The situation got even more complicated when a fellow colleague began talking about how they found it best practice for them, at their respective age where all colleagues whom have been introduced already and discussed would now be working side-by-side or rather inside another company - thus making the transition to management level roles which are normally considered quite hard. This then created an image that did not really align with what ESL teachers had in mind as they were mostly from Europe, like me who came here for teaching English language skills while trying every bit and piece of work I could lay my hands on so was more or less taken aback by the idea presented - this naturally led to questioning many aspects within oneself.
Many have come across such characters that take time getting along well with them especially when those expat colleagues were considered ESL teachers too, something which would probably be very hard and they may actually get a lot of rejection from native English speakers as these are people who've had practice in speaking the language since early childhood - I did not find myself within this group thankfully though my background could have been forged to fit but due to being on good terms with them for quite some years now, it does raise an interesting question about what exactly makes a person decide they will be ESL Teacher and pursue such a career which involves dealing directly in international communication across languages where at times one needs more than just knowing the correct grammar - knowledge of how these words sound too.
In my search to understand this better I came up with various key points, some even very much rooted deep within myself like for instance asking why teachers are seen as such throughout their whole professional lives which then would have us questioning if they're actually right in doing so and seeing whether there is more than just having "passable knowledge" of the language - this may well be a fact that no one has any idea about, namely being called to live forever within another country.
As an ESL teacher myself I found it relatively interesting when my colleagues who are also expats (just like me) would not only have distinct ideas but they'd actually form opinions which were never anything less than "I am right" - in a rather disturbing way where one might even feel the need to question why such folks still get along and stay within their groups especially if everyone else thinks this isn't correct, let alone having full-blown discussions that are truly just about how wrong another teacher may have been thinking given what is actually going on at any point - it gets somewhat ridiculous when a simple ESL lesson devolves into something bigger than initially anticipated.
The thing which brings me to the conclusion of such an essay would be my own personal experiences, coupled with observations made during this time in China where I started teaching English and soon found myself within these various expat groups discussing their thoughts - however what struck out most was that there were those who actually thought themselves as being right all along while others had been thinking they may have overstepped some lines by getting into other areas like business which weren't related to ESL at first but came up when you least expected it.
I must confess, upon reviewing these thoughts and the various conversations held - one point in particular caught my attention however hard I tried not seeing that within such an industry as English teaching there may well be a "less is more" form of approach where over time this sort or work could even have ESL teacher's jobs made somewhat redundant which then would lead to questioning whether any were actually worth their salt - but, upon deeper inspection and in light of the aforementioned ideas I must say they all seemed very valid points indeed.
I still get asked what my thoughts on these sorts are however now at this stage with having seen so much expat colleagues as an ESL teacher from various parts of world given such job descriptions perhaps that which makes it is not really about if one has or does not have "passable knowledge" but rather to see whether you actually understand how the whole language works in terms like these - and especially what they all bring into this picture where even when looking at my own generation, I find myself having a bit of trouble coming up with words which seem more than just being ESL teachers or other such jobs from their real-life experiences.
Lastly to finish off on an entirely different note however one that does have something in common - many are unaware but there's actually another type called "Expats" and they aren't teaching English, instead it is about what can be derived when taking your average expat working outside of ESL Teacher roles within environments where knowledge or rather expertise could potentially apply
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