Job Discussion Forums

[Capergirl]

What part of Canada do you call "home"?

You don't need an MA or PhD here...yet. That will change, though. I have my BA (English), TESL cert., and experience teaching in Korea and Taiwan. I'm planning to start my MA (TESOL) next year.

[Lynn]

Wow! Finally this forum is getting some action! I have a BA:Asian Studies-Japan and an TESL Certificate. There are quite a few ESL school here; however it is hard to get full-time. I teach for 7 hours at one school, and 7 hours at another. One school only pays $12 an hour! Can you believe it? I've been desperately trying to get non-teaching work, but not get anything. I speak Japanese, so I apply for Japanese jobs; however since I can only read about 1000 kanji, I'm not qualified for anything.

I check out this board because it does give me a sense of community. Many of my co-workers have not been abroad or if they have, it was like 20 years ago.

[Gordon]

Lynn said,

[Lynn]

[Corey]

Home was/is SW Ontario. U of Toronto for four years and then various places. Here in CR I live in Heredia near the universities - nice city, good climate "relatively" safe.

Lynn - you are never too late.

Corey

[Lynn]

[Gordon]

I don't think your brain can't learn new things, but it does get more difficult as you get older.

1,000 kanji, I am impressed!!!

[jg]

I too am glad to see a little action picking up here. Yeah Norte Americanos!!!!!


I am now teaching in China, but before I taught in Washington D.C. and Chicago. It was quite difficult to find work in Chicago - the industry is woefully underdeveloped - and the position I did eventually find was a dream job that fell into my lap by accident. Not ever, ever likely to happen again, sadly. In D.C. I worked for a local chain that was sort of shaky. Low pay, high turnover (especially in management) and many of the "teachers" were just looking for extra cash to supplement whatever else they had going on. I mean, 13 or 14 dollars an hour in D.C., and meager benefits? We even took a pay cut once! What a joke! Its no wonder the school districts employ most of the "serious" teachers. Buttered-bread for every meal is not appetizing...

ESL in the states is still not much of a profession - the teachers who do it at the grade/h.s. level seem to see it as another public school speciality, like special ed or history. I spent a short time teaching at a public jr. high in Virginia, and the few serious ESL'ers were youngsters who had been abroad and got the jones, then decided to come home. More and more that will happen, and hopefully the industry will develop. It seems ridiculous that Chicago, with its huge Polish, Korean, Chinese, etc populations doesn't haven't language schools popping up left and right. Amazingly, Chicago seems to be typical for American big cities with large immigrant populations. Correct me if I am wrong, but apart from NY, and a few cosmopolitan coastal cities, is there much really? I believe that the US ought to support a much, much bigger private ESL industry...

I am leaving here in several months, with designs on Los Angeles. I plan on teaching/studying there, but I know it won't be easy to find lucrative work. Thank God I am getting rich here in China, haha...

Capergirl, Whats this about teaching at a uni in Canada without an advanced degree? Are you sure you aren't teaching in Heaven? Goodness that sounds great... perhaps I should sneak across the border. I can fake a love of hockey!

[Gordon]

jg,
The ESL industry does sound depressing in the U.S. I guess the gov'ts don't want to spend money on improving the level of English for its immigrants. Canada is not as bad, but it is getting worse as the gov't tries to cut educational budgets. I had a dream job at a community college ($55/hr) in Canada until the provincial gov't cut its budget by 1/3. There were over 300 f/t ESL instructors at the time and they laid off 90 of us.

Judging from your post, I'd say ESL teaching in Canada has a better reputation and is more widespread. It may be because we have a higher proportion of new immigrants.

I don't think it is looking brighter in America either as immigration and student visas are getting more restrictive. Most students who want to study in N.A. for a couple of months are giving the U.S. a pass because of the difficulty in acquiring visas and the higher dollar.

Here in Japan the economy is even worse, but there is always a need to learn English.

[Capergirl]

[Gordon]

Capergirl, what MA programs interest you?
I have been searching for the better part of a year, but no distance program stands out?
I was accepted into the MEd at Macquarie, but they screwed around so long with my application that it was too late and then they rescinded my application for this past summer. Now I'm so cheesed off at them and their lack of professionalism that I'll never study with them.

[Capergirl]

There were a couple of programs at UK institutions that seemed pretty good, although to be honest I forget which ones offhand. I'd have to go searching again to get the names. I remember that one program did stand out and there was a requirement to attend the university for one month out of the 2 years (in England somewhere). That isn't outside the realm of possibility for me since my daughter's father is living near London. We may end up living there as well at some point. Anyway, I would like to do the MA entirely by distance if possible because I simply don't know where I'm going to be the next few years. If you hear of any good ones, Gordon, let me know. Wolf has just started his MA and I think it's also through a UK institution (Surrey?)...he seems happy with it.

[Lynn]

[denise]

Lynn--

Which school are you looking into? I got my TESOL MA at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. They've got a translation & interpretation program there. It's a pretty uncommon field--there aren't too many schools out there that offer it.

d

[Lynn]

Bingo!