The TEFL News Network

Just to switch gears a little bit, I have been hearing much to much of late concerning global warming. I don’t if it is because I was out of the US for so long or if it is because of recent data, but it sure sounds like the chorus is getting deafening. Could it be that recent data is questioning the idea of global warming?

For example, the last 6 year has seen flat growth in temperatures and now, it has begun to digress with temperatures falling. It seems like I can bring up some interesting facts that I have begun finding.

- Arctic Ice expanded during the last winter making up much of the losses that were so dire not long ago.

- The arctic seal hunt is running into trouble because of heavy ice.

- The scale of temperature increases is much less than even 600 years ago. Do you remember reading about farming in Greenland?

I think the jury is still out on global warming or maybe it is not and the powers that be are doing one last desperate gasp for attention.

It pays to prepare yourself before you come home from an extended teaching trip abroad. My wife and I spent a long time preparing things so that our arrival back in the states would be easy and uneventful. It meant having adequate savings and also meant figuring out where we would stay before we came back. That planning paid off and we were able to get easily adjusted to our new home. It helped us be settled enough to find success.

Not everyone makes plans like this. In fact, there is one gentleman in England who is having a bit of a rough time according to this article. He went back to the UK after several years in Thailand and now has no job and no place to live. The local government is unable to help him and he has resorted to sleeping on the streets. That’s hardly the homecoming TEFL teachers expect after serving as ambassadors for their country for years, but it’s the reality.

I believe those kind of stories will be heard more and more as the large crop of TEFLers who have had enough go back home, penniless and broke.

The Korea Times is reporting that 53% of Foreign teachers in Korean elementary and secondary schools do not have TEFL certificates. That’s what their articles says, but that not what their headline says. Their headlines is 53% of Foreign Tutors Lack Teaching Degrees. Whatever happened to truth in headlines?

Never mind, I am surprised by the figure nonetheless. See the job ads never ask for a TEFL certificate and in many cases all they want or need is a native speaker. Why complain about the quality when you are specifically not looking for it?

If you are interested in Teaching English in Latin America, you are not alone. Dave’s ELT World Blog has an interview with Sharon de Hinojosa, better know as Naturegirl321. She runs The Latin America TEFL Job List and she took the time to answer a few questions with Dave. Take a look at the Key to Teaching in South America.

One of the most well known TEFL bloggers is calling it quits and taking an early blogger retirement. Katie of TEFLogue is moving on to new and interesting things. The TEFL News Network wishes here a lot of luck in her future endeavors.