Footprints Recruiting

There are no hard and fast rules that enable you to be successful when you head overseas to teach English.  BUT, if you keep an open mind and you keep this top ten list in mind, you stand a better chance of avoiding classroom culture clash and uncomfortable confrontations with your boss or hear teacher in those challenging first months of teaching abroad:

1. Dress right.
   • Jeans, sneakers, and just-out-of-bed hair may be okay for after school carers, when you're teaching in a formal setting a neat appearance counts far more than credentials. In Korea dark clothes lend an air of authority. Red is to be avoided at all costs. In Morocco, or basically anywhere in the middle east, female teachers don’t wear pants, sleeveless blouses, or short skirts.  In South America, male teachers wear short sleeved shirts with ties and female teachers get to waer aprons.
2. Behave appropriately.
   • in many cases, criticism from students generally stems from the informality of foreign teachers, who often seem to undermine their own authority by acting in undignified ways. In the U.S. teachers go on a first-name basis with students, sit on their desks, sip coffee, and even bounce off the walls without causing student discomfort or losing prestige. But these behaviors don’t export well.
3. Don’t worry if students seem unresponsive at first.
   • Americans are used to participatory classrooms with plenty of teacher-student dialogue. Elsewhere, students are often trained to be silent, good listeners, and memorizers. In my classes in Poland, the Balkans, and Mongolia, students wore impassive classroom masks the first few weeks of class. It’s disconcerting to stand in front of a sea of blank faces, but expecting it reduces the shock. Introduce new concepts, such as discussion and role-play gradually. You’ll be surprised at how students will come to embrace the change.
4. Choose topics carefully.
   • If you’re conducting a classroom debate, remember that there’s a distaste for Western-style argumentation in Middle-Eastern societies, and in Japan it’s offensive for an individual to urge others to accept his opinion.
   • Certain topics may be taboo for cultural reasons:
     • Most Americans don’t want to discuss their salaries or religious beliefs or even their weight or age where in Korea, age and weight might be the first things a friend or student ask you. Japanese may be disinclined to talk about their inner feelings; the French think questions about their family life are rude.
5. Why bother asking, “Do you understand?”
   • In Korea, China and Japan, students will nod yes, even if they’re totally lost, in an attempt to save face for the teacher or even for themselves. 
   • Check understanding by asking students to paraphrase or write questions they have in groups.  Ask your students questions relating to what you have taught them and go with your gut.  If you think they don't get it, they probably don't.  If you see a student who clearly does understand, see if you can't enlist their support to try to present the information or the teachable to the class.
6. Be aware of singling students out too much.
   • in some cultures, students dislike volunteering answers too often because it made them look like show-offs and attracted the evil eye of envy. There are a couple proverbs in China and Japan that epitomize this thought: “The clever hawk hides its claws” and “The nail that stands up must be pounded down.”
7. If you want to play a game, make the competition among groups rather than among individuals. If you need to discipline a student, do so in private.
8. Be aware of cross-cultural communication styles.
   • French students appreciate wit.
   • Venezuelan students like boisterous rapid-fire exchanges.
   • Japanese students, where debate is not as valued as in the U.S., students appreciate long pauses in discussions and silent “think time” after you ask a question.
   • Chilean students will talk all the time sharing ideas and information even as you try to speak to them. 
9. Expect the best of your students.
10. Relax and enjoy yourself. Happiness in the classroom is contagious.

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