DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Would Pakistan be a good place for an American revert to live??

**zU8KbeIU** · 07-16-2012, 10:47 AM

I mentioned to him that I would like to teach English part time; maybe from my home.

He said that it would be easy to get students.

Comments?

Suggestions??

Unless you have some formal training as an English teacher (such as a TEFL certification), I would strongly advise against doing this on moral grounds.

Here in Cambodia a lot of people from the west who come here they say "to make a difference" by teaching English, and they assume they are qualified to do this simply because they are native English speakers.

The fact is, even as a native speaker, you won't know what you need to, in order to teach English from an second language perspective.

The result is often that these students end up wasting valuable time (and money if you are planning to charge them for your time).

Sorry if that sounded overly cynical, but it's something that I see a lot here and it really bugs me.

If you're interested in getting qualified, there are TEFL certification centers in Indonesia you could try. I have a friend who did it quite recently, and I think it only took about 12 weeks.

With regards to making the transition from living in the West to going to a much poorer country, all I can really say is it depends on what kind of person you are, and what's important to you. Some people find it hard to adapt, whereas I'd find it very hard to go back to my previous life.

07-16-2012, 10:47 AM	#10
zU8KbeIU Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 367 Senior Member	I mentioned to him that I would like to teach English part time; maybe from my home. He said that it would be easy to get students. Comments? Suggestions?? Unless you have some formal training as an English teacher (such as a TEFL certification), I would strongly advise against doing this on moral grounds. Here in Cambodia a lot of people from the west who come here they say "to make a difference" by teaching English, and they assume they are qualified to do this simply because they are native English speakers. The fact is, even as a native speaker, you won't know what you need to, in order to teach English from an second language perspective. The result is often that these students end up wasting valuable time (and money if you are planning to charge them for your time). Sorry if that sounded overly cynical, but it's something that I see a lot here and it really bugs me. If you're interested in getting qualified, there are TEFL certification centers in Indonesia you could try. I have a friend who did it quite recently, and I think it only took about 12 weeks. With regards to making the transition from living in the West to going to a much poorer country, all I can really say is it depends on what kind of person you are, and what's important to you. Some people find it hard to adapt, whereas I'd find it very hard to go back to my previous life.
	Quote