Job Discussion Forums

[nomad soul]

[dragonpiwo]

That's funny because our training model is based on experience, exposure and education, which is a mix of your 'training' and your 'teaching' definitions. The overlap is considerable.

To be an English teacher, a CELTA, a brain, some personality and 5 years experience is all anyone needs to be 'good'.

The OP is talking about getting out of TEFL. That requires courses /vocational qualifications /certification. I never suggested otherwise.

However, I have consistently suggested an Ma in Applied Linguistics is about as useful as a pork sauasage at a bar mitzvah.

[nomad soul]

[dragonpiwo]

That may be why so many of the e-learning/blended learning prgrammes don't work and why so many of the technical materials are appalling.

[nomad soul]

[In the heat of the moment]

[Yanklonigan]

I couldn't agree more with your post, In the Heat of the Moment. From my own experiences and observations, we're quickly branded with an occupation. It's even very difficult to make the jump from middle school teaching to community college teaching to university teaching. It isn't impossible, but very improvable.

Perhaps there still exist jobs out there that require a check in a box for education and calls for certain skills that a teacher would have developed during their teaching days: presentation & writing skills, organizational & leadership skills and so on. Maybe in the sectors of public relations, sales and a few other places.

I think age, appearances and personality could factor in.

[Yanklonigan]

Life after English Teaching does exist. There are millions of job openings in the world. All you need is one job. Having your boots on the ground and a resume in hand is the start.

[Vince]

One option is to branch out to another area within education. You could get into curriculum development, school administration, etc. Both would require a masters if you want to be well placed, but it might be worth it to maintain that basic career continuity.

If you want to get out of education entirely, I'd second the recommendation for IT. You can do certifications via self-study for much less than a masters would cost. In fact, I've read that degrees in IT aren't that important, and that certifications along with a bachelors in a humanity are regarded highly. Of course, that varies from place to place. Cutting edge IT businesses are probably more likely to prefer a degree in IT or other STEM field, but those places are hardly the only avenue into IT. You aren't at the age where it becomes an issue when trying to start a career in a new field - but don't dawdle, because that age will be upon you before you know it.

[yurii]

[Kalkstein]

[voyagerksa]

Id strongly avoid pursuing degrees that are TEFL related the jobs r shifting to China, in general chinese are quiet appreciative of subject matter degrees their is plenty of chinese that need to be taught english for subject matters.

[Vince]