Job Discussion Forums

[Concepcion780]

Hello all,

I have been reading these forums for a while, and they are a pretty remarkable wealth of information, so first of all, thank you to everyone who has contributed here.

I really want to teach English as a foreign language (I am particularly interested in working in Latin America or Europe, but I am open to other places as well). I am not quite sure how I should go about getting to where I want to be. This is some basic information about me:

I am 29, female, a US resident and citizen and an EU passport-holder.

I have a BA, not in education or English.

I have sole legal custody of my five year old daughter (also a US citizen, she is eligible for dual citizenship too, so I am working on that process).

I have no K-12 classroom teaching experience, but I have had some other types of experience in educational settings (children�s librarian, life skills instructor, daycare teacher, and I currently work as a one-on-one aide in an elementary school). I realize, of course, that none of these experiences remotely qualify me to be a teacher, but I think they have given me enough of an idea about teaching to know that it is something I would like to pursue as a career. I also love the idea of teaching at the university level, nothing to back up that claim though. I am also really interested in language and language acquisition.

At this point in my life I am really not able to work odd hours and/or live off of 1000 Euros a month (in actual currency- I realize that in some countries with lower costs of living the equivalent of that may go much further).

I am seriously considering pursuing an MA in TESOL as my initial qualification. If I do it in the states, I would probably choose a program that would allow me to become a certified teacher. I would love to find a program which offers graduate assistantships, and if anyone has any advice on how to locate schools offering that type of program, I would greatly appreciate it.

Would this be a sensible training level to begin a TEFL career with in my situation? Also (and I am asking this, and soliciting honest opinions here, but tact would be appreciated) am I crazy to think that I can move to another country with a kid like this? I do realize that it would be difficult, of course.

Thanks in advance for any feedback and ideas.

[denise]

You're not crazy, but I'd say that your daughter's schooling would be the biggest consideration/hurdle. You could try aiming for regions in which international schools are affordable on an English teacher's salary and in which you have a chance of working "normal" school hours, i.e., not split shifts. I'm thinking in particular of the Gulf. The better jobs will require an MA plus experience (often post-MA experience).

I'm not a mom myself but do know of single moms raising daughters over there. Difficult, but doable.

d

[tttompatz]

At this point in time, consideration of a MATESOL is premature. It is expensive, time consuming and you don't know if you actually want to make a career out of it.

You would be better off getting a decent TESOL certification (CELTA, SIT (since you are in the states), or one of the others with 120+ hours and a minimum of a 6 hour practicum).

That, coupled with your degree and dual passports pretty much opens up the entire planet to you in terms of the where you can work.

As you may have noted from many posters here (I have no personal experience to relate) the job situation in Europe is far from well paid.
The job situation in Asia is much better both in terms of job availability and remuneration and remuneration packages often include housing and airfare (or airfare allowance/reimbursement).

The idea of moving abroad with your daughter is certainly do-able (lord knows that may of us have done it / are doing it).

Schooling for your daughter is an issue but not one that is insurmountable and does not need to be cost prohibitive. As an option to the "international schools" there are lots of decent bilingual or "English program" schools that would be happy to have her and cost are about 10% of what you would pay in an international school.

If you are actually working at the school (often you can find schools that offer K-12 beside or on the same campus as a college or university) your daughter would probably receive a significant tuition discount or even be free (we pay $300 per year for our daughter in a bilingual program and that includes extra curricular activities and daily lunch).

The ADVANTAGES of being an expat kid far outweigh the difficulties encountered as an expat (speaking from experience as an expat kid and as an expat parent).

.

[Concepcion780]

Yes, my daughter's education definitely is one of my biggest concerns. She is in her first year of formal schooling right now (a whole two weeks of kindergarten) and I think she could adapt to many different educational environments at this point. I also would really like her to be able to learn at least one language in addition to english.
I didn't think to mention it, but one of the reasons europe appeals to me is that we could live there for five years before she starts university, so that she has (hopefully) the opportunity to get a degree without being buried in debt. But I would probably have to commit to a particular country or at least a particular country's educational system even earlier, so that she would have the same academic preparation as her peers.
That is a very good idea, to look into the relative prices of international schools in various regions. Even if I don't choose to send her to an international school, it definitely makes sense to live somewhere where that could at least be an option.

[Concepcion780]

"The ADVANTAGES of being an expat kid far outweigh the difficulties encountered as an expat (speaking from experience as an expat kid and as an expat parent)."

Yes, this is kind of what I was thinking.

No shade to the US, but even just with having the 2 passports, we really have a lot of options in terms of where we can legally live and work (not that my kid can legally work anywhere) and I kind of feel like it's like someone gave us a free dinner anywhere we want and we picked McDonalds.

[naturegirl321]

If you have a daughter to support, going the intl school route might be the best since schooling is often provided free or is heavily discounted. Working at a language school or univerisity in Latin American often pays much less and you can forget about free schooling.

Getting a PGCE or becoming a licensed teacher might help more than an MA in TESOL. BUt if you go the MA route, try to find somehting that will allow you to teach a subject other than TEFL, like math, science, or at the primary level.

While there are SOME universities out there that will allow you to support your daughter, more intl schools will.

[Guy Courchesne]

I'll second naturegirl regarding Latin America and add, as tttompatz that just under international schools (the majority of which will want to see more experience than you have), there are quite a few good bilingual schools that you can look at for work and free or subsidized education for your daughter. She's at an age where the tuition will not be a heavy burden.

If you play your cards right and land at the right school, you may find that you'll get help with obtaining a master's. It's not common but does happen.

[Concepcion780]

Thanks everybody!
This is really giving me some great ideas. I hadn't even thought about bilingual schools, but I would strongly prefer for my daughter to go to a bilingual school than a school where english is the sole language of instruction. I will have to look into what kinds of qualifications I'd need to teach in a bilingual school.
Generally, do those kind of schools require elementary/secondary subject certification or TEFL qualifications?

[naturegirl321]

[Concepcion780]

I just wanted to update this, and let everyone who responded know that I really appreciated all of the advice, and I am actually teaching at a bilingual school in Latin America now. It's not something I could or would want to do forever, and there have definitely been challenges, but I am really glad we did this.

[Ariadne]

Thanks for the update. I like it when folks come back to tell us what happened.

.

[naturegirl321]

[Prof.Gringo]