Okay, this will not be one of my usual profiles because I’m writing this during my 10 minute break. I am attending a reasonably interesting workshop on second language acquisition through task-based language teaching (translation: What’s the best way to teach kids a second language?). The workshop is actually for teachers, but I like to drop in on free seminars whenever I can, even if I don’t really get the material. I’ve learned some pretty interesting stuff by sneaking into conference and convention seminars and training sessions. Mostly, I’ve learned that a lot of people are willing to pay for a lot of bull hockey in order to get away from the office, the family or their real lives.
Anyway, back to this. The seminar is being led by a linguistics professor I’ve never heard of from a university I’ve never heard of (though the other participants seem to think he rocks). He is basically telling teachers about research around the best ways to help kids learn a second language. Surprisingly, he is telling them something I already knew: “Kids learn by doing things they actually care about…and repetitive grammar and vocabulary drills are not that effective” (paraphrasing, of course).
Based on the bits he’s shared about his work, I’ve figured out that he has a lot of time to write articles on research studies completed by other people, and that he enjoys a very rich social and professional life–engaging in stimulating debates on the effectiveness of various teaching methods, being a tenured professor with lots of time to teach and publish, traveling the world to facilitate these lovely events, translating a bunch of needlessly complicated theories into stuff teachers can actually use in the classroom.
I did a quick check and found that linguistics professors earn nearly $80,000 per year, on average. And, that those who are published and well-respected, and work at larger private universities can earn even more. An entry-level linguistics instructor earns around $37,000 and a new assistant professor earns $47,000 on average.
Not bad. Anyway, I have to get back. If you want to know more about “task-based language teaching”, check out this book. Sorry, it doesn’t come with a translator. But, it does give you a glimpse of what you might be doing, or at least writing about, if you decide to become a linguistics professor.
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