Job Discussion Forums

[adcameron]

Hi everyone,

I browsed a few of the ME threads, but wanted to present my own situation to y'all as well. Here goes: I'm 26, have a BA in Middle Eastern Studies, and I have two years' experience working as a refugee caseworker at a nonprofit in Los Angeles and some informal teaching experience (I've taught ESL/American culture/citizenship classes to refugees at work). I'm thinking of leaving sometime near the end of the summer or possibly in the fall to do some traveling while I apply to grad school for fall '13, and since I can't go to Iran, I figured I'd go somewhere to improve my Arabic. My Arabic is intermediate, but would probably improve quickly with just a few weeks over there.

I've been considering Jordan or Lebanon, but based on what I've been reading on here, job opportunities for someone with my profile would be slim. I've also considered Dubai because of the almost half a million Iranian expats there (my Persian has gotten pretty good because of my job and I don't want to lose it), but just from what I know about Dubai, I'm sure it's the same story.

Right now I'm looking at a few certification options in LA. One is LCCTeach, which offers a 100-hour in-class TESL certification, although I'm dreading spending five weekends in a row in class

All of this being said, I don't mind breaking even or even having to dip into a bit of savings to last a while over there (as a single guy, I've been able to save a decent amount, even living in Los Angeles). Let me know what y'all think about all this. Thanks!

[nomad soul]

Check for teaching opportunities with AMIDEAST (http://www.amideast.org/).