Job Discussion Forums

JoThomas · Joined: 08 Jan 2017 Posts: 148 Location: Canada

^Cool

! I believe that how many EAL teachers are hired or if a school hires EAL teachers at all, depends on the school to an extent. Some schools hire one for every grade and smaller schools may only hire three or four. Also, many of the top tiered schools now hire Learning Support teachers to help with EAL learners as well as special needs children.

Baggio · Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 48

JoThomas · Joined: 08 Jan 2017 Posts: 148 Location: Canada

@Baggio, I don't know how much they make, sorry. I know people in Germany, Switzerland and Italy who are working in international schools. They teach in elementary school, so kindergarten to grade 5. They got their jobs at the Search Associates job fair in London.

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

1st Sgt Welsh · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:48 am Post subject:

JoThomas · Joined: 08 Jan 2017 Posts: 148 Location: Canada

^^Great advice, nomadsoul!

@1st Sgt Welsh: That is what I said in another post on this thread. I don't know how much my ex-colleagues make, but I have heard from them that it is hard to save money because of the cost of living. They also said they didn't care about that fact and just wanted to be in Europe. However, you have to look at the whole package including benefits and not just the pay per se. Some reading on the subject, not necessarily up to date.
http://www.joyjobs.com/resources/salaries.htm

1st Sgt Welsh · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:53 am Post subject:

JoThomas · Joined: 08 Jan 2017 Posts: 148 Location: Canada

Baggio · Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 48

Thanks for the links Smile

kev20 · Joined: 31 Jul 2013 Posts: 114

I could say that in hindsight I should have completed the BEd before coming to Asia. Most International schools I've seen in China pay three times the TEFL salary.

However, it's hugely unlikely with a BEd and two years under my belt at home I would be thinking of coming to Asia.

At that time I had no interest in teaching. I think the experience of TEFL has been a good starting point and I'd be much better suited now for undertaking the BEd and two years experience than I was when I graduated from University.

I won't be making that leap yet but it is something that is always in the back of my mind. I'd love to hear from someone who has done TEFL before returning home to become a fully qualified teacher.

Is having done TEFL a benefit at home in getting a teaching job and is it of any benefit in the western classroom?

mitsui · Joined: 10 Jun 2007 Posts: 1562 Location: Kawasaki

I got certified and plan on going back to the US.
I got certified in English and ESL, so I will see.
I don't know Spanish, and if I did, it would be easier to get a job.
It should not matter but it does in certain states.

natsume · Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 409 Location: Chongqing, China

Financially, k-12 both at home and abroad, makes very good sense. One just has to make sure that Western students, in my case high school age students, are the population that they really wish to/can work with. I dropped out of my credential/MA program in large part because I realized I'm not cut out for managing a typical American high school classroom. Not to say I don't like the age group, just not professionally. It's not that I really didn't know this deep down, I just hoped I could make a go of it. I'm sure there are very good schools with very good, well-behaved students and involved parents, but the dues paying slog years to (maybe) get to them were not worth it to me, at all.

I have a close friend who was a high school teacher at the time I was considering going into it and then beginning my program, and she was encouraging and helpful. When I finally decided to quit, she told me she was relieved. She had been biting her tongue, but she couldn't help thinking that it wasn't really my population. She just didn't want to say it.

(I got a reality check on this last summer, at the private ESL school I teach at occasionally which has a summer junior program. We had a group of Swiss high school students that were a real nightmare. The academic coordinator had not seen anything remotely like them in 7+ years. I only had to work with them for 4 weeks, but yeah, no thanks.)

getbehindthemule · Joined: 15 Oct 2015 Posts: 712 Location: Shanghai

I teach Science at primary level here in China. I really have investigated and thought long and hard about getting licensed over the past couple of years.
After my research, which included talking to quite a few teachers that work or have worked at International schools, I decided that it was not for me.
As much as I love teaching, the extra workload and stress involved = no thanks.
I came over here to escape that kind of thing so working in the public sector with a small bit of private work suits me just fine Smile

OhBudPowellWhereArtThou · Joined: 02 Jun 2015 Posts: 1168 Location: Since 2003

I wonder how long term expat American certified teachers maintain their licensure when the terms of licensure require that the teacher attend reqular classes to keep their knowledge and skills up-to-date.