Job Discussion Forums

laingh · Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Posts: 4

Would be grateful if anyone could give me any advice on finding kids teaching jobs. I just don't think there are ever many posted and was wondering where the best place to look for them is. Also, what kind of training do employers look for when finding teachers for children? A CELTA or TESOL certificate doesn't seem very appropriate/useful to me, but maybe someone could shed some light on this for me - thank you!
Confused

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Don't know about other countries, but Japan has a glut of jobs for teaching children.

What are your qualifications and nationality?

bnix · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 645

Glenski is right.In addition,there are LOTS(some people would say too many) schools catering to teaching kids in Taiwan and Korea.Are you sure you would want to go this route, though?Anyway,check out the Korea Jobs Offered Forum on Dave's Cafe and you will find a surfeit of job offers for teaching kids.Good luck...be sure you know what you are getting yourself into...notice I did not say there are lots of GOOD jobs...a lot of the private schools are rip-offs...pure and simple. Rolling Eyes

Selyer · Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Posts: 62 Location: Poland

I teach a transitional structured english immersion kindergarten in the US (Arizona, to be exact) and I've been teaching kids for 9 years. When I got my CELTA last summer, I was pleased to find that some of that training was, in fact, relevant to my current job--although much of it wasn't. If you don't already have some kind of TESOL certificate and your heart is set on teaching kids, you might want to look into getting a CELTYL.

Hope that's helpful. Smile

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Chinese kindergartens these days happily hire expats, males very welcome!
Lessons normally are 30 minutes, classes number 25 or more kids.
An assistant is often provided.
Take a few cues from Maria Montessori, and you have the whole kindergarten as a fan club!

Kent F. Kruhoeffer · Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Posts: 2129 Location: 中国

Dear Laingh Cool

If I had to choose just one country where the ratio of jobs for teaching kids is the highest, I'd have to go with Korea. In fact, I'd guess that over 90% of ALL job offers in Korea involve teaching kids. All ages, shapes and personalities. Laughing

These schools are almost always privately owned, and some are better than others, as you will learn by reading the Korean Job Discussion Forum. They are called 'hagwons' or 'hakwons' and you will find hundreds of such job offers on the Korean job-offered board.

Regarding qualifications: You'll need at least a BA degree from an accredited 4-year university. Additional certification is helpful but not mandatory for most EFL jobs in Korea; even the higher-paying ones.

The other point worth mentioning here is this: In Korea, with a job that pays roughly 2 million Won per month, you can actually save as much as 10K U.S. per year, depending on your lifestyle.

So, my advice is simple: Get thee to the Korean Forum ASAP Exclamation

Regards,
kENt

PS: AS others have already mentioned: Japan, Taiwan, China and Thailand also offer many options for teaching kids.

laingh · Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Posts: 4

Thanks for all the advice - very appreciated.

I guess I'd been looking in the wrong place. I'd been interested in teaching in europe, preferably eastern europe, but obviously most of the jobs teaching children are in Asia.

Maybe I'll have to look to teaching in Asia - but if anyone knows of any jobs in europe, then I'd love to know about them -thanks.

Kent F. Kruhoeffer · Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Posts: 2129 Location: 中国

Hi Laingh

You've raised a very good point. So...why are most of the EFL kids' jobs offered in Asia, while so few are offered in eastern Europe?

I have a theory on this, based on quite a few years on both continents. I'm generalising here a little, so please forgive me, but ... most moms and dads in eastern European countries would like to send their kids to the kinds of private language schools that would be interested in hiring us, but ... their lower wages prevent them from doing so.

In Asia, where the per-capita incomes are MUCH higher, moms and dads have that money. So ... don't give up hope, Laingh! Just be aware that you'll have far more options teaching kids in Asia.

Regards,
kENt

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Salaries of parents and what they can afford. How much can a family of two adults and two children in Bulgaria buy with the median family income of US$220 ? Of course they would like to send theiur kids to a kindergarten where they could learn a foreign language. But it is not realistic given the economics.

And we might want to remember that the next time we hear all the triumphalist cheers about "liberation from dictatorship".