Image: sunnyUK
Too righty there is...
Compared to my experience in an EFL setting in Asia (spanning a decade), here's what I've noticed is rather starkly different about teaching ESL in my home country of Australia:
Motivation
Spades of it here, pouring out of the learners' eyes. They bring it to the classroom with them as opposed to coming to the classroom waiting for somebody to find and kindle it within them.
Work Ethic
My ESL learners are, generally speaking, almost all willing to work their butts off to improve their English. I don't really need to set homework. The learners set it for themselves, based on what we've done in class.
Respect
For the teacher and for each other. It feels a lot more genuine here, as opposed to my EFL experiences, where there might be surface level respect and consideration but not a lot of genuine substance to it.
Stakes
In the EFL settings I worked in, it was usually all about helping people pass tests to get into more prestigious schools, gain entry to a particular university or get a promotion at work. In the ESL context, those factors are intrinsic to better English language ability, but the stakes also include one's basic ability to function and create relationships in general society. The stakes involved are deeper and wider for ESL learners.
Immediacy
Right here, right now. Listen to the Fat Boy Slim tune below of the same name. The pulse and rhythm, noise and background harmony (sometimes verging on or sliding into a cacophony) is a pretty good audio-visual (I think the video clip has some resonance as well, in its fast forward evolution theme) representation to me of what ESL is like.
=D
