I was considering teaching in China. After visiting a message board at www.eslteachersboard.com I am dubious about bothering it has really put me off. Does anyone here have any real experience with China or teaching ESL abroad?

I have actually founf myself having an argument with two "so called" teachers on that board over why they seem to think it is ok to use racism. I happened to be reading some info on a chain of schools in China. There were some pretty annoyed people posting there about how the school had messed people around. I came across one post however which I personally think went too far and was making remarks about the Chinese in general, the kind of thing you would hear some drunk idiot spouting in a local take away.

I commented, pointing out it was a little uncalled for and then two other teachers came along calling me a trouble causer. I dont belong in China and attempting justify why the use of racism is ok!!!

After reading through a few more posts and other threads there I am pretty convinced I have landed on the pits of the ESL world. Surely these kind of people cannot be professional teachers. They sound more like agressive right wing thugs on a crusade. There is no moderation of the board to mention hence the kind of posts I was reading.

Is this what you can expect from going to teach abroad? Is this the kind of idiot the job attracts? It has certainly raised questions as to my decision put it that way.

To be honest I have only just begun looking into the whole teaching overseas thing and so I have read very little so far. One of the first places I discovered was the board I mentioned. I take it by that you mean that my opinion has been coloured by the wrong kind of people.

I truely hope so as I am shocked by the kind of thing I have read over there. The fact that there are people actually involved in education with such a disgraceful outlook makes me very angry.

I think sometimes, people in the country have a better idea of what is, and isn't, likely to be accepted in that country. Is it racist to say "A lot of Koreans are judgemental of people living together before getting married", for example? Without seeing the post in question, it is difficult to make a judgement, but it can be hard to accept (should we? There is possibly such a thing as being too accepting) local attitudes sometimes when it comes to controversial issues, or even just things that you think your country does better (I, for example, feel that giant inflatable Jesuses are a bit of a waste of any churches budget, but I guess I will just have to agree to disagree with a lot of Koreans on that). I think that I slip into generalising occassionally (for example, Korean men carry their girlfriends handbags, older Korean are rude (by British, and to be fair, a lot of young Korean, standards) in supermarkets, Korean single mothers are ostracised by society). I know there are exceptions (my boss, for example, says he fell in love with his wife because she wouldn't let him pay after the first date, which is something that generally Korean men don't like, and they started dating at least 20 years ago), but I might generalise in that way. What I would never say, however, is comments about people's character. I think if people are saying things like "All <insert nationality> are <insert personality trait>", then no, they are just idiots. Most other native English teachers think they are idiots. Unfortunately, idiots like to get together and be idiots.

Ohh, sorry, this new system is confusing me a little, didn't realise this was in teh China group! Wouldn't have gone sticking my nose in if I had!

There will always be a few idiots in any profession. If you can take the big step and leave your old life behind, a life teaching in China can be as easy or as hard as you want it to be, hence attracting all sorts of people.

Don't let them put you off, it's a life changing move and almost certainly one for the better.