Teachers Wanted – Where?

by Jerry Waxman

It all began a couple days ago when I read a newspaper article that said there is a shortage of English teachers in Israel. The article said that three agencies, including the Ministry of Education, were cooperating on a project to train more people to teach English.

Telephone Receptionist

I wonder if there is a functioning Ministry of Education in Israel. Yesterday I phoned the head office and somebody answered the phone. But that doesn’t prove anything. No matter what question I had, the secretary had an arsenal of other telephone numbers to turn me to.

Just to experiment, I asked the secretary how she was today; “Ma nishma?” I heard her shuffle some papers as she asked, “Sorry, what was the question?” “Ma nishma?” “That information isn’t available to me. You’ll have to call the office of [inaudible] . Here is their number . . .” click . . .

I called the ministry again. It’s not everyday that someone answers a phone in this country – not in a government office. Sure enough, the secretary answered the phone again. Take advantage of a good thing when you can.”

I told her that I had read that there was a shortage of English teachers in Israel. Could she give me some idea of what schools in what towns were in need of an English teacher?

Talk of teachers and schools must have confused her. “Sorry, this is the Ministry of Education. You should try calling this number: _ _ _ “

I noticed it was the same telephone number she gave me when I asked her how she was. Before she hung up I quickly shot out another question; “Do they deal with English teachers?”

“You’ll have to talk with them.” the secretary said.

“Do they ever answer their phone?”

“I don’t know. But you have to understand, when they answer the phone it stops ringing.”

That made sense – - – I guess. “And which office is this?”

“You’ll have to talk with them about that.”

As I expected, nobody answered when I called. There wasn’t even the usual answering machine that might or might not take a message. However, after a dozen rings, there was a sudden pause, and then a voice saying my call was being transferred to another number.

The phone rang and rang. Then there was the familiar, “Click!” and “For Russian press 1, for French press 2, for Arabic press 3, for all other languages wait for the next available worker.

After waiting a couple minutes, some music started to play. Then a voice said, “We’re sorry, nobody is here to take your call. Good-bye.”

I wondered out loud, “Is anybody ever there to take a call?” Believe it or not I got a reply.

“You’re asking a machine?”

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Filed under: About Israel

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