If things don’t work out in Japan – and they probably won’t, because the economy is permanently screwed – we are thinking about trying somewhere I will call Country X in order not to offend anyone with the list of negative things below. We’ve never been there, but our own picture of this place is fairly positive. Look at the TEFL forums, however, and you will see the following litany of moans and groans:
– The men are only after one thing
– The women start thinking about marriage and babies after the first date
– Landlords are greedy
– Private language school owners are in it for the money, and are quite happy for any native speaker to teach the kids
– Most students have no idea why they are studying English, and they only come to class because they are too lazy to motivate themselves to study
– There is too much emphasis on tests
– Rich kids are spoilt
– People are more interested in what is going on in their neighbourhood than in world affairs
– Most people are more interested in football and celebrity gossip than talking about politics
– You will be expected to cover the whole textbook
– The local IH schools demand high standards and loads of professional development but barely pay a living wage
– You can’t support a family on TEFL wages
– The locals don’t know the difference between England, Scotland and Wales
– You can’t get a decent English breakfast with black pudding and Cumberland sausages
– The locals have attacks of greed, sloth, envy, pride, lust, anger and gluttony
– The backpackers who travel there are really annoying
– Most of the TEFLers there are a bunch of drunken wasters
– Pathetic losers at home suddenly reinvent themselves as someone cool and have ignorant local hotties falling all over them
– It’s just full of Starbucks and MacDonalds and has lost all its character
– There is lots of anti-Americanism
– They think all Brits are football hooligans, even though you are much more likely to get stabbed at a match there than in the UK
If you can guess where I’m talking about, is it all true? Have you heard any other complaints? Should we still be thinking about moving there?
TEFLtastic 
Apart from the last one, this sounds like almost anywhere I can imagine…. England included.
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Landlords are greedy? Men only want one thing? And rich kids are spoilt? What an unusual country.
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I’d agree, sounds like most of the globe and the traditional rants at the ex-pat table :) My guess is that at least some of these things will also bother you.
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Men only want one thing? Sorry, I mean other than food, what could we possibly want?
And speaking of food… if it’s the country I’m guessing it is, the food is pretty damn good! Also, what is this mystery entity, ‘a decent English breakfast’ that is spoke of? My experience—which I will again be having the pleasure of adding to in little under a week—has been one of baked beans, burnt bangers, cold eggs and soggy toast. The only positive thing I can say of English cooking is thank God they have Scotland next door! (uh, sorry, Mum)
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Yep, feels like most of the world according to disgruntled ex pats. When is the next job opening on the moon?
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Damn, you all worked me out straightaway. Yes, that was a collection of things I have heard or seen complaining about different countries that could be true about almost anywhere. My next question is, when it comes to choosing countries, can you learn anything useful online at all??
https://tefltastic.wordpress.com/tefl/t-training/qualifications/is-it-possible-to-learn-anything-from-the-teflnet/
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Alex you are playing with us… and we are all waiting to find out where you’ll end up next! As LC says – the world according to disguntled ex pats. We all know a few of those I’m sure. Looking forward to the next instalment.
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(Hangs head sheepishly)
Well, while I am also waiting to find out where I end up next, I guess I am making the most of the time I have to play silly games…
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