The Post-modern Nation of English Teachers in Asia
Those of you who are residents of Taiwan may have noticed a strange movement of information going on around you. If you pick up the usual sources of information about jobs: The China Post and The Taipei Times, there are almost no jobs being advertised for English teachers. This isn't to say that there aren't loads of jobs available and that these jobs are no being advertised. Rather, the place to find them has shifted. Over the past year, most employers have stopped using newspapers to find teachers and have instead begun using Internet-based forums to find teachers. Forums such as
www.tealit.com
www.teachermania.com
www.taiwanteaching.com
I'm sure that there are more, but these are the ones I am familiar with. If you loose track of the new ones that appear, you can find them by looking in the classifieds in The China Post where these Web sites advertise.
Interestingly, back at the 2001 conference of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT), I discussed the idea that English teachers are in the process of forming an Internet-based community. You can find this paper at
www.jalt-publications.org/proceedings/2001/075.html
More recently, I have modified this idea. English teachers in Asia are involved in the formation of post-modern nation state. While this nation is different from more traditional states, in that it has no borders or government, it functions much the same capacity. It has an economy that has created a unified market place for good, services, and employment. It has a language, and even a language policy.
Most significantly, it has a communication network based on the Internet. Increasingly, communication that would have previously taken place through newspapers, periodicals, or telephones is occurring on the Net. In fact, it is largely becoming impossible to function in Asia for long periods of time as an English teacher without access to the Net.
9:14:22 AM 
The Post-modern Nation of English Teachers in Asia
Those of you who are residents of Taiwan may have noticed a strange movement of information going on around you. If you pick up the usual sources of information about jobs: The China Post and The Taipei Times, there are almost no jobs being advertised for English teachers. This isn't to say that there aren't loads of jobs available and that these jobs are no being advertised. Rather, the place to find them has shifted. Over the past year, most employers have stopped using newspapers to find teachers and have instead begun using Internet-based forums to find teachers. Forums such as
www.tealit.com
www.teachermania.com
www.taiwanteaching.com
I'm sure that there are more, but these are the ones I am familiar with. If you loose track of the new ones that appear, you can find them by looking in the classifieds in The China Post where these Web sites advertise.
Interestingly, back at the 2001 conference of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT), I discussed the idea that English teachers are in the process of forming an Internet-based community. You can find this paper at
www.jalt-publications.org/proceedings/2001/075.html
More recently, I have modified this idea. English teachers in Asia are involved in the formation of post-modern nation state. While this nation is different from more traditional states, in that it has no borders or government, it functions much the same capacity. It has an economy that has created a unified market place for good, services, and employment. It has a language, and even a language policy.
Most significantly, it has a communication network based on the Internet. Increasingly, communication that would have previously taken place through newspapers, periodicals, or telephones is occurring on the Net. In fact, it is largely becoming impossible to function in Asia for long periods of time as an English teacher without access to the Net.
9:14:22 AM [Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "commentLink" hasn't been defined.]
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