| Is English Language Teaching Safe? | | | | what I speak. I live and teach English as a Foreign |
| With news of the suspicious deaths of several English | | | | Language in Colombia, arguably in the "Top Ten" most |
| as a Foreign Language teachers in various countries | | | | potentially dangerous countries in the world, according |
| during the past few weeks, the question now arises: | | | | to the U.S. government's State Department and the |
| "Is teaching English as a foreign language abroad | | | | CIA`s World Factbook reports. So should current and |
| safe?" | | | | prospective EFL teachers abandon the field for |
| For those who want to work abroad, there are a | | | | "safer", more secure occupations or locales? What |
| variety of options. Teaching English as a Foreign | | | | are some reasonable precautions one might take |
| Language is but one of these, although for native | | | | when considering teaching English abroad as an |
| English language speakers with a TEFL certificate it | | | | on-going profession? Is a particular ethnic group, race, |
| can be a simple, yet profitable and rewarding one. | | | | religion or gender at an abnormally high risk? |
| English as a Foreign Language Teaching: A | | | | Consider Questions Like ... |
| Life-Altering Event | | | | What if you`re a Single White Female? |
| However, new information is continually coming to light | | | | What if you`re elderly? |
| from countries in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia | | | | What if you`re white in a predominantly black country? |
| which likely will give many cause to pause and reflect | | | | What if you`re black in a predominantly white country? |
| on a decision of this magnitude. Yes, it's no | | | | How about if you're a Christian in a predominantly |
| exaggeration that teaching English as a Foreign | | | | Muslim locale? |
| Language abroad can easily be a life-altering event. It's | | | | These are but a smattering of the questions which |
| not infrequently that teachers leave their homeland for | | | | now stream through the hearts and minds of |
| foreign soil and return years or even decades later. | | | | concerned English Language Teaching professionals |
| Some never return at all. | | | | and their families worldwide. |
| ESL Daily Reports | | | | What Do You Think? |
| Recently in the "ESL Daily" reports of the "suspicious" | | | | What do you think about the growing danger to English |
| deaths of EFL teachers in Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, | | | | language teachers abroad? We'll continue to examine |
| Japan, China and now Benin, have now rocked the | | | | some of these and other critical issues and questions |
| TEFL ex-pat world. True, some countries and locations | | | | in upcoming articles. In the meanwhile, stay tuned - and |
| are well-known to be inherently more risky and | | | | do be more careful. |
| dangerous than others. I certainly know first hand of | | | | |