26M UK -> Argentina

[Ceviche]

The ability to make USD/Pounds/Euros and freedom to work from where you want is huge.

Its not rocket science. I learnt this as a 18 year teenager - earning a first world currency and spending in a 3rd world economy is one of the biggest life hacks which very small percentage of people on the planet understand. It works not only basis USA money/ spend in Argentina but there are several permutations combinations for same.

 

[Mira Vos!]

Its not rocket science. I learnt this as a 18 year teenager - earning a first world currency and spending in a 3rd world economy is one of the biggest life hacks which very small percentage of people on the planet understand. It works not only basis USA money/ spend in Argentina but there are several permutations combinations for same.

That’s it, very few understand it and I’d argue (at least in the US) that very few are curious enough to explore. Many would think “Why would I live in some horrible unsafe country in bad conditions?”

I would instead think of what an awesome place I could theoretically get in a place like Buenos Aires or Bali for a third of the cost. I really didn’t start thinking about and looking into this until two years ago (28), but as someone who always wanted to travel it’s great to know you don’t need to be “rich” to do it all.

 

[Ceviche]

it’s great to know you don’t need to be “rich” to do it all.

Its very subjective.

I would not advise to travel for sake of traveling if you are broke. For a few months in my life, I hosted some guests from "Couch surfing" ( that is - host broke people for free) . I was devastated to see how broke they were..they did not have money to eat a single meal but wanted to travel. Almost all of them were in age group 20-28

People are in a big hurry for instant gratification.The 20's are formative years to toil hard and make your base strong especially, if you from a humble family...Its not the time to travel all around the world - broke - without a single dime in the pocket. if youhave heard about the famous "marshmallow test" for kids - If you want immediately - you get one..if you wait 1 hour - you get two marshmellows. It was found the ones who delayed gratification went on to do 10 times better in career and financial status than those other kids.

The worst I have seen is Caucasians from from Finland, Denmark etc sitting on streets on Bangkok begging for money with a note "Finance my world travel..its my dream". WTF..How dare you leave your first world country, arrive in a 3rd world country and beg the middle class there to finance your travel!

Its also funny how these broke people from 1st world countries are allowed to travel and beg in 3rd world countries. While the rich from 3rd world countries and weak passports have to go through the whole tedious rigamarole of applying for a visa for many of these countries.

 

[Alby]

"Most" ESL Teachers on line are not worth their fee. They do very little if anything beyond a good FREE language partner.

Why pay for what is free?

I wouldn't go that far. But there is a fundamental problem with language teaching, and it is one that I don't believe has been studied or acknowledged and certainly doesn't form part of the curriculum in foreign language teaching MAs. It is not confined to English language teaching. It is this:

What other discipline can one teach when one has not gone through the explicit learning process oneself? We all learn our native language before we are even conscious of who we are. Nobody teaches it to us. And we never consciously learn it. So, when we try to teach it to someone else, we are trying to help someone master an intellectual discipline that we ourselves never had to consciously master.

If we are a maths teacher, we explicitly learned maths at one time in our life. We struggled through the intellectual process and we got there. If we are a science teacher, the same. Go through the list. On the other hand, teaching a language which is, for us, native, whether it be English or Spanish, or any other, we can only guess at what the student is going through. I have often wondered if there is any other teaching discipline where the same situation applies. I have yet to come up with one. It's really quite odd, when you think about it. Yes, explicit learning of English grammar is an academic discipline that we can consciously study and conquer after we learn to speak English naturally as a child. But, a basic TEFL or similar course doesn't teach us much formal English grammar and nor do equivalent teaching courses for other languages. And the dominant communicative language teaching philosophy we study in basic and masters level courses language teaching courses doesn't put much focus on the finer points of grammar.)

If I were looking for a language teacher to help me learn a new language, I would look for one who is a non-native speaker, i.e., someone who learned the language to a high enough level that she can help me, and who, therefore, went through exactly the same process I am setting out on, and who will know exactly why things don't make sense to me--because those same things didn't make to them when the first bumped up against them.

Not a popular view, and not one that many language teaching schools are interested in (they say the students want native speakers). But that is my opinion.

 

[Ceviche]

If I were looking for a language teacher to help me learn a new language, I would look for one who has is a non-native speaker, i.e., someone who learned the language to a high level that she can help me, and who, therefore, went through exactly the same process I am setting out on, and who will know exactly why things don't make sense to me--because those same things didn't make to them when the first bumped up against them.

Not a popular view, and not one that many language teaching schools are interested in (they say the students want native speakers). But that is my opinion.

100% agree. Though such a comment will bring lot of hate to you.

 

[Alby]

I suppose maybe there are some medical rehab fields where we teach people things we have never themselves had to learn from scratch. Maybe if we are trained to teach someone to walk again after suffering a say a stroke or car accident, we are teaching something we have no experience ourselves of having learned. But, I still think teaching our native language is something of an outlier.

 

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

I wouldn't go that far. But there is a fundamental problem with language teaching, and it is one that I don't believe has been studied or acknowledged and certainly doesn't form part of the curriculum in foreign language teaching MAs. It is not confined to English language teaching. It is this:

What other discipline can one teach when one has not gone through the explicit learning process oneself? We all learn our native language before we are even conscious of who we are. Nobody teaches it to us. And we never consciously learn it. So, when we try to teach it to someone else, we are trying to help someone master an intellectual discipline that we ourselves never had to consciously master.

If we are a maths teacher, we explicitly learned maths at one time in our life. We struggled through the intellectual process and we got there. If we are a science teacher, the same. Go through the list. On the other hand, teaching a language which is, for us, native, whether it be English or Spanish, or any other, we can only guess at what the student is going through. I have often wondered if there is any other teaching discipline where the same situation applies. I have yet to come up with one. It's really quite odd, when you think about it. Yes, explicit learning of English grammar is an academic discipline that we can consciously study and conquer after we learn to speak English naturally as a child. But, a basic TEFL or similar course doesn't teach us much formal English grammar and nor do equivalent teaching courses for other languages. And the dominant communicative language teaching philosophy we study in basic and masters level courses language teaching courses doesn't put much focus on the finer points of grammar.)

If I were looking for a language teacher to help me learn a new language, I would look for one who is a non-native speaker, i.e., someone who learned the language to a high enough level that she can help me, and who, therefore, went through exactly the same process I am setting out on, and who will know exactly why things don't make sense to me--because those same things didn't make to them when the first bumped up against them.

Not a popular view, and not one that many language teaching schools are interested in (they say the students want native speakers). But that is my opinion.

" I have often wondered if there is any other teaching discipline where the same situation applies. I have yet to come up with one. It's really quite odd, when you think about it."

YES! I have one!

It's that virtuoso musician who never learned in a formal manner, never spent a moment in a classroom, doesn't know theory and can't read a note. They learned by ear. And because of their love for what they were doing, they played for hours each day, across many years to become a virtuoso.

They can play effortlessly, yet they do not make good music teachers because they can't communicate what they feel.

 

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

Its very subjective.

I would not advise to travel for sake of traveling if you are broke. For a few months in my life, I hosted some guests from "Couch surfing" ( that is - host broke people for free) . I was devastated to see how broke they were..they did not have money to eat a single meal but wanted to travel. Almost all of them were in age group 20-28

People are in a big hurry for instant gratification.The 20's are formative years to toil hard and make your base strong especially, if you from a humble family...Its not the time to travel all around the world - broke - without a single dime in the pocket. if youhave heard about the famous "marshmallow test" for kids - If you want immediately - you get one..if you wait 1 hour - you get two marshmellows. It was found the ones who delayed gratification went on to do 10 times better in career and financial status than those other kids.

The worst I have seen is Caucasians from from Finland, Denmark etc sitting on streets on Bangkok begging for money with a note "Finance my world travel..its my dream". WTF..How dare you leave your first world country, arrive in a 3rd world country and beg the middle class there to finance your travel!

Its also funny how these broke people from 1st world countries are allowed to travel and beg in 3rd world countries. While the rich from 3rd world countries and weak passports have to go through the whole tedious rigamarole of applying for a visa for many of these countries.

I am that rare person who wanted a marshmallow, yet knew enough not to accept one. I come from an environment and thinking that you need to give before you get. I didn't accept a marshmallow for a very long time and it was worth the wait.

 

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

I am that rare person who wanted a marshmallow, yet knew enough not to accept one. I come from an environment and thinking that you need to give before you get. I didn't accept a marshmallow for a very long time and it was worth the wait.

Follow up:

Everyone who got a marshmallow much sooner than me, simply wishes they did not.

 

[Rich One]

I wouldn't go that far. But there is a fundamental problem with language teaching, and it is one that I don't believe has been studied or acknowledged and certainly doesn't form part of the curriculum in foreign language teaching MAs. It is not confined to English language teaching. It is this:

What other discipline can one teach when one has not gone through the explicit learning process oneself? We all learn our native language before we are even conscious of who we are. Nobody teaches it to us. And we never consciously learn it. So, when we try to teach it to someone else, we are trying to help someone master an intellectual discipline that we ourselves never had to consciously master.

If we are a maths teacher, we explicitly learned maths at one time in our life. We struggled through the intellectual process and we got there. If we are a science teacher, the same. Go through the list. On the other hand, teaching a language which is, for us, native, whether it be English or Spanish, or any other, we can only guess at what the student is going through. I have often wondered if there is any other teaching discipline where the same situation applies. I have yet to come up with one. It's really quite odd, when you think about it. Yes, explicit learning of English grammar is an academic discipline that we can consciously study and conquer after we learn to speak English naturally as a child. But, a basic TEFL or similar course doesn't teach us much formal English grammar and nor do equivalent teaching courses for other languages. And the dominant communicative language teaching philosophy we study in basic and masters level courses language teaching courses doesn't put much focus on the finer points of grammar.)

If I were looking for a language teacher to help me learn a new language, I would look for one who is a non-native speaker, i.e., someone who learned the language to a high enough level that she can help me, and who, therefore, went through exactly the same process I am setting out on, and who will know exactly why things don't make sense to me--because those same things didn't make to them when the first bumped up against them.

Not a popular view, and not one that many language teaching schools are interested in (they say the students want native speakers). But that is my opinion.

Well taken advanced teachers use a method that uses enacting of emotional experiences that involves voice and motion. From what you hear you retain some , what you see you retain more, from what you act out will always be with you..?

Some teaching methods go from object/ Image to written word to spoken word/sound.When you say Girl in your mind you see an image and a written word Other methods go from Image directly to sound?

Non native speakers can better comprehend the difficulties a beginner is going through and help him advance