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Teaching English in India
Teachers' advice > India
teaching english in india
"Proficiency should be the ultimate goal when learning English for many Asians.
Grammar is important of course, but Asian students who accomplished A's in
English papers (grammar based, mainly in secondary) have turned out to be very
poor when it comes to simple, daily, conversational English."
Posted by Shah Ali, 07/08/07
"India is a country with a mixed population of different languages. In northern
India, the common language in use is Hindi and in southern India, four different
languages are used namely, Tamil in Tamilnadu, Telegu in Andhrapradesh,
Malayalam in Kerala and Kannada in Karnataka. English is the common language for
communication in India.
The northern Indian food practice is somewhat different from southern India with
wheat being the primary food item in northern India, and rice in southern India.
Regarding culture and customs, dressing code is very important to foreigners in
India, especially female foreigners. You can wear full pants with shirts
(half sleeve) which suits the dressing code in India. Consumption of alcohol is
not a social practice here and females don't consume alcohol and also don't
smoke. You may come across men in intoxicated conditions in streets and roads,
but in general alcohol is not approved of as a social practice."
www.unitycharity.org
Posted by Mary Vijaya, 19/02/07
"I've worked in two English colleges in India, primarily teaching IELTS.
My first experience was in the state of Gujarat. All foreign staff (approx. 8
people from as far apart as the USA, Australia, Hungary and Estonia) were fired
over the course of about ten months, for absolutely ridiculous reasons. This is
mostly because there is such a gross misunderstanding between the two cultures
(east vs west) and some fairly archaic management practices from the female
boss.
My work contract comprised of a 6-day work week, which they explained was due to
the very large number of religious holy days and public holidays... however,
each time one came around, the school would still open, and we were still
expected to teach.. despite being told otherwise. This made a huge difference to
our experience because it meant going on weekend trips and exploring the state
became impossible.
My advice is to keep things simple. If they offer you a "package" including a
furnished apartment, I would be more inclined to try to negotiate finding your
own housing, with additional pay. This way you can try to keep 'employers' out
of your personal life, which I found they loved to pry and keep close control
over.
Overall, i have a terrible time with my employers, but having said all of this
though, I absolutely loved my students, and still remain in contact with some of
them to this day. They were very animated and passionate about so many of the
topics discussed, well most days, more like argued... a wonderful experience.
Very hot. Humid. Wet season flash floods, great community of people.
Beware if you are female as you may be followed and attacked before you know it.
I also know from my experience of having many close friends in the community
that alcohol abuse is rampant (always the way when it is illegal) and that gang
rapes still, unfortunately occurs.
My second experience was a lot more benign, in southern India in Bangalore; a
much more cosmopolitan city, where foreigners are much more welcome, with
approx. 30,000 expats living there -so at least you won't stand out so much as
in Gujarat.
The school I taught at was in was a very small Christian school. Most students
were nurses from Kerala, seeking to work in the UK in nursing homes... I found
the students to be overly polite. Teaching was expected to be delivered from a
pulpit and getting students to speak and interact was like pulling teeth.
(obviously used to being lectured about English than producing it themselves).
My role was to solely teach "speaking". Even my best tricks hardly worked.. and
to be honest, I quickly got bored. A very friendly reception from the
principal's family, who resided at the school - where I also stayed.
Advice: don't rely on earnings to live and spend comfortably.
I would say in summary, that unless you are really passionate about teaching in
India, I would much prefer to just travel around. I think the one benefit of
teaching is that you get to stay at a place long term and meet and interact with
locals that you otherwise couldn't do whilst backpacking around. But having said
that, getting to know a people on such a personal level was also laden with
problems."
Anonymous, 19/02/07
"India is the world's most multi-cultural country in the world. India, to many,
conjures a single entity but in reality India is diverse in language, food,
clothes and climatic conditions.
Teaching here, then, is a multi cultural, multi religious, multi language
experience and can be very challenging. This is urban India. Rural India has its
own challenges. Realising that learning English makes all the difference and
that the only way to bridge the economic gap is to learn English, many state
governments have introduced English at level/class one.
It would be my pleasure to answer questions/queries on India and for those of
you who would like to come here and be a part of the movemment of taking English
to the villages - please do keep in touch (ushagowri@gmail.com)."
Posted by Shash, 19/02/07
"Ms Mary, I wonder if the "drinking" part of the mail is real today. In
Bangalore, women drink and I wonder how many of us stand in awe or shock.
Anonymous's post is very worrying too because it paints this country in an
absolute terrible state. It is experiences like these that bring such shame to
India. The reality is, much of their knowledge of the West comes from movies and
they assume it is easy to have a relationship or casual relationship with
foreigners than say with Indians and thus they become prey to letching men. In
fact, one of the main focus when I do cross culture is to tell boys
:noooo.......that's not the way it is... they never believed me!!"
Posted by Shash, 19/02/07
"Every country has good and bad characters. I can't agree with the remarks of
Anonymous. It may be true. There may be rapes, gangrapes also. Who can say...
our country isn't perfect. There are no rapes/gangrapes reported in this
country... That is happening everywhere in this world. I've visited many
countries. Out of these countries, I cannot blame India only for this reason.
Bombay (Maharastra State of India) is a cosmopolitan city. There we can see 'Red
Streets' (licenced brothel). Long ago it was the paradise for job-seekers. They
were living alone since the accommodation was very costly and they can't live
with family with their income. So to do the biological needs they were visiting
Red Streets. I've not read any rapes reported in the newspapers in 1970s. See
the culture of UK and other countries. After the age of 18, they live with their
partners for months or years. Sometimes they will marry with their partner. We
can see single parents everywhere in UK. Since the marriages are arranged by
parents in India, there is strength for family relations."
Posted by Johnson, 20/02/07
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The Rough Guide to India
Comprehensive accounts of every attraction, from fast-paced Delhi and the sacred
sites of the Ganges plain to the Moghul splendour of Agra and the shell-sand
beaches of the south. There is also practical advice on activities as diverse as
boating through the Keralan backwaters, hiking through the high-altitude deserts
of Ladakh or treatments at an ayurvedic spa.
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