Using the English Teacher Boards

Researching English Teaching Jobs in China and Southeast Asia

By Mary Ann Davis

So you are to start teaching English in September, and it is your first job overseas? You are frantically packing, but you do not know what to take? Go to the Boards! “Am I really going half-way round the world to a school I have never even seen? Am I crazy?” On teacher boards, English teachers ask and answer questions about jobs and living conditions in specific countries. Teachers often read and reply to questions about schools where they have taught, and this makes Teacher Boards invaluable. Speaking, reading, and writing in English help students get better jobs, so most teaching jobs overseas involve teaching English.

Teaching Boards for Jobs in China

Each board has a distinctive tone. For example, TEFLChina’s tone is professional; this board is carefully moderated by three ESL teachers who have lived and taught in China. Their insights and help are great. (A “moderator” makes sure that members are not obscene or wasting other teachers’ time with off-focus messages. A moderator’s job is also to answer members’ questions by personal email.) 

I have a teaching job this September in southern China, and the previous one was in Northeast China; I found both jobs through the teacher boards. After moving down south less than a week ago, friends developed on the Boards are my only friends—or now. The natives are away on vacation during this time of year, and I would feel pretty forsaken without the Boards since life is so different in the south.

Using English Teachers Boards

For getting professional advice, I use three or more Boards to examine questions from all angles. I read messages written by teachers, and if once registered, it is possible to reply. International boards, like Dave’s ESL Café, have forums or areas within the main board where teachers correspond with each other about teaching strategies, pupils, and schools worldwide. Other English teacher boards, like Ajarn.com, are specific to an area or country. (Ajarn.com specializes in Thailand and neighboring countries.). On Dave’s and Ajarn, the responses tend to take on a challenging and robust tone. When traveling, I always find the latest information about changes in bus routes, train schedules, or visa laws by writing to country-specific boards

All teacher boards tend have the same foundation: understanding and help for teachers abroad. By the way, every teacher working overseas must sign a new contract each year or ten months—every two years, at the most. Visas are only good for one year, so in this field, everyone experiences uncertainty, and everyone is sympathetic to the situation. Despite occasionally harsh tones, every teacher board I have used has had many very kind, and helpful members. (See below for more Teacher Board sites.)

While not above seeking out sharp criticism through the expression of opinions, I have never encountered an “obscene” message, and I have found all teacher boards valuable over the years. They have helped me travel and then settle in China, Thailand, and Taiwan. Teacher boards have helped me consider new teaching markets, such as India, or places to find further ESL training, weighing the pro’s and con’s.

I meet as many of my Teacher Boards colleagues as possible. Last month, before leaving Northeast China, I wrote some teachers in the south, where I was headed. I was surprised by their interest in my project—seeing teachers’ living conditions. When I did arrive, my new friends literally took me by the hand to get me oriented. They drew maps, told me which bus to take, and where to shop. They told me what school administrators to visit while I was in town, and how much money other teachers made. They explained the complicated “New Campus” system that is common now in China, and taught me the local vocabulary that I would need to get around. We also went shopping and out to dinner. The next morning they put me on the plane. In the midst of this, I had even learned about local scams

Teachers abroad also use the boards to “let off steam.” Teachers who work overseas soon find that they have jobs because few people speak fluent English, and fewer still understand their teachers. On the Boards, teachers lament their bad decisions, their homesickness, loneliness, boredom with the local diet, or their employers’ behavior. Other topics include “Bringing children into the country,” “Tax laws for foreign teachers,” “What’s the cost of living in your city?” “Where can I buy ground coffee?” In April, board participants start making plans, asking about this or that school, wages, and contracts for September jobs. 

The Nuts and Bolts of Using a Job Board

To use a job board just load your browser, go to your favorite search engine and do a simple search, or type in the address of a board that you have heard about. When I signed my first contract to teach in China, a friend suggested that I contact English teachers there who had come from abroad to teach in China. The address she gave me was this: TEFLChina@yahoogroups.com. If you are not going to China, you can still use this Board’s basic features as a model. Try to find sites where you will get help in those areas in a teacher’s life abroad: job (how to find a job), teach (classroom techniques) and life (a foreign teacher’s survival). If you would like to use a yahoo group, go to the computer screen’s address bar and type: groups.yahoo.com. A dialogue box appears: “Find more yahoo groups.” Into this box, type “TEFL Italy” (or the country’s name where you’re going). Read through the search results, and visit some of these Boards. To look for more international English teacher boards, use your favorite search engine with the key words “TEFL Teacher Boards” adding the name of the country you want to know about (e.g., “TEFL Teacher Boards, Italy”).  

When you have selected a board to visit, find the forum or area with the country you are interested in, and then glance down the list of “threads” (topics). Threads about Scams are clearly labeled: “SCAM WARNING! Watch out for...” or some similar heading. For example, the first school in Thailand in which I taught was in the middle of nowhere--literally miles from any city. The housing was even more remote. However, the ad I had answered specified “in the beautiful city of…”

After I had finished one semester, I knew I did not want to repeat the experience. I read up on the situation and admitted my mistake on the teacher Boards. One board member after another responded with angry notes about “deceptive advertising.” An Australian recruiter replied in words which continue to guide me, years later: “It’s time to wipe the fairy dust out of your eyes. All you had to do was specify the location in a search engine…” While background research is a bit more involved, I learned the value of checking up on a school and its location before signing any contract. It is certainly worth the effort. It is also wise to look for scam warnings on at least two or three boards before committing to a school.

Unfortunately, Teacher Boards cannot guide your hand across a contract and help you actually sign it; they can advise and support, as the final decisions are always yours. Other teachers can share their experiences, tell you where to find a job, where to shop, what to expect—but only you can decide how to use the information they have supplied.  

It may well be that before you start an English teaching job in Asia, you will be alienated, lonely, or confused; but seeing your students’ faces will convince you that your anxieties were unfounded. Students, especially in developing Asia, often appreciate their English teachers in ways that we who had uninterrupted free education with plenty to eat just cannot grasp. Part of being a responsible teacher is reaching an understanding that your students deserve sympathy and patience. One way to see your students’ world outside the classroom is to visit a public library, or any public place where students congregate. Observe the students as they study; notice how they react to each other and to you. Notice what they read, which videos they watch. Your high energy, kindness, and if possible, the slightest bit of research about your host culture’s school system, will make you the expert on the Teacher Boards.