Job Discussion Forums

[TG12345]

[Traveller23]

Hi,
The big thing that sticks out to me is that you have a lot of generalities and few specifics:
[quote="TG12345"] I am an Education student in my 4th year of University and I will be graduating in June 2008. I have several years of experience student teaching with students at all levels, and I have worked as a teaching assistant and volunteered in many schools. I do not yet have formal teaching experience, but I have a lot of experience working with children and youth in various settings. I have a lot of experience as well working with youth who are learning to speak English, and also youth with learning disabilities and behaviour issues. [/quote]

Phrases like "a lot of experience" "many schools" various settings"don't say a whole lot. It would be far better to say "While a student at University of Toronto, I was a student assistant for two semesters at Western Elementary, where I taught French and English. I also volunteered at Camp Hiawatha where I taught Archery to two dozen emotionally disturbed children.

Do you know Spanish? How well? If you're looking to teach in Latin America, even if teaching English, you need to be able to explain things to your students in Spanish -- unless it's an advanced class. Your letter and resume also would be better in Spanish since the school principal may need an English teacher, but not know English him/herself.

"Greetings" (or Dear Sir or Madam) makes it sound like you're sending the exact same letter to a whole bunch of schools. Get on the internet, find a list of schools, and their phone numbers. Then call the numbers (you can buy a phone card that will cost you only a few cents per minute to call from Canada to Latin America.) Call the schools, say you want to send a letter to the principal, get his/her name.

As far as getting hired, you'll have to plan on paying your own way for a short vacation in that country. Send the letters 1 or 2 months before your trip. In your letter say something like "I will be in Mexico City from July 1 to July 15 and would appreciate speaking with you. Even if you don't have any openings, I would appreciate a brief meeting to speak about teaching opportunities in Mexico." Then call each person a few days before you leave Canada, mention your letter, and ask to meet with them for half an hour.

Unless you're working as a volunteer (i.e. for free) you'll need a visa and work permit. Most of the countries you mentioned have high unemployment and a ton of people trying to leave the country to work (legally and illegally) doing grunt work in the US and elsewhere, so getting such a permit might be difficult in certain countries. Also, the pay is likely to permit you a very modest lifestlyle (renting a room in someone's home, using public transportation instead of your own car, etc.) so there likely won't be any money to send home to Canada. Sending money to Canada, though, is easy from most countries.

Have you considered Japan? There is demand for English teachers there for teaching conversation to people who already know some English, so you don't need to know Japanese, and it is possile to get work permits doing so.

And what about Poland? If you're a Polish citizen (you said you were born there in another post, so I assume you are) you don't need a permit to work there. Also Polish citizens can work in certain EU (European Union) countries without a special permit (not all EU countries have the same rules.)

What's your motivation for going abroad? To experience another culture? To help others? To live independently? To learn another language? Your answer may be one or more of the above or something else. These are all good motives but they all affect where you might be better off going (I notice you mentioned Latin America, the Middle East, and former Soviet Union.)

You might reach some of your goals without teaching overseas. You could save your money and either contribute it to a charity or use it to travel.

Also, some countries might not be suitable to your goals. In some places you might be an outsider and have limited opportunity to socialize with the locals (both in terms of making male friends and dating girls.) In other places you might have good intentions to help out but your help might not be welcome.

I'm saying this because I've been in situations where people were polite to me but in a very businesslike, cold way and didn't invite me to social activities or accept my invitations. (This had to do with my race, nationality, religion etc. I don't want to create any prejudices so I won't be specific.)

I've also been generous with time and money to friends and relatives and ended up being treated like garbage in return when I didn't and couldn't give money to someone for what was basically his hobby so he stopped talking to me.

Anyway, I've covered a bunch of things you've asked in various posts. Hope this gives you something to think about. Let me know if I can elaborate about anything.

[TG12345]

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for your advice and help and tips in this field. I apologize I have not been able to write much or visit this website much, I am currently doing a lot of volunteering and working at my summer job, so I haven't had much time to check up on this website. Starting July 3rd I will be working 2 jobs (11 hours) 5 days a week so I will not have much time to check this forum either.
I promise I will do my best to stay in touch better starting in September, when the workload cools off a little (and school starts).

Take care and all the best!

Tomasz Glowacki

[naturegirl321]

[ls650]

[MELEE]

I'll third that. Knowing Spanish makes your life easier outside the classroom, but you don't need it inside the classroom.

Also, I generally bin coverletters written in Spanish!