ELT World Discussion

[MELEE]

I was reading another thread that started me thinking...

How long would someone have to work in this field before you started calling them a veteran?
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[golightly]

I was going to say 'the ability to care for animals in the medium of English', then I opened this thread...
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[canuck]

I know a person who has worked in Japan for 15+ years, but that doesn't mean it's 15 years experience. It's closer to 1 year's experience 15 times. He hasn't grown as a teacher. He's lost the art of conversation. He babbles and has an annoying nervousness about him, both in social functions, around his peers etc. The list goes on and on. I will write a book about this guy one day...there is just so much material to go on about.

Knowledge and experience must be taken into account, not just time spent doing something to be considered a "TEFL vet".

[JimDunlop]

[David]

It's when you love the smell of whiteboard in the morning.

[GueroPaz]

MELEE, great idea. I voted with one other person that 7 to 10 years was a veteran. The first 2 or 3 years, full time (and esp. in a single country or employ of one employer) is an apprenticeship. The next several years are journeyman level.

"Veteran" sometimes describes somebody like a military man who has simply been there for the duration, such as several year enlistment or commission. I don't think that four years qualifies one as an oldtimer in ESL/EFL.

As has been pointed out, there's also the factor that a new employer would expect: have you more or less developed as a teacher by securing and succeeding in a progression of more demanding assignments?

[MELEE]

Canuck brings up a very interesting point. Maybe variety makes a TEFL vet?

In the conversation about TEFL ebooks people touched on the idea that ebooks were better than forums because you knew you were getting information from vets, not newbies who feel they know everything after a couple of months in the field.

Obviously every individual is different and has different experiences and gets different things out of those experiences. I tend to think forums are better as long as you've got a wide variety of voices. Yes, some people just come to a forum to BS. Others have been lucky so may make the field out to be easier to do well in than it really is. (I've definitely had a lot of good luck, so I maybe one of those people.) Others may be problem magnents and full of woe that is unfounded. And yes, some people are just plain delusional. But what's to stop any of them from writing an ebook? In a forum at least you should hear some variety of opinion.

I remember one guy in the cafe saying once "Well, I've been at this for 5 years so I know what I'm talking about." I was like well La ti da, there are others on here who have been doing this for 20 or more years. So I still have the question. When do we start considering people veterans?
Thanks to those 5 who have voted. I put up the poll because I don't know the answer myself.
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[naturegirl321]

I don't know. I guesss it depends on how much teacher development they do, if they teach different levels, subjects, ages, etc.
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[EFL Geek]

Tough question and it probably depends on their location. But I don't really think you can be a vet with less than 5 years.
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[otterman ollie]

Depends on location, Some people stay in the same place and never leave as someone else said the first year repeated 15 times . I think we all know someone like that. The term "veteran" suggests a tour of duty that may have been done more than once. Doing this type of work for only a few years , leaving it for a while then maybe 5 years later going back into it would in my view qualify someone to be a veteran. I think it takes at least 5 -1 0 years to decide if you really want to stay with it. By then its too late anyway, you can't really go back home again.
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[leprofdanglais]

I've been teaching for 15 years now, but I've never had the same year twice. Like naturegirl says, it's about the different ages, levels, cultures, courses and so on.

Put it this way: You're a DOS and you have two CVs in front of you. The first has taught in the same school for 15 years, always the same level and age of students. The second has taught for five years, two different countries, adults and kids, preparation for public exams and is doing an MA by correspondence. Who would you probably choose?
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[golightly]