Job Discussion Forums

[massivegeoff]

having read a couple of other posts i approach this question with some trepidation...

just been filling in the online application for HCT. i'v egotten to the bit about expected pay. personally i always hate these questions. i've always taken the view that the company should make you the offer and go from there, or just tell you up front so you know whether it's worth your time filling in the form. (i used to work for an oudoor company in the uk where they had some people walk out of the interview laughing when the fixed salary was finally mentioned!)

anyway...i have a BA(Hons) (in chinese and politics), a CELTA and just over 4 years experince, mostly teaching young learners in thailand. but i also have some experince teaching adults (military mostly) and some teacher training type stuff, all of which i'm going to play up. i also got a post grad dip in TESOL from Sheffield Hallam last year. (still haven't past the Trinity Dip, but that's next).

so, what should i put?

(don't worry about me not understanding how far the money will go. i've been to the emirates a few times and my dad works in RAK.)

[Afra]

HCT normally requires an MA in Applied Liguistics or TESOL and post-MA experience. This academic year, there have been some local hires without the MA but they have been adjuncts for some time.

[veiledsentiments]

With your limited credentials, you would be at the bottom of their scale, which I 'think' is around 8000 DH - at least that is the least I have heard admitted to... And, they may only consider you as an adjunct if you are applying in-country.

Personally I would leave it blank...

If you are serious about teaching in the Middle East, I suggest that instead of adding dips and certs, get an MA. This is required for all of the good paying jobs. For instance with HCT, the people they hire with low educational credentials like yours are people who have 10 or so years teaching academic English to Arabs.

Good Luck though.

VS

[massivegeoff]

well, i'm gonna take my limited qualifications and go teach some japanese primary school kids!

[massivegeoff]

i'd just like to say veiled that you have managed to be very helpful and yet somehow extremely rude at the same time. i realise that MA's are a dime a dozen out in the mid east, but a degree a CELTA and a diploma are hardly "limited". maybe you should have said "inadequate". maybe you should change the handle to "veiledinsult". (just kidding!! )

my mum keeps nagging me to get an MA. not really interested as not sure it would have any direct bearing on what i do in the classroom. although obviously it has a direct bearing on what happens in my bank account. i've only just, half, completed my diploma. i did a distance trinity dip through sheffield. it's half an MA. i haven't passed the Trinity diploma yet, but what i have passed counts as a sheffield diploma. apparently some places (where?) prefer a diploma from a university rather than an institute like trinity.

not sure i really want to go to the HCT for three years. kind of enjoying glove puppets and 9 year olds. your hand up a "koala" would probably be haram!

[veiledsentiments]

[well-travelled]

When did HCT become an organisation demanding an MA? Two years back there were plenty of people there with just BAs, including some of the 'managerial' staff. Has that changed since then?

well-travelled

[veiledsentiments]

They have some positions that require an MA and some that do not I understand. The tendency is probably to give first preference to the highest degree with the most relevent experience.

Someone with a BA + CELTA + good related experience has the chance to get hired at HCT that they would not have at most other ME universities. (ignoring KSA since it has always had different requirements)

VS

[SandyM]

Geoff, ignore some of these tiresome bleatings about an MA being superior to a Diploma. Your Diploma, which is issued by a UK University (or Trinity), I believe, should be fine - better than a lot of American MAs that have no teaching component to them.

In fact, I know that there are some HCT teachers who (a) have been hired with a Celta only, and (b) others have been hired on the strength of having an MA , and then done the RSA Dip afterwards!

Read into that whatever you will...

Sandy

[Bindair Dundat]

[veiledsentiments]

gotta admit BD is spot on with that one...

if you want to stay in academia, you have to pay the piper... get the credentials... or be smug and poor...

VS

[SandyM]

*****************

[SandyM]

BD and VS, your childish bickering is probably winning you lots of admirers, I'm sure. You both seem to have forgotten that the original dispute was over the credentials needed to get hired by HCT.

One of the above children made a rather smug comment about 'limited credentials', when in fact the Diploma (RSA, Trinity, University) is entirely acceptabe to HCT, as I pointed out. In some cases just the Celta is OK, too.

On the question of salary, which is another area entirely (weren't paying attention, were you, naughty little tykes!), there is a difference - about 200 bucks a month. This is hardly likely to make you 'poor' in comparison with your colleagues with a Masters, as I'm sure you are aware.

I do know the facts, after all...

Now, please pick your toys up before you leave - and stop sulking!!

[Bindair Dundat]

[veiledsentiments]