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nwtefl
Joined: 20 May 2015
Posts: 148
Location: England
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 Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 12:43 pm Post subject: Professional Memberships - preferences? |
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Hi
Out of interest, which professional bodies or memberships do people have that they would recommend ? IATELF ? TESOL.org ? Others? |
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suphanburi
Joined: 20 Mar 2014
Posts: 916
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| Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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Your local TEFL/TESOL chapter is usually affiliated with one or both of the two mentioned above and is usually a good option.
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esl_prof
Joined: 30 Nov 2013
Posts: 2006
Location: peyi kote solèy frèt
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| Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 2:04 pm Post subject: |
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| suphanburi wrote: |
| Your local TEFL/TESOL chapter is usually affiliated with one or both of the two mentioned above and is usually a good option. |
This.
Join your local affiliate first. After you've been involved awhile, you can decide whether it's worth your money to join up at the national/international level. |
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nwtefl
Joined: 20 May 2015
Posts: 148
Location: England
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| Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 6:50 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not particulary bothered about a local branch etc as I'm not looking to actually get involved, more that some are more useful professionally than others. TESOL.org appears to be more U.S. based due to their jobs being primarily in the U.S., so there is little point joining them. ITATEFL seems to have a wide focus, which is better.
However, are there other organisations ? |
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suphanburi
Joined: 20 Mar 2014
Posts: 916
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| Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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Local affiliates are not simply local branches of the 2 you mentioned.
They are fully independent, usually country or region specific organizations who are probably also affiliated with 2 or 3 larger umbrella organizations.
ASIATEFL, KOTESOL, ThaiTESOL, JALT, CAMTESOL, PELLTA, FEELTA, & PALT are Asia based examples or regional or country organizations.
Pick a corner of the planet and work from there.
Alternatively, if you are looking at networking then attending or presenting at conferences in the specific field(s) you are interested in is also an option. Get involved with others doing work and/or research in the field.
If you are just looking for something to put on a resume then save your money. Employers at the entry level won't know and don't care and the membership fees in the big umbrella organizations, if you don't want to get involved, are more than their worth on your resume.
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buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 12:53 am Post subject: |
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| suphanburi wrote: |
| Pick a corner of the planet and work from there. |
Love this. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 3:40 am Post subject: |
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| nwtefl wrote: |
I'm not particulary bothered about a local branch etc as I'm not looking to actually get involved, more that some are more useful professionally than others. TESOL.org appears to be more U.S. based due to their jobs being primarily in the U.S., so there is little point joining them. ITATEFL seems to have a wide focus, which is better.
However, are there other organisations ? |
Ditto what others have posted. For example, I joined my local state affiliate in the US when I was still completing my MAT. I subsequently joined TESOL International and then TESOL Arabia (my first teaching job was in the Middle East).
Frankly, if your main interest is in jobs, you don't need to be a member to attend any of these organizations' yearly job fairs. Additionally, jobs are posted as needed according to recruiting/hiring seasons. For example, if there aren't any positions listed for certain countries, it's likely because their recruitment for the year has ended. Or, some employers tend to post their job openings on just one TEFL association's job board. You'll have to widen your Internet searches to cover all bases. |
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esl_prof
Joined: 30 Nov 2013
Posts: 2006
Location: peyi kote solèy frèt
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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| suphanburi wrote: |
| If you are just looking for something to put on a resume then save your money. Employers at the entry level won't know and don't care and the membership fees in the big umbrella organizations, if you don't want to get involved, are more than their worth on your resume. |
Precisely. The value of having a professional association on your resume is being able to show that you have given presentations or workshops, organized panel discussions, served on a board or committee, been a reader for presentation proposals, etc. Typically, that starts by joining your local affiliate, many of which are short handed and happy to have your help, and, over time, networking your way into the larger umbrella organizations. Obviously, experience like that doesn't mean much for entry-level work but, by the time you acquire a bit of it, it would be of value in moving up to higher-level positions. |
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mmcmorrow
Joined: 30 Sep 2007
Posts: 143
Location: New Zealand
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| Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 10:10 am Post subject: |
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Yes, as other people have said, you don't need to be a TESOL member to access the jobs centre - it's here. You can also access some of the content on the website as a non-member. The same goes for IATEFL - you can join in the online debates by the various special interest groups without being a member. I've been taking part in an online discussion on teacher research in the IATEFL Research SIG (I put up the details in another posting) - there are several fairly well-known people in the field taking part, such as Anne Burns, Judith Hanks and Simon Borg. All free.
As others have also mentioned, it's worth joining your local TEFL association (or the one in the region you are planning to go to next) as well as either or both of TESOL and IATEFL. Here in New Zealand, for instance, we have a national association and local branches. Every three months, our local branch organises a get-together with some workshops and snacks. They also distribute job notices. I imagine it's the same in most places.
Martin McMorrow, Massey University, New Zealand |
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Action packed
Joined: 28 May 2015
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 1:27 am Post subject: |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
| nwtefl wrote: |
I'm not particulary bothered about a local branch etc as I'm not looking to actually get involved, more that some are more useful professionally than others. TESOL.org appears to be more U.S. based due to their jobs being primarily in the U.S., so there is little point joining them. ITATEFL seems to have a wide focus, which is better.
However, are there other organisations ? |
Ditto what others have posted. For example, I joined my local state affiliate in the US when I was still completing my MAT. I subsequently joined TESOL International and then TESOL Arabia (my first teaching job was in the Middle East).
Frankly, if your main interest is in jobs, you don't need to be a member to attend any of these organizations' yearly job fairs. Additionally, jobs are posted as needed according to recruiting/hiring seasons. For example, if there aren't any positions listed for certain countries, it's likely because their recruitment for the year has ended. Or, some employers tend to post their job openings on just one TEFL association's job board. You'll have to widen your Internet searches to cover all bases. |
Don't Middle East teaching jobs require at least a couple of years of experience? |
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suphanburi
Joined: 20 Mar 2014
Posts: 916
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 1:53 am Post subject: |
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| Action packed wrote: |
| Don't Middle East teaching jobs require at least a couple of years of experience? |
There is "now" and there was "then".
They are NOT the same.
<edited in>
20 years ago, a bachelors degree + CELTA would put you pretty much on the top of the short list pile in the EFL world. You were competing against people with a high school completion certificate and MAYBE a generic TEFL cert.
Now, that BA+CELTA is barely entry level for most of the planet. You will find work but there is certainly a glass ceiling.
The days of high school grads with 120 hour TEFL certs working their way around the planet as English Teachers have pretty much gone the way of the Dodo bird.
A B.Ed + teaching licensure (PCGE+QTS) PLUS experience
OR
A related MA/M.Ed's, are what you need to get beyond the glass ceiling of entry level EFL on most of the planet.
.
Last edited by suphanburi on Mon Jun 15, 2015 3:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 3:15 am Post subject: |
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| suphanburi wrote: |
| Action packed wrote: |
| nomad soul wrote: |
| I joined my local state affiliate in the US when I was still completing my MAT. I subsequently joined TESOL International and then TESOL Arabia (my first teaching job was in the Middle East). |
Don't Middle East teaching jobs require at least a couple of years of experience? |
There is "now" and there was "then".
They are NOT the same.. |
Suphanburi is correct; I wasn't referring to just yesterday. Plus, I'd briefly lived in the region before even contemplating a career change to teaching a few years later. |
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