If you know an ELIC teacher and follow them on social media, you’ll probably see them hiking in gorgeous mountains, riding elephants and camels, eating delicious local food, and exploring the famous sites in their city…tourist stuff.
But these teachers' experiences go way deeper! They live in these beautiful places long-term, speak the language, go to work, get together with friends, and keep up with all the mundane parts of normal life. Just like we do in our hometowns in North America, they know all the best spots for “touristy” activities—good restaurants, a local museum, or the best park or walking trail. They’ve got the local, insider perspective on their cities that a tourist can never match.
Here are five distinctions that set ELIC teachers apart from foreign tourists in their host countries:
Time
Tourists visit a place for a couple of weeks or months at most. They meet people and even make friends. They experience the culture from a surface level, learning to adapt in small ways to navigate the limited social situations that come up. All of this is valuable experience and cultural exposure. And then they go home. On vacation, they live out of a suitcase, stay in hotels, and almost exclusively eat out…all designed for a temporary stay.
Teachers live in their host countries full time. When they arrive, they find a house or apartment to rent, take tuk-tuks around town to buy furniture and appliances, and learn to cook with unfamiliar ingredients bought in stores with no English in sight. They develop weekly rhythms and build friendships with the intention of staying for a long time. Over months and years of daily life, they learn the city and its culture inside out.
Where tourists experience a culture and its people in broad strokes, teachers are a part of the painting, settling into the threads of the canvas over months and years.
Language
Some tourists know at least a little of the language when they visit a place. Maybe they took classes in high school or they have a friend who speaks well. Some may even be fluent. But most only learn a few phrases in preparation for a trip to help them ask directions, order food, and say hello.
Teachers, on the other hand, devote enormous energy to language study. They have tutors and take courses. Some study full time for up to two years, and many learn regional dialects so they can communicate in the native tongue of their friends and students. So much culture is bound up in language, and this helps teachers understand their communities more deeply.
Work
Generally speaking, tourists don’t work while they’re traveling. Vacation is about rest and exploration—a good and needed thing! Teachers, though, are invested in their vocational work in the classroom. Far from the carefree nature of a tourist trip, they bear the responsibility of supporting students in their education and partnering with local colleagues.
A teacher's social media is full of day-off exploration, but most of their life is full of lesson planning, teaching, running English clubs, and hosting colleagues and students.
Community
Real community happens wherever we call home. When people travel temporarily, they may make good acquaintances or individual friends; they may visit tight-knit local groups, but their communities remain in their passport countries.
Teachers are at home in their host countries, and they have close friendships built over years. They celebrate births and marriages and mourn deaths together with their local community. They see the needs of their friends and students and try to help. They receive care and encouragement from the people around them…they live in long-term, cross-cultural community.
Purpose
Tourists are looking for a chance to see the sights and taste the flavors of the world. They are fascinated by the beauty and diversity of the world, and they want to experience and appreciate other cultures. At the end of the day, they come to gain something as a consumer—and there’s nothing wrong with that! They stimulate local economies that rely on tourism, and their cultural awareness grows in ways that impact their lives and communities back home.
But teachers are overseas with a completely different purpose. Tourists consume, but teachers contribute. As native English speakers, they bring a unique resource that is valuable to local governments and school partners. English is a useful skill, equipping the next generation for success in a global economy. And teachers offer more than just language skills. They give great energy to learning and speaking a new language. They give invitations into their homes. They give attention and care to students in need of a listening ear.
Teachers also gain so much from the community around them, but it’s different from the tourist experience. Local friends help teachers learn to navigate across a language/culture barrier; they host them in their homes and introduce them to the foods, traditions, and rhythms of their culture. A teacher’s life is purposefully building community in partnership with their local friends, colleagues, and students.
All those picture-perfect adventures on social media are just one part of a much deeper story. Overseas teachers live full, grounded, connected, and purposeful lives in their host countries, and they share in the reciprocal work of building cross-cultural community. That beats a vacation any day.
