Job Discussion Forums

[Riverjack]

Hello ya'll - this forum is excellent and I've been reading through posts for the last several days. I thought I'd throw out there for some advice based on my position.

I am a graduating senior this May with a BA in music interested in pursing TEFL as a career, but not 100% sold on the idea. I want to go to grad school, but I was holding out for a JET interview which I didn't get, so now I'm a little late for grad school financial aid applications. I kinda wanted to take a year off, anyway.
Last summer I went to Hangzhou, China and worked for a month as a English teacher at Zhejiang Gongshang University. It was a _great_ experience with a wonderful boss. I taught large classes of 50 students for three hour blocks of time; one class in the morning from 8 to 11 and another class in the afternoon from 1:30 - 4:30. Then all the other American teachers would have a Chinese lesson for an hour and we'd be free until the next day. I've also been a conversation partner for my university's ESL program and taught conversation 5 hours a week during the semester.
I want to go overseas and teach for a year in Asia in either China, Japan, or Taiwan starting this fall and ending at the end of the summer (or the beginning of the summer). I'm interested in testing the waters for a longer period of time to see if this is really a viable career. I think it will be. I'll use the time to improve my Chinese or Japanese, gain valuable teaching experience, and fill out grad school applications.

I've heard a lot of negatives about chain schools here on the forums, but the impression I get from the research I've done on their sites is that they may be the best option for my situation.

I want a school who will pay my airfare, provide housing or an allowance, curriculum, and decent hours. I'd like to come out of this with a profit, but it doesn't need to be a huge one. It would be important to me that I work with other english speaking teachers since I doubt I'll have a lot of time to build the long term relationships important to Asians. The impression I get is that visa paperwork is the biggest hassle ever and I'd rather not deal with it. I don't mind working hard and I understand that I'm not coming for a vacation. At the same time, I don't want to be taken advantage of and I want to be paid what I'm worth (and it's okay to tell me that without experience I'm not worth much .

I am a little skeptical about late afternoon and evening work hours as this seems weird (I've always had daytime jobs) but I think I could adjust if I had to. I'm a very optimistic and accepting person who deals well with an unfamiliar culture. If my boss has even an small brain I'll get along fine at whatever school.

If there's other, better than chain school, stuff out there, I'm having trouble finding it. Should I take the chain for a year or not? If not, what's the best way to get in touch with the "better" jobs? I'm not going to just show up on the shores of the East with no job, so it needs to be lined up before I leave.

Thanks for reading this far - more info if needed - let me know,

Jesse

[ls650]

[Riverjack]

Actually, that's a great question. I only taught with them for a month during the summer and I'm looking to teach for a year this time. They may have some options for that, though, so I'll check into it. However, I was interested in seeing a new part of the country this time...I explored the Hangzhou area pretty extensively while I was there and I'd rather be someplace new. Is that a good enough reason for the hassle of finding a new place?[/quote]

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

Just curious- have you contacted your Japanese consulate to see why you didn't get an interview? If you wanted to, you could work on the areas that they saw as lacking and then reapply for the following year. It might just be taking a course or two in Japanese language or Teaching ESL or Japanese related hobbies (joining a karate or judo dojo for the year might fill this requirement- and it would give you something to do while you were here). It might also be something as simple as not having put the papers in the right order in the application package or having an SOP with a spelling/grammar error in it.

For Japan, I think you need to know someone (or someone who knows someone- sometimes TESOL certificate providers know people) in order to get in someplace other than the big chain conversation schools (or JET) if you are staying in your country.

ETA

OH! you can also look into ALT dispatch companies, like Interac.