Job Discussion Forums

[lynnknows]

Hello All,


I wanted to go back to school while I am overseas. I was wondering if it is ok to go to a school in say U.A.E or is it best to do the classes online from and American school.


If it is ok to take classes in U.A.E; what school would any of you recommend. If any of you think it is best to take the online classes can you recommend a school that will allow a person to take all their classes online.


Thanks in advance

[veiledsentiments]

I don't believe that there is any university in the UAE that offers an MA in TEFL or Linguistics for foreigners. (there is AUC in Egypt that has a long-time program)

There are many universities both American and others that offer online MAs. Sounds like a job for Google...

VS

[megs]

http://www.aus.edu/cas/matesol/index.php

The American University of Sharjah offers an MA in TESOL. I don't know much about it, but one of the students in the program observed my classes one day. And she was an American.

[grand fromage]

I believe you can do one from some Australian university through HCT. However, this is a brand new program so check carefully before parting with your money. Programs and even universities have a tendency to go bust here without warning

[veiledsentiments]

Hey GF... long time no see!!

Good advice to avoid places without much of a track record...

I'd check out whether AUS has all its certifications so that it is recognized if you ever decide to head back to the US.

VS

[younggeorge]

Somebody once put together a list of institutions offering online qualifications and, for a while, I think it was a sticky in the General Discussion forum. I've had a quick look and can't find it now, but a little patient use of the Search function might turn it up.

[grand fromage]

Thanks VS I've just been enjoying my post-MLI reality. It's interesting how little one has to say when there isn't anything to complain about

[Bindair Dundat]

[veiledsentiments]

Sorry for the thread hijack, lynnknows... great to hear that you ex-MLIers are recovering, but I guess we shouldn't let this turn into yet another MLI thread.

Now back to our regular program...

VS

[sifu_sensei]

If you want to obtain a quality, recognised master's degree while working in the Middle East, why not do an online course through Macquarie (Australia), Manchester, Leicester, Birmingham or Aston (UK)?

All these places have well respected programmes.

Good luck

[abufletcher]

Of course we're all assuming here that what the OP wants to do is get an MATESOL when all she (he?) really said was "go back to school" which could mean a lot of things.

I'm surprised, BTW, to heard about MATESOL in Sharjah. Anyone know anything more about it? Like how I could get a job teaching in it!

Oops! Missed the link above!

[moot point]

Is London Univeristy's Institute of Education still offering their MA Teaching English on-line? That's the programme I took and it was well worth it, even though I haven't put that piece of paper to use yet.

The structure of the programme was great. We were all divided up into study groups and shared endless e-mails pertaining to weekly discussions. We could also "peek into different classrooms" to read their comments on the weekly lecture.

The members in my group were teachers from several different countries working in even more different countries (a handful of Brits working in places like the UAE, Saudi, Angola, and Canada; two Americans working in Japan and Alaska, a couple of Canadians in Japan, Korea, and Brunei; an Indonsian in Indonesia; an Indian in Mauritiaus; and the list goes on. It was a fantastic opportunity to compare our different working and living situations, which I could not imagine taking place in an on-site programme.

It was good stuff, and am confident that we all got more from it than anyone taking an on-course Master's.

[Gordon]

I am finishing up my distance masters. I have 12 weeks to go and am very happy with the program. It is a Masters in Applied Linguistics at the University of Southern Queensland. Very worthwhile and like moot point stated, a very diverse group of people in many different countries.