Job Discussion Forums

[umzakaria]

I tried for many months to get an ESL teaching position in the ME,particularly the UAE.As a former research scientist with a little teaching experience and a TEFL cert I had a few offers but the main offers were as a science teacher.I suggest anyone with similar credentials send out as many speculative cvs as possible to all the suitable schools you can find in the country(ies) of choice.Schools who have vacancies to fill are desperate to hire now as time is running out,there are still jobs available but you have to work hard and take your job searching seriously;try Gulf News (be prepared to phone),TES,Joy Jobs and anything else you can find (Hays recruitment has a lot of last minute ME jobs).I have done all my job seeking from the Uk;I have unusual circumstances (ie a very large family) so if you are single or have a small family you should find it easier;mostly I had to turn jobs down/schools lost interest because the wages would not cover our living expenses or they didn't/couldnt offer us suitable accommodation.I hope this helps.

[Afra]

Few schools in the UAE need EFL/ESL teachers, and I presume you are using 'schools' in the British sense. Higher education requires a Masters in Applied Linguistics or TESOL and considerable teaching experience. If you have a PGCE to teach the sciences, then you could possibly get a good offer from one of the English curriculum schools, although they usually want experience of teaching GCSE or A level or the IB.
With a large family, paying for education and finding appropriate and affordable accommodation would be a huge problem in the UAE, whatever package you were offered.