The dreaded grammar based interview

Okay so you have around twenty years teaching English experience, you are confident in your skills. You make sure that you are well-prepared for your class. You have some excellent recommendation letters, and your students love you.

Problem: when being interviewed for a new job, you come unstuck when it comes to explaining some rules of grammar. "Sorry", says the person interviewing you, who probably does not even have half of your experience! "I'm afraid your grammar knowledge was not what we were expecting it to be."

Native speakers generally are not so 'keyed-in' on matters pertaining to grammar. They speak the language perfectly most of the time, and 'may' be the ideal model for students to follow, but this 'little thing' kind of gets in the way.

Hold on!! I thought we were into communicative teaching nowadays? Even though teaching is not exactly black-and-white, how many of us will prepare a grammar exercise before going into class.Most teachers are creative. With regards to grammar, I for one will read-up and 'brush-up' on my knowledge; take a look at the examples in the book, and see if I can come up with some supplementary material too.

If you are not sure what an auxiliary is, you can always quickly look it up! How many of us have that feeling of "Oh yes, now I remember!"

As a recruitment filtering process, and in the early part of the 21st century, should grammar really be the cause for rejecting applicants? May be we should be focussing on their passion and professionalism instead?

ESL/EFL Recruitment in Saudi Arabia - Part 3 - Directs vs Sub-contractors

Saudi Arabia needs a lot of English Language Teachers.

More university faculties require their potential students to go through the Preparatory Year. With so many universities now offering a Preparatory year, the number of students in some universities exceeds 5,000!

With the need to provide teachers, sub-contracting companies are filling the vacuum.

There are potential pitfalls though. As it becomes harder to reruit 'qualified' staff, and with a shortage of visas for direct staff, the number of sub-contractors are now outnumbering direct hire staff.

For some, sub-contracting companies take the 'hassle' out of recruitment. No need to deal with the 'headache' of direct hires. Just let the 'contracting companies' deal with 'problem'.

Whereas the solution may appear simple, is this really the right step forward?

Direct hire staff, are obligated to their employer ( the university) and contract renewal usually reflects performance on the job. Further, direct hires will go through a much more rigorous recruitment process.

Sub-contracting forms on the other hand, need to provide the numbers to fulfil the demand for teachers by their clients (the universities). How does this impact on quality? And, sub-contracting firms are probably concerned about the bottom line. Profit and Return on Investment matters.

Further, when one thinks of sub-contracting firms, one thinks of 'mercenaries'. Are their interests the client, or making a hefty buck! Sub-contracted teachers are also open to exploitation. Sub-contracting requires heavy capital investment. A shortage of liquidity could sometimes mean delay in salary payments.

This blog suggests that the way forward in the short-term may be sub-contracting firms, but for the medium and long-term, there needs to be a strategy for ensuring that properly qualified and direct hire staff are employed.

The danger however, is that with so much money being banded around by the sub-contracting firms the future of our students may not be the priority.

ESL/EFL Recruitment in Saudi Arabia – Part 2 - Qualifications

It seems that TESOL type people are in demand, especially at university level. There are quite a few Preparatory Year/Foundation courses around the country, looking for enthusiastic teachers to face their young 18-21 year olds in class.

In terms of qualifications, a BA in English, a CELTA or a TEFL qualification, even an MA is valued.

Based purely on observation, if you are a so-called non-native speaker, a BA in English (Language or literature) is a must. All of my colleagues, who are non-native English speakers, from Egypt, Jordan, Syria and other gulf countries, have one, plus a CELTA/TEFL qualification.
However, virtually every ‘so-called’ native speaker does not have a BA in English. More often than not, a graduate degree of some kind is combined with a CELTA or TEFL qualification.

If you are a native or non-native, an MA in TESL/TESOL/ELT/Applied Linguistics definitely makes a difference.

However, the qualifications on their own are not a guarantee. Experience is essential. If you are still in your home country, then my advice would be to get some solid TESOL experience. Work part-time or evenings at a local college, or adult education centre. You could even try something voluntary. Whatever, experience really counts. It will really count at interview stage, when you are able to draw from your experience in trying to answer difficult and practical questions.

Lastly, although qualifications and experience do count, if you are especially a native speaker, you could try and get a position without any of these, but be prepared for rejection at university level. Further, subcontracting companies that currently provide staff to universities and colleges may agree to take you, but they may pay you peanuts and take advantage of your situation.

The chances of getting into the ‘profession’ especially at a university level are getting harder. If you are looking for some kind of mid to long-term career stability, then get the qualifications. At the very minimum, get a credible TEFL qualification. The CELTA is considered the best.

Qualifications really do count. All the best.

ESL/ EFL Recruitment in Saudi Arabia – Part 1

There is so much to write here, that I have to break this into parts. Will try and write something up regularly.

Not wanting to sound too much like an expert, I outline observations and some experiences of being involved in the recruitment process in the KS of A. The points below relate to public and private institutions. The more unconventional requirements could be said to apply to the private sector, but may have some applicability to the public sector too, although this may be changing as the demand for teachers reaches peak levels.

Question 1: What is the one single quality or characteristic that can at least guarantee an interview?

Answer 1 : Being white and male. Sad but true. When one thinks of English speakers what immediately comes to the fore is images of a white man, with blue eyes, blond hair, and an extremely aristocratic British accent – “I say old boy, how ghastly, don’t they know any better!!”

Whereas in the West people are brought up to be more open minded in their thinking, the culture here is a little different. In that same spirit of open-mindedness, one can only deduce that the educational opportunities afforded in the West are not available here. Although even “Western open-mindedness” is open to question; especially when it comes to economics and power. At that point, open-mindedness goes out of the window. Instead, words such as suppress, conquer and 'civilise' come to mind. Of course what may count as being civilised in the West, may have no relationship to what counts as being civilised in the East. Local knowledge vs. Globalisation? A topic for another day.

There’s no point blaming the KSA or in fact other parts of the Gulf or the wider world – maybe it’s just human nature – and the probability is that this is the real issue. Islam is colour blind, so we can't place the blame there.

So the question becomes how do we change it?

Answer: We can’t ( not in the short-term ) and so we need to work out ways in which the problem can be resolved.

Possible resolutions: Qualifications, experience, enthusiasm, a can-do attitude, devotion to the cause.

So for budding recruits out there, don't let this 'skin deep problem' put you off. Its performance on the job that counts ( I say this with a certain amount of hope and cynicism at the same time)

To be continued