Job Discussion Forums

[kenkannif]

[wuzza]

Hi James,
just wondering which univeristy in Korea you are teaching at?
I'm also at a Uni here, and was told I could get a pay raise with an MA Tesol, but only from "western" universities.

I think I am going to go for the distance one from Canberra. It involves two trips to Vietnam for intensive teaching, and the rest is done by distance, and y my university have given me the go-ahead.

[traduttor]

Hi everyone,

I have just returned from a one-year attendance (two semesters) at Payap Univ. in the MA/TESOL program. I am a native Californian and a credentialed high school ESL teacher; I went to Chiang Mai on a one-year fellowship (thanks to the Rotary Foundation, which is a fantastic organization for such intl. opportunities!). My experience at Payap was very rewarding and quite challenging.

It is hard to say how the MA degree from there would be received by a potential employer --- his/her reaction would depend on a myriad of factors, personal, cultural, and otherwise. I am not facing such an experience because I am back in the US and planning to finish my MA here. Nevertheless, I was more than happy with my learning experience and the general student-teacher environment at Payap; I did my undergraduate degrees at UC Berkeley and also spent a year studying in a well-respected Italian university (Univ. di Padova), so I can compare with those institutions.

Like a previous poster (magershey) describes, the student services like library and Internet labs are not as extensive as they could be in terms of hours, speed, etc........but I am not sure these are much better at other Thai universities, or other universities in Asia for that matter. For me, the better aspects of my Payap experience were the diversity of our MA student group (quite a range in age, nationality, and past/future academic and teaching experiences) and its size --- twelve to fifteen colleagues entered the program when I did, and they ranged from Chinese university teachers to a PhD from Princeton. I also think this ratio provides for a high degree of communication and collaboration with the three full-time professors in the TESOL Dept., whose experience and perspectives I found diverse, educational, and worthy of respect.

I had never lived or traveled in Asia before, so my view may be fairly limited. In any case, I would encourage prospective attendees at Payap to find out more about the program directly and not underestimate the academic challenge there. I think the Payap program is (like most others) what you make of it, though again I knew I was going to be there only two semesters and not involved in a third semester thesis or project (like magershey who posted before me).

Best of luck to any and all who head to Chiang Mai and Payap University.

[haltes]

The quality of courses from institutions in Asia does vary greatly but there is not reason why they shouldn't be accepted.

I did my M.ed at a university in Asia and for me the proof of the pudding is in what I learnt and what I can show employers I know in the field of education.

Thai students have no problems doing Masters degrees in the west after doing a BA in their own country!

If you can try to talk to some of the current students to get a feel of how the course is, have a good look at the curriculum, and try to talk to some of the professors to find out what they are like.

Lastly good luck with your decision and bear in mind that certain universities like ABAC are getting lots and lots of foreign students to study there and even places like Chula are starting to consider offering courses and instruction in English!