coloring page to each student and prod them along until each one is fully decorated. I’ve never heard kids put up such a fuss about coloring; they’d rather continue doing math work than be sent off to Arts & Crafts.

The other day, one of the teachers came into my classroom and handed me a stack of papers, each bearing the outlines of four flowers. She explained that we needed more decorations for the third floor, and even though the kids had colored at least 8 of these flowers each already, we needed another 8 from each of them. I gave her a funny look and told her that I’d do my best but I couldn’t promise I’d get a page from each kid, much less two.

Our school suffers from a serious flower deficiency

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OK, so our jobs suck, I’m not going to sugar-coat it. Yes, these kids do, in fact, enjoy breaking glass and one of Brian’s toddlers did bring a boxcutter to school. They do, on occasion, urinate on themselves and — so I suspect from the prevailing smells — defecate as well. But I’m a positive guy, and I want to share with you some of the upsides and a little cursory advice after two weeks of teaching kindergarten.

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