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• Working as a language teacher

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  Josef Wergen    Premium Member

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  Working as a language teacher

  For many expatriates, especially those who are accompanying a partner on an overseas assignment, finding a job for themselves is a challenge. Often they lack the language skills, qualifications or know-how to find a job in their new country.
  
  One possibility which suits people from many different backgrounds is language teaching: most adult learners demand a native speaker, and additionally want a teacher who understands the world of business: how to take part in a meeting, communicating on the phone, writing an email, networking in the break during a conference - things most adult expatriates are actually experienced in, regardless of their qualifications or backgrounds.
  
  We are constantly looking for new teachers in different regions. We provide support and development opportunites for expatriates looking to work as language teachers on a flexible basis for even a few hours a week. Graduates in business, language, education or training who have strong communication and interpersonal skills are welcome to contact us to discuss opportunities.
  
  • 14 Jan 2008, 1:57 pm
  Josef Wergen wrote: > For many expatriates, especially those who are accompanying a partner > on an overseas assignment, finding a job for themselves is a > challenge. Often they lack the language skills, qualifications or > know-how to find a job in their new country. > > One possibility which suits people from many different backgrounds is > language teaching: most adult learners demand a native speaker, and > additionally want a teacher who understands the world of business: > how to take part in a meeting, communicating on the phone, writing an > email, networking in the break during a conference - things most > adult expatriates are actually experienced in, regardless of their > qualifications or backgrounds. > > We are constantly looking for new teachers in different regions. We > provide support and development opportunites for expatriates looking > to work as language teachers on a flexible basis for even a few hours > a week. Graduates in business, language, education or training who > have strong communication and interpersonal skills are welcome to > contact us to discuss opportunities.
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  Josef Wergen    Premium Member

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  Re^2: Working as a language teacher

  Hello,
  Yes of course, the biggest request is naturally for English. There is a huge demand but also the requirements from customer side are pretty high. The supply in materials and pedagogical support is very important, but there are lots of resources. My business partner Andrina as the director of studies for the English department is constantly working on the quality of our teaching, and the English teachers highly appreciate it.
  
  But also any other language could be required. German companies that send people abroad understand more and more that, for living in a foreign country for more than a year, you cannot just rely on English as a lingua franca but you should also learn at least the basics of the language of the country.
  
  Wherever German companies send their expatriates to - we are happy to provide the whole family with tuition! But where would we find all these qualified, experienced and highly motivated Bulgarian, Corean, Swedish etc. teachers just in time and at the right spot? We can only provide support to persons that bring maybe some qualifications - and we add on our pedagogical and linguistic knowledge.
  This post was modified on 14 Jan 2008 at 02:46 pm.
  • 14 Jan 2008, 2:43 pm
  Josef Wergen wrote: > Hello, > Yes of course, the biggest request is naturally for English. There is > a huge demand but also the requirements from customer side are pretty > high. The supply in materials and pedagogical support is very > important, but there are lots of resources. My business partner > Andrina as the director of studies for the English department is > constantly working on the quality of our teaching, and the English > teachers highly appreciate it. > > But also any other language could be required. German companies that > send people abroad understand more and more that, for living in a > foreign country for more than a year, you cannot just rely on English > as a lingua franca but you should also learn at least the basics of > the language of the country. > > Wherever German companies send their expatriates to - we are happy to > provide the whole family with tuition! But where would we find all > these qualified, experienced and highly motivated Bulgarian, Corean, > Swedish etc. teachers just in time and at the right spot? We can only > provide support to persons that bring maybe some qualifications - and > we add on our pedagogical and linguistic knowledge.
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  Josef Wergen    Premium Member

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  Re^4: Working as a language teacher

  Hi, Agnes and everybody,
  I would have a lot of stories to tell, both about requests for "exotic" languages and about finding and training teachers. Sometimes we are lucky and we find the natural born teacher with good qualifications and a lot of experience. It sounds probably very funny, but our German courses for expats are a good resource for foreign language teachers. Over the years, we have kept lots of contacts with our students, amongst them many expat spouses who normally have a treasury of skills and qualifictions, whether it be as a teacher or as someone with good business background, able to communicate with another business person at the same level of experience. Usually, they are happy to get a new chance in the foreign country and to be retrained as a language teacher of their mother tongue.
  
  There is certainly no way just to drop someone as a teacher into a language class without any teaching experience! People who bring in a business background must be prepared to teach a language class, and people who have a teaching or a linguistic background but no business experience, must be prepared to face "the world of business". This is our job, and the training is naturally pretty much individualized, every situation is different, no chance to run through a standardized training program and then you are there.
  
  There are, especially for English teachers, several possibilities to do a formal, standardized teacher training to get a TEFL diploma which helps a lot to find a job in this field. For the "exotic" languages, this is by far more difficult and it takes more time.
  
  Just a last comment on the word "exotic" that I employed in this article: Of course this is neither a geografic concept nor the idea of "strange" that this term might associate. The problem is that there is - to my knowledge - not a word that would determine the languages which in our context are less frequently demanded and taught. They are not "small" languages or less spoken (think of Chinese), and I would hate to describe them as "the other languages" (other than English, German, French or Spanish).
  
  • 25 Jan 2008, 10:02 am
  Josef Wergen wrote: > Hi, Agnes and everybody, > I would have a lot of stories to tell, both about requests for > "exotic" languages and about finding and training teachers. Sometimes > we are lucky and we find the natural born teacher with good > qualifications and a lot of experience. It sounds probably very > funny, but our German courses for expats are a good resource for > foreign language teachers. Over the years, we have kept lots of > contacts with our students, amongst them many expat spouses who > normally have a treasury of skills and qualifictions, whether it be > as a teacher or as someone with good business background, able to > communicate with another business person at the same level of > experience. Usually, they are happy to get a new chance in the > foreign country and to be retrained as a language teacher of their > mother tongue. > > There is certainly no way just to drop someone as a teacher into a > language class without any teaching experience! People who bring in a > business background must be prepared to teach a language class, and > people who have a teaching or a linguistic background but no business > experience, must be prepared to face "the world of business". This is > our job, and the training is naturally pretty much individualized, > every situation is different, no chance to run through a standardized > training program and then you are there. > > There are, especially for English teachers, several possibilities to > do a formal, standardized teacher training to get a TEFL diploma > which helps a lot to find a job in this field. For the "exotic" > languages, this is by far more difficult and it takes more time. > > Just a last comment on the word "exotic" that I employed in this > article: Of course this is neither a geografic concept nor the idea > of "strange" that this term might associate. The problem is that > there is - to my knowledge - not a word that would determine the > languages which in our context are less frequently demanded and > taught. They are not "small" languages or less spoken (think of > Chinese), and I would hate to describe them as "the other languages" > (other than English, German, French or Spanish).
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